Shipping from China, options?
Hi, I’m trying to evaluate options for shipping from China before placing the order, I was wondering if anyone can give some general guidance? The freightos service from alibaba returns quite expensive quotes eg 2500 usd for 1000 usd goods (160 kg). the factory proposes a quote of 500 usd (not sure with who). 50% of the good value is it reasonable? I’m worried this is maybe highe due to current situation and I was wondering if someone can share some general reasonable expectation? ps im aware of current amazon restriction on inventory creation, I’m just doing some preparation work. many thanks in advance, Tom
Shipping from China, options?
Hi, I’m trying to evaluate options for shipping from China before placing the order, I was wondering if anyone can give some general guidance? The freightos service from alibaba returns quite expensive quotes eg 2500 usd for 1000 usd goods (160 kg). the factory proposes a quote of 500 usd (not sure with who). 50% of the good value is it reasonable? I’m worried this is maybe highe due to current situation and I was wondering if someone can share some general reasonable expectation? ps im aware of current amazon restriction on inventory creation, I’m just doing some preparation work. many thanks in advance, Tom
25 replies
Seller_6NRzCEEtpNNSg
What sort of volumes are you looking at moving and from which port?
Seller_bdSdLjti4IugQ
To give you an idea we order from China and ours is a low weight non bulk item but it’s still 5 boxes and runs at around 80kg. We pay around $525 in shipping by air for this shipment. I’m under no doubt we heavily over pay for this as the Chinese sellers get deals and discounts… If, however, I tried to send the same parcel out to China by the same courier it comes to just under $500 so it might be right… only way to get it cheaper is via sea or per container but you’ve got to be ordering alot of stock to fill that… 160kg for $500 seems excellent to me if that’s from the factory to your door and not to the port.
Hold off on ordering at the moment as prices are very high to move goods… also long delays due to current situation… our shipment has been stuck with fedex for over a week now in China and hasn’t moved.
Seller_rJwlllAbPrUee
Thanks for the useful feedback @dragonmaster
@First_Days_Maternity im looking at 160 kg for about 1 cubic mt in boxes.
im told 500usd is “by train”. its not easy to understand much details on options and current situation hence the post. based on your quote by air and having you half the weight probably i should expect much higher price by air. I’ll try to do some quotes directly.
Thank you
Seller_6NRzCEEtpNNSg
Speak to a freight forwarder in the UK and get them to do all the work for you. Pay an all-in price which is agreed before shipping. I use Ocean International at the moment - (there are plenty of others too).
I doubt you would need to pay more than 400USD for the shipping from the Chinese port to your door. Remember you will have to pay duty and VAT on top of the shipping,
Be wary of prices that seem too good to be true - they most likely will be.
Seller_rJwlllAbPrUee
Thanks @First_Days_Maternity you mean by sea w freight forwarder I assume? What would be pros cons compared to courier like ups or fedex? Do these latter do by air so faster and more expensive as I understand? Many thanks
Seller_rJwlllAbPrUee
Thanks very much I will check. Ever heard of this train option I was offered?
Seller_pDVCawITfBjlm
To give you an idea of air vs train I have a delivery on route of 13 boxes at 18kg each so total shipping weight of 234kg. Originally by air it was USD1,368 duty paid. Then a few weeks ago with the delays the price went up another USD660 overnight. I opted for train duty paid instead with it still delivered direct to Amazon warehouses. I was refunded USD600 so ended up paying USD768 and takes around 18 days. Flights are taking a lot longer than normal at the moment. Duty will vary depending on the cost of your products. I always ask for DDP because I’m on flat rate VAT so can’t claim VAT back. If you pay full rate VAT then you might want to pay those fees yourself.
Seller_Xpg0j76yeJ7rb
At present TNT and Fedex are unable to move goods via air. Not sure how long that will last. We pay US$7 at most per kilo by Fedex or TNT but our suppliers often offer low shipping
Seller_64jziShTiTjOq
It’s not advisable to buy from alibaba. Amazon will apparently not accept their invoices as proof of authenticity of the products and there are other threads on this forum about problems with alibaba
