Landed Cost Calculator
The FOB price is not what your product costs you. Enter the factory price, freight, duty, clearance and fees to see the real per-unit landed cost — and what is left when you sell it.
Your shipment
All amounts in USD. Freight, duty and VAT are the numbers your forwarder, broker and customs give you.
The price per unit the factory quotes you, FOB or EXW.
Total units in this order.
The whole shipment quote, not per unit. Leave 0 if you buy on a DDP price.
Your HS code duty rate. 0 if duty-free.
Applied by customs on goods value + freight + duty.
Broker, port charges, delivery to your warehouse — a flat amount.
Our transparent commission is 5%-8% of the factory price. Set 0 if you buy direct.
Pre-shipment inspection, testing or audit work on this order.
Optional — used to calculate margin and markup.
Estimate based only on the numbers you enter. Confirm duty rates with your customs broker.
Landed cost per unit
$0.00
Import VAT (recoverable): -
Total landed cost
$0
-
Where the money goes
If you sell at your target price
Margin per unit
-
Margin %
-
Markup on cost
-
Break-even price (per unit)
-
Get a factory quote with these numbers
Your figures are ready to send — reply within 12 hours with a factory price and a freight estimate. No obligation.
Your numbers
Want this checked against a real quotation?
Send the product and quantities and our Guangzhou team will return a full landed-cost sheet with factory options and a freight quote. No spam, no obligation.
Enter the real prices
Factory unit price, quantity and the freight quote you were given. If you buy on DDP you can skip freight and duty and enter the delivered price instead.
Add the import charges
Duty rate, VAT rate, clearance and handling. Tick the VAT box if your business reclaims import VAT — otherwise it stays in the cost.
Read the per-unit cost
The result is your landed cost per unit with the full breakdown, plus margin and break-even if you enter a selling price.
Every cost line in a landed cost
Buyers usually price from the FOB number and then discover the rest of these lines one by one. Working them out before you quote your own customer is the difference between a margin and a surprise.
Factory price (FOB / EXW)
The product itself. EXW excludes China-side trucking and export clearance; FOB includes getting the goods onto the vessel at the named port. Mixing the two is the most common costing error.
Freight and insurance
Sea LCL or FCL, air or rail, plus marine insurance if you carry the risk. Charged on chargeable weight — the greater of actual and volumetric weight — so packing density changes your cost per unit.
Import duty
Set by the HS code of the product and the trade agreement between China and your country. Duty is normally calculated on the CIF value (goods + freight + insurance).
Import VAT / GST
Charged by customs on goods value plus freight and duty. VAT-registered importers reclaim it through their normal return, which is why it belongs in cash-flow planning rather than in the product cost.
Clearance and handling
Customs broker, terminal and port charges, documentation, and the trucking leg to your warehouse or a 3PL. Usually a flat amount per shipment, so it hurts small orders most.
Sourcing, inspection and consolidation
A transparent agent commission (5%-8% of the factory price), pre-shipment inspection or testing, and any consolidation or re-packing at a China warehouse. All of these are visible line items with a professional agent.
The same order, costed three ways
A 3,000-piece order at USD 4.20 per unit, sea freight and insurance of USD 1,900, 6.5% duty, 20% import VAT, USD 180 clearance, 6% sourcing commission and USD 260 of inspection work.
| Factory price (3,000 x 4.20) | USD 12,600 |
| Freight and insurance | USD 1,900 |
| Import duty at 6.5% of CIF | USD 943 |
| Import VAT at 20% (recoverable) | USD 3,089 |
| Clearance and handling | USD 180 |
| Sourcing commission at 6% | USD 756 |
| Inspection and QC | USD 260 |
Landed cost is USD 5.55 per unit with VAT reclaimed, or USD 6.58 if VAT is not recoverable — a 19% difference on the same FOB price of USD 4.20. Sell at USD 12.00 and the margin is USD 6.45 per unit (53.8%).
Landed cost questions, answered
What is landed cost?
Landed cost is everything you pay to get one unit into your warehouse: the factory price, freight and insurance, duty, clearance and handling, plus any sourcing, inspection or consolidation fees. It is the only number you can safely price your own sales from, because the FOB price alone hides a large part of the real cost.
Is import VAT part of landed cost?
Only if you cannot reclaim it. A VAT-registered importer recovers import VAT through their normal return, so treat it as a cash-flow item rather than a cost. If you are not registered, or your marketplace handles VAT differently, include it — this calculator has a checkbox for exactly that.
How do I estimate freight if I do not have a quote yet?
Start with an indicative figure and replace it once you have a real quote. Chargeable weight is the greater of actual and volumetric weight (length x width x height in cm divided by 6000 for sea LCL, 5000-6000 for air), so a dense, well-packed carton costs less per unit than a bulky light one.
Does duty apply to freight as well as goods?
In most countries duty is charged on the CIF value — goods plus freight plus insurance — not on the goods alone. That is why a cheaper product with very expensive freight can still carry more duty than expected, and why consolidation improves your duty base as well as your freight rate.
How can I reduce my landed cost?
Three levers that actually move the number: the factory price (specification and negotiation), freight (better packing density, correct carton sizes, LCL to FCL), and fees (a transparent commission instead of a hidden markup). Duty is set by the HS code, but misclassification is expensive in both directions, so have it confirmed.
Does this work for FCL as well as LCL?
Yes. Enter the total freight and insurance for the shipment, whether that is one LCL booking or a full container. If a container holds several products, run the calculation once for the shipment and then allocate freight by each product's share of cubic metres or weight.
How accurate is this calculator?
It is exact arithmetic on the numbers you enter and it invents nothing: every assumption is visible in the inputs. The accuracy of your result therefore depends on your duty rate, VAT rate and freight quote, which vary by country and HS code — confirm the duty rate with your customs broker before you commit to a selling price.
Want the factory price this calculation should start from?
Send your product and target quantity and we return factory options with real prices, an inspection plan and a freight quote — the full landed-cost picture, free within 48 hours.
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