How do you calculate landed cost and selling price for mini importation?

What counts as landed cost in mini importation?

Landed cost is the total of every naira you spend to get goods from the supplier's shelf in China to your hand in Nigeria, divided by the number of units you can actually sell. If you only look at the price on 1688 or AliExpress, you will underprice almost every time, because on light, cheap items shipping and fees can cost as much as the goods themselves.

For a typical small air shipment, landed cost has six lines: the supplier price converted from yuan, delivery from the seller to your agent's China warehouse, your agent's procurement or payment fee (if any), international shipping charged by weight, clearing and duty (if your agent quotes it separately), and delivery from the agent's Lagos office to you. Your agent may bundle some of these, so always ask what is inside their per-kg rate.

Step 1: How do you convert the yuan price to naira?

Multiply the total yuan amount by the current yuan-to-naira rate. As of 2026-10-21, fxfeed's CNY/NGN page showed 1 CNY at about ₦199.01, and its USD/NGN page showed 1 USD at about ₦1,330.84. These are mid-market rates. Your agent will usually charge a slightly higher rate to pay the supplier, so use the rate your agent gives you, not the one on Google.

Example: you order 50 foldable phone stands on 1688 at ¥9 each. That is ¥450 × ₦199.01 = about ₦89,555.

Step 2: How do you work out the shipping weight (actual vs volumetric)?

Air cargo is charged on whichever is higher: the actual weight on the scale or the volumetric weight of the carton. The common air freight formula is length × width × height in centimetres divided by 6,000, which gives kilograms. Time:matters' glossary notes that 6,000 is the IATA-recommended divisor, couriers often use 5,000, and the result is rounded up to the nearest half kilo. Your agent may use their own divisor, so ask before you ship.

In our example, the 50 stands weigh 6 kg on the scale. If the supplier packs them in a 50 × 40 × 30 cm carton, the volumetric weight is 60,000 ÷ 6,000 = 10 kg. You pay for 10 kg, not 6 kg. If you ask the supplier or agent to repack into a 40 × 30 × 25 cm carton, volumetric weight drops to 5 kg, so you pay for the actual 6 kg instead. Light, bulky items like pillows, toys and plastic organisers are where this hurts most.

Step 3: What does China-to-Nigeria shipping cost per kg in 2026?

As of 2026-10, published air rates for China to Nigeria run roughly $6 to $10.50 per kg for regular goods, which is about ₦8,100 to ₦14,000 per kg at ₦1,330.84 to the dollar. Sino-Shipping's October 2026 update gives air freight at about $6.10/kg (it also quotes $7.40/kg for 1,000 kg+ shipments elsewhere on the page) and does not clearly say what is included. GIG Logistics' China-to-Nigeria page lists regular items at $10.50/kg, special items at $11.99/kg, and bills anything under 1 kg as 1 kg. Batteries, power banks and powders are priced far higher there, with a 100 kg minimum.

Goodhope Freight's 2026 freight page states that its air figures are airport-to-airport and exclude pick-up and delivery, which is a good reminder to check whether any quote is door-to-door. Nigeria's standard VAT rate is 7.5%, and on imports it is usually charged on a base that includes customs value plus duty, as Cleverence's Nigeria shipping guide explains. Many small-parcel agents fold clearing into their per-kg rate, but not all do, so get a written all-in quote. For heavier or bulkier orders, compare sea freight using our guide to air vs sea shipping from China to Nigeria.

Worked example: what is the landed cost per unit?

Here is the full calculation for 50 phone stands shipped by air. The exchange rates and the $10.50/kg rate come from the sources above. The China delivery, agent fee and Lagos delivery figures are example numbers to show the method, not quotes. Replace every line with what your own supplier and agent charge.

Landed cost for 50 phone stands by air (rates as of 2026-10-21; example fees marked)

Step 4: How do you set your selling price and profit?

Divide your landed cost per unit by (1 minus your target margin). With a 40% target margin, ₦4,805 ÷ 0.60 = about ₦8,008, so you might price at ₦8,000. That leaves about ₦3,195 profit per unit, or roughly ₦159,750 if all 50 sell.

Do not confuse margin with markup. A 40% margin means 40% of the selling price is profit; that is the same as marking up your cost by about 67%. If you just add 40% to cost (₦4,805 × 1.4 = ₦6,727), your real margin is only about 29%.

Now see what packing does. With the smaller carton, you pay for 6 kg instead of 10 kg, and shipping drops to about ₦83,843. Total landed cost falls to about ₦184,361, or ₦3,687 per unit. At the same ₦8,000 price, profit rises to about ₦4,313 per unit. One conversation with your supplier about carton size is worth more than ₦1,100 per stand.

• Leave room for damaged or missing units in each batch; divide total cost by sellable units, not ordered units.
• Add any delivery cost you absorb for customers, Paystack or transfer charges, and ad spend per sale.
• Check what similar items sell for on Jiji, Instagram and WhatsApp before you commit to a price.

How can you check a product's numbers before you order?

The quickest way is to run the numbers before you pay the supplier. The free Import2Sales Product Opportunity Checker lets you enter the supplier price, weight and your planned selling price. It then estimates landed cost, profit, margin and a 0-100 product score, and you can share the result card with a partner or your agent. If the margin looks thin, try a different product, a bigger order, or a smaller carton. For ideas on what to test, see what to import from China to sell in Nigeria.

Once the numbers work, you need somewhere to send buyers. Import2Sales can turn the same 1688, AliExpress or Temu product link into a mobile sales page with an Order on WhatsApp button, so you can take pre-orders and confirm payment on delivery in chat. See how in selling mini importation goods on WhatsApp.

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