Import Cost & Margin Calculator for Promotional Products

<p><strong>A free Chrome extension from Backper.</strong> Type in a factory quote and it tells you what a unit actually costs you once freight, duty, clearance, print and setup are paid — and what you need to charge to hit your margin.</p>

<h2>The problem it solves</h2>

<p>A factory quotes you $9.20 a unit. You add your usual 38% and quote your client $12.70. Then the invoice arrives: $1,250 of freight, $404 of customs duty, $190 of clearance and handling, $400 of print charges and a $75 setup fee. Your real cost was never $9.20 — it was $11.52. The margin you thought was 38% turned out to be 9%.</p>

<p>That gap is entirely predictable, and it takes about thirty seconds to work out before you send the quote instead of after. That is all this tool does.</p>

<h2>What it calculates</h2>

<ul>
  <li><strong>Landed cost per unit</strong> — goods, print, setup, freight, duty, clearance and, if you cannot reclaim it, import VAT, spread across the whole run</li>
  <li><strong>Your selling price</strong> at a target gross margin, or at a target markup on cost. These are two different numbers and the calculator shows both, side by side</li>
  <li><strong>Reverse check</strong> — type the price your client has already been quoted and see the margin and total profit it actually leaves you</li>
  <li><strong>Order totals</strong> — total cost, total revenue, total profit for the run</li>
  <li><strong>Cost breakdown</strong> — what share of your money went to goods versus freight versus duty versus fees</li>
</ul>

<p>It handles the details that matter when you import: customs duty on a CIF basis (goods plus freight) or on the goods value alone, import VAT calculated on customs value plus duty and left out of your cost when you can reclaim it, setup and tooling amortised across the run so you can see how the per-unit cost falls as quantity rises, and a warning below 50 units where most factories either refuse a branded run or add a surcharge.</p>

<p><img src="https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0812/7535/5348/files/screenshot-2.png?v=1785775198" alt="The Promo Import Cost and Margin Calculator showing a landed cost of $11.52 per unit and a sell price of $18.58 at a 38% margin" style="max-width:100%;height:auto;"></p>

<h2>How the maths works</h2>

<p>No black box. This is exactly what the calculator does:</p>

<ul>
  <li><strong>Goods</strong> = quantity × unit price</li>
  <li><strong>Print and setup</strong> = quantity × print per unit + setup fee</li>
  <li><strong>Customs value</strong> = goods + print + freight (CIF basis; freight is excluded if you switch that off)</li>
  <li><strong>Duty</strong> = customs value × duty rate</li>
  <li><strong>Import VAT</strong> = (customs value + duty) × VAT rate — counted as a cost only if you tell it the VAT is not reclaimable</li>
  <li><strong>Landed cost per unit</strong> = (goods + print + freight + duty + clearance + counted VAT) ÷ quantity</li>
  <li><strong>Sell price</strong> = landed ÷ (1 − margin) in margin mode, or landed × (1 + markup) in markup mode</li>
</ul>

<h3>Worked example</h3>

<p>1,000 units at $9.20 ex-works, $0.40 print per unit, $75 setup, $1,250 freight, $190 clearance, 3.7% duty, VAT reclaimable:</p>

<ul>
  <li>Customs value $10,925 · duty $404.23 · total order cost $11,519.23</li>
  <li><strong>Landed cost $11.519 per unit</strong> — 25% above the $9.20 the factory quoted</li>
  <li>Sell at a 38% margin: <strong>$18.579 per unit</strong>. That is a 61% markup on cost, not 38%</li>
  <li>Total profit on the run: <strong>$7,060</strong></li>
</ul>

<h2>Margin and markup are not the same thing</h2>

<p>This is the single most expensive mistake in promotional product quoting. Margin is profit as a share of the <em>selling price</em>. Markup is profit as a share of your <em>cost</em>. Add 38% to an $11.52 cost and you get $15.90, which is a 27.5% margin — not 38%. To actually earn a 38% margin you have to charge $18.58. On a 1,000 unit run that mistake is worth about $2,680. The calculator shows both figures at once so it cannot happen quietly.</p>

<h2>Who it is for</h2>

<p>Promotional product distributors, corporate gift buyers, merchandise agencies, print shops and e-commerce sellers — anyone pricing a job on goods imported from Asia.</p>

<h2>Privacy</h2>

<p>The calculator runs entirely inside the extension popup. It asks for no permissions, makes no network requests, reads no web page and works with no internet connection. Nothing you type is transmitted anywhere. Full details in the <a href="/pages/import-cost-calculator-privacy">privacy policy</a>.</p>

<h2>A caveat worth taking seriously</h2>

<p>The output is an estimate and should be treated as one. Duty rates depend on the HS code and the country of import; freight depends on the route, the incoterm, the season and how full the container is. Confirm both with your customs broker and your forwarder before you commit to a price with a client.</p>

<h2>Want the quote instead of the calculator?</h2>

<p>Backper supplies wholesale backpacks, laptop bags, duffles and travel bags to distributors and corporate buyers, with custom branding from 50 units and DDP delivery into the UK and EU. If you would rather have a real landed price than an estimate, <a href="/pages/contact">send us the spec and we will quote it</a> — freight and duty included, so the number you get is the number you pay.</p>