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Import costs

Import tax & landed cost

Landed cost is the true, all-in cost of getting a product to your door: the product itself, freight, duty, import taxes, insurance and the smaller fees that quietly erode margin. A per-unit landed cost is the number you should price against — not the supplier’s invoice price.

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Problems this solves

  • You only know the supplier price and want the real cost after import.
  • You need a per-unit figure to set a defensible selling price.
  • You want to see how freight or duty changes move the total.
  • You need to compare two suppliers on landed cost, not sticker price.

Questions you can ask Pilot

What is my landed cost for 5,000 units at $8.70 with 15% duty?
What does each unit really cost once freight and duty are included?
How much does landed cost rise if freight goes up 20%?
What is my landed cost per unit if I double the order?

How Pilot works this out

Pilot totals the product value (unit cost × quantity), applies duty as a percentage of that value, adds freight, and includes an estimate for other import costs unless you specify them. The result is expressed both as a total and per unit.

Each component is shown separately so nothing is hidden. Where you do not supply a duty rate, Pilot treats it as zero and warns that duty is excluded rather than inventing a figure.

What-if scenarios let you push duty, freight and quantity and recompute deterministically, so the effect on the per-unit cost is immediately visible.

The variables that matter

Unit cost & quantity
The base product value before any import charges.
Freight
The shipping cost for the consignment, spread across units.
Duty rate
Applied to the customs value; confirm against the official tariff.
Other import costs
Broker fees, handling and insurance, estimated as a percentage unless specified.

Worked examples

“5,000 shirts at $8.70, 15% duty, $4,000 freight”

Pilot returns product total, duty, freight and estimated fees, then a landed cost per unit you can price against.

“The same order with freight +20%”

A what-if lifts freight and shows how much the per-unit cost moves — often less than people expect on large orders.

Common mistakes

  • Pricing against the supplier invoice instead of the landed cost.
  • Forgetting import VAT/GST, which is charged separately from duty.
  • Spreading freight incorrectly across mixed shipments.

Limitations

  • • Duty and tax rates must be confirmed officially; Pilot does not assert live rates.
  • • Currency conversion and payment fees are not included unless you add them.
  • • Insurance and broker fees vary; the default estimate is a placeholder to refine.

Verify before relying on this

  • • Confirm the duty rate for your HS code and destination.
  • • Add import VAT/GST at the correct rate for the goods.
  • • Replace the estimated fees with your broker’s actual charges.

Official source categories

Official destination tariff — For the duty rate applied to customs value.
National tax authority — For the import VAT/GST rate and base.
Your freight forwarder — For actual freight and handling charges.

Frequently asked questions

What is included in landed cost?

Product value, freight, duty, import taxes and other import fees such as broker charges and insurance. Pilot shows each part separately and gives a per-unit total.

Why does Pilot show a per-unit figure?

Because the per-unit landed cost is what you should price against. It spreads one-off freight and fees fairly across the whole order.