Shipping cost calculator

Enter the label price and your packaging cost to see the true cost of a shipment and how much of it the buyer's shipping charge covers.

What you pay for the label. Check USPS, Pirate Ship or your marketplace's label rate for the weight and zone.

Mailer or box, tape, filler.

0 if you offered free shipping.

For cost per item on bundles.

  1. Postage$5.50
  2. Packaging$0.50
  3. Total shipping cost$6.00
Shipping costs you $6.00

Last updated 13 Sep 2026.

How to use it

  1. Enter the label price. Weigh the packed item first; a 12 oz package and a 1 lb package are different rates.
  2. Add packaging and any insurance or signature confirmation.
  3. Enter what the buyer paid for shipping, if anything.
  4. Read what shipping really costs you. Put that number in the profit calculator's shipping field.

Worked example

A 12 oz sweater goes USPS Ground Advantage for $5.50, in a $0.50 poly mailer, with the buyer paying $4.99 shipping.

Total cost is $6.00. The buyer covers $4.99, so shipping costs you $1.01, and the buyer’s charge covers 83.17% of it.

How it's calculated

total shipping cost = postage + packaging + insurance and extras

shipping costs you = total shipping cost − shipping paid by the buyer

cost per item = total shipping cost ÷ items in the package

Live postage rates depend on weight, dimensions, zone and service, and change every January. This calculator doesn’t look them up; it adds up what you know so the number you carry into your pricing is complete.

FAQ

Where do I get the postage price?

For USPS, Pirate Ship shows commercial Ground Advantage and Priority rates by weight and zone without an account, and marketplace labels on eBay, Mercari and Poshmark use similar commercial pricing. Retail counter prices are noticeably higher than any of these.

Should I charge for shipping or offer it free?

Buyers filter for free shipping, so many sellers bake the label into the price. The catch is that marketplaces charge their percentage on the item price either way, and on buyer-paid shipping too, so the fee difference between the two approaches is usually small. Test both on your own listings.

What about packaging I already have?

Count it anyway at what it would cost to replace. Free boxes run out, and a price that only works with free boxes isn't a real price.

How do I split shipping on a bundle?

Enter the number of items and read the cost per item. For profit tracking, most resellers assign the per-item share to each item rather than putting the whole label against one.