What's the actual difference between COGS and landed cost, and why does mixing them up wreck my margins?
The short answer
COGS is the accounting line, what a unit cost you once it's sitting in inventory, ready to sell. Landed cost is the fuller number: product cost plus freight, insurance, customs duty, IGST, brokerage, everything it took to get that unit to your dock. Price off your factory invoice alone and you'll quietly bleed margin on every sale, because duty and freight alone can add a large chunk to what the supplier quoted you.
A quick summary to orient you. The real value is below: the resources worth your time, from people who've actually done it, not us.
Here are the resources
Hand-picked from around the web, each with a note on why it earns your time. India-specific ones carry a badge.
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Why we picked it
An ecommerce-accounting platform's clear breakdown of what belongs in landed cost versus COGS, the exact confusion that quietly wrecks new founders' margins.
Why we picked it
A fulfilment provider's practical definition and formula for landed cost, aimed squarely at ecommerce operators rather than accountants.
Why we picked it
An ecommerce-accounting firm's step-by-step COGS formula, useful as the accounting-correct companion to the more operational landed-cost guides.
