Home › Blog › How to Price Phone Repairs (Markup & Margin Guide)
Underpricing is the quiet killer of repair shops. Here’s a clear way to set prices that win jobs and still make money.
Your cost isn’t only the screen or battery. Add shipping, the small percentage of parts that arrive defective, the bench time to do the repair, and a slice of your fixed costs (rent, tools, insurance). Price off your true, all-in cost and you’ll stop “winning” jobs that quietly lose money.
They’re not the same, and confusing them wrecks your numbers. Markup is how much you add to cost; margin is your profit as a share of the selling price. A part that costs $40 sold at $80 is a 100% markup but a 50% margin. Decide the margin you need to keep the lights on, then price up to hit it — don’t just “double the part” out of habit.
You’re not selling a part; you’re selling a working phone back today, with a warranty. Customers pay for convenience and trust. A shop with great reviews, a clean storefront, and a 90-day warranty can and should charge more than the guy on a marketplace — and still win, because the customer isn’t gambling.
Know what nearby shops charge, but don’t reflexively be the cheapest — that’s a race to the bottom. Pick a lane: fastest turnaround, best warranty, or premium parts. Price to match the promise. Being 10–15% above the cheapest option is fine when your reviews and speed back it up.
Ad-hoc pricing leads to inconsistent margins and quotes you can’t defend. Set a formula — all-in cost ÷ (1 − target margin) — and apply it to every repair. Round to clean numbers. A quick markup or margin calculator makes this a two-second job at the counter and keeps every quote profitable.
Many healthy shops target a 45–60% gross margin on parts-plus-labor after accounting for true all-in cost. Set the margin you need to cover fixed costs and profit, then price up to it.
That rule of thumb ignores shipping, defective parts, labor, and fixed costs — and confuses markup with margin. Price off true all-in cost to a target margin instead.
Compete on speed, warranty, and reviews rather than price. Being modestly above the cheapest shop is fine when your service clearly reduces the customer’s risk.
StandupCRM captures every call and form into a CRM, tracks leads to closed repairs, and shows which ads actually pay — for one shop or many.
See a live demo →