Landed Cost Per Unit Calculator

Check landed cost inputs

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Review planning assumptions

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Shipment preset:

Use a preset for a US wholesale import, DDP parcel, brokerage-heavy shipment, or marketplace launch.

Shipment or SKU label:

Keep it short enough to identify the quote later.

Trade terms and transport:

This changes which cost layers are added to goods value and whether ocean-only HMF is applied.

Goods value input:

The calculator converts either entry mode into total goods value and product cost per unit.

Units in shipment:

All shipment-level costs are divided across this quantity.

Goods unit cost:

Enter the supplier cost for one sellable unit in the selected currency and terms model.

Total declared goods value:

Use the product value for the shipment in the selected currency and terms model.

Freight and insurance:

Include ocean, air, trucking, courier, and cargo insurance charges known before clearance when they are buyer-paid add-ons.

{{ currencySymbol }} freight

{{ currencySymbol }} insurance

Duty and tax base:

This changes the base used for duty and import tax/VAT calculations.

Base duty rate:

Manual rate only; this tool does not look up HS/HTS codes.

Additional tariff layers:

Leave 0 when the base duty rate already includes every tariff layer you want to model.

Import tax or VAT rate:

Set 0 when there is no recoverable/import tax layer in your pricing model.

Government fee profile:

US formal entry uses MPF; US ocean import adds HMF. Choose None for other lanes or manual fee modeling.

Brokerage and other fixed fees:

Enter shipment-level costs that should be allocated across all units.

{{ currencySymbol }} broker

{{ currencySymbol }} other

Selling price per unit:

Enter the quote, listing, or checkout price you want to test.

Target gross margin:

Use the gross margin needed before channel fees, ad spend, discounts, and returns.

Currency symbol:

US MPF settings:

MPF is applied to imported goods value before freight, insurance, and duty.

% rate

{{ currencySymbol }} min

US MPF cap and HMF rate:

Use the MPF cap and HMF rate supplied by your broker or customs planning reference.

{{ currencySymbol }} MPF max

% HMF

Manual government fee rate:

Use this for customs user fees modeled as a percentage of goods value.

Component	Shipment cost	Per unit	Share	Basis	Copy
{{ row.component }}	{{ row.shipmentCost }}	{{ row.perUnit }}	{{ row.share }}	{{ row.basis }}

Metric	Value	Decision cue	Copy
{{ row.metric }}	{{ row.value }}	{{ row.cue }}

Scenario	Landed/unit	Margin at price	Required price	Pressure point	Copy
{{ row.scenario }}	{{ row.landedPerUnit }}	{{ row.marginAtPrice }}	{{ row.requiredPrice }}	{{ row.pressurePoint }}

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Landed cost is the full cost of getting a sellable unit from supplier quote to ready-for-sale inventory. The factory price is only the first layer. Freight, insurance, duties, extra tariff layers, import tax, customs user fees, brokerage, terminal charges, handling, and other fixed costs can change the true unit economics before the product ever reaches a shelf or fulfillment center.

The difficult part is allocation. Some costs are naturally per unit, while others arrive as shipment-level amounts. A customs user fee, broker invoice, ocean freight bill, or air-freight minimum can feel small on a shipment total and still become large when divided across a short production run. That is why landed cost per unit is often more useful than total landed cost alone.

Trade terms determine whether a cost should be added or treated as already included. A buyer-managed quote usually starts with product value and adds freight, insurance, duty, tax, and clearance costs. A CIF or CFR quote may already include freight or insurance. A DDP quote is treated as duty-paid, so adding duty and tax again would double count.

Duty and tax bases vary by jurisdiction, product classification, origin, trade program, and broker treatment. Some models use goods value for duty, some use CIF value, and some apply import tax to goods, duty, and fees. The rate itself should come from a tariff lookup, broker estimate, or internal compliance process, not from the product name alone.

Landed cost is a pricing input, not the whole profitability story. Channel commission, payment processing, marketplace ads, discounts, returns, storage, financing, and domestic fulfillment can still turn a healthy landed margin into a weak commercial result.

How to Use This Tool:

Build the shipment from supplier value through clearance costs, then compare the resulting unit cost with the price you plan to charge.

Choose a shipment preset or start from custom values, then label the SKU, quote, or import lane for exported rows.
Select trade terms and transport mode. This controls whether freight, insurance, customs duty, import tax, MPF, and HMF are added or treated as included in the quote.
Enter goods value as unit cost times units, or as total declared goods value. Use sellable units because shipment-level costs are allocated across that quantity.
Enter freight, insurance, duty rate, additional tariff layers, import tax or VAT rate, government fee profile, brokerage, other fixed fees, selling price, and target gross margin.
Use advanced settings for currency display, US MPF rate/min/max, HMF rate, and manual government fee percentage. Currency changes labels only, so all numbers should already be in one currency.
Read Unit Cost Stack Table, Pricing Margin Table, Scenario Pressure Table, Landed Cost Mix Chart, and JSON to understand the full cost stack and quote margin.

Fix validation errors before using the result. Units and goods value must be above zero, negative costs are rejected, rates cannot be negative, and target gross margin must stay below 100%.

Interpreting Results:

Landed cost per unit is the main pricing basis. It equals total landed cost divided by sellable units. Landed uplift shows how much non-product cost adds on top of product cost per unit, which helps separate supplier negotiation from logistics, duty, and fee pressure.

Margin at price compares the entered selling price with landed cost per unit. The required price for target margin is a gross-margin threshold before marketplace fees, payment processing, ads, returns, and domestic fulfillment. If those later costs are material, the selling price should clear this threshold by more than the displayed gap.

Landed cost result interpretation
Output	Read it as	What to verify
`Unit Cost Stack Table`	Shipment cost, per-unit allocation, share, and basis for each cost layer.	Check whether each cost is actually buyer-paid or already included in the quote.
`Duty and import tax`	Combined customs duty, extra tariff layers, and import tax based on the selected base model.	Confirm HS/HTS classification, origin, trade program, and broker tax base.
`Government fees`	MPF, HMF, or manual percentage fees depending on the selected profile and transport mode.	Small shipments can hit minimum fees that raise per-unit burden.
`Scenario Pressure Table`	What happens when freight, tariffs, tax, fixed fees, or unit count move against the quote.	Use it before committing to a purchase order or marketplace launch price.

Warnings call out assumptions that can change the decision, such as DDP double-counting protection, skipped HMF for non-ocean transport, high duty rates, high non-product uplift, negative margin, or a target margin miss.

Technical Details:

The calculation builds a shipment-level landed total, then divides it by units. Goods value is either entered directly or derived from unit cost times units. Freight and insurance are included only when the trade-terms model treats them as buyer-managed add-ons. Duty uses either goods value or CIF value depending on the selected duty base.

Government fee handling is separate from broker and other fixed fees. The US formal-entry profile applies merchandise processing fee to goods value with the entered minimum and maximum. The US ocean profile adds harbor maintenance fee only when ocean freight is selected. Manual percentage mode applies the entered percentage to goods value.

Formula Core:

The formulas below show the main cost stack. Tax base changes with the selected model, so the tax equation uses Btax as the chosen base.

\begin{array}{lcl} G & = & goods unit cost \times units \\ CIF & = & G + freight + insurance \\ D & = & B_{duty} \times \frac{dutyRate + tariffRate}{100} \\ T & = & B_{tax} \times \frac{taxRate}{100} \\ C_{landed} & = & G + freight + insurance + D + T + governmentFees + brokerage + otherFees \\ C_{unit} & = & \frac{C_{landed}}{units} \end{array}

For the default 500-unit ocean wholesale shipment, goods value is 500 x 8.50 = 4,250. Freight, insurance, duty, MPF, HMF, brokerage, and other fees are then added at shipment level and divided across the same 500 units. The result shows both the product cost per unit and the landed add-on per unit.

\begin{array}{lcl} profitPerUnit & = & sellingPrice - C_{unit} \\ marginPct & = & \frac{profitPerUnit}{sellingPrice} \times 100 \\ requiredPrice & = & \frac{C_{unit}}{1 - \frac{targetMargin}{100}} \end{array}

Landed cost rule boundaries
Rule	How it is applied	Boundary to remember
Buyer-managed terms	Freight, insurance, duty, tax, government fees, brokerage, and other fees can be added.	Use when the supplier quote is not already landed.
CIF or CFR quote	Freight and insurance inputs are kept as reference and excluded from the landed total.	Avoids adding logistics twice when included in the quote.
DDP quote	Duty, tax, MPF, and HMF settings are excluded because the quote is treated as duty-paid.	Seller-delivered costs may still need commercial verification.
US MPF profile	MPF is calculated from goods value, then clamped between entered minimum and maximum.	Defaults match the tool's FY2026 planning values and should be checked against current CBP guidance.
US ocean HMF	HMF is applied to goods value only when transport mode is ocean and the US ocean profile is selected.	Air, courier, ground, and rail modes skip HMF in this model.

The scenario table recalculates the same formula under stress assumptions: freight up 15%, tariff up 2 percentage points, import tax pressure, fixed fees up by 100 in the selected currency, and units down 10%. These are not forecasts; they are margin-sensitivity checks.

Limitations and Compliance Notes:

This calculator does not classify goods, look up tariff numbers, determine country-of-origin treatment, apply trade-agreement eligibility, decide tax recoverability, or replace a licensed customs broker. Rates, fee minimums, fee maximums, and customs rules change, so the editable values should be checked against current official guidance and broker documents.

Use one currency throughout. The currency selector changes labels and exports only; it does not convert exchange rates or model foreign-exchange spreads.

Worked Examples:

US ocean wholesale import

A 500-unit shipment at 8.50 per unit starts with 4,250 of goods value. Freight, insurance, duty, MPF, HMF, brokerage, and other fees are added at shipment level, then divided by 500. The landed uplift shows how far the final unit cost moves above supplier cost.

DDP ecommerce parcel

When DDP terms are selected, the goods value is treated as delivered duty-paid. Freight, duty, tax, MPF, and HMF settings are kept from double-counting the quote, while fixed commercial fees can still be included if they are buyer-paid add-ons.

Units down after inspection

If 10% fewer units are sellable, the same freight, broker, and fee totals are spread across fewer units. The scenario pressure table shows how that raises landed cost per unit and can push the selling price below target margin.

FAQ:

Does this look up HS or HTS duty rates?

No. Enter the duty and tariff rates from your broker, tariff lookup, compliance team, or internal model. The tool applies the rates you provide.

Why are freight and insurance ignored in CIF mode?

CIF and CFR-style quotes can already include those logistics layers. The tool excludes them from landed total in that mode to avoid double counting, while still preserving the entered values as reference context.

Why does MPF hurt small shipments?

A minimum fee can apply even when the percentage calculation is smaller. When units are low, that minimum is divided across fewer units and raises per-unit cost.

Does this include marketplace fees or ads?

No. The margin test compares selling price with landed cost per unit before channel commission, payment processing, advertising, returns, storage, and domestic fulfillment.