The cost of importing products into the USA

What landed cost means

Landed cost is the total cost of getting a product from your factory to the place where it can be sold in the U.S.: an Amazon fulfillment center, a retailer's warehouse, your U.S. stock location or the end customer. It includes the product itself, every transport and handling step, customs duties and fees, and the U.S. services needed before the goods can be sold.

Exporters often underestimate it in two ways. They compare freight rates instead of the full route, and they treat duty as one percentage when it can include additional duties that depend on the country of origin. Both errors show up later as a margin that is smaller than planned.

This guide covers the cost of a shipment. Turning landed cost into a wholesale and shelf price is a separate step, covered in pricing for the U.S. market: from landed cost to shelf price. If you are budgeting a first U.S. food test, including labels, registrations and buyer outreach, see what it costs to test a food product in the U.S. instead.

Every cost of importing products into the USA

A shipment's costs fall into five groups. Not every shipment has every line, but every line should be checked.

Your Incoterm decides which of these lines you pay and which your buyer pays. Under EXW the buyer pays almost everything after the factory door; under DDP the seller pays everything to the destination, including duty. Our guide to Incoterms for shipping to the USA explains each term.

How duty is determined

Duty is usually the largest government cost, and the one most often guessed. It depends on three things:

1. HTS classification. Every product has a code in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States. The code sets the general duty rate, which may be a percentage of value, an amount per unit or kilogram, or a combination. Rates range from free to high, even for similar-looking products.
2. Country of origin. Where the product was made decides whether a trade agreement rate applies and which additional duties apply. It is not always the country you ship from.
3. Additional duties in force. Some goods pay duties on top of the HTS rate. These change more often than anything else in your landed cost.

Duty is calculated on the customs value, which in most cases is the transaction value: the price paid or payable for the goods, with certain additions such as some packing costs, commissions and assists. CBP's guidance on customs value explains how invoice terms affect the value declared, and we can review your invoice as part of your quote. Do not take a rate from a supplier, a forum or a competitor's invoice.

Additional duties as of October 2026

• The broad 2025 tariffs imposed under IEEPA are no longer collected. The Supreme Court ruled on February 20, 2026 that IEEPA does not authorize tariffs, and Executive Order 14389 ended their collection. Refunds of IEEPA duties already paid are being processed through CBP.
• A temporary 10 percent surcharge under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 applied from February 24 to July 24, 2026.
• Since July 24, 2026, new Section 301 duties apply to most products from about 60 economies, at 10 or 12.5 percent depending on the country (as of October 2026). For some, such as the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland and Taiwan, the rate is set so that the regular duty and the Section 301 duty together reach that level. Product exemptions apply (USTR notice, July 28, 2026).
• The 2018 Section 301 duties on many Chinese goods remain in force, as do Section 232 duties on product groups such as steel, aluminum, copper, autos and parts, and timber and lumber. Check the HTS, the latest proclamation for your product and current CBP guidance before using a rate.

Low value no longer means duty-free. The $800 de minimis exemption has been suspended for all countries since August 29, 2025, CBP made the suspension indefinite from June 24, 2026 (Federal Register), and the law ends the exemption on July 1, 2027.

MPF, HMF and other customs charges

Merchandise processing fee (MPF)

The MPF is charged on formal entries as a percentage of the customs value, within a minimum and a maximum per entry. For fiscal year 2027, from October 1, 2026, CBP set these amounts (CBP Dec. 26-14):

Because of the cap, MPF matters most as a percentage on small entries and least on large ones: above roughly $194,000 of value, a formal entry pays the maximum.

Harbor maintenance fee (HMF)

Ocean shipments unloaded at covered U.S. ports pay the HMF, a port use fee of 0.125 percent of the cargo's value under 19 CFR 24.24. It has no cap. Air shipments do not pay it.

Clearance service, ISF and bond

• Customs clearance service: the fee for preparing and filing the entry and entry summary, plus any extra lines, agency filings or classification work. Abanro handles U.S. customs clearance as part of your shipment and quotes it with the shipment; duties, taxes and government charges are billed separately at actual cost.
• ISF filing: required for ocean cargo, including LCL, no later than 24 hours before loading at the foreign port (CBP ISF guidance). It is usually a small per-shipment charge, but a late, missing or inaccurate ISF can lead to liquidated damages of $5,000 per violation, plus delays.
• Customs bond: a single transaction bond is generally sized at the entered value plus duties, taxes and fees. For an importer, a continuous bond is set at $50,000 or 10 percent of the estimated duties, taxes and fees for the previous 12 months, whichever is greater, rounded up in steps of $10,000 (how CBP sets bond amounts, February 2024). Your surety or customs filer calculates the amount for your account. You pay the surety a premium, not the bond amount; a continuous bond is often cheaper per entry if you ship regularly. If you are a foreign importer of record, note that Executive Order 14411 of June 3, 2026 directs CBP to stop foreign importers relying on a continuous bond for formal entries and to raise minimum bond coverage. These changes are directed but not yet in force as of October 2026, so check the current rules before you buy a bond.
• Agency costs: where FDA, USDA or another agency is involved, there can be costs for permits, filings, testing, or an exam.

For what each customs step involves, see how U.S. customs clearance works for foreign businesses.

Port, drayage and U.S. handling costs

Once the goods are released, the U.S. side of the route begins, and this is where quotes are most often incomplete.

• Destination port and terminal charges: terminal handling, documentation and, for LCL, deconsolidation at a container freight station.
• Drayage: trucking the container from the terminal to a warehouse, usually priced per move with chassis and fuel charges on top.
• Demurrage and detention risk: daily charges when a container stays at the terminal past its free time, or is kept out too long before the empty is returned. They build fast when a shipment is held or nobody is ready to receive. Our guide to drayage, demurrage and detention at Los Angeles and Long Beach explains how to avoid them.
• Unloading and receiving: unloading a floor-loaded container or receiving pallets, counting against the packing list and reporting damage.
• Prep and labeling: FNSKU labels, poly bags, bundles or retail labels, if the goods are not ready for their destination. Since January 1, 2026, Amazon no longer offers its prep and item labeling services in the U.S. (Amazon SP-API changelog).
• Storage: stock you hold back for later replenishment or direct orders.
• Final delivery: parcel, LTL or pallet freight to Amazon, retailers or customers, or pick and pack per order.

At Abanro's facility in Orange County, near the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, published starting prices include container unloading from $300 / $495 (20 ft / 40 ft), pallet receiving from $15 per pallet, standard prep from $1.20 per unit, pallet storage from $49 per pallet per month, carton storage from $8 per carton per month, carton forwarding from $5 per carton and pick and pack from $4.50 per order. Each rate and what it includes is on our pricing page. For how warehouse quotes are built in general, see how U.S. 3PL pricing works.

The landed cost formula

Add every line for the shipment, then divide by the number of units:

Landed cost = product cost + origin charges + international freight + insurance + duty (regular and additional) + MPF + HMF + clearance, ISF and bond + destination port and terminal charges + drayage + U.S. receiving, prep and storage + final delivery. Landed cost per unit = landed cost ÷ units shipped.

Three rules make the formula reliable:

• Use the right base for each line. Duty, MPF and HMF are calculated on value; freight on volume or weight; prep per unit; receiving per pallet or container.
• Allocate shared costs sensibly. For a mixed shipment, split freight and handling by volume or weight per SKU, and duty by each SKU's own value and rate.
• Keep a contingency for risk lines. Exams, demurrage and storage are not on every shipment, but a budget without them assumes nothing goes wrong.

A worked example (hypothetical numbers)

The figures below are assumptions chosen to show the arithmetic. They are not market rates, quotes or Abanro prices, and real duty rates depend on your HTS code and country of origin.

In this example, a $20.00 product costs about $27.18 once it is ready to sell in the U.S., roughly 36 percent more than the ex-works price. The duties alone add $3.00 per unit. Change one assumption, such as an origin whose additional duty is calculated inclusive of the regular rate, a higher HTS rate, or a week of demurrage, and the per-unit cost moves noticeably. That is why a landed cost estimate should be rebuilt for each product and origin, not copied from another shipment.

How to get a reliable estimate

1. Confirm the HTS code and origin first. Check the rate in the HTS and any additional duties for your country of origin. If you are not sure of the classification, get it confirmed before you price.
2. Prepare a real carton list. Number of cartons, dimensions, gross weight, units per carton and pallet count. Freight and handling quotes are only as good as these numbers.
3. Ask for a Door to Door quote with the same scope from each provider. Pickup, export clearance, freight, customs clearance, port charges, drayage, receiving and delivery, with the final destination named.
4. Ask what is excluded. Duties at cost, exam fees, demurrage, chassis, storage beyond free time and accessorial charges are the usual gaps.
5. Decide the U.S. destination before you ship. Goods that arrive without a ready receiving point or an Amazon shipment plan can sit at the terminal and add charges.
6. Rebuild the estimate when rules change. Additional duties have changed several times since 2025. Recheck them before each new order.

Abanro quotes the full route in one place: pickup and international shipping, U.S. customs clearance, and receiving, prep, storage and delivery from our facility in Orange County. That gives you one set of numbers to put into the formula instead of five quotes with different scopes.

Landed cost checklist

• Ex-works product cost and units per shipment
• Incoterm agreed, and who is the importer of record
• Origin pickup, export clearance and origin terminal charges
• International freight with surcharges, and cargo insurance
• HTS code, country of origin, regular duty rate and any additional duties as of the shipping date
• Customs value to be declared
• MPF (formal or informal) and, for ocean, HMF
• Customs clearance service, ISF filing and bond
• Partner agency requirements and their costs, if any
• Destination terminal charges, deconsolidation for LCL, and drayage
• A contingency for exams, demurrage, detention and extra storage
• Unloading, receiving, prep, labeling and storage in the U.S.
• Final delivery to Amazon, retailers or customers, or pick and pack per order

This guide is general information, not legal, tax or customs advice. Duty rates, fees and additional duties change, so confirm them for your product and shipment before you ship. All example figures are hypothetical.

Sources and further reading

1. Customs user fees to be adjusted for inflation in fiscal year 2027 (CBP Dec. 26-14), U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Federal Register
2. 19 CFR 24.24: Harbor maintenance fee, Electronic Code of Federal Regulations
3. A guide for the public: how CBP sets bond amounts (February 2024), U.S. Customs and Border Protection
4. Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (search), U.S. International Trade Commission
5. Notice of actions in Section 301 investigations of various economies (91 FR 47318, July 28, 2026), Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Federal Register
6. Indefinite suspension of the de minimis exemption, all modes other than international mail (June 24, 2026), U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Federal Register
7. Importer Security Filing (ISF) frequently asked questions, U.S. Customs and Border Protection
8. Executive Order 14389, Ending Certain Tariff Actions (91 FR 9437, February 25, 2026), Federal Register
9. Executive Order 14411, Strengthening Customs Enforcement (91 FR 35125, June 10, 2026), Federal Register
10. U.S. FBA prep and labeling services to end January 1, 2026, Amazon Selling Partner API changelog

Sources checked on October 20, 2026