Choose What to Sell

Check the Margins

It’s one thing to love a product idea. It’s another to make sure it can actually make you money. That’s where margins come in. A margin is the difference between what it costs you to make (or source) a product and what you can realistically sell it for.

Margins don’t have to be complicated math. Here’s the quick way:

Find your cost: Add up the product cost + packaging + shipping to you.
Estimate your price: Look at competitors selling similar items on Etsy or Shopify. What are they charging?
Do the subtraction: Price – Cost = Margin.

As a rough rule:

Under 30% margin → too tight for a small brand.
40–60% margin → comfortable for most consumer products.
Over 60% margin → strong, gives you flexibility for ads or wholesale later.

Action

Take your 3–5 shortlisted products and run the quick margin check. Write down cost, price, and margin for each one. If an idea looks great creatively but the margin is weak, flag it. Strong margins give you the breathing room to grow.