Your Product Is Cheap in China. But Will You Actually Make Money Selling It in Nigeria?

You found a product on 1688 or Alibaba priced low enough that the markup looks obvious. Buy at that price, sell at the going rate in your market, and the profit seems to write itself. But a cheap supplier price is only the first number in a much longer calculation, and by the time shipping, conversion, clearance, local transport and selling costs are added, the profit that looked obvious can shrink to almost nothing, or disappear entirely.

This is the exact calculation Proc360 helps you run before you commit. A low price in China tells you almost nothing about what you'll actually keep once the product is sitting in your shop. What tells you that is the full landed cost, and getting that number right, before you order, is what separates a good deal from an expensive mistake. Work out your real numbers before you pay a supplier →

Calculate How Much Profit You Can Actually Make

Suppose you sell each unit for ₦4,000:

• Selling price: ₦4,000

• Landed cost: ₦2,400

• Gross profit: ₦1,600

• Other selling expenses: ₦300

• Profit before other fixed costs and taxes: ₦1,300

On 200 units, that's ₦260,000 before any additional overhead or taxes not included in this example. Notice that the ₦1,600 gap between selling price and landed cost is not the number you actually keep; selling expenses come out of that gap too, and whatever fixed costs your business carries come out after that.

What Happens When Your Selling Price Is Lower Than Expected?

This is where the calculation gets sensitive, because your actual selling price rarely matches your first assumption once you're competing in a real market. Using the same ₦2,400 landed cost and ₦300 in selling expenses:

• At ₦4,000: profit per unit is ₦1,300

• At ₦3,600: profit per unit is ₦900

• At ₦3,200: profit per unit is ₦500

• At ₦2,700: profit per unit is ₦0

These figures exclude fixed overhead and taxes. A product that looks comfortably profitable at your first price assumption can end up near breakeven if competition, customer price sensitivity, or slow-moving stock push your actual selling price down. That's why testing what similar products genuinely sell for in your market matters as much as the cost side of the calculation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a cheap product from China always profitable? No. Profitability depends on the total cost of importing it, your actual selling price, demand, and your other business expenses, not the supplier's quoted price alone.

How do I calculate the landed cost of an imported product? Add the applicable product, shipping and import expenses together, then divide by the number of saleable units.

How much profit should I make on an imported product? There's no universal margin that works for every product. Weigh your landed cost, selling expenses, competition and your overhead before deciding what margin makes sense for your business.

How do I know if a product is worth importing? Calculate the expected profit using realistic costs and selling prices, then consider demand, competition, order size and how much capital the order will tie up.

Can a product with a low profit margin still be worth importing? It can be, depending on sales volume, turnover, overhead and cash flow. A low margin isn't automatically a loss, but it leaves less room to absorb unexpected costs.

Calculate the Profit Before Committing Your Capital

The supplier's price is only one part of the decision. Before you place your next order, work out the full landed cost, test what your product will actually sell for in your market, and think honestly about how quickly the stock will move.

Why a Cheap Product in China Can Be Expensive in Nigeria

The supplier's quoted price is only the starting point. Depending on your product and shipment, several other costs sit on top of it:

• The product's purchase price itself

• RMB conversion and payment costs

• Shipping from China to Nigeria

• Applicable customs duties, taxes and clearance expenses

• Local transportation, packaging and handling once the goods land

• Selling expenses, including advertising or delivery costs where they apply

Not every cost applies to every product or shipment; the point isn't to assume all of these hit you at once, it's to work out which ones actually apply to your specific order before you calculate whether it's worth doing.

How to Calculate the Real Cost of an Imported Product

The number that matters is your landed cost per unit: your total import costs, divided by the number of units you can actually sell.

Worked example: 200 units of a kitchenware item

These are illustrative figures, not current market quotations:

• 200 units at ₦2,000 each: ₦400,000

• Allocated shipping: ₦50,000

• Other applicable import expenses: ₦30,000

• Total landed cost: ₦480,000

• Landed cost per unit: ₦2,400

That ₦2,400 is what each unit actually costs you, not the ₦2,000 on the supplier's invoice. And if any units arrive damaged or unsellable, the effective cost of your remaining stock quietly rises, since the same total cost is now spread across fewer saleable units.

Five Questions to Ask Before Importing a Cheap Product

1. What is the complete landed cost per saleable unit, not the supplier's quoted price?

2. What are similar products actually selling for in my market right now?

3. How much will it cost me to sell each unit, once advertising or delivery is included?

4. How quickly can I realistically sell this stock?

5. How much of my available business capital will this order tie up?

Demand and stock turnover matter as much as margin. A product with a seemingly attractive markup can still strain your business if it takes months to sell through, tying up capital you needed for something else.

How Proc360 Helps You Understand Your Import Costs

Not sure of the full cost of buying the product? Buy For Me lets you commission purchasing assistance for a product you've already found, with the real costs made clear before you commit.

Worried about paying the wrong supplier or getting the wrong product? RMB payment support through the Proc360 Wallet and available inspection services help you verify what you're actually paying for.

Don't know how shipping will affect your margin? Shipping visibility gives you a real landed cost early enough to still change your mind.

Want to know where your shipment actually is? Tracking keeps the order visible from purchase through to delivery.

None of this promises that a product will be profitable. What it does is remove the guesswork from the purchasing and shipping side, so the profitability question comes down to your product, your pricing and your market, not hidden costs you didn't see coming.

If you've already run into a costly surprise on a past order, it's worth reading about the common mistakes that turn a good China deal into a bad one alongside this calculation.