Pricing merch is one of the decisions creators get most wrong — and almost always in the same direction: too low. The reasoning is understandable. You feel awkward charging a lot for something with your logo on it. You worry about backlash. You don't want your audience to feel like they're being sold to. The result is a merch programme that generates modest revenue, thin margins, and a positioning that undervalues what you've built.

Here's how to think about pricing properly.

Start with cost of goods

Your cost of goods (COG) is the total cost to produce one unit of your product, including: the blank garment, the decoration (print or embroidery), any setup fees amortised across the run, packaging (tissue, mailer bag, hang tag), and your share of freight inbound from the decorator. Do not include outbound shipping to customers — that's handled separately.

Example for a screen-printed tee on an AS Colour blank, run of 50 units:

• Blank: $14.00
• Screen print (2 colours, setup amortised across 50 units): $8.50
• Hang tag: $0.80
• Tissue paper and mailer: $1.20
• Inbound freight share: $0.80
• Total COG: $25.30 per unit

Understand your target margin

Margin is the percentage of the retail price that remains after cost of goods. A 50% margin means you keep 50 cents of every dollar of revenue after production costs. This is before platform fees, payment processing, outbound shipping, and any returns — all of which eat into the margin further.

For a sustainable creator merch programme, target a minimum 60% gross margin (retail price at least 2.5× COG) before you account for other variable costs. The math that matters:

• 60% margin: retail = COG ÷ 0.40
• 65% margin: retail = COG ÷ 0.35
• 70% margin: retail = COG ÷ 0.30

At a $25.30 COG and a target 65% margin, your retail price is $25.30 ÷ 0.35 = $72.28. Round to $70 or $75.

Sanity-check against the market

Your target price needs to be defensible against comparable products in the market. What does a quality screen-printed tee from an established Australian label retail for? In the current market, quality branded tees from independent labels typically retail at $55–$75. Quality hoodies at $90–$120. Caps at $50–$70.

If your margin calculation produces a price significantly outside this range, you have one of three problems: your COG is too high (can you reduce it by increasing production quantity?), your margin target is unrealistic for this product category, or you're comparing against the wrong reference point. All three are solvable.

Psychological pricing

Price at clean, round numbers. $65, not $64.99. $95, not $94. The 99-cent pricing convention belongs to fast fashion and commodity retail — it signals a category that creator merch shouldn't be associated with. A $65 tee communicates confidence in its own value. A $64.99 tee communicates that the seller is managing buyer psychology rather than letting the product speak for itself.

Don't underprice to drive volume

Underpricing your merch to sell more units is a false economy. A $45 tee that sells 100 units generates $4,500 revenue and roughly $2,000 gross profit. A $65 tee that sells 70 units generates $4,550 revenue and roughly $2,900 gross profit — more money, less production complexity, less fulfilment work. Margin beats volume in a merch programme of this scale.

Underpricing also affects brand positioning. A $45 tee signals a different level of investment and quality than a $65 tee. If your audience's willingness to pay reflects their perception of your brand value, pricing too low inadvertently communicates that you don't value what you've built.

Variable pricing across the range

Different products have different margin structures. A tee might have a 65% margin target; a hoodie can sustain 60% at its higher price point. A cap might hit 70%. Build each product's price independently from its own COG, rather than applying a flat price across the range or pricing everything relative to a single anchor product.

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