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How to price greeting cards

Cards sell at low prices, and many end up in shops at wholesale. That means your price has to work twice: once at retail and once at about half of retail.

1. Materials per card

Count card stock (sheet cost ÷ cards per sheet), printing (lab cost per card, or ink at home), the envelope, a clear sleeve, and any embellishments for handmade cards such as glitter, layers or ribbon. Count misprints and scoring mistakes.

2. Labor

Time printing, trimming, scoring, folding, assembling, sleeving and packing for a run. Handmade layered cards take many times longer than printed flat cards. Price them as a different product. Design time is a one-off: spread it over the cards you expect to sell.

3. Per-order and wholesale

Per-order mailers and postage hurt single-card orders. Consider multi-packs. If you plan to sell wholesale, check that half your retail price still covers your true cost with a profit. Shops also usually ask for a minimum per design.

Platform and payment fees

Marketplaces usually take a percentage of each sale plus fixed per-order or per-listing charges, and payment processing is often separate. Fee schedules change, so read your platform's current fee page rather than trusting a number you saw once. Remember that fees are charged on the price the customer pays, so they grow as your price grows. Calculate them on your final price, not on your cost.

Choosing a markup

Once you know your true cost (materials + labor + overhead), multiply it to get a price. A common maker rule of thumb is wholesale at about 2× true cost and retail at about 2× wholesale, but that is a starting point, not a law. Check the result against what comparable products actually sell for, then decide whether your quality, story or speed justifies sitting above or below that range. If the price you need is far above what buyers pay, the fix is usually cost or time, not a smaller margin.

Worked example

Notice that the profit line comes after you've paid yourself for your time. That's the number that tells you whether this product is a business or a hobby.

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