Planning tool
China-to-US landed cost, LCL/FCL crossover and inspection calculator
Estimate what an order from China costs per unit at a US warehouse: FOB value, ocean freight, duty and CBP fees. Then see where LCL stops being cheaper than a full container, how many pieces an inspection has to sample, and how much safety stock a late factory costs you.
Planning estimates only. Not a customs ruling, freight quotation or inspection result. The numbers you type stay in your browser.
How the calculator works
Enter the order once: FOB value, quantity, volume, duty rate, number of suppliers and US coast. The four modules below read the same inputs, so a change in one place moves every result. Each module states its method and its source, and the assumptions you can replace with your own quotes are marked. The full method, sources and limits are at the end of the page.
1. Landed cost and fees
Adds duty, the CBP Merchandise Processing Fee and the Harbor Maintenance Fee to your FOB value and freight, per order and per unit, and compares a percentage-fee sourcing agent with a flat monthly membership.
2. LCL or full container
Prices the same cargo as separate LCL shipments per supplier, one consolidated LCL shipment, a 20GP and a 40HQ container, and shows the volume at which a full container becomes cheaper.
3. Inspection sampling
Compares a fixed single-sample plan with Wald's sequential test (SPRT), which can stop early, and weighs the expected value of inspecting against the cost of an on-site inspection.
4. Safety stock
Sizes a buffer for late deliveries with Scarf's distribution-free rule, next to the usual normal-curve buffer, and shows the working capital it ties up.
Method, sources and limits
Duty and CBP fees
Duty is the combined rate you enter (the MFN rate plus any Section 301 rate) applied to the FOB transaction value (19 CFR 152.103). The Merchandise Processing Fee is 0.3464% of the entered value, with a minimum of USD 34.58 and a maximum of USD 670.86 per formal entry. An entry valued below USD 2,500 is modelled as an informal entry at USD 2.77, the fee for an informal entry or release that is automated and not prepared by CBP personnel (a manual informal entry is USD 8.30, or USD 12.45 when CBP personnel prepare it). The Harbor Maintenance Fee is 0.125% of the cargo value for ocean shipments. Source: U.S. Customs and Border Protection, “Customs User Fees To Be Adjusted for Inflation in Fiscal Year 2027”, CBP Dec. 26-14, 91 FR 48398 (FR Doc. 2026-15530), published July 31, 2026 and effective October 1, 2026 (official PDF). When several suppliers ship separately, each shipment is its own entry and pays its own fee.
Informal entry and Section 301 goods. Under 19 CFR 143.21(a), informal entry covers shipments valued at USD 2,500 or less, except articles valued above USD 250 that are classified in Chapter 99, Subchapters III and IV of the HTSUS. The Section 301 duties on Chinese goods are Chapter 99, Subchapter III headings. The calculator applies the USD 2,500 threshold only. If your goods carry a Section 301 rate and a shipment is valued above USD 250 and below USD 2,500, plan for a formal entry: the fee is then the USD 34.58 minimum instead of USD 2.77, which is USD 31.81 more per entry.
Freight and consolidation
LCL is billed per W/M (the larger of the volume in CBM and the weight in tonnes) with a minimum per shipment, plus origin and destination CFS charges, one customs entry and one local delivery per shipment. A 20GP is modelled at about 28 CBM or 21,500 kg and a 40HQ at about 68 CBM or 26,500 kg. The lane rates for the West Coast (Los Angeles and Long Beach) and the East Coast (New York and Savannah) are illustrative planning assumptions, not quotations: replace the result with your forwarder's quote before you decide.
Inspection sampling
The sequential plan is Wald's sequential probability ratio test with a producer's risk of 0.05 and a consumer's risk of 0.10 (Wald, A., 1945, “Sequential tests of statistical hypotheses”, Annals of Mathematical Statistics 16(2)). The default limits, 1% acceptable and 10% rejectable, reproduce the worked example in the NIST/SEMATECH e-Handbook of Statistical Methods, section 6.2.6: accept on or below x = −0.939 + 0.04n, reject on or above x = 1.205 + 0.04n, so the earliest acceptance is at 24 pieces with no defects. The single-sample sizes shown for comparison are the smallest fixed plans that meet the same two risk points under the binomial model. The value of inspecting is the loss avoided when a bad lot is caught, weighted by your prior, minus the cost of a false alarm; the inspection day rates are planning assumptions.
Safety stock
The buffer uses Scarf's distribution-free rule (Scarf, H., 1958, “A min-max solution of an inventory problem”, in Studies in the Mathematical Theory of Inventory and Production; Gallego, G. and Moon, I., 1993, “The distribution free newsboy problem: review and extensions”, Journal of the Operational Research Society 44(8)). Lead time is the lane transit time plus 12 production days, and daily demand is assumed to vary by 22% of its mean. The normal-curve buffer is shown next to it for comparison.
Sourcing fee comparison
Percentage-fee agents are modelled at 5% to 10% of the order value with a USD 100 minimum. That range is a planning assumption, so enter the rate you were quoted. The membership figures are the ChinaPayCheck plans on the pricing page. Product costs, freight, third-party inspection or laboratory fees and supplier payments are separate from the membership, and ChinaPayCheck does not hold money for goods.
What this tool is not
The calculator is a planning aid. It is not a customs ruling, a freight quotation, an inspection result or advice on a specific supplier, and it does not check who you are paying.
ChinaPayCheck is designed for international buyers who need a practical second look before sending money to a Chinese supplier. The review is buyer-side: no payments from suppliers, no paid supplier listings, no supplier promotion and no fake trust badges.
ChinaPayCheck is not a law firm, escrow service, insurer, payment recovery service, credit bureau, government registry or statutory inspection and certification body. Layer 1 reviews and Layer 2 desk work are practical buyer-side execution with photo evidence; they do not guarantee shipment, product quality, refund recovery, legal outcome or supplier behavior after payment.
ChinaPayCheck does not guarantee supplier safety, account ownership, shipment, quality, recovery, or legal outcomes. Read the full methodology and limits.