US Cosmetics Landed Cost Calculator
A Free duty rate does not make a shipment free of customs cost. Model the whole block — including the per-entry fees that now apply to shipments of 800 dollars or less — and see what each unit actually carries.
Two factories quote your night cream at 2.10 and 2.35 dollars a unit FOB. That comparison is close to meaningless, because FOB is the one part of your landed cost both factories will commit to early, and it is not the part that has been moving. This calculator is built as a line-item model with an owner against each line, so it keeps working when the rates change.
Rates are inputs, not constants. That is deliberate — a calculator with this year's tariff written into it becomes a source of wrong numbers next year.
The same unit price, two shipment sizes
Both rows below use an identical FOB price of 2.10 dollars a unit. Nothing about the product, the factory or the negotiation changes between them. The only variable is how many units share the cost of one customs entry.
| 24-unit sample carton | 20,000-unit run | |
|---|---|---|
| FOB price per unit | $2.10 | $2.10 |
| Merchandise Processing Fee | $32.71 at per-entry minimum | $145.49 |
| Per-entry cost (broker + bond) | $185.00 | $185.00 |
| Fixed cost carried per unit | $9.07 | $0.0092 |
| Landed cost per unit | $18.67 | $2.24 |
| Increase over FOB | 789% | 7% |
The fixed cost each unit carries differs by a factor of roughly 980 between those two shipments. That is the entire story of small-batch importing since the de minimis exemption was suspended, and it is why a sample round can cost more per unit than the retail margin on the finished product.
It also makes batching worth real money. Three separate 24-unit sample shipments incur three entries. Consolidating the same 72 units into one carton removes two broker fees, two bonds and two MPF minimums — about 435 dollars, or 32 percent off the per-unit landed cost.
Worked example only. Assumes a Free general duty rate, no origin-specific measures, air freight of 180 dollars on the sample carton and ocean freight of 2,400 dollars on the production run, and MPF and HMF at their 2026 published levels. Change any of those in the calculator below and the numbers move.
Landed cost per unit
$2.636
FOB was $2.10 — landed is 26% higher
Total for this shipment: $5,272.96
Fixed cost carried per unit
$0.109
1 entry × $185.00 in per-shipment cost, plus the MPF minimum. This is the line that punishes small shipments — it does not shrink with unit price.
Line items
- Goods (FOB × units)
- $4,200.00$2.10/unit
- International freight
- $850.00$0.425/unit
- MPF (at per-entry minimum)
- $32.71$0.016/unit
- HMF
- $5.25$0.003/unit
- Per-entry costs × 1
- $185.00$0.093/unit
- Total landed
- $5,272.96
Your MPF is at the per-entry minimum, not the percentage. That is the small-shipment penalty in one line: the fee stops scaling with value and becomes a flat cost per entry.
What this model does not decide for you
- Who the importer of record is. A factory selling FOB is the exporter. Without a US party with legal standing to make entry, you have a factory price, not a landed cost.
- Your HTS classification. Scalp serums, cleansing bars and lip treatments cross heading boundaries by use, not by texture.
- SPF products sit in two independent systems — 3304 for customs, OTC drug for the FDA. No tariff line avoids the second problem.
The reasoning behind every line is in the full landed cost guide.
What we are and are not
We are a cosmetics manufacturer, not a licensed customs broker. This calculator is a planning model built from the quotations and shipments we see, and the figures it returns are estimates for budgeting, not a quotation of your duty liability. Classification, valuation and entry are the importer of record's responsibility, and your broker's numbers govern. Confirm rates against the official Harmonized Tariff Schedule and current CBP fee notices for the period you are entering goods, and use the model to ask your broker better questions rather than to replace them.
Questions this calculator raises
Why is my landed cost higher than the factory quote when US duty on cosmetics is Free?+
Because duty is one line in the customs block, not the whole block. Beauty and skin care preparations under HTS heading 3304 have carried a Free general rate, but the Merchandise Processing Fee is charged on value rather than on duty, so a Free rate does not remove it. On top of that sit the broker fee, the customs bond and, for ocean shipments, the Harbor Maintenance Fee. Those are charged per shipment, so on a small carton they dominate the per-unit number.
What changed for shipments under 800 dollars?+
The de minimis administrative exemption, which let shipments valued at 800 dollars or less enter without a formal customs entry, was suspended for all countries. It then moved from executive action into the customs regulations themselves, with separate treatment for the international postal network. The regulations describe this as an indefinite suspension rather than a repeal, so the correct posture is to build a process that works under entry requirements rather than to plan around the old regime returning.
Why does the calculator make me enter the duty rate instead of filling it in?+
Because a hardcoded rate is a future error. The general rate depends on the subheading you actually classify under, and origin-specific measures stack on top of it, set by executive action on timelines unrelated to the tariff schedule. Pull the current rate for your specific subheading from the official Harmonized Tariff Schedule at the time you quote. That is the only version authoritative on the day your goods arrive.
Can my factory be the importer of record?+
No. A Chinese manufacturer selling FOB or FCA is the exporter. The importer of record has to be a US party with the legal standing to make entry and the liability that comes with it. If you have not decided who that is, you do not have a landed cost yet, you have a factory price.
Does getting the tariff code right solve my SPF product's regulatory problem?+
No, they are two independent systems. Heading 3304 names sunscreen and sun tan preparations in its own text, so that is where the goods are classified for customs. For the FDA, a product making a sun protection claim is an over-the-counter drug with a different labelling regime and constrained active ingredients. There is no tariff line you can choose that avoids the second problem.
Where to go next
The full landed cost guide
Why 0% duty is not free, what the de minimis suspension actually changed, and the classification decisions behind each line.
MoCRA compliance
Which filing is the factory's and which is yours, plus the US labelling rules under 21 CFR 701 and 740.
Manufacturing for the US market
Our FEI number, the sunscreen drug route, and where the small business exemption stops applying.
Formulation cost
Development fees, testing list prices, and the formula ownership clause that decides what you actually bought.