Landed costs are the extra charges that come with buying stock, such as shipping, handling, freight, and import duties. On the purchase order screen Qoblex lets you add these charges as their own lines, separate from the products you are ordering, and then spread them across the goods so each product carries its true landed unit cost. That landed cost becomes part of the product’s moving average cost (MAC), so your inventory valuation and margins reflect what you actually paid to get the stock into your warehouse.
This article covers adding a landed cost line to a purchase order, choosing whether a charge is distributed into inventory cost or treated as an expense, how Qoblex distributes the cost across your received items, and removing a landed cost line.
Where landed costs live on the purchase order
Landed costs are added on the purchase order itself, below the product line items. When an order has no lines yet, the empty order screen shows the prompt Add items, additional cost (landed cost) or import line items from a CSV file with three buttons: Add Line Item, Import line items from CSV, and Add Additional Cost. To start a landed cost line from the empty order, use Add Additional Cost.
Once the order has content, the landed cost lines appear in their own table headed Other Costs, directly under the product table. Below that table an Add a custom line item button lets you add more landed cost lines.
Landed costs can be added while the purchase order is still editable. They cannot be added once the order is closed.
Add a landed cost line
- Open the purchase order.
- Click Add Additional Cost (on an empty order) or Add a custom line item (once the Other Costs table is showing). A new blank line appears in the Other Costs table.
- Fill in the line: – Other Costs (description): a name for the charge, for example Sea freight or Import duty. The field placeholder reads Extra cost (shipping, freight, etc). – Type: choose how the charge is treated. See Distributed costs vs expenses below. – Price: the amount of the charge, entered in the order’s currency. – Discount (optional): a percentage discount on the charge. – Tax class: the purchase tax class that applies to the charge. Qoblex pre-fills this from the supplier’s purchase tax class, or your company default purchases tax, but you can change it.
- Add more landed cost lines the same way if the order carries several charges.
- Save the purchase order.
The line’s running total is shown at the end of the row in the order’s currency.
Each landed cost line must have a description, a valid price, and a tax class before the order can be saved. If any is missing, Qoblex blocks the save and shows a message naming the offending line, for example Landed cost item at line 1 : undefined description! Please remove this line or enter a valid description for this landed cost (and equivalent messages for an undefined price or undefined tax). Fix or remove the line, then save again.
Distributed costs vs expenses
The Type field on each landed cost line controls whether the charge is folded into your inventory cost or kept out of it:
- Landed Costs: These are extra costs that should be distributed across the received order line items. Use this for shipping, freight, handling, duty, and similar charges that are genuinely part of what it cost to land the goods. These amounts are spread across the products and raise their unit cost (and MAC).
- Expenses: Expenses are extra costs that should not be distributed across the received order line items such as VAT / Taxes. Use this for charges you do not want to load onto product cost. An expense line stays as a cost on the order but is not distributed onto any product, so it does not change unit cost or MAC.
Both types appear in the same Other Costs table and are billed like any other landed cost line. The only difference is whether the amount reaches your inventory valuation.
How distribution works
When a Landed Costs line is distributed, Qoblex allocates its net amount across the order’s product lines by value: a line item receives a share of the landed cost in proportion to its own net value (net price times quantity) against the total net value of all the lines on the order. A high-value line therefore absorbs more of the freight than a low-value line. Expense-type lines are excluded from this allocation.
The distributed share raises each product’s landed unit cost, which flows into its moving average cost when the goods are received. To understand how MAC itself is calculated, see the moving average cost concept in the wider Qoblex help; this article does not repeat that math.
Distribution is by value only. Qoblex does not offer allocation by quantity, weight, or a manual split.
When distribution happens
Qoblex recalculates the landed cost distribution automatically when you save the purchase order; you do not run a separate step. Because saving refreshes the distribution, the most useful time to have your landed costs entered accurately is before you receive the goods, so that the cost baked into the received stock is correct. If you add or adjust a landed cost after receiving, save the order again so the distribution is brought back up to date.
If distribution produces any warnings (for example on orders linked to a freight purchase order), Qoblex surfaces them on the order after saving.
Multiple currencies
If your purchase order is in a currency other than your base currency and you change the order’s exchange rate, Qoblex re-converts the existing landed cost prices to keep them consistent with the new rate, in the same way it re-converts product cost prices. You do not need to re-enter the amounts by hand after a rate change; just review them and save.
Remove a landed cost line
To remove a charge, click the red close (X) icon at the end of the landed cost row, then save the order. A line you have just added is removed immediately; an already-saved line is deleted from the order and the distribution is recalculated.
A landed cost line cannot be edited or removed once it has been billed. Its price field locks as soon as any quantity of that charge has been put on an authorized bill, and once the order is closed the charge can no longer be changed. Bill or close the order only when the landed costs are settled.
Related articles
- Create a purchase order
- Edit purchase order details and line items
- Receive goods and manage GRNs
- Create and manage supplier bills