How much to charge for a print-on-demand t-shirt on Etsy

How much should you charge for a print-on-demand t-shirt on Etsy?

Price inside the market's middle range for your design's keyword, and never below your floor: with $4.99 shipping, a Gildan 5000 that costs $9.49 printed and shipped needs $11.99 to keep a 30% margin after Etsy's fees, or $14.99 for 40%.

Best-selling shirts in the keywords we checked recently have a median price of $25.99, well above that floor, so most sellers have room to price with the market rather than at the minimum.

The floor comes from your cost and Etsy's fees. The market tells you the ceiling. A good price is between them; if the floor is above the ceiling, the product needs a lower cost or a different marketplace.

What does a POD t-shirt cost you?

A Gildan 5000 is about $9.49 printed and shipped to the US through DodgePrint's suppliers; softer blanks such as Bella+Canvas 3001 or Comfort Colors 1717 cost more. Your cost is the blank, the print and the shipping to the buyer.

Use the cost for the size and colour you sell most: 2XL and above usually cost more, and some suppliers charge extra for dark garments or a second print location. The cost hint under the price check shows typical costs for common blanks.

What price keeps your margin after Etsy's fees?

Etsy takes the $0.20 listing fee, 6.5% and 3% + $0.25 on price plus shipping. With $9.49 cost and $4.99 shipping, these are the lowest prices that keep each margin on each marketplace.

Margin is what you keep divided by what the buyer pays. If you run Etsy Ads or expect Offsite Ads sales, aim for the 40% column: an Offsite Ads sale costs another 15% of the order.

What do best-selling shirts charge right now?

It depends on the niche, so check your exact keyword. The table shows the median price of best-selling listings for a few shirt keywords we checked recently; open one to see the listings behind it.

Median of the best-selling listings we found for each keyword (kept for a day). Open a keyword for the listings behind it.

Check your own keyword in the price check: it shows Etsy's best-sellers, the closest Amazon niche, TikTok Shop and Shopify stores side by side, and marks where your price lands.

Should you charge free shipping or add shipping?

Either works for fees: Etsy charges the same on price plus shipping. Free shipping moves the shipping cost into the price, which can help in search, so the item price rises by about the shipping amount.

If you switch to free shipping, add the shipping you used to charge to the price and re-check the margin. US shops that offer free shipping on orders of $35 or more get a search boost on Etsy, which matters more for shops that sell bundles.

When can you charge more than the market?

When the buyer can see why: personalisation (a name, a date, a pet photo), a premium blank, a larger print, or a gift-ready bundle. Show the difference in the first photo and the title, not only in the description.

Raise in small steps and watch views and conversion for two weeks before the next step. Run the new price through the Etsy fee calculator so you know what each step adds per sale.