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Markup

Also called mark-up

Markup is profit expressed as a share of what you paid: how much you added on top of your cost.

For any profitable deal, the markup percentage is larger than the margin percentage on the same profit, because it's measured against the smaller number. Entering a markup when you mean a margin leads to overpaying.

Pick one measure for your business, use it consistently, and say which one you mean whenever you quote a number.

Retailers and wholesalers often talk in markup, while many dealers think in margin, so it's worth confirming which one a partner means before comparing numbers.

Related terms

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