MSRP Calculator
CheckedThe MSRP calculator builds a suggested retail price from your manufacturing cost, through wholesale, to the shelf. Free, no sign-up, and the result updates as you type.
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An MSRP is not one markup on cost, it is two stacked on top of each other, and the two compound rather than add. You mark your manufacturing cost up to a wholesale price; the stockist marks that wholesale price up again to the shelf price. A 50% stage followed by a 100% stage is a 200% total markup, not 150%, which is why brands that set an MSRP by doubling their cost end up unable to supply a retailer at all. This calculator runs both stages and shows the wholesale price, the retailer's margin and your own margin on the wholesale line.
How it's calculated
Wholesale = cost × (1 + your markup ÷ 100) MSRP = wholesale × (1 + retailer's markup ÷ 100)
LaTeX source
W = C \times \left(1 + \frac{m_w}{100}\right) \qquad \text{MSRP} = W \times \left(1 + \frac{m_r}{100}\right) Worked examples
A $9 build cost with a keystone retailer
$27.90 MSRP
You sell at $13.95 wholesale, a 35.5% margin on your side. The shop doubles that to $27.90, the keystone convention, giving it a 50% margin. Cost to shelf, the total markup is 210%. If you had set MSRP at $18 by doubling your own cost, there would be no wholesale price that both leaves you a margin and lets a shop reach 50%.
The numbers used
- Manufacturing cost
- 9
- Your markup to wholesale
- 55
- Retailer's markup
- 100
A $40 unit into a channel that expects more than keystone
$154.00 MSRP
Wholesale is $70 and MSRP is $154. The retailer's 120% markup is a 54.5% margin, which is what specialty and apparel buyers usually want rather than a flat 50%. Your own margin on the $70 wholesale line is 42.9%. Notice that the retailer earns $84 on the unit and you earn $30 — that is the normal shape of a wholesale deal, and it is paid for by not having to find the customer.
The numbers used
- Manufacturing cost
- 40
- Your markup to wholesale
- 75
- Retailer's markup
- 120
Questions sellers ask
How do I calculate MSRP?
Take the wholesale price you charge a stockist and apply the markup that channel expects — 100% in most of retail, more in apparel and specialty. If you only know your manufacturing cost, set your wholesale price first by marking cost up enough to leave you a margin, then apply the retail stage to that. Working the other way round, from a desired shelf price back to cost, is the safer method when the market price is already fixed.
How to calculate mrp from cost price?
Apply the two stages in order: cost to wholesale, then wholesale to retail. On a $9 cost with a 55% first stage and a keystone second stage, the maximum retail price is $27.90. Do not add the two percentages together — 55 plus 100 is not the answer, because the second markup applies to a number that already contains the first. The compounded total here is 210%.
How do I calculate my selling price?
As a brand you have two selling prices and they answer to different rules. Your wholesale price has to cover cost plus a margin you can live on at volume; the MSRP has to leave the retailer its expected margin and still be credible to a shopper. If the MSRP that falls out of the maths is above what the market pays, the problem is upstream in your manufacturing cost, not in the markup.
How do I calculate the out-the-door price of a new car?
MSRP is only the starting line on a vehicle. The out-the-door price is MSRP plus the destination charge, any dealer-added accessories, documentation fee, sales tax on the agreed price and title and registration. Dealer invoice sits below MSRP and holdback sits below invoice, which is why the transaction price and the sticker rarely match in either direction.
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