Factories quote on different Incoterms, in different currencies, with tooling and payment terms buried in the deal. Normalise them to one landed cost per unit at your real order quantity — the ranking often changes.
| Supplier | Term | Quoted | Freight legs | Duty | Tooling | Payment | Landed | vs best |
|---|
Freight, origin charges and duty are your figures, not ours — a number we invented could change which supplier wins. Get freight from your forwarder and the duty rate from a TARIC lookup for your commodity code, origin and import date.
Start with comparing supplier quotes on equivalent terms. If delivery dates differ, use the China sourcing calendar guide to put the timing assumptions in context.
For an illustrative order of 1,000 units, Supplier A quotes €4.20 per unit plus €300 freight: €4,500 total, or €4.50 per unit. Supplier B quotes €4.00 plus €650 freight: €4,650 total, or €4.65 per unit.
These are goods-and-freight subtotals only. Add any insurance, duty, clearance, tooling, payment costs and applicable VAT treatment before making a buying decision. The figures illustrate the comparison; they are not market quotes.
Use the EU import duty and VAT calculator with rates you have verified, or read the landed-cost guide for the wider cost checklist.
If the factory price itself needs explaining, build a materials-and-process estimate with the should-cost calculator before asking the supplier to clarify its quote.
Comparing prices raises a bigger question: which supplier fits your order? See how a paid supplier decision report assesses that fit, and prepare the product and budget inputs for your research brief.
