The Designer Fee: how you earn on Teleport

The Designer Fee is the amount you choose to earn on each part sold from your design. Teleport adds it to printing and delivery, and you receive 100% of it after each completed order. Buyers get the printed object; your file is never shared.

What the Designer Fee is

Most places that pay designers take a cut of a price they set for you. Teleport turns that around: you name the fee, per part, and the buyer pays it on top of what the print and the delivery cost. There is no commission on your fee and nothing to pay to list a design.

It works because you sell the object, not the file. The buyer orders a printed product in the material and color they choose; your design file stays on Teleport’s server and goes to the printing portal only to quote and print that order. Your fee is the price of your work, earned again on every object made from it.

How the price adds up

  1. Your Design Fee — the amount you set per part. All of it is yours.
  2. Printing — what the portal charges for the material and the print.
  3. Shipping — from the portal to the buyer’s door.
  4. Teleport’s service fee — $1.08 (≈ €1) when that subtotal is under $21.60 (≈ €20), and $2.16 (≈ €2) from $21.60.

The buyer pays the four together.

Printing and shipping vary with the material, the size of the print and the buyer’s country. Your Design Fee does not: you set it per part, and it stays the amount you chose.

You receive 100% of your Design Fee every Friday, to your PayPal, once the print has shipped.

Three worked examples

Examples shown in your currency for convenience. Teleport’s fee is set in euros.

Example 1: a $34.56 subtotal

Your Design Fee $10.80
Printing $15.12
Shipping $8.64
Subtotal $34.56
Teleport fee (subtotal from $21.60) $2.16 (≈ €2)
The buyer pays $36.72

You receive $10.80

Example 2: a $19.44 subtotal

Your Design Fee $3.24
Printing $9.72
Shipping $6.48
Subtotal $19.44
Teleport fee (subtotal under $21.60) $1.08 (≈ €1)
The buyer pays $20.52

You receive $3.24

Example 3: a $91.80 subtotal

Your Design Fee $27.00
Printing $51.84
Shipping $12.96
Subtotal $91.80
Teleport fee (subtotal from $21.60) $2.16 (≈ €2)
The buyer pays $93.96

You receive $27.00

What is separate from your fee

Three amounts sit beside your fee on every order, and the buyer pays all of them:

  • Printing — what the portal charges for the material, the finish and the print itself. It changes with the material, the size of the part and the buyer’s country.
  • Shipping — from the portal to the buyer’s door.
  • Teleport’s service fee — once per order, on the subtotal of your fee, printing and shipping: $1.08 (≈ €1) when that subtotal is under $21.60 (≈ €20), and $2.16 (≈ €2) from $21.60.

What is yours to cover is the work before the sale: your design time, your software and any test prints you choose to make. That is what the fee is for. Teleport charges nothing to upload, list or keep a design on sale.

How to set your fee

Because the fee is yours in full, the usual margin-and-markup arithmetic simplifies. Margin is the share of a price you keep; markup is what you add on top of a cost. Here the production cost is the portal’s, not yours, so your fee is pure margin: set €8 and you earn €8.

What to weigh instead:

  • The buyer’s total. The editor shows the printing price per material for your part before you publish, so you can see what a buyer in your country would pay with your fee added.
  • What the design is worth. A part that solves a problem, fits a niche or took real design judgment carries a higher fee than a generic shape; the material cost is the same either way.
  • Try, then adjust. You can change the fee from the product’s edit page at any time; the next order uses the new amount.

For the full method, with worked numbers for people who print themselves, read How to Price 3D Printed Products Clearly & Profitably.

Questions designers ask

Every Friday, to your PayPal. Your fee becomes earned when the print ships, and you keep 100% of the fee you set. Choose where to get paid in your dashboard.

Yes. The Design Fee is yours to set, part by part, and you can change it from your product’s edit page at any time.

The buyer pays your Design Fee for every unit in the order. Teleport’s flat fee is charged once per order.

No. The flat fee is €1 under €20 and €2 from €20, whatever the subtotal; on a €85 order you still receive your full Design Fee.

Set the fee you want to earn per part; Teleport adds printing, shipping and its own €1–€2 fee for the buyer. The editor shows the printing price per material before you publish, so you can see the buyer’s total with your fee in it.

Markup is what you add on top of a cost; margin is the share of the final price you keep. On Teleport the production cost is the portal’s, not yours, so your Designer Fee is both: set €8, earn €8.

There is no set rule. Weigh what the design is worth to the buyer (a part that solves a problem carries more than a generic shape), the total the buyer sees with printing and shipping added, and what comparable products sell for. You can change the fee at any time, so start with a number and adjust.

Printing, shipping and Teleport’s service fee, all paid by the buyer on top of your fee. Your own costs before the sale, such as design time, software and test prints, are what the fee is meant to cover.

Yes. When you pick the default material in the editor, each material shows what it costs to produce your parts in your country; add your fee, shipping and the €1–€2 Teleport fee for the buyer’s total.

No. Uploading, listing and keeping a design on sale are free. Teleport’s service fee is paid by the buyer, once per order, and nothing is taken from your Designer Fee.

More about selling on Teleport

How your file is protected, and the answers to the other questions designers ask.

Start selling Sell 3D designs without sharing STL files 3D print on demand for designers Read the FAQ