01How to use the calculator
- Start with the quote. Enter the units and the unit cost, then pick the Incoterm the quote is on. The note under the selector says what the seller's price already covers and which lines you still fill in.
- Add the one-time costs. Samples, tooling, molds, screens and digitizing go in one box. The calculator carries them on this order and shows a separate reorder cost without them.
- Add the costs between the factory and your shelf. Freight from your forwarder's quote (as a total or per unit, by air or sea, whichever you chose), insurance, inspection, delivery and receiving at your 3PL, and bank or currency fees.
- Enter your duty rate. Look up your product's code in the USITC's HTS search, add any additional tariffs that apply to your country of origin, and confirm both with a licensed customs broker. Then add the broker's fees, and turn on the US Merchandise Processing Fee and Harbor Maintenance Fee if they apply to your entry.
- Set a defect reserve. The share of units you expect to arrive damaged or unsellable. The cost per unit is spread over what's left.
- Enter your retail and wholesale prices and read the margins and the keystone check.
- Compare three quantities. Give each tier its own quantity, unit price and freight. Everything else carries over.
Your numbers stay in this browser so a refresh doesn't lose them. "Clear all" empties the form.
02A worked example: 300 hoodies
The calculator opens with this example. Example (illustrative numbers): the same first order we build in the landed cost guide, not a real quote.
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Product: 300 hoodies at $18.50 FOB | $5,550 |
| Samples and embroidery digitizing (one-time) | $410 |
| Polybag, hangtag and mailer at $1.10 a unit | $330 |
| Freight, port to door | $900 |
| Duty at an example rate of 20% | $1,110 |
| Customs broker and entry fees | $150 |
| Pre-shipment inspection | $300 |
| 3PL receiving | $75 |
| Total cash out | $8,825 |
With a 3% defect reserve, 9 of the 300 hoodies can't be sold, leaving 291. That makes the first-order landed cost $30.33 a unit ($8,825 ÷ 291) and the reorder cost $28.92 once the $410 of setup drops out. The $18.50 quote was about 61% of the real cost.
At a $95 retail price the margin is 68%. At $47.50 wholesale it is 36%, and wholesale covers only 1.57 times landed cost, so the keystone check flags it. A product can be healthy on your own site and thin to a store.
Now the three quantities, with illustrative quotes that fall as the order grows:
| Tier | Units | Unit cost | Freight | Landed per unit | Cash needed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small test | 150 | $21.00 | $600 | $37.79 | $5,480 |
| Likely order | 300 | $18.50 | $900 | $30.33 | $8,825 |
| Next price break | 600 | $16.75 | $1,400 | $25.87 | $15,055 |
The big order is $4.46 a unit cheaper than the likely one and needs $6,230 more cash, for 582 hoodies you then have to sell. The small test costs about $7.50 more a unit: partly the higher quote, and partly because the same $410 of setup and $525 of broker, inspection and receiving fees sit on half the units. Then decide: go, no-go, or redesign the materials or construction until the numbers work. Product Sourcing Secrets goes further, with the full cost model, cash timing and how the sales channel changes the math.
03Assumptions and where they come from
- Duty is your rate times the goods value (units times unit cost). The calculator has no tariff table: rates depend on the HTS code, the country of origin and the rules in force, and they change. Use the rate your broker confirms.
- The goods value excludes international freight and insurance. US customs values imports on the price paid for the goods, which by regulation leaves out the cost of the international shipment (19 CFR 152.102(f) and 152.103). If your quote is CIF or DDP, the unit price has freight in it and duty on the full price would overstate it. Ask your broker what the entered value will be.
- Merchandise Processing Fee: 0.3464% of the value of a formal entry, with a minimum of $34.58 and a maximum of $670.86 for Fiscal Year 2027 (from October 1, 2026), per 19 CFR 24.23 and CBP's inflation notice (CBP Dec. 26-14). Checked October 22, 2026. The three numbers are editable defaults; CBP adjusts the minimum and maximum each fiscal year.
- Harbor Maintenance Fee: 0.125% of the value of cargo unloaded from a commercial vessel at a covered US port (19 CFR 24.24), so ocean shipments only. Checked October 22, 2026. Editable.
- Incoterms follow the ICC's Incoterms 2020 rules. The calculator never changes your numbers when you change the term; it tells you which lines to fill or set to 0.
- Defect units round up to whole units (3.4 defects is 4 you can't sell).
- Insurance and payment fees are percentages of the goods value. If your forwarder or bank quotes a flat fee, convert it.
- Landed cost stops at your shelf. Pick and pack, shipping to the customer, payment processing, ads and returns are selling costs. Your price has to cover them too, which is why the margin here is the top of your unit economics, not the bottom.
- Keystone check: keystone means doubling. Stores commonly price at twice what they pay you, and the check applies the same test to your wholesale price against landed cost, so both you and the store have room for their costs. It is a rule of thumb, not a law. A product that fails it can still work direct to consumer, but know that before you pitch a store.
- US fees only. Sales tax, VAT and other countries' import charges aren't modeled. This is a planning tool, not customs, tax or financial advice.
04Sources
Also: Product Sourcing Secrets course, lesson "Calculate landed cost and cash need".
The full method, with what to include and how Incoterms, duty and freight change the number, is in our guide on how to calculate landed cost.