Most products come in variations: a candle in three sizes, a tee in five colors, a soap in a dozen scents. It's tempting to price them with a simple rule ("the big one is double"), but variations rarely scale that neatly. Price them all the same way and some quietly lose money while others leave it on the table.
Each variation has its own cost
An 8 oz candle uses more wax and fragrance than a 4 oz one, but the wick, jar, label, and your pour time don't simply double. So its true cost isn't 2x the small one; it's its own number. The same goes for a color that uses a pricier dye, or a scent with a costlier oil.
Price from each variation's [true cost](/blog/true-cost-of-handmade-products)
The fix is to cost each variation on what it actually uses, then apply your margin. Build the recipe per variation (the real materials and amounts) and let the price follow the cost, the same way you would for any single product.
- Build each variation's recipe (its actual materials and quantities).
- Get its true cost: materials + labor + overhead for that variation.
- Apply your margin to each, so every size and color clears its own cost.
- Then sanity-check the ladder: do the price gaps feel right to a shopper?
Price the small one too high and it looks like a rip-off; price the big one too low and you're paying customers to size up.
Mind the price ladder
Costs set the floor, but the gaps between variations also send a message. A good ladder nudges shoppers toward the value they want without any option feeling like a bad deal. If the math says a gap that feels off, revisit the cost or the lineup. Don't just paper over it.
Keep it sane as you add options
A handful of products with several variations each becomes dozens of distinct items fast, and pricing them by hand is where mistakes creep in. From the Maker plan, Keepsel lets you set up variations, each with its own true cost and price, so every size, color and scent is priced on its real numbers, not a rule of thumb.