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Last reviewed: September 2026 · Copy link
The landed cost formula (and which value customs actually taxes)
The formula
- Goods value: the FOB price you pay the factory (what the commercial invoice says).
- Freight + insurance: ocean, air, or courier — not dutiable in the US, dutiable under CIF in the UK/EU/UAE.
- Duty: customs value × (MFN rate + Section 301 rate if China + any 2025–26 additional rate).
- Entry fees: MPF (0.3464%, min $32.71 / max $634.62) on every formal US entry; HMF (0.125%) on ocean cargo only.
- Import VAT: UK 20%, EU ~20%, UAE 5% — charged on the CIF value plus duty. The US has no import VAT.
- Landed total = everything above. Per-unit landed cost = landed total ÷ units.
Worked example: $2,000 of plush toys, ocean to the US
A 500-unit plush-toy order invoiced at $2,000 FOB with $350 ocean freight and $25 insurance lands like this: plush toys (HTS 9503.00) carry a 0% MFN rate, but as China origin they typically pick up 7.5% under Section 301 List 4A plus roughly 30% from the 2025–26 actions — about $750.00 in duty on this shipment, plus the $32.71 minimum MPF and $2.94 in HMF. Landed total lands near $3,160.21, or roughly $6.32 per unit.
Run your own numbers in the calculator below — every rate is editable, so you can plug in the exact figures from your HTS line or your broker’s quote.
Where sellers go wrong
- Pricing off the factory invoice and ignoring duty entirely — common since the de-minimis era, fatal after it ended.
- Assuming freight is dutiable into the US (it is not) or duty-free into the UK (it is not).
- Forgetting MPF has a $32.71 minimum: small formal entries pay a much higher effective fee percentage.
- Quoting customers before the 2025–26 rates changed — build the current duty stack into your margin, not your hope.
Run your shipment through the calculator
Live in your browser: every rate is editable, so plug in your HTS line or your broker’s latest numbers.
Questions people ask
Is landed cost the same as CIF?
No. CIF (cost, insurance, freight) is a valuation basis some customs regimes use to compute duty. Landed cost is your full unit economics: goods + freight + insurance + duty + fees + VAT, regardless of which valuation basis the destination uses.
What percentage should I add for duty when quoting a product?
It depends entirely on the product and origin: from roughly 0% to 30%+ MFN for apparel, plus 7.5–25% Section 301 plus around 30% extra for China origin as of September 2026. Use the calculator’s effective-duty figure per category rather than a rule of thumb.
Does landed cost include Amazon FBA fees?
Not in the customs sense — landed cost ends when goods clear customs and reach your warehouse. Amazon inbound placement and fulfillment fees sit downstream in your COGS, and the same discipline applies: price from the per-unit number, not the invoice.
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