How to price a product for resale on a marketplace: 6 steps from actual cost to final price

To price a product for resale on a marketplace, you need three prices, not one: the floor (below this, every sale loses money), the target (the price that gives you the margin you want), and the ceiling (the most the market will accept). For a product bought for R$ 19,90 and weighing 350 grams, the floor on Mercado Livre is R$ 36,77, and the price for a 15% margin is R$ 45,00. If a competitor sells it for R$ 39,90, you can see right away that you can match the price, but your margin will be just 6,4%.

Resellers often work backward: they look at a competitor’s price, undercut it a little, and publish the listing. Sometimes it works. When it doesn’t, they only find out at the end of the month. The step-by-step guide below takes half an hour per product and helps you avoid that.

#Step 1: Calculate your actual acquisition cost

The product cost isn’t the price on your supplier’s price list. It’s everything you pay to get one unit ready to sell:

If you import or buy from another state, you’ll also have purchase taxes and fees that your accountant can add up. The point is: the margin calculated using R$ 19,90 isn’t real. If your purchase price changes throughout the year, use the average cost of your stock, not the cost on your latest invoice. I explained the impact in the costing mistake that inflates your margin.

#Step 2: List the channel costs

Each marketplace charges differently. For the same 350-gram product:

• Mercado Livre: category commission (12% in this example, Classic) and shipping cost based on weight and price range. Between R$ 19 and R$ 48,99, shipping for this package costs R$ 6,95; between R$ 49 and R$ 78,99, it costs R$ 8,25.
• Shopee: 20% commission plus R$ 4,50 per item for items priced up to R$ 79,99.
• Both: tax on the sale (6% in this example, Simples Nacional) and packaging (R$ 0,60).

See the full tables in Mercado Livre fees in 2026 and Shopee fees in 2026.

#Step 3: Calculate the minimum price (floor)

The floor is the price at which the sale makes zero profit. It uses the same selling price formula, with a zero margin:

Floor = (acquisition cost + packaging + shipping or fixed fee) ÷ (1 − commission − tax)

• Mercado Livre: (R$ 22,60 + R$ 0,60 + R$ 6,95) ÷ 0,82 = R$ 36,77
• Shopee: (R$ 22,60 + R$ 0,60 + R$ 4,50) ÷ 0,74 = R$ 37,43

Below these prices, every unit sold takes money out of your cash flow. Write down the floor for each product. Check it before joining any promotion.

#Step 4: Calculate your target price

Now margin comes into the equation. With a 15% margin and no paid ads:

• Mercado Livre: (R$ 22,60 + R$ 0,60 + R$ 6,95) ÷ (1 − 0,12 − 0,06 − 0,15) = R$ 45,00
• Shopee: (R$ 22,60 + R$ 0,60 + R$ 4,50) ÷ (1 − 0,20 − 0,06 − 0,15) = R$ 46,95

If you plan to advertise this product with Mercado Ads or Shopee Ads, add the ad percentage to the divisor. With 6% for Ads, the target rises to R$ 51,56 on Mercado Livre (the price went above R$ 49, so shipping changes to R$ 8,25 and the calculation is redone for that price range) and to R$ 52,26 on Shopee.

This shift to a different price range is the detail that most often throws off prices calculated by hand. I explain why in the selling price formula.

#Step 5: Treat competitors’ prices as a ceiling, not a starting point

Only now, check how much competitors charge for the same or a similar product. There are three scenarios:

Below your floor: The competitor buys at a lower cost, is in a different category, ships a lighter package, or is selling at a loss. Copying the price means paying to make a sale. Your options are to stand out (bundle, variation, brand) or not sell this product on this channel.

Between your floor and target: You can compete, but there’s little room for ads. This is typical of a product that needs high sales volume without Ads.

Above your target: There’s room to compete. You can price below the competitor and still earn more than your target, or match their price and put the difference toward ads.

#Step 6: Decide, publish, and check back

With all three numbers in hand, the decision is clear. My rule: I list between the target and the ceiling; I go down to the floor only for a short, carefully calculated promotion; below the floor, I don’t sell.

After publishing, check your first month of sales. The earlier calculation is a forecast. The commission may differ in the category your listing ended up in, the package may have shipped at a higher weight, or a promotion may have pushed the price down. Your real margin is the one on your orders, not the one in your spreadsheet.

In practice. A cell phone accessories reseller showed me how he did it: he copied the top search result’s price and took off R$ 1. Of his 80 listings, 23 were below the floor. They were also his best-selling products because they were the cheapest in the search results. He didn’t have a low-price problem; he had 23 listings that cost him money to keep active and hid the profit from the other 57.

#The spreadsheet isn’t the problem; keeping it up to date is

You can do all of this in a spreadsheet. The problem is keeping it current: the supplier changes the price, the marketplace updates its fee table, the category changes the commission, or you switch boxes and the weight changes. A pricing spreadsheet that hasn’t been updated in three months is a list of wrong prices. I cover this in marketplace pricing spreadsheets.

To test a new product, the Milewa calculator calculates the floor and the price for any margin you choose on both marketplaces. For your existing catalog, Milewa calculates the floor and ideal price for each listing using the actual commission, shipping, and cost, and shows which listings are selling below the floor, including the loss per sale in reais.