Most first-time importers spend two weeks comparing freight quotes and still get blindsided by a destination charge that doubles the bill. The shipping leg rewards preparation far more than it rewards shopping around. Here is the order of decisions that actually matters, from the first quote to the final delivery appointment.
Start with four numbers before you ask anyone for a price
Suppliers quote fast and vaguely. If you send a message asking 'how much to ship 500 units to California', you will get a number that means nothing. Collect these first:
- Carton count and carton dimensions (L x W x H in cm)
- Total volume in CBM — carton dimensions multiplied out, then added up
- Total gross weight in kg
- Pickup city in China and the final US ZIP code — door-to-door pricing depends on both
Also flag anything that changes the rules: lithium batteries, liquids, magnets, powders, wooden packaging, or a product with a brand logo that could trigger a customs question. Carriers reject undeclared batteries at the terminal, and by then your goods are already sitting in a warehouse.
Match the shipping method to your volume, not to the cheapest quote
| Method | Works best for | Door-to-door transit | Typical cost signal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Express courier (DHL, FedEx, UPS) | Under ~100 kg, samples, urgent restock | 3–7 days | $6–12 per kg; duty often billed after delivery |
| Air freight | 100–500 kg or 1–3 CBM | 7–14 days | $5–9 per chargeable kg plus handling |
| LCL sea freight | 2–15 CBM | 30–45 days | $80–180 per CBM plus destination fees |
| FCL sea freight (20ft) | 15+ CBM | 28–40 days | $2,000–4,500 all-in, seasonal swings are large |
| Expedited sea (Matson CLX type) | 5–15 CBM, tight deadlines | 18–28 days | Roughly 1.5–2x standard LCL |
Air freight is priced on chargeable weight, which is the greater of actual weight or volume weight at a 1 CBM = 167 kg ratio. A light, bulky product pays for air space it does not weigh, which is why sea usually wins above 2 CBM.
For LCL, the ocean freight line on your quote is rarely the whole cost. Destination charges — terminal handling, document fees, chassis, pier pass — are billed separately and often exceed the freight itself. Always ask for a door-to-door all-in figure before comparing.
Understand the Incoterm before you compare two prices
The Incoterm decides where your responsibility starts, and it is the single most misunderstood line in a Chinese supplier's quotation.
| Term | What the supplier pays | Where your cost begins |
|---|---|---|
| EXW | Almost nothing | Trucking from their factory door |
| FOB | Delivery to the named port and export clearance | Ocean or air freight, insurance, US customs |
| CIF | Freight and insurance to a US port | Port charges, customs, delivery to your door |
| DDP | Everything, including US duty | Nothing — but you lose visibility |
DDP looks convenient for a small business, and it can be. The catch is that with DDP the supplier or their agent often acts as importer of record, which leaves you without a clean paper trail for your own customs bond, and Amazon FBA sellers in particular can run into trouble when the importer name does not match the account. If you plan to import regularly, buy FOB and control the US side yourself. It costs more admin work and gives you far more control.
Choose who handles the middle: courier, forwarder, or a China-based team
A freight forwarder moves cargo. They book space, file the paperwork, and hand your goods to a trucker. Good ones are worth their fee. What they will not do is call your supplier to ask why 40 cartons arrived with no shipping marks, or notice that the carton labels say the wrong model number.
A courier account is fine for samples and small, frequent replenishment. It becomes expensive and hard to track above a few hundred kilos.
A sourcing and shipping partner sitting in China closes the gap between the factory and the forwarder: factory visits before you wire a deposit, inspection before the goods leave, consolidation of several suppliers into one shipment, and someone who can call the factory in Mandarin when the booking note goes unanswered for four days.
Documents that must be right before the container closes
| Document | Who prepares it | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial invoice | Supplier, checked by you | Drives duty calculation; must match the declared value |
| Packing list | Supplier | Must match carton count and weights exactly |
| Bill of lading or air waybill | Forwarder | Your title to the goods |
| ISF 10+2 filing | Your customs broker | Must be filed 24 hours before vessel loading; late filing fines start at $5,000 |
| HTS classification | You or your broker | Wrong code means wrong duty and possible penalties |
| Certificate of origin | Supplier or chamber | Needed for any preferential treatment |
| Product certificates | Supplier | FCC for electronics, FDA for food contact and cosmetics, CPC for children's goods |
One mismatch between the packing list and the actual cartons is enough to trigger a customs exam, which adds days and several hundred dollars.
Duties, tariffs, and the de minimis rule that changed
The US assesses duty on the declared customs value plus freight and insurance. Budget for:
- Section 301 tariffs on many China-origin product categories, commonly 7.5% to 25% on top of the base rate
- Merchandise Processing Fee of 0.3464% of value, with a minimum and maximum cap
- Harbor Maintenance Fee of 0.125% on ocean shipments
- State sales tax collected separately by marketplaces or your own filing
The old $800 de minimis exemption that let small parcels enter duty-free has been suspended for China-origin goods, and the rules have shifted more than once. Confirm the current position with your broker before you assume a small shipment arrives tax-free — the number you budgeted last year may no longer apply.
If you ship more than a few times a year, a continuous customs bond (roughly $300–600 annually) is cheaper and faster than a single-entry bond each time.
Inspect and consolidate before anything leaves China
A third-party inspection runs about $250–350 per man-day and is the cheapest insurance in the whole process. Book it when production reaches 80–100%, and ask for carton photos, shipping marks, and a count of units per carton. Fixing a labeling error in Shenzhen costs a few hundred dollars. Fixing it after the goods reach a US warehouse means relabeling at $1–2 per unit.
If you buy from three suppliers, consolidation saves real money: one LCL shipment instead of three. The catch is that you need a warehouse willing to receive, check against the packing list, and repack into export cartons. Free storage is usually 3–7 days, after which per-day fees start.
A realistic timeline and cost picture
Take one shipment: 3 CBM, 480 kg, Shenzhen to Los Angeles, FOB terms.
| Stage | Days |
|---|---|
| Production after deposit | 20–30 |
| Booking, trucking, export clearance | 5–7 |
| Ocean transit to Los Angeles | 16–20 |
| Port handling and customs release | 3–5 |
| Delivery to your door or FBA warehouse | 2–3 |
| Total door to door | 50–65 |
A rough all-in budget for that shipment: $300–600 ocean freight, $250–450 destination charges, $150–300 drayage and delivery, plus duty and tariffs at the applicable rate. Treat these as ranges — rates move with fuel, season, and how close to Chinese New Year you book. Space booked in the two weeks before the holiday is typically the most expensive of the year.
Mistakes that cost small importers the most
- Accepting the lowest LCL quote, then paying more at destination than the freight itself
- Skipping ISF filing or filing late — a $5,000 penalty on a $4,000 shipment
- Guessing an HTS code instead of asking a broker to classify it
- Forgetting that duty is part of landed cost and pricing retail margins on the FOB number only
- Shipping before inspection because the supplier said 'quality is no problem'
- Missing Amazon FBA requirements: pallet height, label placement, delivery appointment booking
- Paying a supplier deposit without a factory address you can verify
None of these are exotic. They are the ordinary reasons a first shipment turns into a two-month headache.
If you would rather not manage factory calls, inspection bookings and forwarder follow-ups across a 12-hour time difference, Globesino handles sourcing, factory visits, pre-shipment inspection, consolidation and booking for small importers as one local team in China.