Most "what to sell" lists quote profit per hour with no source. This one shows real listing prices as displayed on 24 September 2026, plywood prices from shops in the US, Poland and Germany, and a worked margin example where every cost we could not source stays blank for you to fill in.
Quick answer
- Layered city maps are high-ticket: on Etsy we saw $34.99 (4×4 in) up to $1,279.20 (40×60 in). Our own shop charges 220–846 zł for cut-out maps and 398–1,561 zł for 3D epoxy maps.
- Small items are cheap: keychains, pet tags, coasters and ornaments mostly sit between $1 and $25, and bulk listings go down to $1 a piece.
- Plywood is a small cost: three 30×30 cm layers of 3 mm plywood cost about 22 zł in Poland, €8.60 in Germany or $5.97 in the US.
- The real costs are the unpublished ones: channel fees, resin, frames, packaging and your hours.
- Ignore crossed-out prices: many Etsy listings run a permanent 40–75% "sale". Compare what the buyer actually pays.
How were these prices collected?
On 24 September 2026 we opened Etsy listing pages and Etsy "market" category pages (Etsy's search pages block automated reading), plus the product pages of plywood and acrylic shops. The Etsy pages were read from the US, so they show US dollars, and prices can change within hours. Allegro's listing pages refused our requests, so there are no Allegro map prices here.
The sale trap. Many listings show a permanent discount of 40–75%, for example a bamboo cutting board at $13.99 next to a crossed-out $55.96 ("75% off"). Nobody outside the shop can check whether the "original" price was ever charged. We quote the price the buyer pays.
What do popular laser products sell for?
These are the first visible results on Etsy category pages, each of which showed "5,000+" results:
| Category | Low end | High end | In between |
|---|---|---|---|
| Layered city maps | $34.99 (4×4 in) | $1,279.20 (40×60 in) | 11×14 in: $79.99–$174.60 |
| Engraved cutting boards | $12.99 (bamboo, "75% off") | $119.89 (end-grain walnut) | Walnut $26.90; live-edge charcuterie $90.74 |
| Ornaments | $1.00 (wholesale) | $25.00 (custom logo) | Photo or house-sketch ornament $19.00 |
| Coasters | $1.00 (slate, logo) | $24.99 (street-map coasters with holder) | Cork logo coasters $4.00 each for 5–250 |
| Wood signs | $4.50 (wood words) | $69.00 (family name sign) | Logo signs $9.59–$44.99 |
| Wedding signs | $24.99 (date sign) | $69.00 (last-name sign) | Seating-chart lettering $56.00 |
| Tumblers | $14.39 (bulk 20 oz) | $51.50 (Owala with birth flower) | Engraved Yeti $16.20–$39.95 |
| Keychains | $4.00 (maple, custom shape) | $13.62 (stainless, custom) | Digital file bundles $1.56–$13.32 |
| Earrings | $14.39 (wood mandala) | $16.00 (metal) | Most first-page results were SVG bundles, $1.43–$34.99 |
| Pet tags | $4.99 | $22.00 (bulk shelter tags) | $8.99–$14.99; photo or handwriting tag $20.00 |
Prices as displayed on 24 September 2026 to a US reader, crossed-out prices ignored. One tumbler showed $4.63 ("75% off"), an outlier we left out of the range.
Two patterns stand out. In this sample, personalized decor and premium boards sit around $70–120, and only maps go past $1,000. The cheap end is crowded with bulk and corporate listings and with digital file bundles.
What do layered city maps sell for on Etsy?
The Etsy market page for "3D wooden city map" showed "5,000+" results. Five shops, as displayed on 24 September 2026:
| Shop (location) | Sizes and prices as displayed | "Sale" shown | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| MapCuts (Cuyahoga Falls, OH) | 11×14 in $103.20 · 18×24 $199.20 · 24×36 $319.20 · 40×60 $1,279.20 | 20% off | Plywood; 18.2k sales; proof after about 2 weeks |
| FrontierDesignsAK (Palmer/Wasilla, AK) | 8×10 $136.10 · 11×14 $174.60 · 16×20 $251.60 · 18×24 $347.50 | 30% off | Baltic birch; shop shows 144.6k sales |
| RealEstateStoreCom (Palm Harbor, FL) | 8×10 $74.99 · 11×14 $129.99 · 16×20 $169.99 · 18×24 $199.99 | "50% off" | 3 layers; shipping $16.56 extra |
| Kustwood | 8×12 or 12×12 $164.85 · 16×16 $256.89 · 20×20 $397.47 · 24×24 $714.02 | From "$193.94+" | 3 layers, hand painted |
| MaroAtlas (Salt Lake City, UT) | 4×4 $34.99 · 11×14 $79.99 · 16×16 $169.99 · 20×20 $219.99 | — | Paper and wood, framed |
Etsy listing pages, 24 September 2026. A "wood and epoxy" city map on the same market page showed $151.20.
The same 11×14 in size sells for $79.99 at one shop and $174.60 at another: more than twice as much. One is listed as "paper and wood", framed; the other as Baltic birch. Compare what is in the box, not just the size.
What does a Polish map workshop charge?
We make and sell layered wooden city maps in our own shop, Viperys Wall Art, handmade in Poland. Our cut-out maps are 6 mm A-grade Baltic birch plywood, painted black, natural or white, mounted with 3M double-sided tape and hidden keyhole hangers. Our 3D maps are layers of poplar plywood in a solid pine frame, hand-waxed, with water in real epoxy resin in three shades of blue, poured by hand.
| Size | Cut-out map | 3D epoxy map | 3D ÷ cut-out |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20×20 cm | 220 zł | 398 zł | 1.81 |
| 20×30 cm | 264 zł | 488 zł | 1.85 |
| 30×30 cm | 309 zł | 577 zł | 1.87 |
| 30×40 cm | 381 zł | 667 zł | 1.75 |
| 40×40 cm | 443 zł | 801 zł | 1.81 |
| 45×45 cm | 488 zł | 890 zł | 1.82 |
| 40×60 cm | 577 zł | 1,024 zł | 1.77 |
| 45×75 cm (3D: 75×45) | 711 zł | 1,337 zł | 1.88 |
| 45×90 cm | 846 zł | 1,561 zł | 1.85 |
Product page prices, 24 September 2026. The ratio column is our calculation.
At every size the 3D version costs about 1.75–1.9 times the cut-out. It is built from several layers, framed in pine and filled with resin: exactly the costs no public source prices for you (see the worked example below). Our size guide also lists euro prices, from €75 (XS, 20×20 cm) to €355 (XXL, 45×90 cm).
What about cheap items and bulk orders?
At $1–5 a piece, fixed fees bite. On a $5 keychain sold by a US Etsy shop, the $0.20 listing fee, 6.5% transaction fee and 3% + $0.25 processing fee add up to $0.93, about 18.5% of the sale. On a $100 map the same fees are $9.95, just under 10%. Our fees guide has the full picture: where to sell laser products and what it costs.
Bulk and business buyers are a real market: wholesale ornaments at $1.00, corporate logo ornaments at $3.27, logo cork coasters at $4.00 each for 5–250 pieces, a corporate logo tumbler at $17.10. Vendor numbers for this segment are claims, not data: OMTech says a slate coaster costing "under $1" sells for "$10+" when personalized, and xTool puts profit on pet tags at about $160 an hour without citing a source.
Wholesale halves the price. Etsy's Seller Handbook describes keystone pricing: retail is at least twice wholesale, so a shop buying from you pays about half the retail price. Craftybase, an inventory-software company, adds that for wholesale to work your base cost should be no more than 25% of retail. Direct business discounts can be smaller: our own trade program gives 15% off for 5–9 maps, 18% for 10–24 and 20% for 25–49.
What do plywood and acrylic cost in 2026?
| Country | Material (shop) | Size | Price | ≈ per m² |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | Baltic birch 1/8 in (MakerStock) | 12×12 in / 12×20 in | $1.99 / $3.79 | $24.48 (12×20) |
| US | Baltic birch 3 mm, 6-pack (Woodpeckers) | 12×20 in | $29.36 ($4.89 a sheet) | $31.60 |
| US | Baltic birch 3 mm, 5-pack (LaserGrain) | 11.8×19.8 in | $57.95 ($11.59 a sheet) | $76.89 |
| US | Clear cast acrylic 1/8 in / 3 mm (MakerStock / Laser Craft Supply) | 12×20 in | $7.99 / $12.99 on sale | — |
| Poland | Birch 3 mm, class 1 (Sklejka-Kraków) | 600×400 mm | 11.21 zł incl. VAT | 46.71 zł |
| Poland | Birch 3 mm, class 1/2, full sheet (Sklejka-Kraków) | 1525×1525 mm | 80.07 zł incl. VAT | 34.43 zł |
| Poland | Birch 3 mm, class 1/2 (Drecon-Sklejka) | 400×400 mm | 7.34 zł incl. VAT | 45.88 zł |
| Poland | Clear cast acrylic 3 mm (Diolut) | 600×400 mm | 71.34 zł incl. VAT | — |
| Germany | Poplar 3 mm A/A (Zembrod) | 600×400 mm | €4.30 incl. 19% VAT | €17.92 |
| Germany | Poplar 3 mm, cut to size (Plattenzuschnitt24) | Per m² | €22.10 (VAT not stated) | €22.10 |
| Germany | Poplar 3 mm A3, 5-pack (Mr Beam) | 297×420 mm | €31.90 (€6.38 a sheet) | €51.15 |
Shop pages, 24 September 2026. Per-m² values are our calculation. One Polish shop, MateriałyLaser.pl, labels its 600×300 mm birch sheet at 29.90 zł "per 1 m²", which is ambiguous, so we left it out.
The lesson is in the last column. Laser-branded packs can cost about three times as much per square meter as sheets from a plywood merchant or bulk supplier:Mr Beam at €51.15 against Zembrod at €17.92, both 3 mm poplar; LaserGrain at $76.89 against MakerStock at $24.48, both 3 mm Baltic birch. Full sheets are cheaper again. Glue type and grade matter for laser work, so compare like with like; our plywood guide explains what to check.
Which pricing formula should you use?
| Method | How it works | Who says so |
|---|---|---|
| Keystone | Break-even = supplies + overhead + labor; wholesale ≥ 2 × break-even; retail ≥ 2 × wholesale | Etsy Seller Handbook |
| Cost-plus | (Materials × markup) + labor + overhead + platform fees + shipping. Minimum hourly rate = desired monthly income ÷ production hours ($1,800 ÷ 80 h = $22.50/h). Target net margin 20–40% | Craftybase (software vendor) |
| Material multiple | Material × 3–5 + time + brand value | OMTech (laser vendor) |
| Machine minutes | Laser time at "$1 per minute", labor at $40/h | Trotec (laser vendor) |
| Shop hourly rate | $25–50/h for standard work, $50–150/h for advanced setups | OMTech (laser vendor) |
| What makers charge | $0.80–6 per minute and $50–200/h (2013); $40/h engraving, $60/h cutting (2015); "$0.50 to $5.00 per minute" (2025) | Sawmill Creek and LightBurn forums |
Machine-minute rates suit engraving jobs where the customer brings the item. A layered map is different: most of its time is design, proofing, painting, resin and framing, not beam time. On Sawmill Creek, one maker argues for pricing at market value rather than laser time alone. Use a formula to find your floor, then check it against the market tables above. Our guide to pricing custom map products walks through the thinking.
Worked example: what is left from a 30×30 cm map?
Our 3D epoxy map at 30×30 cm sells for 577 zł. First, what each sales channel takes (calculated from the official fee pages):
| Channel | Fee on 577 zł | Maker keeps |
|---|---|---|
| Allegro, "Home and Garden", seller not VAT-registered (13.53%) | 78.07 zł | 498.93 zł |
| Allegro Lokalnie (7.9%) | 45.58 zł | 531.42 zł |
| Etsy, listed in EUR (≈ €131.67): 6.5% + 4% + €0.30 + listing fee | ≈ €14.30 | ≈ 514.33 zł (499.91 zł with 23% VAT on fees; 427.78 zł if it is a 15% Offsite Ads sale, before VAT on fees) |
| Craft fair, SumUp card reader (1.49%) | 8.60 zł | 568.40 zł |
ECB rate of 24 September 2026: 1 EUR = 4.3823 PLN = 1.1367 USD. Polish sellers are paid by Etsy in euros; listing in EUR avoids the 2.5% conversion fee. Allegro charges commission on the price plus the delivery cost the buyer chose.
Now the whole map. Assumptions: three 30×30 cm layers of 3 mm plywood; two layers fit on one 600×400 mm sheet, which uses the full 600 mm width with no spare margin. Lines we could not source stay blank.
| Line | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Retail price | 577.00 zł | Our product page |
| Channel fee (Allegro example) | −78.07 zł | Allegro fee schedule |
| Plywood: 2 sheets of 3 mm birch, 600×400 mm | −22.42 zł | Sklejka-Kraków (11.21 zł a sheet) |
| Electricity, 40 W-class diode at full draw | −0.28 zł × ___ machine hours | Creality spec (240 W) × Eurostat PL price (1.1505 zł/kWh) |
| Epoxy resin | ___ | No sourced price |
| Frame | ___ | No sourced price |
| Glue or tape | ___ | No sourced price |
| Finish (wax, lacquer) | ___ | No sourced price |
| Packaging and shipping | ___ | No sourced price |
| Your labor | ___ h × ___ zł/h | Your own rate |
| Left before the blank lines | 476.51 zł minus electricity | Our calculation |
- The sourced costs are small: fee plus plywood is 100.49 zł, about 17% of the price. The rest sits in the blank lines.
- Electricity is a rounding error: a 40 W-class diode at full draw costs about 0.28 zł an hour in Poland, €0.09 in Germany and $0.04 in the US. For a CO2 laser we found no sourced power figure: add up the ratings of your laser, chiller, fan and air pump and multiply kW × hours × price per kWh.
- Same plywood elsewhere: two 600×400 mm sheets of Zembrod poplar cost €8.60; three 12×12 in MakerStock sheets cost $5.97. Cut from a full 1525×1525 mm sheet, the three layers are 0.27 m², about 9.30 zł.
- Wholesale check: keystone puts a shop's buying price at 288.50 zł, and Craftybase's 25% rule caps your base cost at 144.25 zł for wholesale to work.
Should you sell map files or finished maps?
Digital files are the cheapest way into the map niche, for buyers and sellers. A three-layer New York map file (PDF, SVG, EPS, AI and CDR, 8×12 in) was listed at $10.20 on 24 September 2026, by a shop with 1.2k sales. Finished maps of a similar size (8×10 to 11×14 in) start around $75–80 in the table above. A file sells without material or shipping costs; a finished map earns more per sale but pays for plywood, finishing, framing and customer service.
If you make finished maps, the design step is where time goes. The Maperivo Laser Map Designer lets you design your own layered map file, so you are not limited to the cities someone else has drawn. Before selling products made from a bought file, read its license. For selling channels and listing tips, see how to sell laser-cut maps online.
Which pricing mistakes eat the margin?
- Copying crossed-out prices. Benchmark against what buyers pay, not the "original" price.
- Forgetting fees and ads. On Etsy, add the $0.20 listing fee, 6.5% transaction fee and payment processing (3% + $0.25 in the US; 4% + €0.30 in Germany and Poland). An Offsite Ads sale costs another 15% for shops under $10,000 a year (they can opt out) or 12% above that (mandatory), capped at $100 per order.
- The wrong marketplace category. On Allegro, "Home and Garden" is 11% net (13.53% gross), while "Collections and Art" handicrafts outside the "Handmade Items" subcategory is 14% net (17.22% gross). One seller on the Allegro community expected 18.40 zł commission on a 183.99 zł sale and was shown 29.07 zł before publishing; a moderator traced it to the subcategory the item was listed in.
- Paying three times too much for plywood. See the per-m² column above.
- Pricing on laser minutes alone. A map's hours are in design, proofing and finishing. MapCuts quotes about two weeks before a customer sees a proof.
- Believing vendor earnings tables. Profit-per-hour figures from laser makers are rarely sourced. Our guide on how much you can earn with a laser uses official data instead.
Sources
Checked 24 September 2026. Etsy pages were read by a US-based reader, so prices show in USD; they change often and are quoted as displayed. Vendor figures are labeled as claims. Calculations use only the sourced inputs named next to them.
- Etsy — MapCuts, custom city map; custom wooden city map
- Etsy — FrontierDesignsAK, custom wood map
- Etsy — RealEstateStoreCom, custom laser cut map
- Etsy — Kustwood, multi-layer wooden city map
- Etsy — MaroAtlas, wooden map of any city
- Etsy market — 3D wooden city map; WorldOnWoodArt, New York map file
- Etsy market pages: cutting boards, ornaments, coasters, wood signs, wedding signs, tumblers, keychains, earrings, pet tags
- Viperys Wall Art (our shop) — 3D map, cut-out map, size guide, trade program
- US shops: MakerStock Baltic birch, MakerStock clear acrylic, Wood Art Supply (Woodpeckers), LaserGrain, Laser Craft Supply
- Polish shops: Sklejka-Kraków 600×400, Sklejka-Kraków full sheet, Drecon-Sklejka, MateriałyLaser.pl, Diolut
- German shops: Zembrod Sperrholz-Shop, Plattenzuschnitt24, Mr Beam
- Etsy Seller Handbook — How to price your products for wholesale
- Etsy — Fees & Payments Policy (updated 13 Feb 2026); How Offsite Ads work; Currencies supported for Etsy Payments
- Craftybase — How to price handmade items (updated May 2026)
- Trotec — How to make money laser engraving
- OMTech — Home laser engraving business (updated 20 Sep 2026); 15 high-margin product ideas (updated 24 Mar 2026)
- xTool — Profitable laser engraved products (updated 29 Apr 2026)
- Sawmill Creek — Laser engraving rates (2013); Laser engrave calculator prices (2015)
- LightBurn forum — What does one charge for laser time (16 Jan 2025); Let's talk pricing (12 Nov 2024)
- Allegro — Appendix 4, fees and sales commissions; Allegro Lokalnie fees; community thread on commission (15 Jul 2022)
- SumUp Poland — price list
- Creality Falcon2 Pro — specifications (machine power)
- Eurostat — Electricity price statistics and dataset nrg_pc_204, Poland (household prices, 2025-S2, updated 24 Sep 2026); US EIA — Electricity Monthly Update (24 Sep 2026)
- European Central Bank — euro reference rates