How to calculate landed cost for an Amazon FBA import

Most first-time Amazon FBA importers price a product from the factory quote, add a rough freight number, and discover three weeks later that the real cost per unit is 40 to 60 percent higher. The gap is not one big surprise. It is a dozen small lines that never appeared on the quote: duty, customs fees, brokerage, a bond, port and trucking charges, and the inbound freight to the Amazon warehouse.

Landed cost is the total cost of getting one sellable unit into your hands (or into Amazon's) in the country where you sell it. This guide lists every line, shows a worked example with clearly labelled placeholder numbers, and points out where the rules changed in 2026. It is general information, not customs-brokerage or tax advice. Verify rates for your own product code before you commit to an order.

The landed cost lines, in the order they hit you

1. Product cost (FOB value). The price you pay the supplier for the goods, before international freight. This is also the starting point for customs value, because U.S. duty is generally assessed on the transaction value of the goods and international freight and insurance identified separately are generally not part of it. If your supplier quotes CIF or DDP, back the freight out (see the Incoterms guide).
2. Tooling, samples and inspection. Molds, sample shipping, and a third-party pre-shipment inspection are real costs. Spread tooling over the units you expect to buy in the first year rather than ignoring it.
3. International freight and insurance. Ocean (FCL or LCL) or air, plus cargo insurance. Get quotes from a forwarder; do not use a rule of thumb for anything you are ordering at scale.
4. Import duty. The general rate for your ten-digit Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) code, published by the U.S. International Trade Commission at hts.usitc.gov, multiplied by the customs value.
5. Additional trade-action duties. Depending on product and country of origin, Section 301 duties (many China-origin goods), Section 232 duties (steel, aluminum and copper articles and derivatives, autos, lumber and furniture, and others), and antidumping or countervailing duties can be layered on top of the base rate. These often cost more than the base duty. The emergency tariffs imposed under IEEPA were held unlawful by the Supreme Court in February 2026 and are no longer collected, but refunds for past entries are still being processed (see the IEEPA refund guide).
6. Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF) and Harbor Maintenance Fee (HMF). Small percentage fees CBP charges on formal entries. Details are in the MPF and HMF guide.
7. Customs brokerage, ISF filing and bond. A licensed broker files your entry and your Importer Security Filing (ISF). Ask for their per-entry fee, ISF fee and the cost of a bond (continuous or single-entry).
8. Port, terminal and drayage charges. Terminal handling, chassis, pier pass or congestion fees, and the truck from the port or rail ramp to your destination.
9. Inland freight to Amazon or a prep center. If you send inventory to a prep center first, add prep labor and the second leg to the fulfillment center.
10. Amazon's own fees. Referral fee, FBA fulfillment fee, storage and inbound placement fees. These are not part of landed cost strictly speaking, but they belong in your per-unit margin. Amazon revises these schedules regularly, so read the current fee tables in Seller Central rather than trusting a figure from a blog.

Worked example: 1,000 units, one ocean container share

The numbers below are illustrative placeholders, chosen so the arithmetic is easy to follow. They are not quotes, and your rates will differ.

Line	Assumption	Amount
Goods, FOB	1,000 units at $4.00	$4,000.00
Ocean freight (LCL share)	Placeholder	$900.00
Cargo insurance	0.5% of goods value	$20.00
Duty	Assumed 3.4% general rate, no overlays	$136.00
MPF	0.3464% of value, subject to the minimum	$34.58
HMF	0.125% of value (ocean)	$5.00
Broker entry fee + ISF	Placeholder	$185.00
Drayage and port charges	Placeholder	$350.00
Inland freight to warehouse	Placeholder	$400.00
Total landed cost		$6,030.58
Per unit		$6.03

A $4.00 factory price became $6.03 landed, about 51 percent higher, and that is before any additional duty. Now suppose the product turns out to carry a 25 percent additional duty on the $4,000 customs value. That adds $1,000, and landed cost rises to $7,030.58, or $7.03 per unit. The same order at the same factory price has a very different margin, which is why the duty line deserves the most attention.

The MPF figure uses the fiscal year 2027 minimum of $34.58, which CBP's inflation notice sets for entries from October 1, 2026. A $4,000 entry is below the level where the percentage exceeds the minimum, so the minimum applies.

Getting the duty line right

Duty is where estimates go most wrong, for three reasons.

• Classification. The rate depends on your ten-digit HTS code. Products that look similar can sit in different headings with different rates. Search hts.usitc.gov by description, read the heading and subheading notes, and check CBP's CROSS ruling database for rulings on similar goods. Your broker makes the final call on entry, but you should know the number before you buy. The commercial invoice guide covers how the description on the invoice supports the code.
• Origin. Country of origin drives which additional duties apply. It is the country where the goods were made or substantially transformed, which is not necessarily where they were shipped from.
• Timing. Trade-action rates changed several times in 2025 and 2026. The rate that applies is the one in force on the date of entry or withdrawal from warehouse, so confirm current rates close to your shipping date.

FBA-specific costs sellers forget

• Prep and labeling. FNSKU labels, poly-bagging, bundling and carton labeling done by your supplier, a prep center or you. Ask the factory to do this and price it in.
• Inventory that sits. Storage fees and the capital tied up between paying your supplier and getting paid by Amazon. If you pay a 30 percent deposit, the balance before shipment, and wait weeks for transit and receiving, your money is out for months.
• Returns and removals. A percentage of units come back or get removed. Build an allowance from your own category data once you have it.
• Compliance costs. Product testing, certification and labeling for your category (for example children's products or electronics) are often a per-SKU fixed cost.
• Currency. If you pay in RMB or another currency, a few points of movement between quote and payment changes landed cost.

Common mistakes

• Using FOB price as cost. The single most common error, and the reason the example above jumps 51 percent.
• Assuming a flat percentage for duty and fees. Some sellers add "about 20 percent" to everything. That can be badly wrong for either a low-duty product from a non-overlay country or a high-overlay one.
• Ignoring fixed per-shipment costs. Brokerage, ISF, MPF minimum and drayage do not shrink with a small order. Ordering 300 units instead of 1,000 raises the per-unit share of every fixed line.
• Not re-running the number when terms change. A new tariff action, a freight spike or a supplier's price revision each moves landed cost. Keep a calculator or template and update it per purchase order.

Turning landed cost into a selling-price floor

Work backward from your target price. Take the expected Amazon selling price, subtract the referral fee and FBA fees from the current Amazon fee tables, subtract advertising spend per unit at your expected conversion, and compare the remainder to landed cost. If the gap is thin at the base case, run the same calculation with a 10 percent freight increase and any tariff scenario that could apply to your code. If the product only works when nothing goes wrong, it does not work.

Sources

• U.S. International Trade Commission, Harmonized Tariff Schedule: hts.usitc.gov
• CBP, customs user fee adjustments for fiscal year 2027 (CBP Dec. 26-14, published July 31, 2026), effective October 1, 2026
• CBP CROSS rulings database: rulings.cbp.gov

Figures and rules verified September 21, 2026. Tariff measures change often; confirm current rates with your broker before you place an order.

Frequently asked questions

What is included in landed cost for Amazon FBA?

Landed cost includes the factory price, international freight and insurance, import duty and any additional trade-action duties, CBP fees (MPF and HMF), broker and ISF fees, bond, port and drayage charges, and freight to the Amazon warehouse or prep center. Amazon's referral and FBA fees are usually tracked separately in your margin calculation.

How much duty will I pay on an FBA import?

It depends on your ten-digit HTS code, the country of origin and the date of entry. Look up the general rate at hts.usitc.gov, then check whether Section 301, Section 232 or antidumping duties apply to your product and origin. Your customs broker makes the final classification on entry.

Is duty calculated on the price including shipping?

For most U.S. entries, duty is generally assessed on the transaction value of the goods. International freight and insurance that are identified separately from the price are generally not included, so a FOB value is the usual starting point. If you buy on CIF or DDP terms, your broker needs the freight and insurance broken out.

What is the MPF for a small FBA shipment?

The Merchandise Processing Fee is 0.3464 percent of the entered value, subject to a per-entry minimum and maximum. For entries from October 1, 2026, the minimum is $34.58 and the maximum is $670.86. Small shipments usually pay the minimum.