How to Price Laser Engraving (Burn Time Is Money)
The blank costs $1.15. The laser cost thousands. Price the burn time and the personalization — that's where laser margins live.
Laser engraving has the strangest cost structure in craft: materials are cheap, the machine is expensive, and the product customers actually pay for — their name, their logo, their date — weighs nothing. Pricing it well means charging for the two invisible things: machine time and customization.
The visible cost of a coaster
- Slate coaster blank — about $1.15
- Laser time (8 min at shop rate) — about $0.20
- Padding feet — about $0.10
- Sleeve + kraft box — about $0.30
$1.75 all-in — $10 retail is an 83% margin. The laser-time line looks small, but it's doing important work: a per-minute shop rate that covers power, lens and tube wear, and the machine's payback makes long engraves cost what they should. A 25-minute detailed burn is not a 5-minute monogram.
Personalization is the product
The same $1.75 coaster sells at $10 plain and $14 with a name — the name IS the margin. Customization is made-to-order work: it can't be shelved in advance, it can't be returned to stock, and customers happily pay the premium. Never price personalized at ready-made rates.
The formula for laser work
- Blank + (burn minutes × shop rate) + packaging + margin, then the personalization premium on custom pieces
- Bulk orders: one setup + N blanks — 50 wedding coasters is materials × 50 plus one file prep, not 50
- Mixed materials: slate, wood, acrylic and metal blanks each carry their own cost; quote by material, not by "a coaster"
Laser pricing mistakes to avoid
- Machine time at zero — the laser wants its money back, per minute
- Flat prices across burn times — detailed art burns long and should cost more
- Personalized at catalog prices — customization is the premium, charge it
- Quoting bulk as N × single — setup spreads; whoever spreads it wins the order
Blanks, burn time and premiums — Hivara for laser engravers prices machine minutes into every recipe and keeps every material's blanks counted. The free pricing calculator will tell you if your shop rate is real or aspirational.
Put your numbers to work
Hivara tracks your materials, costs every product, and runs production by scan. Free to start — no credit card.
Start freeRun a specific craft? See Hivara for your craft.