Printumo does not take a cut of your sales. You decide what your customer pays, and the difference between that price and what Printumo charges you is yours to keep. This guide shows you how to set prices that leave you a healthy margin and how to decide who pays for shipping.
How your costs work
For every order, you pay Printumo for three things:
Product cost: printing, stretching or framing, and packaging.
Shipping cost: delivery to your customer in unbranded packaging.
VAT or sales tax, where it applies. This depends on where you are based, where the order is going, and whether you have given us a valid VAT number.
There is no subscription and no commission. Your customer pays you your retail price plus any shipping your store charges. What is left after Printumo's costs and your platform and payment fees is your profit.
Step 1: Check your costs in the countries you sell to
Your costs are not the same everywhere. Each order is made at the production facility closest to your customer, and each facility has its own prices. The same canvas can cost a lot more to make and post on the other side of the world than in your home market.
When you create a product, go to the "Set up prices" screen.
Use "Calculate costs for country:" to switch between your main markets. Note the product cost and the shipping cost in each one.
Click any figure in the shipping column to see "Shipping prices for" that size in every country we ship to.
For the complete list, open our shipping page, choose the print type, framing and currency, and click "Download CSV".
Large canvas prints need special attention. Canvases bigger than about 50 x 76 cm travel as oversize parcels, so their shipping cost is much higher than for the smaller sizes. Price your largest sizes on their own rather than with the same rule as the small ones.
Step 2: Decide who pays for shipping
There are three common approaches. Pick the one that suits your shop.
Your customer pays shipping at checkout. This is the simplest option and it protects your margin. On Shopify, Etsy and WooCommerce, Printumo sets up your store's shipping rates to match what we charge you, so the shipping your customer pays covers yours.
Free shipping. Buyers like it, but someone still has to pay for the delivery. Add the shipping cost to your retail price. Base it on the most expensive market you sell to, or orders from that market will lose you money.
A mix of both. For example, free shipping in your home country and paid shipping everywhere else, or a lower shipping fee with the rest built into your price.
Important: the "Estimated profit" figure on the pricing screen does not subtract shipping. It is your retail price minus the product cost only. If you offer free shipping, subtract the shipping cost yourself to see what you really keep.
Step 3: Set your retail prices
Add up your cost for each size in your main market: the product cost, plus shipping if you offer free shipping, plus VAT if Printumo charges you VAT that you cannot reclaim.
Add the profit you want on top.
Check the result in your other markets with "Calculate costs for country:". Your retail price is the same wherever your customer is, so make sure every market still leaves you a margin.
To price every size in a product at once, use "Adjust profit for your retail prices:". Choose a value in "Set profit to" and click "Update".
A markup of 100% means your retail price is double the product cost. It is a common starting point. Adjust it up or down to suit your market and your brand.
All costs on the pricing screen are shown without VAT. If you sell to consumers, your retail price normally has to include the VAT you owe in your customer's country. That is separate from any VAT Printumo charges you.
Prices are set one product at a time. If you want the same profit percentage across your whole catalogue, contact us with your account email, your store and the percentage you want, and we will apply it for you.
When our production costs change, we never change your retail prices. It is worth checking your margins from time to time.
Step 4: Set up shipping in your store
How your store charges shipping depends on your platform:
Shopify: Printumo creates your shipping rates for you. To change them, open your "Shopify Settings" in Printumo and go to "Shipping rates". Enter 0 for free shipping on any size and destination, or click "Make all shipping free". Make your changes there rather than in your Shopify admin, because a later sync from Printumo can overwrite changes made in Shopify. See Editing your Shopify shipping rates.
Etsy: Printumo creates shipping profiles and attaches them to your listings. Etsy allows only one shipping profile per listing, so all sizes in a listing share the same rates. "Reset Shipping Profiles" in your Etsy Settings on Printumo refreshes them to our latest rates. See How Printumo manages Etsy shipping profiles.
WooCommerce: Printumo creates shipping zones and shipping classes in your store. "Reset Shipping Classes" puts Printumo's rates back if they have been changed. See WooCommerce shipping profiles.
Wix and Squarespace: you set the shipping rates yourself in your store's settings. Use the costs you found in Step 1. See Set up shipping in Wix and Set up shipping in Squarespace.
Printumo Shop: checkout works out the shipping for you. Your customer pays the same shipping cost that Printumo charges you, so shipping does not affect your margin.
Two tips for Shopify sellers. If you want free delivery to the whole UK, set the rate to 0 on all three UK rows: Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales), the row for Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man, and the row for Guernsey and Jersey. Also check your store's default package weight. In your Shopify admin, go to Settings, then Shipping and delivery, then Packages, and edit the package marked "Store default". Shopify adds that weight to every order, and anything above 0 can make your customer pay too much for shipping. Set it to 0.
Common questions
Does shipping get cheaper when a customer buys several prints?
Yes. The first item pays the full shipping rate, and each extra item that ships with it pays a lower rate. Several unframed rolled paper prints travel in one tube, so extra prints often add nothing at all. The pricing screen always shows the rate for a single item, so an order with several prints usually costs less to ship than that screen suggests.
Does ordering more prints lower the product cost?
No. The product cost is the same for one print or fifty. If you sell in high volume, contact us to ask about a custom price set.
Where can I read more?
Setting your prices and understanding your profit explains every figure on the "Set up prices" screen.
Printumo's invoice and your customer's invoice: what is the difference? explains who invoices whom.
How do I order prints for myself? shows how to order samples at cost price.
Not sure your prices are right? Send us the sizes and countries you plan to sell to, and we will tell you what your real costs look like.