Landed cost — the true total of getting one rug from a Bhadohi loom to your stockroom shelf — is the number every other business decision stands on. Price from the FOB invoice alone and your margins are fiction. The calculation is one spreadsheet and one habit; here is both.
The Seven Lines
- Goods: the FOB price per piece.
- Ocean freight: the shipment's freight divided over its pieces — volume-based, so compact flatweaves cost less to land than chunky shags.
- Insurance: small; include it anyway.
- Duty: your market's rate for the HS code, applied to the customs value (which in many markets includes freight and insurance — check yours).
- Clearance and port fees: broker's fee, terminal handling, documentation charges.
- Onward delivery to your storage.
- The forgotten line: defects and damage — if 2% of pieces arrive unsellable, every sellable piece carries that 2%.
Build It Per Piece, Per Design
Shipment-level totals hide the truth: a large hand-tufted rug and a small dhurrie in the same container have very different freight and duty burdens. Divide every cost line to the piece, by design and size — that is the number your retail price must clear. As a sanity check, small importers typically land handmade rugs at FOB plus 20–35%; if your spreadsheet says 8% or 60%, hunt the error.
The Habit
Reconcile the model against real invoices after every shipment and update the assumptions. Three shipments in, your landed-cost model becomes the most honest document in the business. It starts with a quotation built for the purpose — FOB and CIF side by side, packing dimensions, HS heading stated. Ask us for exactly that.