Markups & Profit Margins
Configure your markup percentages and failure rate to build profitable pricing
Overview
The Pricing & Risk card is a collapsible section in the calculator. It contains three fields — Filament Markup (multiplier), General Markup (percentage), and Failure Rate (percentage). These markups are added on top of your base costs and appear as the green "Profit" section in the results breakdown.
Tip: This section is collapsed by default. Click to expand, or turn on Advanced mode (top-left) to auto-expand all collapsible sections.
Filament Markup Multiplier
What Is the Filament Markup?
A multiplier applied to your raw filament cost. The default is 2.7×, meaning you charge 2.7 times what you paid for the material. The "extra" portion (1.7× in this case) shows as Filament Markup in the green Profit section of the results.
Why 2.7×?
This industry-standard multiplier accounts for:
- •Material Waste: Support structures, purging, failed prints (~15–20%)
- •Storage Costs: Proper humidity control, organisation
- •Inventory Management: Time spent tracking and ordering
- •Material Profit: Reasonable margin on materials
When to Adjust
Increase (3×–4×) for:
- • Specialty filaments (carbon fibre, flexible)
- • Expensive materials (PEEK, PC, PA)
- • Hard-to-source or imported materials
- • Materials requiring special storage
Decrease (2×–2.5×) for:
- • Bulk orders using the same material
- • High-volume customers
- • Common materials (basic PLA, PETG)
- • Competitive pricing situations
General Markup Percentage
What Is the General Markup?
A percentage applied to your total base costs (depreciation + filament base + electricity + labour). The default is 50%. The resulting amount shows as "General Markup" in the green Profit section.
What Does It Cover?
- •Overhead: Rent, utilities, insurance, software subscriptions
- •Business Ops: Marketing, customer service, accounting
- •Maintenance: Regular printer maintenance, repairs, upgrades
- •Profit: Your actual take-home earnings
- •Growth Capital: Funds for expanding your business
Markup Guidelines
Important: Don't be afraid to charge appropriate markups. Your expertise, equipment, and service have real value.
Failure Rate (Buffer)
What Is the Failure Rate?
A percentage that adds a buffer to cover prints that fail and need to be redone. The default is 10%. It's applied to the sum of all base costs and the other two markups.
Why Include a Failure Buffer?
Even experienced operators have prints fail. This buffer helps cover:
- •First Layer Fails: Adhesion issues, bed levelling problems
- •Mid-Print Failures: Clogs, power outages, spaghetti
- •Quality Issues: Warping, layer separation, defects
- •Client Rejections: Dimensional accuracy, colour mismatch
Setting Your Rate
Tip: Track your actual failure rate over time and adjust this setting to match. Be honest with yourself about how often prints fail.
Complete Calculation Flow
How Everything Works Together
• Filament (Base)
• Electricity
• Labour
• General Markup = Total Costs × (Markup% ÷ 100)
• Failure Buffer = (Costs + Fil. Markup + Gen. Markup) × (Failure% ÷ 100)
Best Practices
Review Regularly
Check your actual failure rates and profitability quarterly. Adjust markups as your costs change.
Be Consistent
Use the same markups for similar jobs. This creates predictable pricing for you and your clients.
Save as Presets
Create presets with different markup strategies for different client types or job categories.
Don't Compete on Price Alone
Maintain healthy markups. Compete on quality, reliability, and service instead of racing to the bottom.