Every maker has stared at their price tags and wondered: "Am I charging enough?" The answer isn't a feeling — it's a percentage. If you don't know your net profit margin, you don't know if your business is a side hustle or a sustainable career. Here are the exact benchmarks for 2026, broken down by craft category.

These numbers are based on aggregated data from BoothKeeper users across jewelry, ceramics, printmaking, apparel, and woodcraft. They reflect true net margins — meaning all expenses, including booth fees, travel, and transaction costs, have been subtracted from gross revenue.

What is a good profit margin for handmade goods?

A healthy net profit margin for handmade goods typically falls between 40% and 65%, depending on the craft category. Jewelry and small accessories tend to command the highest margins (55–70%), while pottery and large-format art often land lower (35–50%) due to higher material and shipping weights.

These ranges assume you are tracking your true costs — not just materials, but booth fees, mileage, and time. Makers who ignore hidden costs often think their margin is 60% when it is actually 25%. The table below gives you a realistic starting point, not a fantasy.

Craft Category	Typical COGS	Target Markup	Net Margin Range
Jewelry (Silver/Beaded)	20–30%	3.5x–5x	55–70%
Ceramics / Pottery	30–45%	2.5x–3.5x	35–50%
Art Prints / Stationery	15–25%	4x–6x	60–75%
Apparel / Fiber	35–50%	2x–3x	30–45%
Candles / Soap	25–35%	3x–4x	45–60%
Woodcraft / Furniture	40–55%	2x–2.5x	25–40%

💡 The "Show Math" Reality Check

These margins assume you are selling direct-to-consumer at a craft fair or online. Wholesale margins are typically 15–25 percentage points lower because the retail store takes their cut. If you plan to wholesale, you must raise your retail markup even higher.

Why do pottery profit margins tend to be lower?

Pottery profit margins are lower than jewelry because kiln firing, glazing materials, and the physical weight of finished goods drive up both production costs and transportation expenses to craft shows.

COGS for a ceramic mug can hit 40% once you account for clay, glaze, kiln electricity, and breakage. Then you have to transport heavy, fragile boxes to the show. A jeweler fits $3,000 of inventory in a small tackle box. A potter needs a cargo van. That weight costs money — in gas, in vehicle wear, and in the physical toll that extends your recovery hours.

What is a healthy profit margin for jewelry makers?

Jewelry makers should target a net profit margin of 55–70%, achieved by keeping material costs under 30% of retail price and selling direct-to-consumer at shows or online, where there is no retail intermediary taking a wholesale cut.

Silver and beaded jewelry enjoys the highest margins in the craft world because raw materials are small and lightweight, while perceived value is high. The margin killer for jewelers isn't materials — it's underselling. Makers often price based on material cost alone and forget to factor in their design time, booth fees, and the 2.6% transaction fee on every sale.

How do you calculate true profit margin for a craft show?

To calculate your true profit margin at a craft show, use the BoothKeeper formula: (Gross Revenue − COGS − Booth Fees − Travel − Supplies) ÷ Gross Revenue. Most spreadsheet templates forget to subtract booth fees and mileage, which artificially inflates the margin by 15–30%.

"Gross margin" — (Revenue − COGS) ÷ Revenue — is what most makers calculate. It looks optimistic. It ignores the booth fee. It ignores the $140 in gas. It ignores the Square fees. If you want a number that decides whether you can pay rent, calculate net margin using the formula above.

Worked Example: The Saturday Market

Gross Revenue: +$920
COGS (35%): -$322
Booth Fee: -$125
Mileage (60mi × $0.70): -$42
Meals: -$18
Transaction Fees: -$24
Other Supplies: -$15
True Net Profit: $374

True Profit Margin: $374 ÷ $920 = 40.7%

Gross Margin (without expenses): ($920 − $322) ÷ $920 = 65%

The gross margin lied by 24 percentage points.

What markup should handmade products have?

Handmade products sold direct-to-consumer should have a markup of at least 3x your cost of materials plus labor, and often 4x for low-volume or high-skill categories like jewelry and fine art. Wholesale markups should be 2x cost, which means your retail price must be at least 2x your wholesale price.

If your materials and labor for a pair of earrings cost $12, your wholesale bare minimum is $24, and your retail bare minimum is $48. Anything below $48 and you have eliminated your wholesale channel before you even started.

Why do most makers underestimate their true profit margin?

Most makers underestimate their true profit margin because they calculate "profit" as Revenue minus Materials, ignoring booth fees, travel, transaction fees, and — most critically — the value of their own labor hours.

If you made a $50 necklace for $10 in materials and sold it for $40, you tell yourself you made $30. But you didn't. You made $30 in gross margin. Once you subtract the $5 booth fee allocation, the $1.04 transaction fee, and the 45 minutes it took you to make and sell the piece, your true margin is likely under 20% — and your hourly wage is below minimum wage.

This is why BoothKeeper calculates margin and hourly wage simultaneously. You need both numbers to survive.

Calculate Your True Margin Now

Stop guessing. Plug your last show's numbers into the free BoothKeeper Profit Calculator to see your real profit margin and Real Hourly Wage — not the fantasy number your brain invented to justify another application fee.

Run Your Numbers Free →

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