Methodology
Last updated: Published by Cydney Mar
Every formula on this site is standard arithmetic, every benchmark is quoted exactly from a named published source, and every comparison uses the same criteria for each option.
Product Costing Desk is published by Cydney Mar, who also offers product development services, including costing. This page explains how the guides, calculator, and comparisons are put together so readers can judge them for themselves.
Benchmarks come only from published pages and are stated with their full range and conditions, with the source named and linked. Worked examples either repeat a source's own example or are clearly labeled as illustrations. No number on this site is presented as Cydney Mar's own result unless it is one of her stated career facts.
Margin = (price - unit cost) / price. Markup = (price - unit cost) / unit cost. Target-margin price = unit cost / (1 - target margin). These are the same formulas used across accounting and pricing guides, and every example on the site can be checked with a basic calculator.
The calculator adds four per-unit cost lines, spreads optional one-time costs evenly over the first order, and returns a gross-margin price. It excludes overhead, marketing, and channel fees. It rejects negative, empty, or unreadable entries and shows no result until every required figure is valid. Its output is an estimate, not a financial decision.
Comparison pages judge every option on the same stated criteria and say plainly that the publisher offers one of the options. Options are ordered by the stage where each is most useful. No ratings, reviews, or customer claims are used, and no page is presented as an independent review.
Each page shows the date it was last updated. Dates change only when content changes. If a source updates its figures, the page quoting it is revised and re-dated.
See them collected with their figures on the margin benchmarks page.
Run your own numbers in the product costing calculator
Published by Cydney Mar
