Free tool
How Much to Charge for Commissions
Most makers lose money on their first commissions because they price from materials alone. Add your actual costs, hours, and overhead to see what you should charge and what you will really earn per hour. Every number comes from 40+ real sources.
0%
Commission
You keep every dollar you earn.
Etsy takes 6.5% off every sale. PayPal skims 2.9%. Platforms eat 10 to 25% of your revenue before you buy materials. Costumary takes 0% commission. Just a flat $19/month for tracking your builds, quotes, and client communication.
Price your next commission from real data
This calculator gives you a starting number. Costumary tracks your actual materials, hours, and profit across every commission you take. After a few builds, you will quote from your own history instead of guessing.
Start tracking commissions freeHow to price cosplay and craft commissions
Most cosplay makers lose money on their first few commissions because they price from materials alone. A foam breastplate that costs $40 in materials takes 20 hours to build. At $200, you are earning $8 an hour before taxes, fees, and shipping eat another 25 to 40% of that. The calculator above shows your real take-home so you can price from data instead of guessing.
The formula that works
Materials + (hours x hourly rate) + overhead. Beginner makers charge $15 to $18 per hour, intermediate $20 to $25, experienced $30 to $40, and experts $45 to $60. Overhead includes Etsy fees (up to 9.5%), PayPal (2.9%), self-employment tax (15.3%), shipping materials, and equipment wear. These costs can eat 25 to 40% of your listed price.
Commission rates by craft type
Cosplay: simple sewn costumes go for $200 to $800, complex armor builds $1,000 to $3,000+. Fursuits: heads start at $800 for new makers, full suits $2,200 to $7,000+. Miniature painting: tabletop-standard infantry $10 to $15 per model, display quality $25 to $35, competition-level $47 to $143. Sewing: a lined jacket $150 to $400, a full gown $500 to $1,500.
The undercharging test
Take your total price, subtract materials and overhead, divide by hours. If that number is below $15, you are earning less than minimum wage for skilled work. A hand-embroidered pouch with $4.55 in materials and 80 minutes of labor should sell for $93, not $9. Run every quote through this test before sending it.
What happens after you set your price
Pricing is step one. The full commission workflow covers intake, quoting, building with client approval gates, and delivery tracking. Most makers lose time (and money) not on the build itself, but on the process around it.
Client intake
Ref sheets, measurements, timeline expectations, and your terms of service. One form, no back-and-forth.
Line-item quote
Materials, labor hours, overhead, and platform fees. The client sees exactly what they are paying for.
Approval gates
Each milestone gets a client checkpoint. Signed-off foam base means no redo after fur goes on.
Delivery and tracking
Final photos, shipping, payment status. See your effective hourly rate across all commissions.
Related guides
Deep dives and cost breakdowns for this topic.
Rush Fee Pricing: 25% to 100% and When
9 min read
Charge 25-100% for rush commissions based on timeline compression. Get the sliding scale framework, real examples, and a TOS template to stop undercharging.
Price Commissions Without Losing Money
12 min read
The real formula for pricing cosplay commissions so you stop working for less than minimum wage. Materials, labor, overhead, and profit margin.
Cosplay Commission Cost Breakdown
11 min read
A $2,000 cosplay commission isn't a ripoff. Here's where the money goes: materials ($150-400), labor (60-80 hours), overhead, and the margin makers skip.
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Carousel Composer
Drop your slide templates, overlay photos on each one, crop and rotate, then export everything as a zip. Runs in your browser, nothing uploaded.
What are you building next?
Start with a template, customize the milestones and materials, and build without losing track.
Cha Hae-in
~5wSolo Leveling's top S-rank female hunter in her signature white fitted uniform with gold-trimmed shoulder and chest armor, knee-high boots, and her 48-inch longsword. This is an intermediate hybrid build combining a stretch-knit bodysuit with EVA foam armor pieces and a sword prop. The armor-to-bodysuit attachment is the make-or-break detail. Includes 7 components, 14 materials with cost estimates, a 12-step build plan, and a realistic 4-6 week, $110 to $280 budget.
Agott
~6wAgott in the full Witch Hat Atelier apprentice outfit: the teal pointed hat with the white front triangle and gold tassel, the double-breasted front panel, the cape with the quilted white shoulder band and pompom ties, the cream underdress, and her short curly black-purple hair. The cloak patterning is the hard part, because the cape and front panel are separate layers that pull on each other. 8 components, 15 materials, ~6 weeks, $140-300.
Kafka
~6wKafka from Honkai: Star Rail built around a tailored wine-red blazer, fitted white shirt, shorts-skirt hybrid with decorative thigh straps, knee-high black boots, and 80cm wine-red wavy wig. The make-or-break detail is color consistency: the suit, wig, and trim all need to land in the same deep wine-red family, and they won't unless you buy the wig first and match everything to it. Includes 7 components, 14 materials, 12 milestones, 6 weeks, and a $130-310 realistic budget. Katana prop is optional but adds impact.
Maomao
~6wMaomao's palace maid look from The Apothecary Diaries is a layered hanfu build: a muted teal-green inner robe with a crossover yi collar visible at the chest, a darker outer robe layered over it, and her signature dark hair pulled into side braids with bun ornaments. The make-or-break details are keeping the inner collar visible through the outer layer and getting the wig buns to hold through a full con day. This is an intermediate sewing build that rewards anyone who can follow a hanfu pattern, with some wig work and light prop making for character accuracy. Includes 7 components, 13 materials with cost estimates, an 11-step build plan, and a realistic 6-week, $110 to $280 budget.
Used by makers from r/cosplay, The RPF, Cosplay.com, r/Gunpla, and r/minipainting
Have questions about pricing or managing commissions? We'll get back to you within 24 hours.
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