Glossary
The terms that turn up on shipping invoices and fee schedules, defined in plain language and linked to the calculator that uses each one.
- ACOS Advertising cost of sale
- Ad spend divided by the revenue those ads produced. Your console reports it; only your fee stack can tell you what level of it you can afford. Calculator →
- Aged inventory surcharge
- A per-unit fee Amazon charges once stock has sat in the network past a threshold, reaching $0.30 at twelve months and $0.35 beyond fifteen. Calculator →
- Billable weight
- Another name for chargeable weight — the figure the carrier actually multiplies by your rate. Calculator →
- CBM Cubic metre
- The volume unit freight is quoted in. Length times width times height in metres, or centimetres cubed divided by a million. Calculator →
- Chargeable weight
- The greater of actual and volumetric weight, rounded up to the carrier's billing increment. Calculator →
- CIF Cost, insurance and freight
- A valuation basis where the customs value includes freight and insurance, so your shipping cost is taxed too. Used by most countries. Also an Incoterm. Calculator →
- DAP Delivered at place
- The seller delivers to the buyer's address but the buyer owes duty and import tax. This is why a customer gets a courier invoice after the parcel arrives. Calculator →
- DDP Delivered duty paid
- The seller pays everything including duty and import tax. The only Incoterm that gives a consumer a genuinely final checkout price. Calculator →
- De minimis
- The value below which a country waives duty, tax or both. The US suspended its $800 threshold in August 2025; India, Nigeria and Brazil have never had one. Calculator →
- Dim divisor
- The number you divide cubic volume by to get billable weight. 139 for inches and pounds, 5000 for centimetres and kilograms, on most express carriers. Calculator →
- Dimensional weight
- Billable weight derived from a parcel's size rather than its mass, because a vehicle runs out of space before it runs out of payload. Calculator →
- EOQ Economic order quantity
- The order size where the cost of ordering more often exactly equals the cost of holding more stock. Calculator →
- FOB Free on board
- A valuation basis and Incoterm where the seller delivers on board at origin. As a customs basis it excludes freight, which is how the US assesses duty. Calculator →
- Freight class
- The NMFC classification that prices US LTL freight, derived mainly from density in pounds per cubic foot, on a 13-tier scale since July 2025. Calculator →
- Fuel surcharge
- A percentage added to the base rate, recalculated weekly against a published fuel index. Never a fixed number, which is why hardcoding it goes stale within days. Calculator →
- Girth
- Twice the width plus twice the height, using the two shorter sides. Combined length and girth is what postal operators cap. Calculator →
- HS code Harmonised System code
- The international commodity classification that determines your duty rate. Six digits are global; countries extend to eight or ten. Calculator →
- IOSS Import One-Stop Shop
- The EU scheme letting sellers collect VAT at checkout on consignments up to €150 rather than having it collected on delivery. Calculator →
- Landed cost
- Everything it takes to get one unit from the supplier's door to your shelf: goods, freight, insurance, duty, non-reclaimable tax, clearance and inland delivery. Calculator →
- LCL Less than container load
- Shared ocean freight, quoted per revenue tonne — whichever is greater of one cubic metre or 1,000 kg. Calculator →
- LTL Less than truckload
- Shared road freight, priced in the US on NMFC freight class rather than a volumetric divisor. Calculator →
- Referral fee
- The marketplace's commission, charged on the total the buyer pays including postage — not on the item price alone. Calculator →
- Reorder point
- The stock level that triggers a purchase order: lead-time demand plus safety stock. Calculator →
- Revenue tonne
- The LCL billing unit: whichever is greater of one cubic metre or one metric tonne. Calculator →
- ROAS Return on ad spend
- Revenue divided by ad spend. The reciprocal of ACOS: 25% ACOS is 4× ROAS. Calculator →
- Safety stock
- Buffer inventory sized against the variability of demand and lead time at a chosen service level — not against average demand. Calculator →
- TACOS Total advertising cost of sale
- All ad spend against all revenue, organic included. A falling TACOS with rising revenue means organic rank is taking the load. Calculator →
- Ti-Hi
- Cartons per layer (Ti) and number of layers (Hi). Multiply for cartons per pallet. Calculator →
- Volumetric weight
- The same calculation as dimensional weight, under the term used outside the United States, usually implying centimetres and kilograms. Calculator →