Wholesale vs. Retail Pricing: A Maker's Guide

The first time a boutique asks to carry your work, it feels like you've made it. Then they ask for your wholesale price — typically half of retail — and the math gets scary. If your retail price barely clears your costs, halving it means losing money on every order.

Wholesale isn't a worse deal — it's a different one. Priced right, it's volume and reach. Priced wrong, it's a fast way to burn out. The difference is knowing your numbers before you quote.

Retail and wholesale are two different prices, both built on cost

Both start from the same place — your true cost (materials + labor + overhead). The difference is the margin you add and the buyer you're selling to:

• Retail is what an end customer pays you directly. It carries your full margin, because you're doing the selling, packing, and customer service.
• Wholesale is what a shop pays to buy from you and resell. It's lower — often about half of retail — because the shop takes on the selling and the storefront.

The classic rule of thumb: wholesale ≈ 2x your cost, retail ≈ 2x wholesale (so ~4x cost). It's a starting point, not gospel — but it shows why a thin retail margin can't survive being halved.

The trap: pricing retail too low to wholesale at all

If your retail price is only a little above cost, there's no room to wholesale. That's not a wholesale problem — it's a retail-pricing problem. Wholesale only works when your retail price has real margin built in first.

If you can't cut your retail price in half and still profit, your retail price is too low — not your wholesale price.

Protect your retail customers (and your shops)

Shops won't stock you if you undercut them on your own site. Keep your retail price consistent with what your stockists charge, so nobody feels cheated. Wholesale buyers are betting they can resell at your retail price — honor that.

Decide if a wholesale order is worth it

1. 1Start from your true cost per unit.
2. 2Set your retail price with full margin (many makers target ~4x cost).
3. 3Set wholesale around half of retail — and confirm it still clears your cost with margin to spare.
4. 4Factor the order size: wholesale trades margin for volume, so the batch has to be worth the production time.

If wholesale doesn't clear your cost, the answer isn't to accept the loss for "exposure" — it's to raise retail, lower cost, or pass on the order.

Know your numbers before you quote

The makers who wholesale confidently are the ones who know their true cost cold, so they can quote a wholesale price on the spot and know it's profitable. Hivara keeps a live true cost for every product and lets you set both retail and wholesale prices against it — so when a shop asks, you have a real answer, not a guess.