Question on Importing and Shipping Costs

[JUAREZ]

Importer question: I received the quote from my supplier and I am a little shocked about the shipping price. So there are 10 kg of product. The supplier said there are 3 cartons - 40*40*25cm. He quoted for shipping - AIR - DDU - 300$. This means 30$/kg. I asked in my country people that have imported recently and they said the price should be 6.5-7.5 $/kg. What should I do in this spot?

 

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[Jrjohnny]

Importer question: I received the quote from my supplier and I am a little shocked about the shipping price. So there are 10 kg of product. The supplier said there are 3 cartons - 40*40*25cm. He quoted for shipping - AIR - DDU - 300$. This means 30$/kg. I asked in my country people that have imported recently and they said the price should be 6.5-7.5 $/kg. What should I do in this spot?

Don’t take this advice unless someone can confirm it as I have no stinking clue, but I would say counter offer him? I don’t think you can do that though, another thing is, the other people you’ve asked, have they had to gotten it shipped? It may also be that the more bulk you buy, the cheaper each kg is. I don’t know though.

 

[JUAREZ]

Don’t take this advice unless someone can confirm it as I have no stinking clue, but I would say counter offer him? I don’t think you can do that though, another thing is, the other people you’ve asked, have they had to gotten it shipped? It may also be that the more bulk you buy, the cheaper each kg is. I don’t know though.

I am still waiting for answers. I can not counter offer him. He asked me to search for logistics companies and find other prices. One guy from my country said that is this price because there are only 10 kg, but I do not know if it's true.

 

[Kak]

Importer question: I received the quote from my supplier and I am a little shocked about the shipping price. So there are 10 kg of product. The supplier said there are 3 cartons - 40*40*25cm. He quoted for shipping - AIR - DDU - 300$. This means 30$/kg. I asked in my country people that have imported recently and they said the price should be 6.5-7.5 $/kg. What should I do in this spot?

Tell them to try different carriers because in your experience, that is incredibly high.

For some reason all the Chinese companies I’ve worked with like to send smaller orders like this via DHL. It was like it was always their default quote. It’s almost always ridiculously expensive too. They do get it here very quick though.

FedEx and UPS both have a no-rush air option that takes 6-8 days that was always a lot cheaper for us.

Of course, ocean is a LOT cheaper and it’s all we do now.

 

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[JUAREZ]

Tell them to try different carriers because in your experience, that is incredibly high.

For some reason all the Chinese companies I’ve worked with like to send smaller orders like this via DHL. It was like it was always their default quote. It’s almost always ridiculously expensive too. They do get it here very quick though.

FedEx and UPS both have a no-rush air option that takes 6-8 days that was always a lot cheaper for us.

Of course, ocean is a LOT cheaper and it’s all we do now.

Thank you for answering, @Kak . When I saw this price, I told him that the price is very high and all our others shippments were in the range of 6.5-7.5$/kg. He said he will look for other logistics companies and I will start looking also. I paid shipping for samples which were 0.4 kg like 86 usd but I wanted to get them fast so I paid that. And it was with DHL. But now, for my test order, would like to not rush with this 30$/kg shipping. I asked him to get a quote from fedex. Meanwhile, I am sending messages to shipments agent from alibaba. Have you worked with them, like this?

Ocean is my future plan, but for test, i want to bring the products fast.

 

[MitchC]

I am still waiting for answers. I can not counter offer him. He asked me to search for logistics companies and find other prices. One guy from my country said that is this price because there are only 10 kg, but I do not know if it's true.

Message logistics companies on Alibaba.

I only know how it is for Australia so it might be different for you but be careful using Fedex like @Kak suggested, those options do not have duties paid, so you will likely get hit with import taxes and then a $200ish fee to process those import taxes. DHL is the same.

Ideally you want DDP (delivered duty paid) Air shipping for something small and light like that. They include the duties in the shipping cost. It'll be a bit slower than Fedex, maybe 2 weeks, but cheaper because no customs fee. Or DDP sea if it's not urgent, but 10kg is so small it's probably going to make much difference.

 

[Kak]

Thank you for answering, @Kak . When I saw this price, I told him that the price is very high and all our others shippments were in the range of 6.5-7.5$/kg. He said he will look for other logistics companies and I will start looking also. I paid shipping for samples which were 0.4 kg like 86 usd but I wanted to get them fast so I paid that. And it was with DHL. But now, for my test order, would like to not rush with this 30$/kg shipping. I asked him to get a quote from fedex. Meanwhile, I am sending messages to shipments agent from alibaba. Have you worked with them, like this?

Ocean is my future plan, but for test, i want to bring the products fast.

I went from shipping consumer products in orders that were too small to ever justify ocean to importing chemicals for large companies that consume many isotank containers every month.

I don’t have much experience with the in-between.

@biophase probably has a lot more to say on the matter as I’m sure he uses a wider variety of methods than I do.

No, I have never worked with an Alibaba shipping agent. I always had my supplier arrange shipping. Even to this day. As a matter of fact, I have always found them to have access to the cheapest pricing.

 

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[JUAREZ]

Message logistics companies on Alibaba.

I only know how it is for Australia so it might be different for you but be careful using Fedex like @Kak suggested, those options do not have duties paid, so you will likely get hit with import taxes and then a $200ish fee to process those import taxes. DHL is the same.

Ideally you want DDP (delivered duty paid) Air shipping for something small and light like that. They include the duties in the shipping cost. It'll be a bit slower than Fedex, maybe 2 weeks, but cheaper because no customs fee. Or DDP sea if it's not urgent, but 10kg is so small it's probably going to make much difference.

@MitchC thanks for jumping in. Well, I do not want DDP because there are problems with that. I need the products to have a paper from customs that I have paid the taxes, in order to sell them. When you order ddp, at least in Europe, the Chinese have some arrangements with some countries and they do not pay taxes and they bring me the products at home without any papers that they entered the country. I can not sell them in that situation. I must pay the taxes in my country in order to be able to sell them. That is why I asked DDU.

 

[Guest-5ty5s4]

@MitchC @STEFANTP @Kak isn't it possible to ship via ocean but utilizing less than a full container? That way the shipment is slower but you are saving a tremendous amount of money on shipping? Would be ideal if you need inventory but aren't concerned on lead time...

 

[Kak]

@MitchC @STEFANTP @Kak isn't it possible to ship via ocean but utilizing less than a full container? That way the shipment is slower but you are saving a tremendous amount of money on shipping? Would be ideal if you need inventory but aren't concerned on lead time...

Yes, but I’ve never done it and don’t even remember what they call it.

Stateside freight that doesn’t take a whole container or trailer is LTL (less than truckload). So it’s the international equivalent of LTL.

We use intermodal LTL on palletized drums and forklift totes stateside for smaller customers.

 

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[JUAREZ]

@MitchC @STEFANTP @Kak isn't it possible to ship via ocean but utilizing less than a full container? That way the shipment is slower but you are saving a tremendous amount of money on shipping? Would be ideal if you need inventory but aren't concerned on lead time...

Well, this is a nice way if you know that your product sells. I am currently at ordering 150 pcs to test the market

 

[MitchC]

@MitchC @STEFANTP @Kak isn't it possible to ship via ocean but utilizing less than a full container? That way the shipment is slower but you are saving a tremendous amount of money on shipping? Would be ideal if you need inventory but aren't concerned on lead time...

This is how I ship most of my products

A mixture of DDP and DDU sea

It depends on the weight and size of the product how much you will save and the size of the order

For a small order where the shipping is only $300, there’s not much money to be saved going sea over air

Invoices for customs fees are usually like $200 just in processing fees so I think there’s more money to be saved there than the shipping method on small orders

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Importer question: I received the quote from my supplier and I am a little shocked about the shipping price. So there are 10 kg of product. The supplier said there are 3 cartons - 40*40*25cm. He quoted for shipping - AIR - DDU - 300$. This means 30$/kg. I asked in my country people that have imported recently and they said the price should be 6.5-7.5 $/kg. What should I do in this spot?

This has been extracted from the CHAT and moved to its own thread. Carry on...

 

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[David4431]

Your supplier is marking up the shipping cost for you (to make a few dollars on shipping), not using the cheapest shipping option or a combination of these. Without really knowing where in Europe you live, just based off of the dimensions you provided and the weight, my guess is that a decent shipping cost would be somewhere in the $100-200 range based off of my experience shipping to the US from China.

This is annoying but do your best to negotiate with your supplier while at the same time reaching out to freight forwarders on Alibaba to get shipping quotes. You should do this not because you want to save a hundred bucks but because you want to communicate to your supplier that you are serious about this and you expect them to not rip you off. Sucks I know, but this is not uncommon when dealing with suppliers in China.

If you don't expect to do business with this supplier long term then just pay the $300 (or whatever lower price they come back with) and get your stuff sooner to test. Because going back and forth with multiple freight forwarders and having your supplier work with them will take time - I honestly wouldn't be surprised if this takes an extra week or more compared to if you just paid the $300. Hope this helps a little.

 

[JUAREZ]

This has been extracted from the CHAT and moved to its own thread. Carry on...

Thank you @MJ DeMarco. Sorry for spaming the chat thread.

 

[JUAREZ]

Your supplier is marking up the shipping cost for you (to make a few dollars on shipping), not using the cheapest shipping option or a combination of these. Without really knowing where in Europe you live, just based off of the dimensions you provided and the weight, my guess is that a decent shipping cost would be somewhere in the $100-200 range based off of my experience shipping to the US from China.

This is annoying but do your best to negotiate with your supplier while at the same time reaching out to freight forwarders on Alibaba to get shipping quotes. You should do this not because you want to save a hundred bucks but because you want to communicate to your supplier that you are serious about this and you expect them to not rip you off. Sucks I know, but this is not uncommon when dealing with suppliers in China.

If you don't expect to do business with this supplier long term then just pay the $300 (or whatever lower price they come back with) and get your stuff sooner to test. Because going back and forth with multiple freight forwarders and having your supplier work with them will take time - I honestly wouldn't be surprised if this takes an extra week or more compared to if you just paid the $300. Hope this helps a little.

Thank you for your thoughts. The problem is not the 300$. It's about the price 30$/kg. I do not know yet (waiting for shipping agents to reply) why is this difference because I asked people in my country who imported weeks ago and they had 7.5$/kg. What will happen when I order 1500? Will the price decrease or will be same? Right now, I am paying more on shipping than on products lol

 

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[biophase]

Thank you for your thoughts. The problem is not the 300$. It's about the price 30$/kg. I do not know yet (waiting for shipping agents to reply) why is this difference because I asked people in my country who imported weeks ago and they had 7.5$/kg. What will happen when I order 1500? Will the price decrease or will be same? Right now, I am paying more on shipping than on products lol

But you have 3 boxes right? You can’t go by $/kg if they are light and big. You can’t expect shipping 10kg in 10 boxes to be the same as 10kg in one box.

They are charging you $100 per box. Seems about right to me.

 

[JUAREZ]

But you have 3 boxes right? You can’t go by $/kg if they are light and big. You can’t expect shipping 10kg in 10 boxes to be the same as 10kg in one box.

They are charging you $100 per box. Seems about right to me.

Thank you for answering, I was waiting for your point of view. When you put it like that, yes, now it seems ok to me also. And the prices of 7.5$/kg was probably for a lot of products. Made a simulation for 20 kg and the shipping price was decreasing. My supplier told me about the fedex price and I paid 246$ for this 10 kg order. Thank you all for your input, much appreciated.