Landed cost is what a product costs you once it reaches your shelf: the supplier's price plus the freight, insurance, duty, brokerage and other fees paid to get it there. This free sheet works it out for each product in a shipment. List up to 20 products with their quantities, unit costs and duty rates, add the shipment's shared costs, and choose whether to spread those costs by product value or by quantity. The sheet shows the working for every line, and you can print it or download it as text or CSV.
Every rate and fee is your own entry. Nothing is looked up, uploaded or sent.
Make a landed cost sheet
- Name the shipment, and add your business, an order reference and the date if you want them printed. Choose the currency and enter every amount in it.
- Add each product line from the supplier's invoice, with the number of units and the unit cost.
- Enter each product's duty rate as a percentage, or leave it blank if no duty is due. The rate applies to that line's product value.
- Add the shared costs for the whole shipment, such as ocean freight, cargo insurance, customs brokerage, port fees and delivery to your door.
- Choose the allocation method: by product value or by quantity.
- Check the preview. Each line shows its duty, its share of the shared costs, its landed total and its cost per unit.
Start blank keeps your business, currency and method, with one empty product and three common cost names. Reset sample brings back the example.
What is included in landed cost
Include the one-time costs of bringing the goods to where you sell them: the purchase price, freight, insurance in transit, import duties and tariffs, customs brokerage, port and handling fees, and the final delivery. If the supplier invoiced in another currency, convert it at the rate you paid, and add any bank or transfer fee as a shared cost.
Leave out the ongoing costs of holding stock, such as storage and shrinkage: those are inventory carrying costs. Sales tax or VAT you can reclaim is usually left out as well. Ask an accountant how that applies to you.
How to calculate landed cost
The landed cost formula for one product line adds three parts:
- Product value = quantity × unit cost
- Duty = product value × duty rate
- Landed total = product value + duty + the line's share of the shared costs
Landed cost per unit is the landed total divided by the quantity, rounded to the cent. Shared costs are split to the cent, and any leftover cents go to the lines with the largest remainders, so the lines always add up to the shipment total.
Landed cost allocation: by value or by quantity
By value, each line carries shared costs in proportion to its product value, so expensive lines carry more. This suits costs charged on value, such as insurance, and shipments where price roughly follows size.
By quantity, every unit carries the same share, whatever it cost. This suits units of similar size and weight. If freight depends on weight or volume and the lines differ a lot, neither method is exact. The printout names the method, so readers know how the figures were split.
Landed cost example
The sample is a fictional shipment for the Meadow Corner shop: 240 stoneware mugs at $3.50, 300 linen tea towels at $2.20 and 100 glass storage jars at $5.00, or $2,000.00 of products. Example duty rates of 8% and 6%, which are illustrations and not real tariff rates, add $67.20 to the mugs and $39.60 to the tea towels. The jars have none. The shared costs total $600.00: $360 freight, $20 insurance, $95 brokerage, $45 port and handling fees and $80 delivery to the shop.
By value, the mugs are 42% of the product value, so they carry $252.00 of the shared costs. Their landed total is $840.00 + $67.20 + $252.00 = $1,159.20, or $4.83 a unit. The tea towels come to $2.99 a unit and the jars to $6.50. The whole shipment lands at $2,706.80, which is 35.34% above the product cost.
By quantity, the tea towels are 46.88% of the units, so they carry $281.25 and rise to $3.27 a unit. The mugs fall to $4.72 and the jars to $5.94. The shipment total does not change; only its split does.
Duties, tariffs and customs value
Duty rates depend on the importing country, the product's classification code and where it was made, and they can change. In the US, the Harmonized Tariff Schedule lists rates by classification. In the UK, the Trade Tariff looks up commodity codes, duty and VAT rates.
Countries differ in the value that duty is charged on: some include freight and insurance, others use the price of the goods. GOV.UK explains how to work out the customs value of imported goods. When your broker's customs entry shows the duty paid, you can enter that amount as a shared cost allocated by value and leave the product rates blank, so duty is not counted twice. This sheet is not customs, tax or legal advice.
Price and plan from the landed cost
Set prices from the landed unit cost, not the supplier's price, or every margin looks better than it is. The margin and markup calculator turns a cost into a price at the margin you want. Valuing stock at landed cost keeps the GMROI calculator and the inventory turnover calculator consistent with what you paid. Before the next order, compare suppliers on their delivered price with the supplier comparison scorecard, then write the order with the purchase order generator.
Print or download the sheet
Print / PDF opens your browser's print dialog, where you can print the sheet or save it as a PDF. The printout shows each product's working, the shared costs, the allocation method and the duty reminder. The text download holds the same working, and the CSV has one row for each product, one for each shared cost and a shipment total. The draft stays in this browser tab if you refresh; download or print a copy before you close it.
Frequently asked questions
Can I work out landed costs without an account?
Yes. The sheet opens with a fictional sample and works without a login or email address. Nothing you type is uploaded or sent.
What is landed cost?
It is the full cost of getting a product to your shop or warehouse: the price paid to the supplier plus shipping, insurance, duties and fees, divided over the units received.
How to allocate freight costs across products?
Pick one rule, by value or by quantity, and use it for the whole shipment. Keep the method with the figures.
Landed cost vs purchase price: which should I price from?
Price from the landed cost. The purchase price leaves out freight, duty and fees, so a margin worked from it overstates your profit.