How to read a landed cost, line by line.

A factory price is not a cost. Here is how a landed cost is built up, and the lines to look for before you compare one import quote with another.

The single most common reason an import looks cheap and finishes expensive is that the quote priced the product and left the rest of the journey to the builder. When you compare quotes, compare the same scope: product on your site, cleared, unloaded and certified.

The lines in a landed cost

• FOB product price — the goods loaded at the port of origin. This is the number factories quote and the number that gets misread as the cost.
• Export packing and inland transport — crating suitable for sea freight, and the run from the factory to the port.
• Sea freight and terminal charges — container hire, ocean leg, and the port and terminal fees at both ends.
• Marine insurance — cover for the goods in transit, at replacement value.
• Customs duty — rate depends on the tariff classification of the product, not the category name on the invoice.
• GST on the taxable importation — calculated on the customs value plus transport, insurance and any duty.
• Customs brokerage and clearance — declaration, biosecurity and any inspection charges.
• Local delivery and unload — transport to your site or yard, plus crane or forklift where needed.
• Compliance and testing costs — certification, sample testing or documentation work required for the product to be lawfully installed.
• Sourcing fee — what the intermediary charges, shown as its own line.

Questions worth asking any import quote

• Which of the lines above are included, and which are estimates?
• What tariff classification has been assumed, and who carries the risk if it changes?
• Who is the importer of record, and therefore who owns the compliance obligation?
• What happens if the goods arrive damaged, short, or off-specification — who deals with the factory?
• Is the price fixed in Australian dollars, and what happens to currency movement before the balance is paid?
• Is there a physical sample approval step before production, or are you approving a photograph?

Why itemising matters more than the total

An itemised landed cost lets you make real decisions: consolidating suppliers into one container instead of three, changing a finish that carries a higher duty rate, or shifting a delivery point to avoid a double handle. A single bundled number hides all of that, and it hides the variation risk you inherit.

You should be able to see the product, the freight, the duty, the GST and the fee as separate lines. If you cannot, you are not looking at a cost.

Send us your drawings and schedules and you will get an indicative landed cost with every line above shown separately, along with the compliance path for each product.