Turn a buy rate into a sell rate from a markup or a target margin, see both percentages side by side, and the profit per shipment and per month. Markup and margin are not the same number, and mixing them up is one of the most common ways forwarders under-price quotes.
Laneworks reads your customer's quote-request email, works out these numbers, prices every line from your own rate sheet and writes the reply, with a PDF quotation in your company's name. Forward one real request and it comes back in about two minutes.
Markup is profit as a percentage of cost; margin is profit as a percentage of the sell price. On a cost of 1,000 sold at 1,200, the markup is 20% but the margin is 16.7%. A 20% margin needs a 25% markup.
It varies widely by mode, lane, customer and size of forwarder. Gross margins on freight are commonly quoted in the 10–25% range, with higher margins on value-added services like customs clearance and delivery. Know your own numbers per customer.
Many forwarders apply different markups to ocean or air freight, local charges and clearance, and fixed fees to some lines. Laneworks applies your own rules per customer, so the same request is priced the same way every time.
Markup = margin ÷ (1 − margin). For a 15% margin: 0.15 ÷ 0.85 = 17.6% markup. Margin = markup ÷ (1 + markup).