Steel Landed Cost Worksheet for Comparing Import Offers
A lower unit price can still land at a higher cost once carriage, local charges, import taxes and material losses are counted. Enter only compliant offers, give every figure a written source and an owner, and test which assumptions could change the ranking.
Admit Only Compliant, Like-for-Like Offers
A landed-cost total is meaningful only when every offer in it buys the same steel under the same conditions. Before an offer gets a column, check that it quotes the accepted specification, the same quantity and invoicing basis, and the same document set, including any certificate or inspection report the order requires. An offer that deviates goes on a separate exceptions list with the deviation written out; do not try to price a different grade, coating or document set with a cost line, because that hides a technical decision inside a commercial one. Head each column with the offer reference, revision and validity date.
- SpecificationThe accepted specification, quoted without unapproved deviations.
- Quantity basisOne quantity, unit and invoicing basis across every column.
- Document setThe certificate, inspection and shipping papers the order requires.
Add Cost Lines by Who Pays Under the Term
Read the delivery term written in each offer, then list every cost between the seller's delivery point and usable stock at your site. For each line, mark whether it already sits inside the offer price or is paid by you, so that a cost included in one offer is not added a second time. Fill an amount only from a dated written source: the offer itself, a forwarder or insurer estimate, a customs broker's assessment or your own site records. Leave a line blank until a source exists and carry it into the uncertainty register. When the offer currency differs from your own, conversion and finance charges are lines too; record the assumed rate with its source and date.
| Cost line | Inside the offer or paid by you | Written source to request | Amount and currency | Valid until |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Offer price for the accepted line | Enter | Offer reference and revision | Enter | Enter |
| Export charges to the named delivery point | Enter | Offer or forwarder | Enter | Enter |
| Main carriage | Enter | Forwarder or offer | Enter | Enter |
| Cargo insurance | Enter | Insurer or offer | Enter | Enter |
| Destination port and terminal charges | Enter | Forwarder or port agent | Enter | Enter |
| Customs duty, import taxes and fees | Enter | Destination customs broker | Enter | Enter |
| Brokerage and document fees | Enter | Broker or forwarder | Enter | Enter |
| Inland transport and unloading | Enter | Haulier and receiving site | Enter | Enter |
| Inspection, banking and currency costs | Enter | Inspection body, bank or finance team | Enter | Enter |
Hand Customs Value and Tax Lines to Your Broker
A generic online duty table is a weak source for these lines. Customs value generally starts from the transaction value, the price actually paid or payable for the goods, with adjustments; whether carriage and insurance are added depends on the destination's own law. The duty depends on how the destination classifies the product line, and other import taxes and fees may apply on top. Whether an import tax is a final cost or later recoverable depends on local rules and on your business. Ask a customs broker at the destination to classify the line, state the valuation basis and estimate the charges in writing, and ask your tax adviser about recovery. Enter their answers with the date, and keep the invoice description consistent with the line the broker classified.
- ClassificationAsk the broker to classify the product line from the order description.
- Valuation basisRecord what the destination adds to the transaction value.
- Tax recoveryAsk your adviser whether any import tax is recoverable for your business.
Have a Specification Ready?
Send what you already know, such as grade, finish, size or quantity. Inquiries are answered within 2 hours.
Treat Losses and Claims as Owned Assumptions
Steel that arrives but cannot be used still carries its landed cost. Add separate allowances for your own processing yield, transit damage, weight or count shortage, rejected units and claim recovery, and write each one as your assumption, not as a property of the offer. Give each allowance a basis, such as your process records, earlier receiving reports or an insurer's written terms, and name the person who owns it. A recovery expected from a claim stays uncertain until it is paid, so keep it on its own line instead of netting it against the loss. Where the written terms of an actual order address losses or tolerances, record them beside your assumption and note which one the comparison uses.
Name the allowance
Yield, transit damage, shortage, rejection or claim recovery, one line each.
Give it a basis and owner
Record where the figure comes from and who will revise it.
Replace it with evidence
Update the line when receiving records or claim results arrive.
Keep an Uncertainty Register Beside the Totals
The register shows how much of each landed-cost total rests on figures that nobody has put in writing. List every input that is an estimate or an assumption, with its source and date, owner and expiry. Enter a low and a high value you consider plausible, then recalculate each offer at both ends. If the ranking of the offers changes within that range, the decision depends on that input: get it put in writing before award rather than averaging it away. Inputs that cannot change the ranking may stay as estimates. Review the register whenever an offer or estimate expires or is revised, and keep the superseded versions in the purchasing file.
| Input | Status, source and date | Owner and expiry | Low and high values | Can it change the ranking? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carriage and insurance | Enter | Enter | Enter | Recalculate and record |
| Destination charges, duty and taxes | Enter | Enter | Enter | Recalculate and record |
| Currency conversion | Enter | Enter | Enter | Recalculate and record |
| Loss and claim allowances | Enter | Enter | Enter | Recalculate and record |
Fill the Worksheet From Written, Order-Specific Figures
ZIVO quotations are priced in US dollars, FOB Qingdao. Enter such an offer at the point it names, then complete the main carriage, insurance, destination and currency lines from your own written estimates. For an actual order, the price, the delivery term as written and any loss allowance are fixed only in the written quotation for that order; this guide contains no price, rate or allowance to copy into a column. Send the accepted steel line, quantity basis, packing, required documents and destination with your enquiry, then record the quotation reference and validity date at the head of its column. When any figure is revised, update the register before comparing again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Only as a labelled assumption with its source and date. Ask a customs broker at the destination to classify the product line and estimate the charges in writing before you rely on the total.
Not necessarily. Whether an import tax is recoverable depends on local rules and your business. Ask your broker or tax adviser, and record the answer and its owner in the register.
You do, for your own process and route, with a named owner and a stated basis. Where the written terms of an actual order address losses or tolerances, record them beside your assumption.
Tell Us What You Need
Send the product form, grade, finish, thickness, width, length and quantity. Inquiries are answered within 2 hours.
Request a written quotation for your worksheet
Share the accepted steel line, quantity basis, packing, required documents and destination. Quotations are priced in US dollars, FOB Qingdao; record the quotation reference and validity date in your worksheet.
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