Can You Make Money Selling $10 DTF Shirts?
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The short answer?
Maybe.
The better question is:
How much money are you actually keeping?
Every time I make a video about shirt pricing, someone shows up in the comments to tell me they're selling $10 shirts all day long.
Great.
Now let's do the math.
Revenue Is Not Profit
If you sell a shirt for $10, you have $10 in revenue.
That doesn't mean you made $10.
It doesn't even mean you made $5.
Profit is what remains after expenses.
And that's where many sellers get into trouble.
Let's Run the Numbers
For this example, let's use a common DTF shirt setup:
- Blank shirt: $3.50
- DTF transfer: $2.50
Total material cost:
$6.00
At first glance, it looks like:
$10.00 sale - $6.00 materials = $4.00 profit
And that's usually where the math stops.
The problem?
You're not done.
What About Everything Else?
Most businesses also have:
- Packaging
- Transaction fees
- Website fees
- Etsy fees
- Credit card processing fees
- Equipment replacement
- Heat press wear and tear
- Advertising
- Electricity
- Labor
Even if you don't count your own wage, these expenses still exist.
The Labor Problem
Let's say it takes:
- 2 minutes to press
- 2 minutes to package
- 1 minute answering customer questions
That's 5 minutes per shirt.
If you make $1 profit per shirt and can produce 12 shirts per hour, that's:
$12 per hour before taxes.
And that's assuming:
- No mistakes
- No misprints
- No returns
- No downtime
- No wasted materials
The Volume Argument
This is where someone usually says:
"But I sell hundreds."
That's different.
Volume can change everything.
If you're buying materials in massive quantities, batching orders, and processing hundreds of shirts, lower pricing may still be profitable.
Large businesses do this every day.
The problem is when small businesses use volume pricing without having volume.
The Real Question
The question isn't:
"Can someone make money selling a $10 DTF shirt?"
The question is:
"Can YOU make money selling a $10 DTF shirt?"
Your material costs are different.
Your labor costs are different.
Your overhead is different.
Your business is different.
Run Your Own Numbers
Some sellers can make money at $10.
Some lose money at $15.
Some make excellent money at $25.
That's why copying someone else's pricing can be dangerous.
You don't know their costs.
You don't know their overhead.
You don't know if they're profitable.
For all you know, they're paying to work.
Before copying anyone else's pricing, run your own numbers first.
If you're struggling to calculate labor, overhead, fees, and profit, check out the Ultimate Handmade Pricing Calculator.