Landed cost
Understand how landed cost works and how to apply them to orders.
Landed cost represents the total amount your customer must pay to purchase a physical product from one country and have it shipped to an address in another country. It includes international shipping, handling fees, and relevant taxes and duties.
A cross-border transaction often incurs additional duties that are not disclosed to the customer at the time of checkout. The customer, however, is still responsible for paying these hidden costs when the order arrives at its destination.
You can use the Digital River landed cost feature to present customers with the full cost of international orders, thereby minimizing customs delays and unanticipated expenses at delivery.
Landed cost is represented by several attributes at the cart or order level and the line-item level. These allow you to determine the total duty paid on the order and who remits the various taxes.
Digital River only supports landed cost mixed cart and landed cost with tax-inclusive pretty prices for the API solution. Digital River does not support landed cost mixed cart and landed cost with tax-inclusive pretty price integrating for the Global Commerce-hosted flow.
Once configured, applicable orders automatically trigger this feature. For these orders, cross-border-specific costs are calculated and included in the order total.
Tax-inclusive or tax-exclusive landed costs
Digital River allows you to configure tax-inclusive or tax-exclusive landed costs for the price list and shipping cost.
When you set the shipping cost and price list to tax-inclusive, the shipping and product prices will be the final price for the order. The following table describes the differences between tax-inclusive and tax-exclusive landed costs.
Digital River converts tax-inclusive pretty prices for products into tax-exclusive prices for landed cost calculation.
Configure the tax-exclusive product price in Global Commerce for the Landed Cost calculation.
Digital River converts a tax-inclusive shipping price to a tax-exclusive price for Landed Cost calculation.
Configure the tax-exclusive product price in Global Commerce for the Landed Cost calculation.
If the order is eligible for landed cost, Digital River will calculate the landed cost for the product.
Digital River uses the tax-exclusive product price and tax-exclusive shipping cost numbers to calculate the landed cost together, with no separate landed cost for shipping cost and product.
If the order is eligible for landed cost, Digital River will calculate the landed cost for shipping.
Digital River uses the tax-exclusive product price and tax-exclusive shipping cost numbers to calculate the landed cost together, with no separate landed cost for shipping cost and product.
European Union considerations
Shipments from one EU member state to another are not considered cross-border, as per EU regulations, allowing transportation without customs control or duty payment.
Configuring landed cost
The landed cost feature is available to anyone integrating with the Commerce API. Whether you orchestrate your fulfillment or delegate the responsibility to Digital River, this is true. Once correctly configured, the Digital River landed cost feature automatically calculates and collects the total landed cost of every applicable order.
To activate this feature, contact your Customer Success Manager.
You'll need to complete the following steps before you configure landed cost:
Verify your fulfiller ships packages outside their country (not all fulfillers provide this service).
Verify your shipper is willing and able to prepay the landed cost on behalf of the customer and then send the invoice to you.
Sign an addendum in your Digital River contract to enable landed cost.
For each product in your catalog eligible for cross-border shipping, specify the correct Harmonized System code when creating or updating the product. An incorrect Harmonized System code may result in an inaccurate landed cost calculation.
Define the cross-border patterns (ship-to or ship-from countries) where you want to enable the landed cost feature. Digital River must support these ship-to countries and cannot include embargoed nations.
Provide samples of completed customs forms to Digital River's Compliance department for approval.
Provide your account manager with a list of the ship from and ship to countries for which you want to enable the collection of landed costs. Before you use the Landed Cost resource, Digital River must enable landed costs. The Landed Cost Shipment Method won't appear in Global Commerce if the landed cost is not turned on.
Enabling the landed costs in Global Commerce
Enabling landed costs in Global Commerce allows you to automatically calculate and apply the total landed cost for cross-border shipments. This feature ensures that all applicable duties, taxes, and fees are factored into the final price, providing a seamless experience for both you and your customers. The following steps guide you through setting up and activating landed costs in your Global Commerce site.
You need the Account Manager role in Global Commerce to perform this task.
To enable landed costs for your site from Global Commerce:
Sign in to Global Commerce.
Select Administration, select Site and click Configure Site Settings.
Select Enabled and then click Save.
Setting the price list to tax-inclusive or tax-exclusive
Configuring your price list to be tax-inclusive or tax-exclusive is crucial when enabling landed costs in Global Commerce. This setting determines whether VAT is included in your product prices or calculated separately, affecting how your customers see and understand pricing. Follow these steps to properly configure your price lists and ensure accurate tax handling on your site.
When you set the price list to tax exclusive or tax inclusive, the shippingAndHandling value is also tax exclusive or tax inclusive.
You need the Pricing Manager role to perform this task.
Select Catalog, Pricing & Plans, and click Manage Price Lists. The Price Lists page appears.
Click the link for the price list under the Name column. The Price List Details page appears.
Scroll down to Currencies and click Edit. The Edit Price List Currency page appears.
Select the currency you want to modify from the Currency drop-down list.
Choose one of the following options from the Prices Include Value Added Tax (VAT) drop-down list.
Select Yes to include VAT in the prices.
Select No to exclude VAT in the prices.
Click Save.
Setting the shipping cost to tax-inclusive or tax-exclusive
Accurately configuring your shipping cost as tax-inclusive or tax-exclusive in Global Commerce is essential for transparent pricing and compliance with tax regulations. This setting aligns with the tax configuration of your currency in the price list, ensuring consistency across product pricing and shipping costs. Follow these steps to adjust your shipping cost settings according to your tax requirements.
Select Administration, select Site, and then click Configure Site Settings. The Configure Site Settings page appears.
Click the Features tab and scroll down to Input Tax-Inclusive Shipping Cost.
Choose one of the following options for Tax-inclusive Shipping.
Toggle Tax-Inclusive Shipping to On to enable tax-inclusive shipping costs. When you turn on the Input Tax-Inclusive Shipping Cost toggle, it will follow the tax-inclusive/exclusive settings of the currency in the price list. For example, if you set USD as tax-exclusive and TWD as tax-inclusive, turning on Input Tax-Inclusive Shipping Cost will make the shipping cost for USD tax-exclusive and TWD tax-inclusive
Toggle Tax-Inclusive Shipping to Off to enable tax-exclusive shipping cost. Turning off the Tax-Inclusive Shipping Cost toggle will make the shipping cost for both USD and TWD tax-exclusive.
Click Save.
Creating a product for landed costs
Accurately configuring products for landed costs is vital for financial transparency and regulatory compliance when managing an eCommerce platform. This section guides you through creating a product for landed costs in Global Commerce, ensuring that all necessary attributes such as product classification, Harmonized System codes, and physical settings are correctly established. Follow these steps to streamline your landed cost calculations and improve the efficiency of international shipping operations.
When creating a product for landed costs in Global Commerce, from the Product Settings step, you must:
Select Catalog, select Products, and then click Create Product. The Product Setup page appears.
Complete the Product Setup, Supported Locales, Catalogs and Categories, and Product Options steps, then click Next to access the Product Settings page.
Select the Product Classification Type under Export Controls. from the Product Settings step.
Select the appropriate product classification from the list.
When creating the product, specify the correct Harmonized System code in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule/Schedule B Number field. Note: An incorrect Harmonized System code may result in an inaccurate landed cost calculation.
Complete the physical settings under Physical.
Select the Enable Landed Cost checkbox.
Complete the fields under Product Fulfillers.
Triggering the landed cost feature
Triggering the landed cost feature ensures that all applicable duties, taxes, and fees are accurately calculated and displayed for international shipments. This operation is crucial for transparency, helping the merchant and customer understand the total cost of cross-border transactions. Below, we outline the necessary conditions and steps to activate the landed cost feature in your eCommerce platform.
Landed cost is calculated for orders with physical products shipped across international borders to an approved country. The exception is the European Union, where shipments between countries are exempt from duties.
More precisely, landed cost is automatically calculated when you submit a POST/carts request, and all of the following conditions exist:
Follow the guidelines for mixed cart scenarios for a mixed cart order containing physical and digital products.
The ship-from country and the ship-to country are different.
An EU country is the ship-from country, and a non-EU country is the ship-to country. Note: Digital River does not support landed costs when shipping within the EU.
The ship-to country is on our approved list.
Product and shipping choice prices, including any applied discounts, are provided in the request.
Each product in the order contains a Harmonized System code registered in our system.
The landed cost feature supports mixed cart orders. If a physical product is not eligible for landed cost calculation, the entire order will not qualify for landed cost.
Calculating landed cost
Digital River makes an API call to a third-party service to calculate landed costs on applicable orders. For each call to the service, we assess a fee. This fee is in addition to the other license or transaction fees that you may incur.
Collecting landed cost
In the response, we provide an itemized breakdown of the duties and taxes comprising the landed cost and build these individual costs into the order total. Since your customers ultimately pay the full landed cost, we recommend you display this cost breakdown to them on your storefront.
Once the cart is submitted, your fulfiller relays it to your shipper, who completes the customs paperwork, ships the package to the destination country, and pays the duties and import taxes on the customer's behalf. The shipper then invoices you the shipping costs.
Handling calculation failures
A landed cost calculation may fail for several reasons. For example, a customer may attempt to ship a product to an embargoed country, or you might have improperly formatted the Harmonized System codes associated with the product. The third-party landed cost calculation service may be unavailable in certain situations.
Refunding landed cost
If you need to reverse the charges for orders with landed costs, we support full refunds of the importer tax. If you want to offer partial refunds, contact your account representative.
How Digital River represents landed cost
Digital River considers various parameters to ensure accuracy and compliance with international shipping laws when calculating the landed cost. These parameters include taxes, duties, and fees associated with importing goods. Digital River's landed cost representation helps to provide transparency and accuracy for both the seller and the customer, ensuring all costs are accounted for before purchasing. Below is a detailed explanation of the attributes representing the landed cost at both the order and line-item levels.
Cart or order-level attributes
The cart or order-level attributes capture details about the overall landed costs associated with an order. These attributes show the import taxes, duties, and associated fees. The following table outlines each attribute and describes its significance.
importTaxAndDuty
object
The sum of import taxes and duties for all line items.
formattedImportTaxAndDuty
The sum of import taxes and duties in locale currency format (for example, USD 19.14).
shippingAndHandling
object
The shipping and handling fee is tax exclusive and applied against the product and the shipping cost.
Line-item level attributes
Line-item level attributes provide specific details about the individual items within an order. These attributes capture essential information such as import taxes, duties, and fees for each product. The following table outlines and describes each attribute in this category.
importTax
Object
VAT or other sales tax accessed on the transaction.
formattedImportTax
The VAT or other sales tax accessed on the transaction in locale currency format (for example, USD 7.56)
importDuty
Object
When a customer purchases products online, one or more of the products may not originate in the country the customer resides in, and therefore are subject to a customs duty when transported across international borders.
When goods are not shipped domestically (within the customer’s country) or within a single customs union, such as the European Union, the customer is liable to pay any inbound duties which the customer’s local customs authority deems appropriate.
formattedImportDuty
The sum of duties in a locale currency format (for example, USD 5.29).
Landed cost state
The landed cost state represents the total of all costs associated with getting a product to the final customer, including import taxes, duties, shipping, and handling fees. This state is crucial for ensuring transparency and accuracy in international transactions, allowing customers to understand the complete financial implications of their purchases. The landed cost state enables customers to prepay these expenses, streamlining the buying process and avoiding unexpected charges upon delivery. Below, we delve into the specific enumerations of the landed cost state within the Cart API context.
A cart or an order has a landedCostState attribute that provides information about the status of landed cost.
The customer must prepay the landed cost.
Digital River automatically calculates the landed cost and includes it in the Cart or Order when the landed cost is PREPAID.
Landed cost state enumerations for the Cart API
When working with the Cart API, the landedCostState attribute plays a crucial role in determining the status of the landed cost calculation. Below are the possible enumerations and their meanings for the landedCostState of the cart:
NOT_ELIGIBLE–The current cart is not eligible for landed cost calculation.PREPAID–The current cart is eligible for landed cost calculation, and the landed cost will be prepaid.VIEWED_NOT_ELIGIBLE–The landed cost state wasELIGIBLEorPREPAID, then became not eligible due to a change in the order that triggered the status to change toVIEWED_NOT_ELIGIBLE. For example, the customer changed their shipping address, added a line item, or removed one.ERROR–Failed to calculate landed cost. It occurs when the integration service is unavailable.
Landed cost state enumerations for the Order API
When managing orders via the Order API, understanding the status of landed cost calculations is essential. The landedCostState attribute provides insight into whether the landed costs are being handled correctly. Below are the enumerations and their specific meanings:
NOT_ELIGIBLE–The landed cost for the requisition is not prepaid.PREPAID–The landed cost for the requisition was prepaid.VIEWED_NOT_ELIGIBLE–The landed cost for the requisition is not prepaid.ERROR–The landed cost for the requisition is not prepaid.
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