SellersCalc

Import math

Total Import Cost Calculator

One number for the whole shipment — everything the import costs, and what that means per unit.

Total import cost = goods + freight + duty + import VAT + broker and other fees. A $12,000 order with $900 of freight, a 5% duty ($600), no VAT on a US import and $350 of brokerage lands at $13,850 — $13.85 per unit across 1,000 units, 15.4% above the $12.00 factory price. That per-unit figure, not the supplier invoice, is the cost your pricing and margin math must stand on. Enter the whole shipment once to get the landed total and the true cost of every unit in it.

Total Import Cost Calculator — your numbers

Total import cost

$13,850.00

Cost per unit

$13.85

Estimate only. Results reflect exactly the numbers you enter — verify against your own accounting before making pricing decisions.

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Worked examples

US import, no VAT

Goods value $12,000.00
Freight + insurance $900.00
Duty rate 5%
VAT rate 0%
Broker + other fees $350.00
Units in shipment 1000
Total import cost $13,850.00
Cost per unit $13.85

The $12 unit lands at $13.85 — 15.4% above the factory price.

UK import with 20% VAT

Goods value $8,000.00
Freight + insurance $700.00
Duty rate 4%
VAT rate 20%
Broker + other fees $300.00
Units in shipment 400
Total import cost $11,124.00
Cost per unit $27.81

VAT on goods + freight + duty pushes the landed cost to $27.81 per unit.

Frequently asked questions

What fees get left out of the total import cost?

The small lines that stack: ISF filing on US ocean imports, customs bond fees, terminal handling and chassis fees at the port, possible customs exam charges, and warehouse receiving fees. Together they commonly add $200–$500 per shipment. Put a realistic figure in the broker/other field rather than zero — zero is never the real number.

Is duty really charged only on the goods value?

It depends on the country. The US assesses duty on the FOB goods value, excluding international freight — which this calculator mirrors. The EU and UK assess duty on CIF value, goods plus freight and insurance, so their duty runs slightly higher than shown here. For a precise EU figure, add freight into the goods value before entering the duty rate.

Should I price my products from this per-unit cost?

Yes — this is the landed cost that belongs at the bottom of your pricing math. Margins computed from the factory invoice overstate profit by the entire freight, duty and fees stack, which here is 15% and can exceed 40% in tariff-heavy categories. Feed the per-unit result into a selling-price calculator with your target margin.

How current do my duty and VAT rates need to be?

Current to the shipment, not the year. Tariff schedules have moved repeatedly in recent years, sometimes adding double-digit percentages to whole categories with little notice, and VAT treatment of imports changes too. Verify the HTS rate and destination VAT rules before each purchase order, and treat this result as an estimate until your broker confirms the entry.

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Part of the Shipping & Landed Cost collection.