Musician’s Guide to Merch Margins showed how to move past "gut feelings" about merch to make sustainable decisions a musician or music manager. Hypebot's new Music Merch Profit Calculator is designed to help visualize your upfront investment versus potential take-home income.
Use the table and spreadsheet below to plug in your specific quotes from manufacturers and your planned retail prices.
🧮 Hypebot's Music Merch Profit Calculator
| Item Description | Order Qty (A) | Unit Cost/COGS (B) | Total Investment (A × B) | Retail Price (C) | Gross Revenue (A × C) | Total Net Profit (Gross - Invest) | Margin % |
| Example: Premium Tees | 100 | $12.00 | $1,200 | $35.00 | $3,500 | $2,300 | 66% |
| Example: Hoodies | 50 | $24.00 | $1,200 | $65.00 | $3,250 | $2,050 | 63% |
| Example: Stickers | 300 | $0.40 | $120 | $5.00 | $1,500 | $1,380 | 92% |
| [Your Item Here] | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ | % | |
| [Your Item Here] | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ | % |
Download a free Google spreadsheet version of Hypebot's Music Merch Profit Calculator here.
Hidden Costs to Remember
When filling out your calculator, don't forget to bake these "invisible" expenses into your Unit Cost (B) or they will eat your margins alive:
- Shipping & Freight: That box of 50 hoodies is heavy. If it costs $100 to ship them to you, add $2.00 to the unit cost of every hoodie.
- Credit Card Fees: If you use Square or Shopify at the booth, you’re losing roughly 2.6% + $0.10 per transaction.
- Venue Cuts: If you're playing larger clubs, they may take a "Merch Cut" (usually 15–25%). If the venue takes 20%, your $35 shirt effectively retails for $28.
- Designer Fees: If you paid an artist $300 for the shirt design, that needs to be recouped. Divide that $300 by your total unit count and add it to the cost.
Hypebot's Bottom Line: The Break-Even Milestone
The most important number for an independent artist isn't the total profit — it's the Break-Even Point.
Example: If you spend $1,200 on shirts and sell them for $35, your break-even is 35 shirts.
Everything sold after shirt #35 is "pure" profit that goes into your pocket (or back into the band fund). Knowing that you only need to sell 35 shirts to clear your debt makes the investment feel much less risky.
+Read more: "The Ultimate Merch AI Prompt For Musicians"
