How do you calculate your profit on a product from China, delivered?

Start from the price your buyer pays, then take away the cost of the piece delivered to you, the platform’s fee, US import duties and the parcel to your buyer. What is left is your estimated profit. Rabbit counts it this way for every 1688 product, in dollars, before you order.

By Hussayn Delli, founder of Rabbit · Updated November 9, 2026.

What is the formula for your profit on a product from China?

Your estimated profit on one piece is:

1. the price your buyer pays,
2. minus what you pay for the piece, delivered to you,
3. minus what the platform keeps on the sale,
4. minus US import duties and customs fees,
5. minus the parcel to your buyer, if you pay for it,
6. minus what you pay to sell: ads, affiliates.

That is the order Rabbit counts them in. Most first calculations stop at line 2. The other lines are taken after the sale, and on a cheap product they can take most of what you thought you would keep.

What does each line include?

• What you pay, delivered. The piece, Rabbit’s fee included, plus international shipping to you. Up to 3 pieces, the shipping quote is a ceiling: it can go down when the parcel is weighed, never up. Above 3 pieces, delivery is paid after the batch is weighed, never above the maximum shown in your quote.
• The platform’s fee. If you tell Rabbit what your account charges, your number wins. Otherwise Rabbit uses the published fee schedule of TikTok Shop, eBay, Shopify Payments or Amazon.com, each with the date it was checked. A platform without a published, recent schedule becomes a question to you, never a guess.
• US duties. Since the de minimis exemption was suspended, every shipment from China pays them, a single sample too. Rabbit counts the base duty, the Section 301 duties and the additional Section 301 duty in force since July 24, 2026, plus the federal customs fees. When the duties are already paid in the shipping price, they are not counted twice.
• The parcel to your buyer. The USPS Ground Advantage price for the weight of the product, at the most expensive zone. Unknown weight: Rabbit asks.
• Ads and affiliates. No schedule exists for them: you tell Rabbit, or the line stays open and the profit says so.

A real example, product by product

A universal travel adapter from our US list. Its US price was seen on October 31, 2026, and Rabbit calculated it on November 4, 2026, for a batch of 20 pieces, sold on TikTok Shop, with no ads.

On 20 pieces, you would pay $784.80 up front, and get it back after your 7th sale. For a US account today, an order of more than 3 pieces can’t be paid in dollars yet: its delivery is paid at the weighing, and that payment isn’t open in dollars. You can order up to 3 pieces, delivery included. The US price is a price we saw, not a promise: if you sell for less, the profit goes down by the same amount.

Why are the duties so high in this example?

When Rabbit priced this list, it didn’t know the exact US tariff heading of each product. So it counted the most expensive heading among the families it prices, a backpack in synthetic fibers: $19.07 in duties on the $34.61 value of the piece. And it counted the most expensive way in, by mail: $7.61, the dutiable mail fee since October 1, 2026. The product’s real heading and the way it really ships can cost less. Rabbit picks the high side on purpose: when it doesn’t know, it counts the costlier case.

What does this calculation leave out?

• The fixed fees of the order: placing it, the parcel, the warehouse photos. Spread over 20 pieces they lower the profit a little. The product page in Rabbit adds them.
• Antidumping duties, the Section 232 duties, and the fees of a carrier or customs broker: no public schedule sets them for your product.
• Sales tax: the buyer pays it on top of your price, and the platform collects it.
• Your income tax.
• TikTok Shop also takes its fee on the shipping your buyer pays, if any. Rabbit’s line uses your sale price alone, so it is the lowest the fee can be.

Why is it an estimated profit and not a profit?

A calculation is only as sure as its least sure input. Here the US price is a price seen online on a given day, the weight comes from the seller’s listing, and the duties use the high side. So Rabbit always says “estimated profit”. Your real profit comes from your sales.

Which products does Rabbit show you?

In the US list of the app, Rabbit only shows a product whose estimated profit is at least $10 per piece. On November 4, 2026, that list held 436 products; 169 could be fully calculated, 27 of them left a profit, and 11 reached $10. The others lose money once every line is counted, even with a high price in the US. Where to start with one of them: test, batch, brand. What sells: what sells in the US from 1688 right now.

For your exact situation: your accountant or a customs broker.