How to get China Shipper

[Ron Gipp]

Hello,

I have procured a China supplier of a product I designed.

Their shipping costs are very large.

Does anyone know of a Chinese shipping company I can get reasonable rates for shipping relatively light weight product?

 

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[Walter Hay]

Hello,

I have procured a China supplier of a product I designed.

Their shipping costs are very large.

Does anyone know of a Chinese shipping company I can get reasonable rates for shipping relatively light weight product?

Beware of Chinese shipping agents! I have written extensively in my AMA thread and in my book, about freight scams. Search my thread for more information.

You can get very cheap quotes from Chinese shipping companies, but you may never receive your goods without paying a huge amount more as they tell you step by step about extra costs you have to pay. That is just one of the many scam methods I describe in my book.

Have you ordered the goods yet? If so, you have made the common mistake of buying before you know how to ship and what the shipping cost will be.

If you have not paid for the goods yet, hold off until you get the freight issue sorted.

You say the product is relatively lightweight. Do you mean it is bulky but light?

Walter
P.S. When I refer to Chinese shipping companies I include those in Hong Kong.

 

[akotu]

Sign up for an account at freightos.com, you can get instant quotes for both ocean and air shipments. Their marketplace seems to be the most competitive when it comes to price and service.

 

[Walter Hay]

Sign up for an account at freightos.com, you can get instant quotes for both ocean and air shipments. Their marketplace seems to be the most competitive when it comes to price and service.

I have previously posted regarding the Hong Kong company Freightos as follows:
In relation to the question:
"What's your opinion of freightos.com? They seem to make sea and air freight arrangements a lot more transparent."

As far as I am concerned the jury's still out.

My eyebrows rose when I looked at reviews on one site, and out of the 10 reviews, 3 started off with the identical sentence, - actually in the form of a question,

That made me suspect that the reviews weren't genuine.

You can try the service for free, but after that it will cost you 3% of the value of your secured order.

I would prefer to use a freight forwarder near me. If in doubt you can always use the free trial on Freightos or Flexport to see if your local forwarder provides value without a fee for quoting.

Walter
P.S. I looked up some current reviews and they appear to have been written by members of the Freightos sales team. There is a Freightos page on Wikepedia with this disclaimer: This article contains content that is written like an advertisement.

 

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[akotu]

I have previously posted regarding the Hong Kong company Freightos as follows:
In relation to the question:
"What's your opinion of freightos.com? They seem to make sea and air freight arrangements a lot more transparent."

As far as I am concerned the jury's still out.

My eyebrows rose when I looked at reviews on one site, and out of the 10 reviews, 3 started off with the identical sentence, - actually in the form of a question,

That made me suspect that the reviews weren't genuine.

You can try the service for free, but after that it will cost you 3% of the value of your secured order.

I would prefer to use a freight forwarder near me. If in doubt you can always use the free trial on Freightos or Flexport to see if your local forwarder provides value without a fee for quoting.

Walter
P.S. I looked up some current reviews and they appear to have been written by members of the Freightos sales team. There is a Freightos page on Wikepedia with this disclaimer: This article contains content that is written like an advertisement.

I can only speak from my experience but I've used their marketplace to book about 20 shipments in the last 6 months and found the rates to be quite a bit less than the traditional freight forwarder I had been using.
Just remember Freightos is simply a marketplace where freight forwarders/brokers bid on your shipment. They don't handle any freight, they just connect you with freight companies to book your shipments.
In my opinion, the interface and transparency in pricing via real time quotes makes it better than booking directly with a freight forwarder if you are just getting started.

 

[TKDTyler]

PM me and I can get you in touch with the logistics company I use to handle all of my freight from overseas

 

[Champion]

Checkout Freighthub. I havent used them myself, but my friend told me he had good experience with them. @Walter Hay got any opinion about Freighthub?

 

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[Walter Hay]

Checkout Freighthub. I havent used them myself, but my friend told me he had good experience with them. @Walter Hay got any opinion about Freighthub?

Freighthub operate on a similar digital basis to Freightos. On searching two of their US sites I found one testimonial on each.

One was from an untraceable business called Carpe Diem Depot, the other was from a business called DURRANI WIRELESS CORP, which was operated by Mustaffa Duranni in Seattle but that company has been deregistered.

Freight Hub are registered with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and have an A- rating. Here is a complaint lodged on the BBB site:
"Company changes terms after they pick up your load and hold hostage. We have two container move shipments. Origin and destination is the port of Miami. The actual product was loaded at *** ********* **** ****** Way. West Palm Beach, FL XXXXX. Originally we were quoted $700 each for two shipments. The carrier used Cortera Credit Report and approved us with 30 day terms on 11/15/2018. The containers were picked up on Monday 11/19 and on Tuesday 11/20 they were loaded. After loading the first container and partially loading the second container the carrier emailed us and revoked our already approved terms. These were the first and only two loads we had ever discussed and they waited until after they picked up to remove terms. They immediately added storage, yard fees, and overweight fees (While refusing to show scale tickets) on top of the originally quoted price and sent us invoices. They refused to return the freight to the shipper and required us to over-pay what we originally discussed to have the freight delivered. They illegally held our freight hostage after first giving us terms and then revoking them right after they were loaded. At this point I am not sure if/when this freight will be delivered but I wanted to report this as soon as it occurred. "

There is a later 5 star report in words that seem to be taken from the Freight Hub site.

So, do I have an opinion? Yes, I would prefer to use a freight forwarder.

Walter

 

[Ron Gipp]

Beware of Chinese shipping agents! I have written extensively in my AMA thread and in my book, about freight scams. Search my thread for more information.

You can get very cheap quotes from Chinese shipping companies, but you may never receive your goods without paying a huge amount more as they tell you step by step about extra costs you have to pay. That is just one of the many scam methods I describe in my book.

Have you ordered the goods yet? If so, you have made the common mistake of buying before you know how to ship and what the shipping cost will be.

If you have not paid for the goods yet, hold off until you get the freight issue sorted.

You say the product is relatively lightweight. Do you mean it is bulky but light?

Walter
P.S. When I refer to Chinese shipping companies I include those in Hong Kong.

I have not ordered my goods yet.

The reason is the shipping is way to high.

I'm having T-shirts made in China.

For one sample T-shirt it is $40 shipping and 200 T-shirts it's $335.

That's why I can't order until I can get a reduced shipping rate.

Please let me know the name of your book and where to buy it.

 

[Suzanne Bazemore]

I have not ordered my goods yet.

The reason is the shipping is way to high.

I'm having T-shirts made in China.

For one sample T-shirt it is $40 shipping and 200 T-shirts it's $335.

That's why I can't order until I can get a reduced shipping rate.

Please let me know the name of your book and where to buy it.

That's a lot for shipping T-shirts! @Ron Gipp there is a link to the book in @Walter Hay's signature.

 

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[Walter Hay]

@Ron Gipp I am glad that you haven't ordered yet.
I agree with @Suzanne Bazemore that the shipping cost for 200 T Shirts is very high.

The $40 shipping charge for a sample is quite reasonable.

When you ask a freight forwarder for a quote you will need to tell them the weight, and the carton sizes. The reason you need carton sizes is that you won't be paying on a per lb or per kg basis. You will be paying on a volumetric weight basis.

You will find that explained in the very big section in my book about freight. There is every chance that it will be uneconomical to use a courier service.

Regarding your question about my book, click on the Marketplace link at the bottom, and scroll down a little way to see the discount. If you scroll further you will see the Contents list which includes a very brief summary of what each chapter is about.

Walter