How much to markup Donna Bella Tape In extensions?

Jenna told me, she started to offer Donna Bella Tape in Extensions. But the question raised, how much to markup if you sell Donna Bella, or another well-known hair brand? It will not take your customer a lot of effort to compare the price with the Donna Bella website. What would be a smart and profitable markup strategy?

There are two key elements to consider. First, what are the cost you have to bear for the tape in extensions you purchased from Donna Bella? The second question you must ask, what is the price range I can put for my services?

How much to markup Donna Bella tape in extensions?

What are the cost you need to bear for the extensions you purchased from Donna Bella?

Okay, we mention Donna Bella, but the following applies for all kind of extensions you buy from other brands. Donna Bella writes on their blog: “There’s no easy answer about how much a stylist should charge for a hair extension job.” But you want an answer anyway, so that is why I wrote this post.

Find a name for your store

Start Selling Now, with Hair Samples

Purchase cost Hair Extensions

It all starts with the purchase price of the hair you bought from the wholesale supplier. This price depends on the quality and quantity. The more kilo’s or bundles hair you buy, the lower the price per bundle. That is economies of scale. Here you can make the difference from people who buy retail volume, say 3 to 5 bundles. Better to wait some time. Get more orders in from your clients and negotiate a nice purchase price per bundle with your supplier.

The payment transaction fees

Next to the purchase price, you have to pay for the payment services. Especially when you have a wholesale supplier from abroad.
If you pay using PayPal, there might be a 3 to 5 percent payment charge. If you use Western Union or Money Gram you will have a similar charge. The first, PayPal has a buyer’s protection. If something goes wrong with the shipment and you do not get what you expected you get your money back. The wholesale supplier has the opportunity to explain they did everything to make sure you received what you expected.

MoneyGram and Western Union do not have any buyer’s protection. This is a payment method many suppliers prefer. Because they do not run the risk to lose hair shipment and receive no money. This way of payment you can consider after you build up a good relationship with the seller. For higher amounts this is even cheaper.

So, on your notebook you now have two amounts.

The purchase price of the hair bundles
Plus, the payment transaction fees.

The shipping costs

You know buying from Alibaba or AliExpress will most often not charge you for shipping cost. Thanks to the high volume of these platforms, the suppliers offering their hair benefit from very low shipment prices. But please do not forget, if your hair has to be transported from A to B there are expenses involved. Sometimes these expenses are already included in the selling price, but very often they are charged separately. The last allows for more exact pricing, because if you agree on a shipment with more days involved you will pay less. If you accept no insurance of the shipment, again you will pay less. This freedom will allow you to save hard cash on your shipment charges. This is not possible if the seller does not separately charge for shipping, but has it included in the selling price per bundle or kilo.

Now we have three amounts on your notebook:

The purchase price of the hair bundles
The payment transaction fees, plus
The shipment charges.

What is the price per bundle after payment and shipping?

Now you have all the figures you need to calculate how much you need to markup your purchased hair extensions. The original purchase price, the payment commission or fee and the charges for shipping.
There are two methods to calculate the markup per bundle.

You can calculate with every order the total cost per bundle. All you have to do is to divide the total amount by the number of bundles you are going to sell. This will give you the amount per bundle that will generate not a loss and not a profit on this transaction. This way of calculation is simple, but you will have to recalculate your selling price after every new purchase.

Or you can estimate the number of bundles you are going to sell this whole year and estimate the total amount you are going to invest in hair, plus charges. If now you divide the total cost by the total number of bundles you are going to buy this year, you will have a stable cost price of the hair. Your cost price will be fixed for one year.

Please continue reading!

Be aware, you need a higher markup

Please, I hope you did not stop reading after the last paragraph. Because with the cost price you calculated you miss a reward for all the other expenses related to doing business. The rent of your store or supply room, the maintenance of your webstore, the fuel of your car for the home visits to your clients and many, many other expenses.

Luckily you started the year with a good business plan. So, you have a good idea of all the operational and marketing cost it takes to keep on doing the hair business. Every bundle you are going to sell should also compensate for these expenses. Here we use the same formula. You divide all the operational and marketing expenses per bundle you purchased. Together with the cost price per bundle, you will have the minimum price you should charge not to make any loss or profit.

Wait! Stop! You are in this business to make a profit. So again, you have to continue reading because now we are going to discuss the part where you are going to make a profit!