Handmade
Handmade Custom Order Calculator
Price custom work properly: the making time, the design and consultation time buyers often forget, and a rush fee when they need it fast.
Formula
Custom order price = (material cost + hourly labor rate × (production hours + design / consultation hours)) × (1 + rush fee ÷ 100). The rush fee is a percentage of the base price, so a rushed order pays more in proportion to the work it displaces.
How it works
Enter material cost, your hourly rate, production hours and the design or consultation hours the custom order needs — messages, sketches, revisions and approvals all count. Add a rush percentage only when the buyer needs faster turnaround than your normal queue. The result separates base price from rush fee so you can explain the quote to the buyer.
Worked example
Material $25.00, labor $30.00 per hour × (3 production + 1 design) hours = $30.00 × 4 = $120.00, base price $25.00 + $120.00 = $145.00. Rush fee 25% of $145.00 = $36.25. Custom order price = $145.00 + $36.25 = $181.25. Interpretation: the $36.25 rush fee is payment for jumping the queue and working under pressure — without it, a rushed order would cost you other work for no extra return.
FAQs
Why charge for design and consultation time?
Custom work starts before making starts: discussing the brief, sketching, sourcing and revisions are skilled work. Leaving them out means the buyer gets that work free and your effective hourly rate falls.
When should I charge a rush fee?
When the buyer needs delivery sooner than your normal turnaround, so you must reorder work, work longer days or delay other orders. State the rush percentage and the delivery date together in the quote.
What if the buyer changes the design halfway through?
Re-run the calculator with the new design hours and material cost, and quote the difference before continuing. Agreeing this rule up front avoids awkward mid-order price changes.
Does this price include platform fees?
No. If the order is sold through a marketplace, gross up the result for that platform's fee, or add the fee separately, so fees do not come out of your labor.
Should every custom order cost more than a standard item?
Usually, yes: one-off design, consultation and the risk of a single buyer not returning all add cost that a repeatable standard item does not carry.
Stand: October 2026. Pure arithmetic — no platform rate is used; enter your own figures.
Sources: No platform fee is asserted on this page — material cost, hourly rate, hours and other figures are your own inputs, so replace the defaults with your real numbers.
Disclaimer: Results are estimates and general information only, not financial advice. Prices and fees change, so confirm the current rate on the platform before you price a listing.
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