Laser engraving changes the pricing math in one big way: the machine does a lot of the work while you do something else. That makes it easy to price by “material plus a bit”, because the material is often cheap and the engraving looks fast. But a laser is an expensive machine that wears out, the setup and finishing take real minutes, and those costs have to come back to you through the price of every piece.
This guide shows how to separate the three kinds of cost in a laser-engraved item, your time, the machine and the material, and how to put each one into the pricing calculator.
The figures below are example numbers, not market prices. To keep every number checkable, the worked example reuses the inputs of worked example B from our other guides. Use your own receipts and timings.
What to count in a laser-engraved item
- The blank. Wood, acrylic, slate, leather, a coated tumbler: whatever you engrave, at the price per piece including your share of the shipping on your supply order.
- Masking and finishing. Masking tape or transfer paper, wipes or cleaner for residue, oil, sealant or paint fill.
- Packaging. Box, bag, tissue, care card.
- Your hands-on time. Designing or adjusting the file, placing and aligning the piece, focusing, masking, unmasking, cleaning, finishing, checking and packing.
- Machine wear and running costs. The laser itself, replacement parts, lenses and filters, and the software you use. These go in overhead.
- Misburns. A piece engraved off-center or too deep is a lost blank plus your time. Spread that cost across the good pieces.
Your time versus machine time
The labor line in the calculator is for the minutes you are actually working. If you start a long engrave and spend those minutes packing yesterday’s orders, the engraving minutes are not labor for this piece; the packing minutes belong to those orders.
Machine time still costs money, though. The laser wears out with use, and you paid for it so it could make products. Put that cost in overhead per item:
- Add up what the laser cost you, plus the replacement parts you expect to buy for it.
- Estimate how many pieces you will make with it over its working life, or over the time you want it to pay for itself.
- Divide the first by the second. That is the machine’s share of each piece.
Add software subscriptions and any other running costs spread the same way, and you have your overhead per item. Long, deep engraves wear the machine more than quick ones, so if your products vary a lot in engraving time, give the long ones a larger overhead share.
If you stay at the machine while it runs, those minutes are labor and belong in the labor line.
A worked example: an engraved tumbler at a market
This example reuses the numbers of worked example B, here as a laser-engraved tumbler sold at a craft fair.
- Materials: an $8.00 tumbler blank and $1.50 for masking, cleaning, finishing and the bag it goes home in: $9.50.
- Labor: 20 minutes of hands-on time at $25 an hour: 20 / 60 x $25 = $8.33.
- Overhead: $1.00 per piece, which includes the laser’s share.
- Cost per item: $9.50 + $8.33 + $1.00 = $18.83.
- Where it sells: in person, with a card reader charging 2.6% plus $0.15 per payment, and no shipping.
- Target margin: 40%.
The calculator works backward from the margin: ($18.83 + $0.15) / (1 – 0.026 – 0.40). With the unrounded labor figure that is $33.072, so the suggested price is $33.08 and the charm price is $33.99.
| Suggested | Charm | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $33.08 | $33.99 |
| Card fees | $1.01 | $1.03 |
| Profit | $13.24 | $14.12 |
| Margin | 40.0% | 41.6% |
| Earnings per hour | $64.71 | $67.37 |
Earnings per hour adds your profit back to the labor you already paid yourself: ($13.24 + $8.33) / (20 / 60) = $64.71. Because the laser does part of the work unattended, this is the number to watch. Laser products that take few hands-on minutes can earn well per hour even at modest prices.
What one minute and one dollar are worth
Two quick rules help you price options and add-ons without running a whole new calculation.
At these fees and this margin:
- Each minute of your time at $25 an hour is $0.42 of labor, and adds about $0.73 to the price ($0.4167 / 0.574).
- Each $1.00 of extra material or overhead adds about $1.74 to the price (1 / 0.574).
So if engraving a second side, adding a name or doing a paint fill takes you extra minutes, multiply those minutes by $0.73 to see what the option should add. If an upgrade blank costs more, multiply the difference by $1.74.
If you sell the same piece on Etsy at a 30% margin, the multipliers change because the fees do: each $1.00 of cost adds about $1.65 to the price (1 / 0.605). Your shipping charge and shipping cost also come into it, so run the Etsy version through the calculator rather than reusing your market price.
Batches and jigs
Setup time is where laser work gets efficient. Focusing, aligning and positioning a jig for a run of identical pieces takes the same minutes whether you engrave a few or a full bed. Time the whole batch from setup to the last piece packed, then divide by the number of pieces. That is your labor minutes per piece, and it drops as batches get bigger.
Keep a note of your batch timings by product. If a jig lets you engrave several pieces in one run, the minutes per piece can fall enough to change your price, or to let you keep the price and earn more per hour.
Spoiled pieces
Spread the cost of misburns across the good pieces. If one blank in twenty is ruined, add one twentieth of a blank’s cost to each piece. For the $8.00 tumbler blank in this example, that is $0.40 per tumbler. Expensive blanks make this line matter more, so track your real rate of ruined pieces for each material.
Customer-supplied items
Some buyers want you to engrave something they already own. There is no blank cost, but there is risk: you cannot replace a one-of-a-kind item if an engraving goes wrong. Price these from your labor and overhead, decide in writing who carries the risk if a piece is damaged, and consider a separate, clearly stated price for engraving items you did not supply.
Personalized pieces
Names, dates and logos add minutes for proofs and changes. Add those minutes to labor and price personalized versions separately from your ready-made designs. Our guide to pricing custom and personalized orders covers proofs, revisions, minimums and deposits.
Questions sellers ask
Should machine running time count as labor?
Only if you are tied to the machine while it runs. Unattended engraving time is a machine cost: put the laser’s share in overhead per item.
How do I charge for a longer engraving?
Give it a larger overhead share for the extra machine wear, and count any extra hands-on minutes. At the market fees and margin in this guide, each extra minute of your time adds about $0.73.
Should laser pieces sell for the same price at markets and on Etsy?
They do not have to. Etsy’s fees and your shipping are different from a market’s, so the same margin gives a different price. Run both versions through the calculator and decide whether to keep them close.
