{"id":47337,"date":"2021-04-09T09:48:55","date_gmt":"2021-04-09T01:48:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jingsourcing.com\/?p=47337"},"modified":"2024-03-23T16:41:27","modified_gmt":"2024-03-23T08:41:27","slug":"b-shipping-solutions-from-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jingsourcing.com\/b-shipping-solutions-from-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Section 10: How to Ship from China? Find Best Solution for Your Business"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Home<\/a> > Import from China Guide<\/a> > Section 10<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Shipping products from China is a complicated but important topic for importers. Many importers are desperately trying to achieve a better balance between the shipping time<\/a><\/span> and cost.<\/div>
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In this post, you will be exposed to all the mainstream shipping solutions available on the market. Apart from the cheap but slow sea freight and expensive air freight, you have more options. This post will also keep you updated with the best industry shipping practices, which is especially friendly to small businesses, and E-commerce.<\/div>
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So, whether you’re shipping cargos in a small amount of 20kg, or a large one of thousands of kilograms, this post will be super helpful for you to pick the best solution. Let’s get started.<\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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  1. Who Helps You Ship Products?\u00a0<\/a><\/li>
  2. Understand 5 Basic Incoterms<\/a><\/li>
  3. Courier for Cargos Below 500kg<\/a><\/li>
  4. Sea Freight for Cargos Over 2CBM<\/a><\/li>
  5. Air Freight for Cargos Above 500kg<\/a><\/li>
  6. Railway Freight for Full Container Load<\/a><\/li>
  7. Sea Freight Plus Courier for Ecommerce<\/a><\/li>
  8. Epackage for Dropshipping (less than 2kg)<\/a><\/li>
  9. Handling Custom Clearance in China<\/a><\/li><\/ol>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    1. Who Helps You Ship Products? <\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    Essentially, there are only 4 roles in the whole process of international shipping\uff1a<\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    The Shipper<\/b> is your product supplier, Consignee<\/b> is you.<\/div>
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    Shipping companies<\/b> are those who own trucks, vessels, or aircraft, and they move the products from point A to point B. All shipping solutions but courier require joint work of different shipping companies, to deliver to your hand finally. Besides, you never need to directly deal with them.<\/div>
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    Freight forwarder<\/b> plays an important role in the shipping process. Either you or your Chinese supplier<\/span><\/a> needs to find a freight forwarder. He acts like a broker coordinating with all shipping companies, from picking up cargos at suppliers until delivery to you. Meanwhile, he also handles the import and export process.<\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    There are tens of thousands of freight forwarders in the world<\/a><\/span>. They could be a company or just a single person working at home. It’s hard to identify who is trustworthy. A common trick is to quote you a low shipping price at the beginning, then overmeasure your cargo’s size or charge you extra cost when you pick up.<\/div>
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    So if you don’t know any freight forwarders, it’s better to ask your suppliers to find one, despite the profit they added on the shipping fee<\/a><\/span>. But if the cargo is lost or damaged during shipping, the supplier should pay some responsibility for it because it’s his freight forwarder. That’s safe for you, especially if you are new to importing from China<\/a>.<\/div>
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    If you prefer to use a freight forwarder directly responsible to yourself instead of your supplier, you can ask somebody you trust to recommend a reliable freight forwarder<\/a> for you. Or you can go to Google to search for freight forwarders, or try platforms like Freightos<\/a><\/span> or Flexport<\/a><\/span> to find one. But it will take you more time to identify a right one.<\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    Freightos is quite easy to use. Just put in cargo information like volumes and weight, the city to pick up and to deliver cargos, then you will get a list of freight forwarders with their quotes. It’s as easy as booking flight tickets.<\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    What is noteworthy is that you will only be able to contact the forwarders after finishing the payment online. The quote you see is just for delivery to the destination city, instead of your home address. You have to communicate with the freight forwarder about the total cost.<\/div>
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    My trials on Freightos proved that it’s only suitable when you want to ship by traditional sea freight or air freight<\/a> to North America, UK, West Europe, and also Australia<\/a>. For other shipping methods or other countries, you’d better find freight forwarders somewhere else.<\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    2. Understand 5 Basic Incoterms<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    Before shipping, you need to confirm the trade term (incoterm) for this order. Trade terms define the responsibility between buyer and seller on how to deliver products.<\/div>
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    When you ask the Chinese supplier about the product’s price, tell them which trade term should be based on. Otherwise, you will face unexpected extra costs. Below is a brief takeaway of the 5 most frequently used incoterms, ExW, FOB, CIF<\/a>, DDU, and DDP.<\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    ExW<\/span> \u00a0<\/b><\/a>means you need to find someone to pick up cargo at the supplier’s warehouses. The product price quoted in ExW term is just the product cost, and the supplier didn’t offer any shipping or exporting service.<\/div>
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    FOB<\/b> is short for Free On Board<\/a><\/span>. The supplier pays all the cost to deliver products to a\u00a0seaport or airport in China<\/a> and also pays the exporting cost. You only need to find your freight forwarder to pick up cargo at the port. However, if you choose to ship by courier like FedEx, UPS, you should pay the supplier in ExW term. Because courier company picks up cargo at supplier’s warehouse instead of a port. And courier shipping cost includes all expenses from the supplier to you.<\/div>
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    The CIF<\/b> term <\/b>means the supplier will find a freight forwarder by himself and pays all the cost from his warehouse in China to a seaport or airport in your country. You only need to find a freight forwarder to pick up cargo at the port of your country, finish the import customs process, and then deliver it to your hand.<\/div>
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    For the DDU<\/strong> and DDP<\/strong><\/a><\/span> terms, the supplier will find a freight forwarder and pay all the cost<\/a> to deliver goods to your hand. The only difference between these two terms is whether the supplier needs to pay the import duty. DDU and DDP are short for Delivered Duty Unpaid and Delivered Duty Paid.<\/div>
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    The above is just a brief definition of trade terms, if you’d like to figure out how these incoterms are applied in real business,be sure to check my previous post for some real life case studies.<\/a><\/span><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    Further Reading about Incoterms<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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