About FOB Calc

Why We Built This

Export quoting is full of small mistakes that cost real money. An inland charge forgotten, an insurance rate applied to the wrong base, a margin calculated on cost instead of price. Every one of these quietly shrinks a quote that looked fine on paper.

FOB Calc was built to remove those mistakes. Enter your costs once and the calculator shows EXW, FOB, and CIF prices side by side, so you can see exactly what each incoterm adds and where your margin actually sits.

Who Is Behind It

The tool is built and maintained by people with years of hands-on experience in China export trade, working with factories, freight forwarders, and international buyers. We built it first for our own quoting work, then decided to make it free for every exporter and importer.

How We Keep It Accurate

• The cost elements included in each term follow the Incoterms® 2020 allocation for EXW, FOB, and CIF. Incoterms decide which party pays for what; they do not prescribe a pricing formula, so the margin and insurance arithmetic below is ours and is written out in full.
• Insurance is calculated on 110% of CIF value — the uplift specified for CIF in Incoterms® 2020.
• Every input is editable, so your quote reflects your real costs, not a template.
• Each calculator is covered by a regression suite that runs the code actually served on the page, against fixed inputs — including zero quantity, single units, a 90% margin, and invalid entries.

Methodology

These are the exact calculations the tools run. Nothing is hidden and no result is adjusted after the fact.

FOB & CIF Calculator

Let q be quantity, m the margin rate (margin ÷ 100), and r the insurance rate (insurance ÷ 100). Every monetary input is converted to a single currency first.

• FOB cost per unit = EXW + (inland freight + port & customs charges) ÷ q
• FOB price per unit = FOB cost ÷ (1 − m)
• CIF cost per unit = EXW + (inland + port charges + ocean freight) ÷ q
• CIF price per unit = CIF cost ÷ (1 − m − 1.1 × r)
• Shipment total = unit price × q

The margin is a share of the selling price, not a mark-up on cost: a 20% margin on a cost of 100 gives 125, not 120. The insurance term sits inside the same divisor because the premium is itself charged on the insured value, which includes the margin. Solving for price in one step is what keeps the two consistent.

CIF Calculator

The same calculation starting from an FOB unit cost rather than EXW: freight per unit = total freight ÷ q; CIF price = (FOB cost + freight per unit) ÷ (1 − m − 1.1 × r); insurance per unit = CIF price × 1.1 × r.

Landed Cost Calculator

Import duty = CIF value × duty rate; total landed cost = CIF value + duty + destination port charges + inland delivery; landed cost per unit = total ÷ q.

Export Price Calculator

Cost per unit = product cost + (inland freight and export charges + port and terminal charges) ÷ q. From that cost the price follows the basis you choose: on the margin basis, price = cost ÷ (1 − r); on the markup basis, price = cost × (1 + r). Profit per unit = price − cost. Both bases are then reported for the price you arrived at — margin = (price − cost) ÷ price and markup = (price − cost) ÷ cost — so the same price is readable either way. Shipment figures are the per-unit figures multiplied by q. The rate is capped at 90% on the margin basis, where the equation has no positive solution at 100%, and at 900% on the markup basis.

Import Cost Calculator

Duty = CIF value × duty rate. Import tax is charged on the duty-paid value rather than on the CIF value alone — tax = (CIF value + duty) × tax rate — and that compounding is the step most often missed by hand. Landed cost excluding recoverable tax = CIF value + duty + customs brokerage + destination port charges + inland delivery; total cash = that figure + import tax. Landed cost per unit = landed cost ÷ q. The tax is reported on its own line because a registered importer normally recovers it, and it is still counted in the total, because it is still paid.

Profit Margin Calculator

Two independent tools sharing nothing but the definitions. The first returns, from a cost and a selling price: profit = price − cost, margin = (price − cost) ÷ price, markup = (price − cost) ÷ cost. A selling price below cost is accepted rather than rejected, and the panel states plainly that both figures are negative. The second returns a price from a cost and a target rate — price = cost ÷ (1 − r) on the margin basis, price = cost × (1 + r) on the markup basis — and then reports the margin and the markup that price actually represents. The ceilings are 90% and 900% respectively. A 900% markup and a 90% margin describe the same price; the two figures are not interchangeable.

Supplier Quote Comparison

Every supplier is costed with the same import model, so the comparison is like for like. Per supplier: goods value = FOB unit price × quantity; CIF value = goods value + freight, freight and insurance being entered together here; duty = CIF value × duty rate; import tax = (CIF value + duty) × tax rate; landed cost = CIF value + duty + shared import costs, with brokerage, port charges and inland delivery folded into one field; landed cost per unit = landed cost ÷ quantity. Suppliers are ranked on landed cost per unit, the only figure that carries goods, freight, duty and charges together, and each one's gap to the cheapest is shown. Enter a selling price and each supplier also shows the margin its landed cost would leave. A supplier is costed only when all four of its fields are filled; a part-filled one is named as incomplete and left out of the ranking rather than silently dropped. When the lowest FOB unit price and the lowest landed cost belong to different suppliers, the page says so.

Freight Quote Request

Volumetric weight = volume × the mode's ratio, taken as 1000 kg per cubic metre for LCL and 167 kg per cubic metre for air. Chargeable weight = the greater of the actual gross weight and the volumetric weight, and the page names which of the two won, since that is what a carrier bills. These divisors are billing conventions rather than rates, and carriers do vary the air divisor. FCL is billed per container and other modes depend on the carrier, so the page declines to compute a chargeable weight for those and says why instead. It produces a request for quotation, not a quotation, and the text it generates says so.

Rounding and precision

All arithmetic runs at full floating-point precision; only the displayed figure is rounded. The FOB, CIF, and export price calculators show every figure to three decimals; the landed cost, import cost, and profit margin calculators show two. The supplier comparison mixes the two on purpose — whole-shipment money to two, per-unit money to three. Percentages are shown to one decimal everywhere. Trailing zeros are removed, so 4.760 prints as 4.76. Re-using a displayed figure in a spreadsheet therefore carries a small rounding difference from the unrounded result.

What the Calculators Do Not Include

• VAT, GST, or any other consumption tax charged on import. Add these separately if they apply to you.
• Anti-dumping or countervailing duties, tariff-rate quotas, and preferential rates under a free trade agreement. The duty field applies the single flat rate you enter.
• Banking charges, letters of credit, currency hedging, or the spread your bank applies to the exchange rate you type in.
• Port storage, demurrage, detention, inspection, and any charge arising after the goods arrive.
• Agent, broker, or sourcing commission, and per-shipment documentation fees beyond the figures you enter.

Assumptions worth knowing

• Freight and local charges are entered as shipment totals and spread evenly across the quantity. A shipment mixing products of different value or volume needs a weighted average.
• One currency per calculation. The FOB calculator has a single currency switch and does not mix currencies within one calculation.
• Duty is applied to the CIF value you enter. That matches how duty is commonly assessed, but not universally — the United States, for example, generally assesses duty on the transaction value of the goods, which normally excludes international freight and insurance. Check the rule that applies in your destination country.
• Insurance is priced at the rate you enter on 110% of CIF value. Minimum cover, deductibles, and cargo-specific rates vary by policy.

Sources and Standards

• Incoterms® 2020, International Chamber of Commerce — the definitions of EXW, FOB, and CIF used throughout this site, including the 10% insurance uplift specified for CIF. Incoterms is a trademark of the ICC. This site is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the ICC.
• Marine cargo insurance practice — insuring to 110% of CIF value, and the Institute Cargo Clauses as the standard policy wording used in most CIF sales.

What This Tool Is Not

FOB Calc gives estimates for planning. It is not a substitute for a customs broker, a freight forwarder, or your own contract terms. It does not state duty rates, freight rates, or insurance premiums for your product — you supply those, and the accuracy of the result depends on them. Confirm rates, charges, and legal terms with the right professionals before committing.

Review

This methodology was checked against the code served by the calculators on 13 September 2026. When a formula changes, this page changes with it.