How to Price Custom Shower Curtains So You Actually Keep a Margin

New sellers usually price by looking at competitors and going slightly lower. That is not a pricing strategy; it is a race toward zero, and it ignores the costs that quietly decide whether a store survives.

Here is the method that works, using only arithmetic you can do before you list a product.

Step 1: start from landed cost, not supplier price

Landed cost is what the unit actually costs you to get into a customer's hands before you make a cent.

• Production cost per unit
• Inbound shipping (if you hold stock)
• Packaging and inserts
• Payment processing percentage
• Platform or marketplace commission

A supplier quote of a lower number means nothing if packaging and fees add more than the difference.

Step 2: subtract the costs that scale with each sale

These are the ones that turn a healthy-looking margin into a loss:

Cost	Typical nature
Payment processing	Percentage of sale price + fixed fee
Marketplace commission	Percentage of sale price
Outbound shipping	Fixed per order, sometimes subsidised
Refunds and replacements	Percentage allowance, not zero
Ad spend	Cost per acquisition, varies wildly

The refund line is the one people skip. In personalised products, a small but non-zero share of orders will need remaking — wrong spelling, unreadable photo, damaged in transit. Budget for it or it eats your margin invisibly.

Step 3: set a floor, not a target

Decide the minimum gross margin you will accept per order. Not “I would like 40%”, but “below this number I will not list the product”.

A workable floor for a low-ticket home product is usually high enough to absorb one full refund and still break even. If a single refund wipes out five sales, the price is too low.

Price so that a bad month is survivable, not so that a good month looks impressive.

Step 4: price the set, not the piece

Bathroom sets sell better than individual items, and they carry better margin. A customer buying a coordinated set is less price-sensitive per item, because they are buying a finished look rather than comparing four separate products.

If your supplier charges per piece, compare the set price against the sum of the pieces. If the set is cheaper than the sum, you have an easy bundle to promote. If it is not, you may still prefer it for the higher average order value.

Step 5: test price, do not guess it

Change the price on one design and watch conversion and margin together. A 15% price increase that drops conversion by 3% is usually a win. A 10% cut that doubles volume but halves margin is usually not.

Track contribution per order, not revenue. Revenue charts feel good and tell you almost nothing.

A worked example, without invented numbers

Set your own values in this structure:

1. Production cost: cost per unit from your quote
2. Add packaging: your actual cost
3. Add shipping: your actual cost
4. Add fees: percentage of your selling price
5. Add refund allowance: a realistic percentage
6. Add target contribution: what you need to keep
7. Solve for selling price

If the resulting price is far above what the market pays, the problem is the product or the channel, not the arithmetic. Cheapening the price to match a competitor with different costs is how sellers end up working for free.

Signals your price is wrong

• You are busy but the bank balance is flat
• A single refund removes the profit from several orders
• You cannot afford to test ads without borrowing
• You avoid looking at per-order contribution

Any of those means the price is doing work it cannot do.

Summary

• Price from landed cost, not supplier list price
• Include fees, shipping and a refund allowance
• Set a floor margin and refuse to list below it
• Bundle sets for better average order value
• Measure contribution per order, not revenue