How to price 3D print finishing, packaging and shipping
When a part gets sanded, primed and painted, your time can be worth more than everything else in the quote combined: in this guide's example it is about 90% of the cost. Pricing only filament and printer hours gives that work away. Below is how to measure those minutes, what to count for supplies and packaging, and what changes in the price when you offer free shipping.
Labor: hands-on minutes × hourly rate
Every step uses the same math:
labor = hands-on minutes ÷ 60 × your hourly rate
Count only the time your hands are on the part. Print time is already paid for by the machine hourly rate, and primer or paint drying is not work, even though it delays delivery. For the rate, the MakerPrice 3D calculator starts at $30 an hour; use what you want to earn for an hour of your work.
The table shows the minutes for two example parts. They are numbers for you to adapt, not a market benchmark: time your next few parts of each kind and use the average.
| Step | Wall bracket, no finishing | 6 in figure, painted |
|---|---|---|
| Prepare (slice, check the bed) | 5 min | 10 min |
| Take off the bed and remove supports | 2 min | 15 min |
| Sand | none | 25 min |
| Prime (spraying only; drying does not count) | none | 10 min |
| Paint | none | 40 min |
| Assemble or glue parts | none | 5 min |
| Inspect | 1 min | 5 min |
| Pack | 3 min | 10 min |
| Total | 11 min | 120 min |
| Labor at $30/h | $5.50 | $60.00 |
In the calculator, preparation goes in "Time before printing" and the rest in "Time after printing". For the figure, that is 10 and 110 minutes.
Finishing supplies
Primer, paint, sandpaper, filler, glue, magnets and screws are part of the cost. Divide what you paid by how many parts it covers. For example, if a $12 can of primer covers about five figures this size, that is $2.40 per part. Count magnets and screws by the piece. In the calculator, these go in the "Paint, glue, sandpaper, magnets, screws" field.
Packaging: the cost of each order
Packaging is small per order and easy to forget. Work it out once, from what you paid, and reuse it in every quote.
| Item | Example math | Per order |
|---|---|---|
| Shipping box | a 25-pack for $25 | $1.00 |
| Bubble wrap | 3 ft from a roll that works out to $0.10 a foot | $0.30 |
| Tape | a $3 roll that closes about 30 orders | $0.10 |
| Label | $5 of labels for 50 orders | $0.10 |
| Total | $1.50 |
These are example values: swap in what you paid. If you add a poly bag, a thank-you card or a branded sticker, count those too. When several parts ship in one box, split the box between them. Packing time is already in the minutes table, so do not count it twice.
Shipping: charge it separately or offer free shipping
There are two ways to handle it, and each enters the math differently.
Charge shipping separately. The buyer pays it, and it stays out of your profit. In the calculator it goes in "Shipping passed on to the customer", which adds it to the final price but leaves it out of the profit math. If the platform takes a fee on shipping too, tick "The fee also applies to shipping" so that fee does not come out of your pocket. Etsy charges 6.5% plus 3% processing on shipping, and eBay's 13.6% applies to it as well.
Free shipping. You pay for the label, so it becomes a fixed amount per order inside the formula:
price = (cost × (1 + markup) + fixed fees + shipping) ÷ (1 − fee % − tax %)
Shipping stays outside the markup, because you do not need to profit from it, but it goes in before the division, because fees apply to the whole price. Postage changes with the destination, so use the average you pay or, if you never want to lose on an order, the most expensive zone you ship to. The fees themselves are in the guide on selling fees on Etsy and eBay.
Worked example: the painted figure
Premises: 90 g of PLA at $20/kg, a 6-hour print, 120 W average power, electricity at $0.17/kWh, a $600 printer with a 6,000-hour useful life and $0.05/h maintenance, labor at $30/h and a 60% markup. Apart from the weight and time, these are the calculator's starting values.
- Material: 90 g × $0.02 = $1.80.
- Electricity: 0.12 kW × 6 h × $0.17 = $0.12.
- Machine: ($600 ÷ 6,000 h + $0.05) × 6 h = $0.90.
- Labor: 120 min ÷ 60 × $30 = $60.00.
- Supplies: $2.40 of primer, paint and sandpaper.
- Packaging: $1.50.
- Total cost: $66.72. With a 60% markup: $66.72 × 1.60 = $106.75.
The price then depends on shipping and the channel. The $9.00 label below is a premise, the average you pay per order:
| Situation | Math | Buyer pays |
|---|---|---|
| Direct sale, shipping charged separately | $106.75 + postage | $106.75 + postage |
| Direct sale, free shipping | $106.75 + $9.00 | $115.75 |
| Etsy, shipping charged separately | item ($106.75 + $0.45) ÷ 0.905, shipping $9.00 ÷ 0.905 | $118.45 + $9.94 = $128.39 |
| Etsy, free shipping | ($106.75 + $0.45 + $9.00) ÷ 0.905 | $128.40 |
On Etsy both ways leave you the same money: what matters is that the shipping is divided by 0.905 too. Charging the $9.00 label at cost loses $0.86 to fees on every order.
Sold without sanding, primer and paint, the figure's 120 minutes would drop to 45 and labor to $22.50. Offering both versions, raw and painted, lets the buyer choose how much finishing to pay for. For the full price of a part, failure allowance included, see how much to charge for 3D printing.
Frequently asked questions
Does drying time for primer and paint go into the price?
Not as labor, because you are not working while it dries. But every time you come back to the part there are setup minutes, like opening paint and cleaning brushes, and those count. If drying delays delivery, that is a reason for a longer lead time, not for billing more hours.
Can I use a different hourly rate for painting?
Yes. If detailed painting takes a skill that support removal does not, it makes sense to charge more for it. Price each step at its own rate and add them up. The calculator uses one rate, so adjust the minutes until the total matches.
Is reused packaging free?
The material may be, but sorting, cleaning and cutting down a box is still work. And if a reused box protects less and the part breaks in transit, the replacement costs the whole part again. At least count the minutes.
How do I split shipping and packaging across an order with several parts?
Add up the order's shipping and packaging and divide by the number of parts. In the calculator, the fixed fee per order is already split across the parts in the quote, so you can enter free shipping there as the amount for the whole order.
Should finishing be a separate add-on?
It works well when the buyer can choose. Listing the raw part and the painted part at separate prices shows what your work costs and keeps the finishing from looking expensive out of nowhere. The gap between the two is exactly the finishing labor and supplies, with the markup on top.