Landed Cost Calculator
CheckedThis landed cost calculator adds freight, duty, insurance and handling to the supplier price to give the true cost of each imported unit. Free, no sign-up, and the result updates as you type.
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The supplier quote is rarely more than two thirds of what a unit costs you. Freight, duty, cargo insurance, the broker's fee and the trucking from port to warehouse all attach to the goods, and a $4.20 quote routinely lands at nearly $6.80 once they are added. Price from the quote and the margin you think you have is a margin you do not. Duty is entered as a rate here rather than assumed, because it depends on the HS code and country of origin — check the current tariff schedule for your product.
How it's calculated
Landed cost per unit = (goods value + freight + duty + insurance + handling) ÷ units Duty = goods value × duty rate ÷ 100
LaTeX source
\text{Landed} = \frac{(C \times Q) + F + (C \times Q \times \frac{d}{100}) + I + H}{Q} Worked examples
1,000 units imported by sea
$6.783 landed per unit, $6,783 total
$4,200 of goods attracts $273 of duty at 6.5%. Add $1,850 of freight, $120 of insurance and $340 of handling and the consignment costs $6,783, or $6.783 a unit. That is 61.5% more than the supplier quote — the difference between a healthy margin and a thin one on a $15 retail price.
The numbers used
- Unit cost from supplier
- 4.2
- Units in shipment
- 1000
- Freight for shipment
- 1850
- Duty rate
- 6.5
- Insurance
- 120
- Customs and handling
- 340
500 higher-value units at a lower duty rate
$15.345 landed per unit, $7,672.50 total
$6,250 of goods, $187.50 of duty, $900 of freight and $335 of insurance and handling comes to $7,672.50, or $15.345 a unit. The uplift is only 22.8% here because the freight bill is spread over goods worth three times as much — landed cost penalises cheap, bulky products hardest.
The numbers used
- Unit cost from supplier
- 12.5
- Units in shipment
- 500
- Freight for shipment
- 900
- Duty rate
- 3
- Insurance
- 75
- Customs and handling
- 260
Questions sellers ask
How do you calculate landed cost?
Add the goods value, freight, duty, insurance and handling for the whole shipment, then divide by the number of units. 1,000 units at $4.20 with $1,850 freight, 6.5% duty, $120 insurance and $340 handling lands at $6.783 each. Spread the shipment-level costs across units by value or by volume if the container holds several products.
What is a landed cost price?
It is what one unit costs by the time it is sitting in your warehouse ready to sell, rather than what the supplier invoiced. It is the number to price from and the number to use as inventory value for COGS. Anything after that point — marketplace fees, outbound postage, packaging inserts — is a selling cost and sits outside landed cost.
How do I know how much I will pay for customs?
Duty is a percentage of the customs value, set by your product's HS classification and its country of origin. Find the code in your country's tariff schedule, or ask your freight forwarder or customs broker to classify it, then apply that rate here. Import VAT or sales tax may also apply on top, though it is usually recoverable if you are registered.
What is cogs vs landed cost?
Landed cost is per unit and covers getting goods to your warehouse; COGS is a period total covering the units that actually sold. Landed cost feeds COGS — value inventory at landed cost, and each unit's landed cost becomes part of COGS when it ships. A unit that never sells has a landed cost but contributes nothing to COGS until it does.
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