A small seller's walkthrough: estimating import duty before you order

Duty is easy to forget when you're comparing supplier quotes — it isn't on the invoice, and it doesn't show up until the shipment is already at the border. Here's the order of steps that avoids that surprise.

1. Get the product's HS code before you commit to an order

Ask your supplier for the HS code they'd declare, or work it out yourself (see how to find the HS code for your product). Get this before placing the order, not after — it's much easier to compare suppliers or adjust pricing before money has changed hands.

2. Estimate the general rate, then sanity-check the category

Enter the code and the declared value (what you're actually paying the supplier, not the retail price) into the tariff calculator above. If the code covers products with genuinely different rates, it'll ask you to narrow down to a more specific one instead of guessing — pick the one that actually matches your product's material and construction.

3. Check whether anything else could apply

Before treating the estimate as final, see whether your product's category or country of origin could be affected by something outside the general rate — see MFN tariffs vs. additional tariffs for what to look for.

4. Add it to your landed cost, not just your product cost

Duty is one part of what a shipment actually costs you — shipping and, depending on the destination, taxes like VAT are separate line items on top of it. Building duty into your cost or pricing model as a percentage of declared value (rather than treating it as a rare surprise fee) makes it much easier to price consistently across suppliers and countries.

Worked example

A seller is quoted $800 for a batch of cotton knit T-shirts (HS 6109.10), which carries a 16.5% general rate. Estimated duty: $800 × 16.5% = $132. If there's no applicable FTA or additional tariff for this product and origin, the seller's landed product cost before shipping is $800 + $132 = $932 — a number worth having before deciding whether the supplier's quote is actually competitive.

Have your HS code and declared value ready? Run the numbers in the tariff calculator.