Landed Cost Calculator

Landed cost is what a unit actually costs you by the time it is sitting in your warehouse ready to sell. Most founders price off factory cost, which is the number on the supplier invoice, and then wonder why margins evaporate at year end. The gap is usually 20 to 40 percent once freight, duties, brokerage, and insurance pile on. Price off landed cost and the margin you calculate is the margin you actually get.

Each line in this calculator deserves attention. Freight is often the biggest variable. Sea freight might run 40 cents per unit while air freight on the same SKU could hit $4 per unit. Duties depend on your HTS classification and country of origin: apparel can run 16 to 32 percent while most tech accessories run 0 to 5 percent. Brokerage is a flat fee per entry (often $100 to $300) divided by total units in the shipment, so larger POs dilute it. Insurance is a percent of declared value plus freight, typically 0.3 to 0.6 percent.

Run this for every new SKU and again every time freight rates shift or you change suppliers. Add the landed cost to your product costing sheet so COGS in your P&L reflects reality, not the invoice.