Essen Industries American-led. Taiwan-built. Request a Quote
Essen Industries
Cost

What a membrane switch actually costs, landed.

A factory's ex-works quote isn't your cost. Landed cost is: the part, plus freight, plus duty, plus brokerage — delivered to your dock. Here's the breakdown and a worked Taiwan-vs-China example.

The line items behind a delivered price

Ex-factory unit costWhat the factory charges per piece
FreightAir (light parts, ~days) or ocean (weeks)
Import dutyBase MFN + additional rate for the origin
Customs brokeragePer-entry clearance fee
Carrying & QCFinancing, inspection, receiving — often forgotten

Worked example — Taiwan vs China

A round-number illustration: 1,000 pieces at $8 ex-factory, $600 air freight, $250 brokerage. Duty applied at Taiwan 10% vs an illustrative China 35%.

LineTaiwanChina
Goods (1,000 × $8)$8,000$8,000
Freight$600$600
Brokerage$250$250
Import duty$800 (10%)$2,800 (~35%)
Landed total$9,650$11,650
Per unit, landed$9.65$11.65

On this illustration the duty delta alone is $2,000 on the lot — $2.00 per unit — before counting origin-scrutiny risk or the 40% transshipment exposure that rides on China-origin.

This is a teaching example with round numbers, not a quote. Your real figures depend on the part's HTS classification, actual factory pricing, lot size, and current rates. We quote delivered landed cost per part.

Get the real landed number.

Send the drawing or a sample. We quote delivered — duty, freight, and brokerage already in the price.