Costs & profitability
Where the money actually goes
Electricity is the easiest running cost to look up. On the page's hypothetical 0.7 kW machine-power, 26.32p/kWh electricity-price and 5% remake-rate inputs, a sold sign with a nine-minute laser time comes to about 2.9p. What moves the answer is your time, your remakes and the way you sell.
Where £24 goes: one sign, two made-up workshops
Search for the running cost of a laser and you will mostly find electricity, because it is the one number you can look up. It is also the smallest one on the page.
Take a machine drawing 0.7 kW. At 26.32p a unit, an hour of cutting costs about 18.4p, and a sign that takes nine minutes uses about 2.8p of electricity before any remake factor. Both those numbers need a warning.
A power rating is the most a machine can draw, not what it actually uses. Real consumption depends on how hard the laser is working and on whatever runs alongside it — extraction, chiller, air pump. xTool publishes 700 W for the P2S, but that figure is for the 100–120 V model, and the same page says machines sold in the UK and Europe run at 220 V.1 We could not find a published input-power figure for the 220 V version. That is why the calculator asks for your machine's rating rather than assuming one.
And 26.32p is a household price, not a business one. It is Ofgem's average for England, Scotland and Wales, for people on a default tariff paying by Direct Debit between October and December 2026.2 If you buy electricity on a business tariff, it does not apply to you. Use the unit rate on your own bill.
Even if you doubled both figures, electricity would still be a few pence a sign. What separates the two workshops is time, remakes and how they sell.
Three kinds of cost
It helps to sort costs by the decision they belong to rather than by what the invoice calls them.
Before you buy
Once, or financed into a monthly payment
The machine. Extraction or filtration, if it needs more than it comes with — see workshop setup. Anything the manual asks for around it: cooling, compressed air, a stand. Accessories for the work you plan, and software if the bundled program won't do.
Every month, sales or not
Fixed costs
Finance repayments, or what you set aside to replace the machine. Insurance. Software subscriptions. Workspace, if it costs you anything. Shop or marketplace subscriptions. Servicing on a schedule.
Every job
Variable costs
Materials, including offcuts and the pieces you remake. Machine running: electricity, filters and parts that wear by the hour. Packaging. Selling fees. Postage you pay. And your time, whether or not you count it.
The calculator needs the last two groups. The first decides the second: the more you borrow, or set aside each month, the more you have to sell before anything is left.
Two workshops, one sign
Both make the same birch-plywood sign on the same machine and sell it for £24. Workshop A sells direct and is paid by bank transfer, so it pays no selling fees. Workshop B sells on Etsy.
- The listing fee is billed by Etsy as $0.20 USD, so £0.15 moves with the exchange rate.3
- A multi-quantity listing renews at $0.20 each time an item sells, so it is charged once per sale.4
- The Regulatory Operating fee is charged on the item price and postage costs, including gift wrap and personalisation where applicable.5
- Workshop B is not VAT-registered, so Etsy's fees carry VAT at 20% and it cannot reclaim any of it. Etsy states its listed fees are exclusive of VAT and that VAT is collected where it applies, so this depends on your own VAT position.4
- The shop is small enough to opt out of Offsite Ads, and has. A shop with less than $10,000 of sales in the previous 365 days pays 15% on sales that come through them unless it opts out; above that threshold, opting out is not offered.4
| Per sign | Type | Workshop A | Workshop B |
|---|---|---|---|
| Selling price | hypothetical | £24.00 | £24.00 |
| Postage charged, and paid out | hypothetical | £3.50 | £3.50 |
| Where it sells | hypothetical | Direct, bank transfer | Etsy UK |
| Percentage fees | sourced rates | 0% | 10.98% |
| Fixed fees per item | sourced rates | £0.00 | 35.0p |
| VAT on selling fees | assumption | n/a | 20% |
| Selling fees per item | calculated | £0.00 | £4.04 |
| Sheet of 3 mm birch plywood | hypothetical | £9.60 | £9.60 |
| Signs from each sheet | hypothetical | 6 | 5 |
| Signs remade | hypothetical | 5% | 15% |
| Materials per sold sign | calculated | £1.68 | £2.26 |
| Laser time per sign | hypothetical | 9 min | 9 min |
| Assumed machine power | hypothetical | 0.7 kW | 0.7 kW |
| Electricity price | sourced | 26.32p/kWh | 26.32p/kWh |
| Other running cost per machine hour | hypothetical | 50.0p | 50.0p |
| Running cost per sold sign | calculated | 10.8p of which electricity 2.9p | 12.1p of which electricity 3.3p |
| Packaging | hypothetical | 90.0p | 90.0p |
| Contribution before your time | calculated | £21.31 | £16.68 |
| Contribution rate | calculated | 77.5% | 60.6% |
| Hands-on minutes per sign | hypothetical | 25 | 40 |
| Return per hour of your time | calculated | £51.14 | £25.02 |
| Your time valued at £15 an hour | hypothetical | £6.25 | £10.00 |
| Contribution after your time | calculated | £15.06 | £6.68 |
| Fixed costs per month | hypothetical | £180.00 | £180.00 |
| Signs a month to cover them | calculated | 12 | 27 |
Same machine, same product, same price. A keeps £15.06 a sign after paying itself £15 an hour; B keeps £6.68, and needs 27 sales a month to cover £180 of fixed costs where A needs 12. Before fixed costs, A's time earns £51.14 an hour and B's £25.02. Under the stated hypothetical 0.7 kW and sourced 26.32p/kWh inputs, electricity is about 2.9p per sold sign for Workshop A and 3.3p for Workshop B after their different remake rates.
The biggest single difference is time. B spends an extra quarter of an hour on each sign, which at £15 an hour costs it £3.75 more than A spends. Its entire Etsy bill is £4.04. The second difference is waste: B remakes 15% of its signs and gets five from a sheet where A gets six.
What moves the answer
Change each of Workshop B's inputs by a fifth, one at a time, and watch what happens to the £6.68 it keeps after paying itself.
What moves Workshop B's number
A fifth is a yardstick, not a forecast. Some of these are yours to set, like the price. Others — hands-on minutes, remakes — you can only guess at until you have made enough to measure them. That is why they get a line of their own rather than being folded into a round number.
Your numbers
The calculator runs in your browser and nothing you type is sent anywhere. Every line has a letter, and every result shows the sum behind it, so you can check it by hand or on the printed worksheet. It starts loaded with Workshop A — replace the figures with yours.
The sale
Selling fees
Materials
Machine
Getting it out of the door
Your time
The month
Payback, if you want one
Check the sheet
One line needs a valid number.
The lines that need attention are marked. Every figure has to be a number that isn't negative; items per sheet and both sets of minutes have to be above zero; and the remake rate has to be under 100%.
No result is shown until they are, because a figure built on an impossible input looks just as convincing as a real one.
Results
Included: every cost that rises with each item you sell, plus the fixed costs you enter. Left out: income tax and National Insurance; VAT on your own sales; refunds and returns; advertising you pay for separately; and unpaid hours not tied to an item, such as bookkeeping. That is why nothing here is called profit.
VAT basis: if you are VAT-registered, enter every price and cost without VAT, and set the VAT on selling fees to 0 if you reclaim it. If you are not registered, enter what you actually pay, VAT included.
After your time, per item £15.06 All results
Laser job costing worksheet
Laser Workbench, laserworkbench.com/costs-profitability. Work in prices without VAT if you are VAT-registered. A costing method, not tax or accounting advice.
| The sale | |||
| A | Selling price per item (£) | ||
| B | Postage you charge per item (£) | ||
| C | Money in (£) | A + B | |
| Selling fees | |||
| D | Percentage fees (%) | ||
| E | Fixed fees per item (£) | ||
| F | VAT on selling fees (%) | ||
| G | Selling fees per item (£) | (C × D ÷ 100 + E) × (1 + F ÷ 100) | |
| Materials | |||
| H | Price of a sheet or blank (£) | ||
| I | Items you get from it | ||
| J | Items remade (%) | ||
| K | Remake factor | 100 ÷ (100 − J) | |
| L | Materials per sold item (£) | H ÷ I × K | |
| Machine | |||
| M | Laser minutes per item (min) | ||
| N | Machine power (kW) | ||
| O | Electricity price (p/kWh) | ||
| P | Other running cost per machine hour (£) | ||
| Q | Running cost per machine hour (£) | N × O ÷ 100 + P | |
| R | Running cost per sold item (£) | Q × M × K ÷ 60 | |
| Getting it out of the door | |||
| S | Packaging per item (£) | ||
| T | Postage you pay per item (£) | ||
| U | Costs before your time (£) | G + L + R + S + T | |
| V | Contribution before your time (£) | C − U | |
| W | Contribution rate (%) | V ÷ C × 100 | |
| Your time | |||
| X | Hands-on minutes per item (min) | ||
| Y | Return per hour of your time (£) | V × 60 ÷ X | |
| Z | What your time is worth per hour (£) | ||
| AA | Contribution after your time (£) | V − Z × X ÷ 60 | |
| The month | |||
| AB | Fixed costs per month (£) | ||
| Payback, if you want one | |||
| AC | What you spent up front (£) | ||
| AD | Items you expect to sell each month | ||
| Results | |||
| Items a month to cover fixed costs, your time paid | AB ÷ AA, rounded up | ||
| Items a month with your time unpaid | AB ÷ V, rounded up | ||
| Contribution per machine hour | V × 60 ÷ (M × K) | ||
| Electricity per sold item | N × O ÷ 100 × M × K ÷ 60 | ||
| Floor price | ((E × v) + L + R + S + T + Z × X ÷ 60) ÷ (1 − D ÷ 100 × v) − B, where v = 1 + F ÷ 100 | ||
| Payback in months | AC ÷ ((AD × AA) − AB) | ||
| Record | |||
| VAT basis used | |||
| Known omissions — what this costing leaves out | |||
| Prepared by, and date | |||
Profit, payback, and the number we can't give you
The calculator stops at contribution, and the words matter. Revenue is what customers pay. Contribution is what a sale leaves after the costs that came with it. Operating profit is what is left over a period once every cost of running the business is paid, fixed ones included. Payback is how long that takes to repay what you spent up front.
Everything past contribution needs one more number: how many you will sell each month. Nobody can supply that for you. The calculator asks for your estimate and works the payback out from it:
Payback in months = what you spent up front ÷ ((items a month × contribution after your time) − monthly fixed costs)
If the bracket is zero or negative you are not covering your fixed costs, so there is no payback to calculate and the calculator says so rather than printing a number. Leave finance repayments out of the monthly fixed costs for this sum, or you will count the machine twice.
Next: turn the job you have just costed into a brief for choosing a machine — what to work out first.
Sources
All checked on 21 September 2026. Fees and tariffs change; check the current figures before you rely on them.
- xTool Support, “xTool P2S FAQs”. Checked 21 September 2026. States “100V - 120V AC, 60Hz, and 700W” and that the machine “consumes 700 watts, or 0.7 kilowatt-hours (kWh), of electricity per hour”. Both figures are given for the 100–120 V model. The same page states that in “Europe, the UK, and Australia” the machines run at 220 V, and gives no input-power figure for that model.↩
- Ofgem, “Changes to energy price cap between 1 October and 31 December 2026”. Checked 21 September 2026. “If you are on a standard variable tariff (default tariff) and pay for your electricity by Direct Debit, you will pay on average 26.32 pence per kilowatt hour (kWh).” Averaged across England, Scotland and Wales. A household figure, not a business one.↩
- Etsy, “Sell on Etsy” (United Kingdom). Checked 21 September 2026. £0.15 listing fee, 6.5% transaction fee on “the sale price (including the postage price you set)”, 4% + £0.20 payment processing, 0.48% Regulatory Operating fee. States that “Listing fees are billed for $0.20 USD, so the amount in your currency may vary based on changes in the exchange rate.”↩
- Etsy, “Fees & Payments Policy”. Checked 21 September 2026. “VAT is collected on all Etsy fees for sellers located in countries where VAT should be applied. Note that fees listed in this policy are exclusive of VAT.” Multi-quantity listings: “the initial listing fee will be $0.20, and the listing will be automatically renewed at $0.20 after each of the items sells.” Offsite Ads: a shop with “less than $10,000 USD in sales over the prior 365 days” pays 15% “unless you opt out”.↩
- Etsy Help, “What is a Regulatory Operating Fee?”. Checked 21 September 2026. States the fee is charged on the item price and postage costs, including gift wrap and personalisation costs where applicable.↩
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