Laser engraving job price calculator
Turn a job into a price that pays for your time and your machine. Enter the laser minutes (or let the calculator estimate them from your engrave and cut settings), your hands-on time and costs, and get the price — and the Etsy list price that still leaves you that much after Etsy’s fees.
1Machine time
2Costs and margin
3Selling on Etsy (US)
How the price is built
Hands-on time is the setup and design time for the job, shared across the pieces, plus finishing and packing per piece. When you let the calculator estimate laser time, it assumes bidirectional scanning, one sweep per line (as the line interval calculator does) and adds cut length ÷ cut speed × passes, without acceleration, overscan or travel moves — so time one real job and use those minutes once you have them.
Two ways shops set their rate
- Per laser minute. OMTech describes $1–5 per minute as pretty average. It is quick, but it ignores your hands-on time, and a faster machine earns less for the same job.
- Shop rate per hour. AEON Laser works it out as (monthly business costs + your own pay + a reserve) ÷ the hours you can actually bill; its example comes to $60 per hour. It also advises counting setup, artwork, testing, finishing and packing time, and setting a minimum charge for small custom jobs.
Etsy fees for US sellers
| Fee | Amount | Charged on |
|---|---|---|
| Listing | $0.20 | Each listing, renewed every 4 months; each extra item sold from a multi-quantity listing |
| Transaction | 6.5 % | Item price, shipping and gift wrap (not US sales tax) |
| Payment processing | 3 % + $0.25 | Order total including shipping and sales tax |
| Offsite Ads (optional for small shops) | 15 % or 12 % | Orders that come through an Etsy ad; 12 % and mandatory once the shop has $10,000+ in yearly sales; capped at $100 per order |
| Currency conversion | 2.5 % | Only if you list in a different currency from your payment account |
Etsy also charges a one-time shop set-up fee that varies by location, and Etsy Ads are an optional daily budget; neither is in the calculator. Fees change, so check Etsy’s pages before you set prices.
FAQ
- How much should I charge per minute for laser engraving?
- OMTech calls $1 to $5 per minute of laser time pretty average, depending on skill and complexity. A flat per-minute rate ignores your setup, design and finishing time and penalises a fast machine, so build the price from your costs instead: machine time, hands-on time at your hourly rate, materials with waste, then your margin.
- What is the difference between margin and markup?
- Margin is profit as a share of the selling price; markup is profit as a share of the cost. Price = cost ÷ (1 − margin). A $10 cost at a 30 % margin sells for $14.29, which is a 43 % markup. A 50 % markup is only a 33 % margin.
- What fees does Etsy charge US sellers?
- As published by Etsy on 2026-10-27: $0.20 per listing (and per extra item sold), a 6.5 % transaction fee on the item price plus shipping, and payment processing of 3 % + $0.25 on the total including shipping and sales tax. Offsite Ads add 15 % (or 12 % for shops with $10,000+ in yearly sales), capped at $100 per order, when an order comes through an ad.
- How do I account for the cost of my laser engraver?
- Spread the machine price over the hours you expect it to run. OMTech’s example is a $10,000 machine over 10,000 hours, or $1 per hour, plus maintenance such as lenses, mirrors and tubes. Add consumables per laser hour separately.
Sources
- Etsy, Fees & Payments Policy (updated 2026-10-05), Etsy Payments Policy, Etsy fee basics and fees and taxes for selling.
- OMTech, How to price your laser engraving projects for profit.
- AEON Laser USA, How to price laser cutting jobs.
This is a pricing aid, not tax or financial advice. Sales tax, income tax and local rules are your responsibility.
Last checked 2026-10-27 · Calculated values.