Trading Card Profit Calculator
Estimate what remains after purchase costs, selling fees, shipping, and other expenses. Adjust the assumptions to compare possible outcomes. Profit and break-even are calculated on this one page.
Results
Enter your numbers and press Calculate. Results are arithmetic on your assumptions, not an expected market return.
What each input means
| Input | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Card purchase price | What you paid, or expect to pay, for the card itself. |
| Purchase taxes and buyer fees | Sales tax at checkout, buyer premiums, payment fees on the purchase. |
| Inbound shipping | What you paid to have the card delivered to you. |
| Grading or preparation costs | Grading fees, shipping to and from the grader, supplies, anything spent before listing. |
| Expected item sale price | The price the buyer pays for the card, excluding shipping and excluding any sales tax the marketplace collects. |
| Shipping charged to the buyer | The shipping amount the buyer pays you, if any. It is part of your proceeds and may be part of the fee base. |
| Selling fee percentage | The combined percentage fee the marketplace and payment processor charge. |
| Fee base | What the percentage applies to. Some platforms charge on the item price only; others on item price plus buyer-paid shipping. Check your platform's fee schedule; some also charge on collected tax, which this calculator does not model. |
| Fixed selling fees | Per-order or per-listing charges that do not scale with price. |
| Actual outbound shipping and insurance | What you really pay to ship, not what you charged. |
| Other direct costs | Packaging, promoted-listing fees, an absorbed return, anything else tied to this sale. |
How the calculation works
- Total acquisition cost = purchase price + purchase taxes and fees + inbound shipping + preparation costs.
- Gross proceeds payable to you = item sale price + shipping charged to the buyer. Marketplace-collected sales tax is never counted.
- Selling fee = fee base × percentage + fixed fees, where the fee base is the item price or item price + buyer shipping, as you select.
- Estimated selling costs = selling fee + actual outbound shipping and insurance + other direct costs.
- Estimated profit or loss = gross proceeds − selling costs − total acquisition cost.
- Return on acquisition cost = profit ÷ total acquisition cost. The denominator is everything it took to own the card, not just the purchase price.
- Profit as a percentage of proceeds = profit ÷ gross proceeds.
- Break-even item sale price = the item price at which profit is exactly zero, solved under the fee base you selected rather than a single universal formula.
- Lower-sale-price scenario = the same calculation at a sale price reduced by the percentage you set.
Worked example
Illustrative, not a real trade With a $350 total acquisition cost, a $500 item sale, no buyer shipping, a 15% fee on the item price, $15 outbound shipping, and $10 other costs: the selling fee is $75, profit is $50, return on acquisition cost is 14.29%, profit as a share of proceeds is 10%, and the break-even item price is $441.18. Press "Load worked example" above to see it in the calculator.
Commonly missed costs
- Sales tax paid when you bought the card.
- Payment-processing fees charged separately from the marketplace fee.
- Fees calculated on shipping, or on tax, that you assumed applied to the item only.
- The gap between what you charged for shipping and what the label actually cost.
- Supplies: sleeves, top loaders, bubble mailers, boxes.
- Returns and partial refunds.
- Promoted-listing or store-subscription costs.
Limitations
- The result is not an expected market return. It is a calculation based on the numbers you enter; the sale price in particular is your assumption.
- Income tax on profits, business overhead, and your time are not included.
- Fee structures vary and change. Confirm the current rules for your platform; we have not added presets because we have not verified and documented them.
- Currency is USD by default. Enter all values in one currency.
For the reasoning behind each cost, read CardVolume's guide How to Calculate Card-Flipping Profit After Costs, and for why a card may sell below recent sales, Why a Valuable Card Can Still Be Difficult to Sell. Formulas are also listed in our methodology.