01/ BLOG

HOW OUR INSTANT QUOTE ACTUALLY PRICES A PRINT

FACTORY24 AUG 2026BINARY DIVISION2 MIN READ

THE FORMULA

Every price on this site comes from one formula. It lives in the pricing engine, and the same engine prices catalog products, print-door quotes, and checkout lines.

unitCost = (weightG * pricePerG + hours * machineRatePerH) * (1 + marginPct)
lineBase = (unitCost * qty + setupFee) * qtyDiscount * (rush ? rushMultiplier : 1)
lineTotal = max(lineBase, minJob) rounded up to the nearest ৳5

THE REAL NUMBERS

These are the parameters in the database, not marketing.

  • PLA: ৳5 per gram
  • PETG: ৳5 per gram
  • TPU: ৳5 per gram
  • Machine time: ৳35 per hour, every material
  • Setup fee: ৳40, charged once per job line
  • Minimum job: ৳150. A tiny part is never cheaper than this.
  • Margin: 25%
  • Quantity: 5% off at 2 pieces, 10% at 5, 15% at 10, 20% at 50
  • Rush: 1.35x, and it jumps the queue

A WORKED EXAMPLE

A small print uses 60 grams of PLA and takes roughly 5 machine hours.

  • Material: 60 x ৳5 = ৳300
  • Machine: 5 x ৳35 = about ৳175
  • Setup: ৳40
  • Margin: 25% on the unit cost

The engine adds the setup fee, applies the margin, rounds the line up to the nearest ৳5, and never lets the job below ৳150. The number you see at quote time is the number you pay.

THE HONEST PART

The machine-time estimate comes from geometry analysis, and it is labeled as an estimate until the slicer worker lands. Geometry that the engine cannot trust gets an amber range or a manual review, never a confident wrong number. The server re-runs the math on every quote; the page never trusts its own client.

A wrong green price is the one failure this system is not allowed to have.