How to Use This Tool
Combine product, freight, duty, marketplace and FX costs into one landed margin. Calculate landed unit cost, net marketplace proceeds and contribution margin for a cross-border listing with editable duty and FX buffer.
The decision this tool supports
A profitable domestic price can become loss-making when duty is charged on freight and currency conversion reduces settlement proceeds. This page keeps the decision bounded to contribution per unit and the supporting outputs shown beside it. Cross-Border Margin does not import an account, infer a market rate, or silently substitute an industry average.
Inputs and units
The Cross-Border Margin calculation uses Selling price, Product cost, Freight and handling, Duty on product plus freight, Marketplace fee, FX buffer. Keep all money values in one currency and all time, distance, mass, energy or volume entries in the unit printed beside the field. Mixing Cross-Border Margin scopes can produce a plausible number with the wrong meaning.
- Selling price is entered in currency/unit.
- Product cost is entered in currency/unit.
- Freight and handling is entered in currency/unit.
- Duty on product plus freight is entered in %.
- Marketplace fee is entered in %.
- FX buffer is entered in %.
Formula and worked check
Landed cost = (product + freight) × (1 + duty rate); net proceeds = price × (1 − marketplace fee − FX buffer). An $80 sale with $24 product, $8 freight, 6% duty, 15% fee and 2% FX buffer yields $32.08 contribution and 40.1% margin. The Cross-Border Margin default is an executable known-answer case, not a benchmark or recommendation. Change one input and verify that the direction of contribution per unit still matches the stated relationship.
How to interpret the result
Positive contribution covers the listed variable costs only; compare the margin percentage with the business's overhead and return allowance. The additional Cross-Border Margin outputs expose the denominator, comparison, capacity or reverse value needed to audit the primary result instead of presenting one unexplained number.
Assumptions
- All values use one reporting currency.
- Duty is modeled on product plus freight.
- Marketplace and FX percentages apply to selling price.
Save the Cross-Border Margin input values and date with any material decision. A later Cross-Border Margin rerun is reproducible only when the same assumptions and units are available.
Limitations and safety boundary
Duty bases, de minimis rules, VAT/GST, brokerage, returns and marketplace taxes differ by lane and are not determined here. Cross-Border Margin is an estimate and cannot replace a contract, local code, licensed professional, calibrated measurement, lender statement or platform report where one governs the decision.
Source and privacy
The Cross-Border Margin definition or rule was checked against U.S. Small Business Administration — Manage your finances on 2026-08-26. Recheck U.S. Small Business Administration — Manage your finances when a specification or policy behind Cross-Border Margin can change. Cross-Border Margin arithmetic runs in this browser tab; ecech does not receive the values through a calculation API.
Sources & assumptions
Tool Spec v2 · verified 2026-08-26. Platform rules and fees can change; the editable inputs remain authoritative for your account.
Official references
- U.S. Small Business Administration — Manage your finances (checked 2026-08-26)
Model assumptions
- All values use one reporting currency.
- Duty is modeled on product plus freight.
- Marketplace and FX percentages apply to selling price.
- Duty bases, de minimis rules, VAT/GST, brokerage, returns and marketplace taxes differ by lane and are not determined here.
