Rex says
Money math without the spreadsheet headache. Plug in your numbers and I'll show you exactly where the dollars land.
Try a scenario
Click to load — tweak from there.Inputs
Result
Total merch profit per show
$285.75
Profit per shirt
$13.25
Profit per vinyl
$14.50
Total shirt profit
$198.75
Total vinyl profit
$87.00
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How to use this
- 1Enter shirt sale price ($).
- 2Enter shirt unit cost ($).
- 3Enter shirts sold per show.
- 4Enter vinyl sale price ($).
- 5Enter vinyl unit cost ($).
- 6Enter vinyl sold per show.
- 7Enter venue merch cut (%).
- 8Read your total merch profit per show on the right — it updates as you type.
- 9Hit Share to keep the scenario or send it to someone.
About this calculator
Merch is often the highest-margin revenue on tour, but venue merch cuts (commonly 10–25% of gross merch sales) quietly eat into what looks like pure profit. This calculator subtracts unit cost and the venue's percentage from your sale price to show true margin per item, then projects total profit for a night based on expected units sold across your product mix.
Worked example
Using the values the calculator loads with:
Inputs
- Shirt sale price: 25 $
- Shirt unit cost: 8 $
- Shirts sold per show: 15
- Vinyl sale price: 30 $
- Vinyl unit cost: 11 $
- Vinyl sold per show: 6
- Venue merch cut: 15 %
Results
- Total merch profit per show: $285.75
- Profit per shirt: $13.25
- Profit per vinyl: $14.50
- Total shirt profit: $198.75
- Total vinyl profit: $87.00
What each field means
Inputs
- Shirt sale price ($)
- The shirt sale price used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 25 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Shirt unit cost ($)
- The shirt unit cost used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 8 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Shirts sold per show
- The shirts sold per show used in the calculation. Starts at 15 so you have a working example on load.
- Vinyl sale price ($)
- The vinyl sale price used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 30 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Vinyl unit cost ($)
- The vinyl unit cost used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 11 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Vinyl sold per show
- The vinyl sold per show used in the calculation. Starts at 6 so you have a working example on load.
- Venue merch cut (%)
- The venue merch cut used in the calculation, measured in %. Starts at 15 % so you have a working example on load. Accepted range: 0–40 %.
Results
- Total merch profit per show
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars and shown as the headline result. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Profit per shirt
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Profit per vinyl
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Total shirt profit
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Total vinyl profit
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
FAQ
What's a typical venue merch cut?
Club-level venues commonly take 10–20%, larger venues and festivals can take 20–30%, and some DIY spaces take nothing. Always ask before load-in — it's frequently negotiable, especially for a support act with modest merch sales.
How do I price shirts to stay profitable after the cut?
Price so that price × (1 − venue cut) still clears at least 2–2.5x your unit cost. If your shirt costs $8 and the venue takes 20%, a $25 price nets $20, still a healthy margin over cost.
Is vinyl worth selling on tour given lower margins?
Vinyl margins per unit are often thinner than shirts in percentage terms, but it moves well at merch tables for dedicated fans and adds meaningful absolute dollars per show even at 6–10 units. It's more valuable as a fan-retention item than a high-margin product.
Accuracy and limitations
- Results are estimates before tax, fees, and inflation unless an input explicitly covers them.
- Rates are treated as fixed for the whole period — variable-rate products will drift from this projection.
- This is educational maths, not financial advice. Check anything contractual with the lender or your accountant.
Related tools
Cite this calculator
Writing about this topic? Grab a citation — every link helps keep these tools free.
RevenueLab. (2026). Merch Table Profit Calculator. Retrieved from https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/merch-table-profit
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/merch-table-profit" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Merch Table Profit Calculator — RevenueLab</a> (2026).</p>
Source: [Merch Table Profit Calculator — RevenueLab](https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/merch-table-profit) (2026).