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PARTLY

As of 13 August 2026, AI can only partly calculate the landed cost of imported stock.

This still needs a person who signs their name to it.

Can you do it?

5 minutesto a draft.

30 minutesto something you’d act on.

Cost, all in£0

Skill neededchat-fluent

Who has to check ita colleague

What the alternative costsThe supplied tool data gives no price for a human costing service.

If this goes wrong: you use an incorrect stock cost in pricing or accounts and have to trace the shipment, correct the records and revisit decisions based on the wrong margin.

What to actually do

  1. Hand it to a person

    The route this page recommends

    A person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.

  2. Use a tool built for this

    Second choice

  3. Do it yourself

    The distant third

    A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 30 minutes until you can act on the result.

    How to actually do it

    1. Open the supplier invoice, freight invoice, customs entry, duty statement, clearance invoice and delivery records for one shipment.
    2. Copy the product quantities, prices, currencies, exchange rates, freight, insurance, duty, clearance charges, import VAT and domestic delivery costs into one folder or document, keeping the original document names.
    3. Choose the allocation basis for shared costs, such as units, value, weight or volume, and write the rule beside the shipment figures.
    4. Paste the documents, figures and allocation rule into a chatbot with the prompt, asking it to separate import VAT and flag missing or uncertain information.
    5. Compare the chatbot's extracted figures and shipment total with each original invoice and customs document, correcting any transcription or currency errors.
    6. Ask a colleague who understands your stock and accounting process to confirm the allocation rule, the treatment of import VAT and the final per-unit costs before entering them into your inventory system.

    Prompt

    Calculate the landed cost of this imported stock using only the figures and documents I provide. Do not invent, estimate or fill gaps in any amount. First extract a source table with supplier price, quantity, currency, exchange rate, freight, insurance, duty, customs or clearance charges, import VAT, domestic delivery, storage and any other listed cost. Identify duplicated charges and missing figures. Then calculate the shipment total and the landed cost per unit. If costs cover multiple products, allocate them using this rule: [allocation rule, such as weight, volume, value or units]. If no rule is supplied, show the alternatives and ask me to choose rather than deciding silently. Keep import VAT separate and flag that its treatment depends on the business's VAT and accounting treatment. State the Incoterm, currency basis, date or source of each exchange rate, rounding method and every assumption. Show the formula and a reconciliation back to the supplier and shipping documents. Put uncertain customs, tax or accounting points in a section called CHECK WITH A UK ACCOUNTANT OR CUSTOMS AGENT. Return a clear table suitable for checking, with one row per product and a shipment total. Here are the documents and figures: [paste or attach documents and figures].

    Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.

What it gets wrong

  • AI cannot know which landed-cost policy your business uses unless you state it, and it may choose a plausible allocation basis when the instruction is missing.
  • AI cannot reliably settle whether import VAT, duty, clearance, storage or domestic delivery belongs in your inventory cost without the relevant accounting and VAT context.
  • AI cannot confirm that a commodity code, customs valuation or Incoterm has been interpreted correctly from incomplete shipping paperwork.
  • AI cannot take responsibility for the stock valuation, prices or margin decisions based on the result.

What caps this at PARTLY: judgement under ambiguity, verification cost and stakes of error.

How we scored this

Five axes, each scored nought to two by hand: ten means AI carries the task cleanly, and the thresholds that turn a total into YES, PARTLY or NO are published in the methodology. Each axis name links to its definition.

AxisScore (0–2)
Output2
Inputs1
Verification1
Liability1
Effort delta2
Total7 / 10

The methodology and its thresholds are published in full.

FAQ

Can ChatGPT calculate landed cost?
Yes, it can calculate and allocate the figures if you provide complete shipment records and a clear allocation rule. It cannot safely decide missing customs, VAT or accounting treatment, so check those points before using the result in your stock system.
What is included in landed cost?
It commonly includes the purchase cost and costs needed to bring the goods to your premises, such as freight, insurance, duty and clearance charges. The treatment of import VAT, storage and domestic delivery depends on your accounting policy and the shipment terms.
Can AI calculate import duty and VAT?
AI can calculate amounts from figures you provide and show the formulas. It should not decide the correct commodity code, customs valuation or VAT treatment from incomplete information, so ask a customs agent or UK accountant to confirm a serious or uncertain case.
How do I allocate shipping costs across imported products?
Choose a rule that reflects the cost driver, such as units, value, weight or volume, and apply it consistently to the shared charges. AI can perform the allocation and show the comparison, but your stock or accounting process should approve the rule.

Nearby answers

All Inventory & stock rulings

Assessed by gpt-5.6-luna (gpt-5.6-luna) on 2026-08-13, second-checked by an independent model. Wrong somewhere? Email [email protected] and it gets re-checked.

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