How to Price Items for Resale
Most resellers pick a price by feel and discover the margin afterwards. Working the other way — starting from the profit you want and dividing by what the platform leaves you — takes the same thirty seconds and produces a number you can defend when an offer comes in.
By Marginory team · Online sellers with hands-on experience across Etsy, Shopify & PODUpdated Fee data verified against official platform documentation
The formula
List price = (item cost + target profit) ÷ (1 − fee rate)
Divide, never multiply. The fee comes off the final price, so adding the fee percentage to your target always falls short.
The divisor is whatever share of the sale the platform leaves you — 0.80 on Poshmark, 0.90 on Mercari, roughly 0.96 on Depop, 0.864 on eBay before its per-order fee.
Why multiplying fails
| You want to keep | Wrong: ×1.20 | Actually paid | Shortfall | Right: ÷0.80 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $25.00 | $30.00 | $24.00 | −$1.00 | $31.25 |
| $40.00 | $48.00 | $38.40 | −$1.60 | $50.00 |
| $60.00 | $72.00 | $57.60 | −$2.40 | $75.00 |
| $100.00 | $120.00 | $96.00 | −$4.00 | $125.00 |
| $200.00 | $240.00 | $192.00 | −$8.00 | $250.00 |
The shortfall is always 4% of your target on a 20% fee. Across a hundred sales a year at a $60 target, that is $240 quietly lost to arithmetic.
Same payout, four prices
To take home the same amount, each platform needs a different list price. This is the table to keep open when cross-listing:
| Target payout | Depop | Mercari | eBay | Poshmark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $20.00 | $21.15 | $22.22 | $23.61 | $25.00 |
| $35.00 | $36.66 | $38.89 | $40.97 | $43.75 |
| $50.00 | $52.17 | $55.56 | $58.33 | $62.50 |
| $80.00 | $83.20 | $88.89 | $93.06 | $100.00 |
| $150.00 | $155.58 | $166.67 | $174.07 | $187.50 |
Free shipping assumed. Depop's processing rate is an estimate, not a published figure.
To clear $80, Poshmark needs $100.00 while Depop needs $83.83. If you list at $85 everywhere, you are making $80 on Depop and $68 on Poshmark for identical work. Calculate your own prices →
Building in offer room
Every resale platform has an aggressive offer culture, so your list price should not be your floor. Work out the floor first, then add negotiating room on top:
| Cost / target | Floor price (Poshmark) | List at +20% | Accept down to | Profit at floor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $8 cost / $20 target | $35.00 | $42.00 | $35.00 | $20.00 |
| $15 cost / $30 target | $56.25 | $67.50 | $56.25 | $30.00 |
| $25 cost / $45 target | $87.50 | $105.00 | $87.50 | $45.00 |
| $40 cost / $70 target | $137.50 | $165.00 | $137.50 | $70.00 |
Decide the walk-away number before you list. Sellers who work it out mid-negotiation accept offers they regret, because the pressure of an active buyer is not the right moment to be doing arithmetic.
Handling shipping in the formula
The rule differs by platform, because only Poshmark keeps shipping out of the fee base:
| Platform | If buyer pays shipping | If you offer free shipping |
|---|---|---|
| Poshmark | Ignore it — outside the fee base | Add label cost to the numerator |
| Mercari | Add shipping to the numerator; fee applies to it | Add label cost to the numerator |
| eBay | Add shipping to the numerator; fee applies to it | Add label cost to the numerator |
| Depop | Processing applies to the full total | Add label cost to the numerator |
Free shipping is never actually free — you are paying the label out of your margin. If you offer it, the label cost belongs in the numerator alongside your item cost, or it comes straight out of profit.
Sanity-check against sold comps
A formula tells you what you need; the market tells you what is possible. Always check your calculated price against sold listings, not active ones — active listings are by definition the items that have not sold at that price.
When the formula produces a number the market will not support, the problem is your sourcing cost, not your pricing. That is useful information: it means paying less at the source, not listing at a price that leaves you nothing. Check the margin your numbers actually produce →
Common mistakes
- Multiplying instead of dividing. Costs you 4% of target on a 20% fee, every single sale.
- One price across all platforms. Guarantees a different margin on each, usually without noticing.
- Forgetting the fixed fee.Poshmark's $2.95 and eBay's per-order charge dominate on cheap items.
- Ignoring packaging. $0.50–$1.00 per order is real money at volume.
- No offer room. Listing at your floor means every negotiation loses.
- Pricing against active listings. Those are the ones that did not sell.
- Sunk-cost pricing. What you paid does not determine what a buyer will pay. Price to the market and take the lesson on sourcing.