Pricing, Royalties & Platform Fees
Print-on-Demand Design
Course 1 · Chapter 9 · Pricing, Royalties & Platform Fees
Each platform from Chapter 2 calculates what you actually earn per sale in a genuinely different way. Knowing which model you're working within matters more than any single price number.
Three Different Margin Models
| Platform | Who Sets Price | How Margin Is Calculated |
|---|---|---|
| Etsy + POD integration | You | Your retail price, minus the POD partner's base product cost, minus Etsy's own listing and transaction fees |
| Redbubble | You, within limits | Redbubble sets a base cost per product; you add a markup on top within its allowed range |
| Merch by Amazon | You, within limits | Amazon pays a royalty based on the price tier you select, rather than you separately calculating cost plus markup |
Illustrative Example — A T-Shirt Priced Around $20
Etsy + POD integration: roughly $20 retail, minus the base product cost, minus Etsy's listing fee and a percentage transaction fee — several separate deductions to track
Redbubble: roughly $20 retail, where your markup above Redbubble's own set base cost is your earnings — one number to think about
Merch by Amazon: roughly $20 retail lands in a specific royalty tier — Amazon tells you the royalty directly rather than you computing it from separate costs
These figures are illustrative only — treat the shape of each calculation as the takeaway, not the exact numbers.
Control and simplicity trade off against each other
Etsy gives the most pricing control but requires actively tracking the most separate fee line items. Redbubble
gives the least control but is the simplest to reason about — one markup number. Merch by Amazon sits in
between, with Amazon effectively telling you the royalty rather than you calculating a margin yourself.
Exact fees and royalty formulas change
Listing fees, transaction fee percentages, base product costs, and royalty tier thresholds are all set by the
platforms directly and do get updated. Check current figures on each platform before pricing anything, rather
than relying on previously known numbers.
Coming up next
Chapter 10 — the final chapter — turns everything from Chapters 1–9 into a concrete 30-day
plan from platform and niche selection to your first live listings.