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Bulk Lot Cost Calculator

Find your true cost per item, allow for the duds, and see whether a lot gets your money back at a realistic sell-through.

Steps 1 and 2 cost the lot. Step 3 is only needed if you want a sales projection. Every box in a step needs a figure — type 0 if it doesn't apply. Blank means "not known yet".

1 What you paid for the batch

The price of the bundle itself.

Courier or postage. Enter 0 if collected.

Buyer's fees, travel, parking. Enter 0 if none.

2 What you actually got

Count everything in the lot, including duds.

Stained, damaged or not worth listing. Enter 0 if none.

3 Sales projection (only if you want one)

Realistic, from sold listings — not asking prices.

Your fees + postage you pay + packaging, per sale. Enter 0 if none.

Of the sellable items, in your chosen time frame.

Lot breakdown

Cost a lot before you buy it

Fill in steps 1 and 2 to see the true cost of each sellable item. Blank boxes are unknown, not £0.

Before you buy the next one

Know the most you should pay for a lot

The Buy/Avoid Calculator works backwards from your minimum profit to the most you should pay, then gives a buy, negotiate or avoid verdict.

£7See the Buy/Avoid Calculator

Two numbers that tell different stories

Profit on sold items only counts the cost assigned to the items that sold. It tells you whether your pricing works.

Cash position subtracts everything you spent on the whole batch. It tells you whether you've got your money back yet.

The gap between them is your unsold stock at cost. Profit on sold items = cash position + unsold stock at cost. Both are before overheads and tax.

Worked example

Illustrative example
  1. A mixed lot of 25 items costs £120 plus £9.50 delivery: £129.50 cash spent.
  2. 3 items are unsellable, leaving 22. Cost per sellable item: £129.50 ÷ 22 = £5.89.
  3. Expect 70% to sell: 22 × 70% = 15.4, rounded down to 15 items.
  4. At £14 average and £3.80 selling costs each: revenue £210, selling costs £57, cost of sold items £88.34. Profit on sold items: £64.66.
  5. Cash position: £210 − £57 − £129.50 = £23.50, with 7 items (£41.16 at cost) still to sell.

Made-up figures to show the method — not a typical or promised result. Load them with “Load illustrative example” above. More detail in the bulk lot margins guide.