1. Who produces the number
Freight cost per unit.
Duty and preferential duty where applicable.
Documentation and certification cost.
2. What the client compares
The landed cost at the destination, all in.
3. The methods
Method one: percentage uplift
Apply a percentage to the ex-works price.
Simple, and wrong whenever the product’s freight-intensity differs from the average.
Method two: category rates
Different percentages by product category.
Better, still aggregated.
Method three: per-product calculation
Actual freight and actual duty per product, calculated individually.
Accurate, and it requires a data set most trading companies do not maintain.
4. The data required for method three
Gross weight and volume per unit, from the packing record.
Freight rate per container or per chargeable weight.
Duty rate in the destination, and whether a preferential rate applies.
Documentation cost per shipment, which has to be allocated.
5. The weak link in most companies
Documentation cost is almost never allocated.
It is treated as overhead.
For high-value goods that is reasonable. For low-value, high-volume goods it is not: the certification cost per unit can exceed the duty.
6. A scenario
A company exporting small hardware to a market in the Middle East.
The quotation assumed a percentage uplift for freight and duty.
The destination required the invoice and certificate of origin to be legalized. The authentication cost per shipment was fixed.
For small orders, the authentication cost per unit exceeded the contribution margin, and the company was losing money on exactly the orders it thought were most efficient.
7. The fix
Include documentation cost in the quotation, either as a per-shipment charge or as a minimum order value.
8. Closing view
Pricing accuracy depends on knowing the cost structure, including the cost of documents.
That line is the one most often missing.
*This article is based on standard export cost practice and China’s consular authentication regulations, updated October 2026.*