Price per pound calculator
Iron is a commodity. A 50 lb dumbbell, a 44 lb kettlebell, and a pair of 25 lb plates are cast metal sold by weight and moved by freight, so the honest way to compare two listings is landed price, sticker plus shipping, divided by what the thing weighs. A low sticker with $27.00 of shipping behind it is not a low price. Bars are the exception. A bar is a machined part with a sleeve size, a length, and a load rating, and a heavier bar is not a better bar. Price a bar per unit and judge it on its spec.
Listings to compare
The first row is a worked example, not a real listing. Change it or remove it. Enter the sticker price, the shipping the seller quotes, and the total weight in the box. Check the Used box for marketplace iron so the table marks it.
Landed $66.99. $1.34 per lb.
Sorted by landed price per pound
| Listing | Landed | Weight | Per lb |
|---|---|---|---|
| Example: 50 lb hex dumbbell, another sellerexample$39.99 plus $27.00 shipping | $66.99 | 50 lb | $1.34 |
The example listing lands at $1.34 per lb once shipping is counted. Add your own listings to compare them.
Bars are priced per unit, not per pound. Compare bars on sleeve diameter, length, and rating.
BASALT iron lists after the measurement session. Until it does, our products stay out of this table rather than appear with guessed numbers. Used rows carry no guarantee and no return; the fair range for used iron is in the buying used guide.
Questions
Why divide by measured weight instead of the label
The label is a claim. The scale is a measurement. A 45 lb plate that weighs 43.6 lb is 3.1 percent under its label, which makes every pound you paid for about 3 percent more expensive than the sticker math says. When our own products join the table, their rows will use the Ledger sample weight for that reason. For another seller's listing you only have the label, so use it, then weigh the unit when it arrives. The bathroom scale method is in the weighing guide.
Why bars are priced per unit
A bar is not a commodity. A 6 ft standard bar that weighs about 15 lb and costs $25 shipped works out to about $1.67 per lb, and that number tells you nothing useful. What matters on a bar is the sleeve diameter, the length, and the load rating. Compare bars against bars on those three numbers.
What counts as a fair price per pound
New budget iron, shipped, usually lands between $1.00 and $1.50 per lb. About one dollar a pound is a common rule of thumb for the line between a deal and a markup. Used iron is fair around $0.50 to $0.80 per lb with no guarantee and no return, and it is only worth the drive if it comes in 30 to 40 percent under new. Shipping is where the difference hides. The example row above is a $39.99 dumbbell that reads as $0.80 per lb until $27.00 of freight makes it $1.34.