Minimum profitable price calculator
The price below which you lose money, and the one your target margin needs.
≈ 3 minutes
Work out my minimum price
The real landed cost of your import
The price your supplier quotes is almost never what you end up paying per unit. In between sit international freight, insurance, duty, customs clearance, handling and domestic transport. Landed cost is all of that added up and divided by the units that arrive, and it usually lands well above the supplier invoice.
Every calculation runs in your browser. The figures you type are never sent to a server and are never stored.
Your results will appear here
Enter the units and the goods cost to spread the rest of the charges.
- Units arriving and supplier invoice
- International freight, insurance and duty
- Clearance, handling and domestic transport
Calculation results
Landed cost per unit
—
What it really costs to have one unit in your warehouse.
Total landed cost—
Logistics costs—
Customs costs—
Initial cash outlay—Includes recoverable taxes
Uplift over goods cost—
Uplift percentage—
See the breakdown
| Goods | — |
| Logistics costs | — |
| Customs costs | — |
| Other costs | — |
| Total landed cost | — |
| Recoverable taxes | — |
| Initial cash outlay | — |
Recommended next step
With the cost per unit settled, the next question is whether your supplier's minimum order pays off: how much cash it ties up and how many months of stock it represents.
Evaluate the supplier MOQResults are estimates based on the information you enter. Fees, taxes and platform terms can change: always check the figure that matters to you against your invoice or the official platform. They do not replace your real invoices, your official accounts or professional tax, financial or legal advice.
What this tool works out
This landed cost calculator for imports turns a supplier invoice and a pile of scattered charges into two usable figures: what the whole import costs, and what each unit costs sitting in your warehouse.
Landed cost is the cost you should use to set prices and work out margins. Calculate margin on the supplier price instead and you are ignoring everything it costs to bring the goods to your warehouse, which depending on weight, volume and origin can be a sizeable share of the real cost.
Economic cost and cash outlay are not the same thing
There are two different questions here, and this tool answers both separately.
Economic cost is what the product genuinely costs you and what belongs in your margin. Whatever import VAT you can deduct is not part of it: you advance it and recover it later. That deduction depends on having a right to deduct, on how the goods are used, on your documentation and on the rules that apply to you, so enter as recoverable only what you have confirmed.
Initial cash outlay does include them, because that money leaves your account on clearance day. An importer can have a comfortable landed cost and still run dry, simply because the taxes were advanced and have not come back yet: when they return depends on your filing frequency and your tax authority.
How the formula works
Charges are grouped into two blocks and then spread across the units.
logistics costs = international freight + insurance
+ handling + domestic transport
customs costs = duty + clearance
+ NON-recoverable taxes
total landed cost = goods + logistics costs
+ customs costs + other
landed cost per unit = total landed cost / units
initial cash outlay = total landed cost + recoverable taxes
Taxes you cannot recover are a genuine cost, which is why they sit in the customs block. Recoverable ones stay out of cost and show up only in the cash figure.
A worked example
An import of 500 units with $8,000 of goods. International freight costs $1,200, insurance $90, duty $480, clearance $120, handling $150, domestic transport $210, plus $65 of non-recoverable taxes and $40 of other charges. On top of that, $1,680 of recoverable taxes are advanced.
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Supplier invoice | $8,000.00 |
| Logistics costs | $1,650.00 |
| Customs costs | $665.00 |
| Total landed cost | $10,355.00 |
| Landed cost per unit | $20.71 USD |
| Uplift over the invoice | 29.44% |
| Initial cash outlay | $12,035.00 |
The unit does not cost $16, it costs $20.71: 29.44 % more than the supplier invoice. And on clearance day $12,035 leaves the account, not $10,355, because the recoverable taxes have to be advanced too.
Why you enter the duty yourself
This tool does not guess the country of origin, the tariff heading or the applicable rate, and it does not because it cannot be done responsibly. Duty depends on the specific product, its classification and the origin of the goods, and it moves with whatever trade agreements are in force.
The European Commission publishes that information by product through its Access2Markets portal. Look up your heading and your origin there, or ask your customs broker, and enter the amount here. A calculator that hands you an invented duty rate is more dangerous than one that asks you for it.
How to read the result
The percentage uplift over the supplier invoice is the figure that orients you fastest: it says how much the goods cost more simply for reaching your warehouse. A high uplift usually comes from bulky goods, low value per kilo or a steep duty rate; a low one from small, expensive items. What helps is not comparing against someone else's average but checking your own figure against your selling price.
The cost per unit is what feeds every other calculation you make: minimum price, contribution margin, maximum discount. Using the supplier price instead leaves every one of those calculations above reality.
If the shipment arrived short or part of it broke, spread the charges across the sellable units, not the invoiced ones. The cost of the lost units is carried by the ones that survived.
What to decide next
You have the cost per unit. The natural next question is whether the minimum order your supplier demands makes sense at that cost: how much cash it ties up, how many months of stock it represents, and what is left after paying to hold it.
What this assumes
- Every charge belongs to this specific shipment
- The units you enter are the ones arriving in sellable condition
- You have confirmed that the amount entered as recoverable is deductible in your case
- The exchange rate is already applied to the amounts you enter
- Charges are spread evenly across all units
What it does not cover
- Calculating the duty: you look it up and enter it
- The tariff classification of your product
- The cost of holding that inventory month after month
- Exchange differences arising after payment
- Allocation by weight or volume when a shipment mixes different products
Frequently asked questions
Which charges belong in landed cost and which do not?
Everything needed to get the goods into your warehouse belongs: freight, insurance, duty, clearance, handling and domestic transport. The portion of tax whose deduction you have confirmed does not, and neither do later costs such as storing the goods or shipping them to the customer. Whatever you cannot deduct is a cost and belongs with non-recoverable taxes.
Why do you not calculate the duty for me?
Because it depends on your product's exact tariff heading and its origin, and getting that wrong skews the whole calculation. Look the rate up in Access2Markets or ask your customs broker and enter it: we would rather ask you for a figure than invent one.
Is import VAT a cost?
It depends on whether you can deduct it. Buying goods for business use from outside the EU generally means paying VAT at import and, if you make taxed sales, you can usually deduct it later on your VAT return — but there are exceptions and national rules. Enter as recoverable only the portion whose deduction you have confirmed: that part is not a cost, although it is still cash leaving on clearance day. The rest belongs in non-recoverable taxes, which do make the product cost more.
What if the shipment carries several different products?
This tool spreads charges evenly across units, which works well for a homogeneous shipment. If you mix products with very different weights or volumes, calculate each reference separately and allocate the shared charges using whatever basis your accounting already uses.
What if fewer units arrive than were invoiced?
Enter the units that are actually sellable, not the invoiced ones. The import charges are already paid, so the surviving units carry the cost of the lost ones and their landed cost goes up.
What uplift over the invoice should I expect?
It depends entirely on the product and the route: volume, weight, value per kilo, origin and the applicable duty all weigh in. There is no reference figure that works for everyone, and comparing yourself to someone else's says nothing useful. The check that does help is whether your selling price carries the uplift you actually got.
Can I use landed cost to set my price?
That is precisely what it is for. The per-unit cost you get here is what belongs in your minimum price and contribution margin calculations, in place of the supplier price.
What should I work out after this?
Whether the supplier's minimum order pays off. With the per-unit cost settled you can see how much cash that MOQ ties up, how many months of inventory it represents and what survives the cost of holding it.
Official sources
European Commission — importing into the EU and the Access2Markets portalhttps://policy.trade.ec.europa.eu/help-exporters-and-importers/importing-eu_en
European Commission — cross-border VAT for businesseshttps://europa.eu/youreurope/business/finance-and-tax/vat/cross-border-vat/index_en.htm
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