How it works
- 1Enter your all-in costPurchase price plus prep, and anything you spent getting it ready.
- 2Pick the channelIts published rate and processing are applied for you, with the date each was checked.
- 3Add the cost of the holdFrom the holding cost calculator, or your own figure if you'd rather.
Break-even is not what you paid
The most common pricing mistake is treating the purchase price as the floor. It isn't. A marketplace takes its cut off the top, payment processing takes another, shipping and insurance come out, and the money was tied up the whole time. The real floor is the price at which all of that is covered and you are exactly level.
Knowing it does two things. It tells you when to stop negotiating, and it tells you which channel can even support the deal — because the same watch has a different floor on every channel.
Use it before you buy, not after
Read backwards, this is a buying tool. If the break-even price on a watch is above what the market actually pays for it, the deal was wrong at the buy, and no amount of patience fixes that. The max buy calculator works the same problem from the other end, starting with a target margin.
For a floor that reflects where you'll actually list, compare the channels first with the channel comparison calculator.
Common questions
Is break-even the same as my cost?
No. Cost is what you have in the watch. Break-even is the sale price at which the money coming back exactly equals that cost after fees, processing, shipping and the hold. It is always the higher number.
Should the cost of the hold be in here?
If the capital is genuinely tied up, yes — leaving it out flatters the deal. If you would rather see the figure without it, set it to zero and the calculation still works.
Why does the floor move when I change channel?
Because each channel charges differently. A marketplace taking a percentage of the sale needs a higher price to return the same money than a direct sale does, so the floor rises with the fee.
Does this include sales tax?
No. Sales tax is collected from the buyer and remitted, so it passes through rather than being yours to keep or lose. Your own income tax sits outside this calculation too.
Email me this result
The numbers and the breakdown, with a link that reopens this calculation. And we'll tell you when the fees behind it change.