Home Landed cost
Tool · Buy from China · duty, freight, margin

What this shipment really costs you — and what to sell it for

Put in the supplier's quote and this walks it all the way to your shelf: freight, duty on the base your market actually uses, import VAT, clearance, tooling and the cash you tie up. Then either work out the selling price you need, or work backwards from the price the market will pay to the highest FOB you can offer.

1. The quote

All amounts in one currency — this page does not convert. Defaults are a typical first order; change anything.

seller pays inland + export clearance
haulage, export customs, port charges — yours on EXW
CE / UKCA / FDA / FCC and labelling

2. Getting it there

Freight is a range — rates move. Put in what your forwarder quoted, low and high.

leave equal if you have one number
of goods + freight; typical 0.3%
port/airport charges, clearance, inland delivery

3. Duty and import tax

We deliberately keep no duty database — rates change and a wrong one is worse than none. Look yours up at the official register below and paste it in.

duty is charged on CIF
helps you find the rate, we do not store it
from the official register below — we do not guess this
usually 0 — check if your code is listed
moves your maximum price by 15–20%
needs a certificate of origin

4. Selling it, and the cash you tie up

Channel fees are a share of the selling price; fixed fees (FBA and similar) are per unit — keep them apart.

e.g. FBA fulfilment
on the selling price, not a markup
what the channel will actually sell at
from paying the supplier to being paid
from the exhibition budget calculator

Your numbers

Landed unit cost
—
everything in, per unit
Selling price you need
—
Real gross margin
—
StepAmountNote

Questions people actually ask

How do you set the price for goods imported from China?

Work from the landed unit cost, not from the FOB price. Add freight, insurance, duty on the base your market uses (the EU uses CIF, the US the transaction value), import VAT or GST, clearance and inland delivery, then spread tooling and certification over the batch. Divide by units and again by one minus the defect rate. Your selling price is that cost divided by (1 − channel fee − target margin).

How much does it cost to import from China?

On top of the supplier's quote: freight and insurance, import duty, import VAT or GST where it applies, destination port charges, customs clearance and inland delivery, one-off tooling and certification, and the cost of the cash tied up between paying the factory and being paid by your customer.

Is import VAT part of my cost?

If your business is registered for VAT or GST in the destination market it is usually recoverable, so it is a cash-flow item rather than a cost. If you are not registered, it is a real cost. The difference moves the highest price you can pay by 15–20%.

Should I compare EXW and FOB quotes directly?

No. An EXW price excludes inland haulage, export customs clearance and port charges — they become your cost. Convert every quote to the same Incoterms basis, usually FOB, before comparing suppliers.

About these numbers. Duty and tax rates are the ones you entered — we keep no rate database on purpose, because a rate that is slightly out of date is worse than one you checked yourself. Freight, clearance and inland figures are yours to confirm with a forwarder. Treat the result as a planning number, then ask a freight and customs partner for a real one.

Get real numbers instead of estimates

We work with freight forwarders, customs brokers and sourcing partners who quote against your actual product and lane. Send them this calculation and they will come back with figures you can commit to.

Ask for real quotes
Or ask about just one part: Freight Customs & duty Sourcing partner

Duty bases checked 2026-09-27 · no rates stored · preliminary estimate based on your assumptions; duty classification and tax treatment should be confirmed with your customs broker or tax adviser. CNGateway does not provide financial or tax advice.