A landed cost estimate helps decide whether to buy or price a shipment. Actual charges arrive later. Keep those two figures labeled and reconcile each input before using a cost to judge margin. Wholety's free calculator is a planning tool; its result is not automatically an ERP settlement record.
Compare the same shipment in the same currency
Suppose one shipment contains 50 comparable units. All figures below are illustrative CAD amounts; a real purchase may have different currencies, exchange rates, product sizes and additional charges.
| Included input | Before shipment | When actual documents arrive | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goods | CAD 1,000 | CAD 1,000 | CAD 0 |
| Freight | CAD 150 | CAD 225 | CAD 75 |
| Other included charges | CAD 50 | CAD 50 | CAD 0 |
| Planning total | CAD 1,200 | CAD 1,275 | CAD 75 |
| Planning cost per comparable unit | CAD 24.00 | CAD 25.50 | CAD 1.50 |
The CAD 1.50 difference comes from freight: CAD 75 ÷ 50 units. It is valid as a shipment-wide planning average for comparable units. It is not a rule for allocating freight between SKUs with different volumes. Use the SKU freight allocation example for a two-product container.
Try both input sets in the free landed cost calculator. It accepts goods, freight, insurance, duty and other included charges so you can revise a plan. Enter the charges and currency basis you actually have; do not treat a blank estimate as a zero-cost invoice.
Match every difference to a source record
Check the supplier order and its agreed price, the shipping record and final freight document, accepted receiving quantity, and any separately recorded insurance, duty or other charges. If goods arrived in several containers, keep each container's freight and assigned quantities separate. If only part of a purchase was received, do not divide a full-shipment charge by a partial unit count without checking the allocation basis.
In Wholety, supply settlement allocates recorded freight by SKU volume within each shipping record. It writes confirmed freight to the corresponding stock cost and retains a cost snapshot. This is narrower than the calculator's planning total above: do not claim that the CAD 50 of other charges is automatically included in that stock-cost allocation. Check how those charges are actually recorded and handled in your process before comparing a settled margin with a planning figure.
Supplier payment is also a separate record from cost confirmation. A payment date or amount does not prove that all shipment costs have been confirmed. Read the supply-chain manual and finance manual for the distinct steps.
Use an AI Agent to identify missing inputs
Once the purchase, shipping and receiving records are in Wholety, give your own Agent read access and the relevant cost-viewing permission. Ask it:
For this purchase and its shipping records, list the recorded SKU quantities, volumes and freight amounts with their source records. Compare them with the approved estimate I provide. Flag missing amounts or different units and currencies. Do not change records or settle the purchase.
Review the answer against the underlying records. The Agent can help locate and explain differences in data it may read; it cannot turn an unreceived invoice into an actual charge or decide your accounting treatment. Correct the source record or the settlement-page volume override where appropriate, then have a person confirm the settlement. Connect your Agent and follow one purchase through partial receiving before relying on the result for sales-margin decisions.
Keep the two numbers visible to the team
Label the first number estimate and the later number actual inputs reviewed. Record which charges are included in each, the currency basis, quantity denominator and date. When a sale's margin differs from the plan, trace the stock to its source purchase and shipping record rather than changing a selling price based only on the shipment-wide average. The import workflow page shows where purchase, receiving, stock and sales records connect.