How do you calculate landed cost?

Add everything it costs to get the goods to your door: product cost + freight + insurance + duty + customs broker + other fees, then divide by the units. 500 units at $12 is $6,000; with $900 of freight, $60 of insurance, 5% duty on $6,000 ($300), a $150 broker fee and $90 of other fees, the landed cost is $7,500, or $15.00 a unit. This landed cost calculator shows the same breakdown with your numbers.

Is duty charged on freight?

It depends on the country. In the US, the price actually paid that customs uses excludes the costs of transportation and insurance for the international shipment (19 U.S.C. § 1401a), so duty falls on the product value. In the EU, the customs value adds transport and insurance up to the place where the goods enter the EU (Union Customs Code, Article 71), so duty falls on product + freight + insurance, often called CIF. In the example, that raises the duty from $300 to $348.

Which fees go into landed cost?

Everything you pay before the goods are ready to sell: the customs broker's fee, port and terminal charges, handling, delivery from the port to your warehouse, and US user fees such as the merchandise processing fee (MPF) and, for ocean cargo, the harbor maintenance fee (HMF). The MPF has a minimum and a maximum that CBP resets each fiscal year from October 1, so this page does not build them in: type the amounts from your broker's invoice into Other fees.

How do I set a price from landed cost?

Divide the landed cost per unit by (1 − your target margin). At $15.00 a unit and a 35% gross margin, the price is $15.00 ÷ 0.65 = $23.08, a markup of 53.8% on cost. Pricing from the factory price alone would leave out the $3.00 a unit that freight, duty and fees add, which here is a fifth of the landed cost.

Landed Cost Calculator

Add product cost, freight, insurance, duty, brokerage and other fees to get the landed cost per unit and the price you need for your margin. You type the duty rate and the fees, choose whether duty applies to the product value (US) or to product, freight and insurance (EU), and every result shows the working.

Your numbers

Units in the shipment

units

Product cost is

Product cost per unit

$

What you pay the supplier, from the commercial invoice, in the currency you sell in.

International freight

$

Ocean, air or truck freight to the port or border of entry.

Cargo insurance

$

Duty rate

%

Type the rate for your product's tariff code from the official schedule (the US HTS, the EU TARIC). Rates change, and extra duties can apply by country of origin.

Duty is charged on

US customs value leaves out international freight and insurance; EU customs value includes them up to the border.

Customs broker fee

$

The broker's charge for filing the entry.

Other fees

$

Port and terminal charges, handling, delivery to your warehouse, and US user fees such as the MPF or HMF, typed as amounts from your broker's invoice.

Import VAT rate (optional)

%

For imports into the EU and other VAT countries. Leave empty for the US.

Target gross margin (optional)

%

Margin on the selling price. Gives the price per unit to charge.

Landed cost per unit

–

An estimate from the figures you type. The duty rate, the duty base and any extra duties for your product are set by the customs authority: check the official tariff schedule or ask your customs broker before you quote a price.

The calculation runs in your browser and ParrotNotes does not store your numbers. They sit in the page address so you can bookmark or share the result.

What landed cost includes

Landed cost is what one unit really costs once it is in your warehouse, ready to sell: the supplier's price plus the freight, insurance, duty, customs broker and other fees it took to bring it there. Landed cost = product + freight + insurance + duty + broker + other fees, and landed cost per unit = landed cost ÷ units.

Example: 500 units at $12 from an overseas supplier, $6,000 of product. Freight is $900, cargo insurance $60, the duty rate 5% on the product value ($300), the customs broker charges $150 and port handling and fees come to $90. The landed cost is $7,500, $15.00 a unit, 25% above the factory price.

Spread the shipment's costs over the units in it. A full container and a half-empty one carry the same freight bill, so the cost per unit, not the bill, is the figure to compare.

Duty on the product value or on CIF

Countries charge duty on different values. The US uses transaction value: the price actually paid or payable for the goods, exclusive of the costs, charges and expenses for transportation, insurance and related services for the international shipment from the country of exportation to the US (19 U.S.C. § 1401a(b)(4)(A)). So duty is on the product value only.

The EU adds the cost of transport and insurance, and loading and handling charges, up to the place where the goods are brought into the EU customs territory (Union Customs Code, Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Article 71(1)(e)). That basis is often called CIF: cost, insurance and freight. In the example, 5% on $6,960 is $348 instead of $300, and the landed cost becomes $7,548, $15.10 a unit. Mexico's customs law adds transport and insurance the same way.

Enter the product cost without freight even when the supplier's quote includes it, and put the freight in its own field, so the calculator applies the duty to the right value.

Duty rates and fees: why you type them in

The duty rate depends on the product's tariff classification and its country of origin, and rates change. This page has no tariff lookup on purpose: find the rate for your code in the official schedule, the Harmonized Tariff Schedule for the US or TARIC for the EU, or ask your customs broker. Extra duties can apply to goods from some countries on top of the general rate, so check them for your origin.

US entries also carry user fees. The merchandise processing fee is a percentage of value with a minimum and a maximum that CBP adjusts each fiscal year from October 1; the harbor maintenance fee applies to ocean cargo. Your broker's invoice shows both. Add them, port and terminal charges and delivery to your warehouse, and type the total into Other fees.

From landed cost to a selling price

Price for a target margin = landed cost per unit ÷ (1 − margin). Markup = (price − cost) ÷ cost. At $15.00 landed and a 35% margin, the price is $23.08 and the markup 53.8%. The two are different numbers for the same deal, so say which one you mean when you quote.

Price from the landed cost, not the factory price. At $12 and 35%, the price would be $18.46, and the real margin after the $3.00 of freight, duty and fees would drop to about 19%. The wholesale price calculator takes it from here if you sell through distributors and retailers.

Import VAT is not part of landed cost (usually)

In the EU and other VAT countries, import VAT is charged at the border on the customs value plus the duty and the costs to the first destination. A VAT-registered business normally reclaims it as input tax, so it is a cash cost until the return is filed, not a product cost. The optional VAT field shows the estimate beside the landed cost, not in it. Imports into the US have no VAT at the border.

For distributors and manufacturers' reps

A buyer comparing an imported line with a domestic one should compare landed cost with the domestic delivered price, not the overseas factory price with it. Run the numbers before the line review: freight, duty and fees can close most of the gap that the factory price shows. Then the conversation is about lead time, minimum orders and service, which is where a domestic line can win.

Sources, each read on 2026-11-06. Results are arithmetic on the figures you type, not customs or tax advice:

Related: the wholesale price calculator for the distributor and retail price chain, the margin calculator for margin and markup on one sale, the COGS calculator for cost of goods sold over a period, and the CBM calculator for the shipment's volume before you ask for a freight quote.

The cost is set; the terms are talked through

Landed cost tells you where a price can go; the call with the supplier or the buyer settles freight terms, minimums and price. Record those calls in ParrotNotes and you get a transcript, a summary and the action items, so what was agreed is written down.

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