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Landed Cost Adjustment (LCA) Explained

Understand how Landed Cost Adjustments work in Blackpurl for both parts and units, and how to allocate additional charges to inventory cost.

A Landed Cost Adjustment (LCA) in Blackpurl lets you allocate additional charges — such as freight, shipping, or environmental fees — directly against the inventory cost of parts or units you receive. This gives your dealership a more accurate picture of true profitability when those parts or units are sold. Confirm with your team whether your dealership uses Landed Cost Adjustments before proceeding.

What Is a Landed Cost Adjustment?

When a dealership receives parts or units from a vendor, the Vendor Invoice often includes charges beyond the cost of the items themselves — freight, shipping, environmental fees, and similar costs. Normally these charges are processed separately, meaning they don't affect the recorded inventory cost of the items received.

With a Landed Cost Adjustment, those Other Charges can be folded into the final inventory cost of the parts or units. When those items are sold, the cost of sale reflects the true total cost, giving you more accurate profitability reporting.

Parts: How to Allocate a Landed Cost Adjustment

On a parts Vendor Invoice, once you add a fee in the Other Charges section, the option Include other charges as part of the inventory cost? appears. Enable it by switching the toggle on.

Shows the Other Charges section of a Vendor Invoice with a toggle switch labeled 'Include other charges as part of the i


By default, Blackpurl proportionally allocates the Other Charges across all line items on the Vendor Invoice. The allocation is based on each line item's cost as a proportion of the total cost of all line items.

The Applying other charges to invoice items window opens so you can review the proportional allocation on the Summary tab.

Shows the 'Applying other charges to invoice items' dialog window with Summary tab selected. Displays a table with line


You can accept the proportional allocation as-is, or switch to the Details tab to adjust individual line items. From there you can reduce or remove the allocation for specific items, or increase it for others.

Shows the same 'Applying other charges to invoice items' dialog but with the Details tab selected (highlighted in red bo


As you make changes, watch the Pre-Adjustment and Post Adjustment totals at the bottom of the window. You can toggle between the Summary and Details tabs as many times as needed until you are satisfied with the result. When you are happy, click APPLY CHANGES.

The result of the Landed Cost Adjustment is then visible on the relevant line items of the Vendor Invoice.

Shows a line item on a Vendor Invoice displaying: '20001 - WASHER A-2 UNITS OF ST# ZHETI-UPC/SN' with packaging slip #87


To see a full cost breakdown for any line item, click See how it's calculated. The How Inventory cost is calculated window opens with a detailed breakdown.

Shows the 'How inventory cost is calculated' popup dialog with a breakdown of cost calculations. Lists inventory cost co


Parts: Including a Third-Party Charge in a Landed Cost Adjustment

In some cases, a dealership may receive a charge from a separate vendor — such as a freight company or customs broker — that should still be spread across the cost of parts received on a different Vendor Invoice. To handle this, you need to know the third-party charge amount before you process the parts Vendor Invoice.

To allocate a third-party cost against the inventory items on a parts Vendor Invoice without changing the Vendor Invoice total, add the charge to the Other Charges section of the parts Vendor Invoice twice:

  • Once as a positive value using the relevant Fee code

  • Once as a negative value using the same Fee code

The two entries cancel each other out in the Vendor Invoice total, keeping the total correct while giving you an Other Charges line to allocate.

Shows the Other Charges section with two 'FRT - Freight & Shipping Costs' line items. The first shows $16.81 with a US f


When you use the Landed Cost Adjustment tool to allocate Other Charges, allocate the positive charge only in the Details tab. Do not allocate the negative charge — allocating both will cancel out the adjustment and achieve nothing.

Shows the Details tab of the Landed Cost Adjustment dialog with two sections side by side. Left section labeled 'Positiv


This leaves the parts Vendor Invoice at the correct total while recording the third-party cost as part of the Landed Cost Adjustment against inventory. Note that this process does not pay the third-party invoice — you still need to process that invoice separately in your accounting package or in Blackpurl.

Units: How to Allocate a Landed Cost Adjustment

When receiving a unit, the unit receiving screen includes an option to Allocate Landed Cost Adjustment. Switch the toggle on to enable it — a Landed Cost Adjustment section will appear below the unit Vendor Invoice section.

Shows the Unit receiving screen with 'Unit received from: Cathy Price' at the top. Contains fields for applicable tax (G
Shows the same Unit receiving screen but with the 'Allocate landed cost adjustments?' toggle now enabled (highlighted in


Complete the top section with the actual Vendor Invoice details for the unit, then complete the Landed Cost Adjustment section for any additional charges such as freight.

Option 1: Freight with a Separate Vendor Invoice

Use this option when you have a separate Tax Invoice payable to a freight company or other third party. In the Landed Cost Adjustment section, enter the freight cost and nominate the vendor who submitted the invoice. Include their Vendor Invoice number in the Reference field.

For example: if Smith and Co are charging the dealership for freight on a separate Vendor Invoice, the Landed Cost Adjustment entry would include Smith and Co as the vendor and their invoice number as the reference. This will generate a Tax Invoice in your accounting package for Smith and Co.

Shows the Landed cost adjustments section with a completed entry. Contains 'Freight' in Item/Description field, '$150.00


Fill in the relevant information and click Save to accept the Landed Cost Adjustment line. If you need to add more than one adjustment, click Add more costs to add additional lines.

Option 2: Freight with No Vendor Invoice

Use this option when you want to add a freight component to the unit record but there is no separate vendor or Tax Invoice involved. In this case, ensure the Category field is set correctly — this determines which General Ledger account the cost will hit in your accounting package. Leave the vendor field blank.

This adds a freight component directly onto the Unit Record without generating a separate vendor payable.

Shows the Landed cost adjustments section with a note at the top (highlighted in red box) stating 'Selecting a vendor wi


Review both the Unit Vendor Invoice section and the Landed Cost Adjustment section. When you are satisfied with all entries, click Confirm receiving.

End Result After Confirming

If you have no accounting integration

  • The Unit Record will include both the cost of the unit and the Landed Cost Adjustment amount.

If you have accounting integration

  • If you nominated a vendor on the Landed Cost Adjustment line, a Vendor Invoice will integrate into your accounting package so the dealership can pay that vendor (for example, Smith and Co).

  • If you specified only a Category with no vendor, a journal will integrate into your accounting package: a debit to the Unit Inventory General Ledger and a credit to the General Ledger attached to the Category.

  • The Unit Vendor Invoice will integrate to your accounting package for payment to the unit vendor.

  • The Unit Record will include both the cost of the unit and the Landed Cost Adjustment amount.

Shows a unit detail screen for stock #SKU-00751 with status 'Available'. Displays tabs for Info, Price & Cost Tracking,
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