Apply keystone pricing (2x wholesale cost) or any custom multiplier to find your retail price and margin.
Keystone pricing is a classic retail rule of thumb: double your wholesale cost to set the retail price (a 2.0x multiplier). This calculator applies that — or any custom multiplier — to your wholesale cost to find your retail price, profit, and resulting margin.
A straight 2x keystone markup gives a 50% margin, which works for many retail categories but can be too thin once you factor in returns, shrinkage, marketing, and overhead — some retailers use 2.5x-3x ('triple keystone') for categories with higher costs of doing business, like jewelry or specialty goods.
A $10 wholesale cost at standard keystone (2.0x) gives a $20 retail price, $10 profit per unit, and a 50% margin. At triple keystone (3.0x), the same item retails for $30, with $20 profit and a 66.7% margin.
Is keystone pricing still used today? Yes, especially in independent retail, boutique, and specialty categories — though many larger retailers and e-commerce sellers now price more dynamically based on competition and demand rather than a flat multiplier.
What's the difference between margin and markup here? The multiplier here is a markup on cost (2x cost = 100% markup), while the margin shown is profit as a percentage of the retail price — a 2x multiplier (100% markup) always works out to exactly 50% margin.
Should I always use the same multiplier? Not necessarily — categories with higher overhead, more returns, or longer sales cycles often need a higher multiplier than fast-moving, low-touch products to stay genuinely profitable.