The most common pricing mistake is charging "filament plus a bit". That quote ignores electricity, machine wear, failed prints and — the big one — your time, and it slowly loses you money on every order. A defensible price starts from your true cost and adds a deliberate margin.
Step 1: know your true cost
True cost = filament + electricity + machine depreciation + labour. For a 125 g, 6-hour PLA print with 15 minutes of handling, that is about $6.93 (see the cost guide for the line items). Use a calculator so every quote is itemised the same way.
Step 2: add a failure buffer
Even dialled-in printers fail. If 1 print in 10 fails, multiply material and machine costs by 1.1 — or set a repair/failure allowance in your calculator so it happens automatically.
Step 3: choose your markup
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Hobby sales to friends / cost recovery: 20–50% on top of true cost.
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Marketplace sales (Etsy and similar): 50–150%, because fees, shipping materials and returns eat margin.
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Functional or engineering parts for businesses: 2–5× true cost is normal — you are selling the outcome, not grams of plastic.
Step 4: sanity-check against the market
Search for comparable items. If your calculated price is far above market, the model may be wrong for selling (too slow, too heavy) — do not fix it by pricing below cost. If you are far below market, raise your price; underpricing devalues the work for everyone including you.
A worked quote
True cost $6.93 → +10% failure buffer ≈ $7.62 → 100% markup ≈ $15.25 sale price. Round to a clean $15.99, and the quote survives one reprint without going underwater.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good markup for 3D prints?
Common practice is 20–50% above true cost for hobby sales and 50–150% for marketplace sales. Custom functional parts often command 2–5× cost.
Should I charge for my time?
Yes. Slicing, prep and post-processing are real work. Even a modest hourly rate usually adds more to the price than the filament does — omitting it means selling at a loss.
How do I quote large or long prints?
The same formula scales: material and machine-time grow linearly with the print. For multi-day prints, machine depreciation and failure risk dominate, so keep the buffer generous.