When shipping from China to US/USA, you will want to know how to receive the goods safely. This process involves a complex set of operations, which can also be easily delivered by moving your goods while ensuring that the transport is carried out efficiently.
Actual international transportation is very complex and requires some awareness of some of the techniques associated with freight. Because of too many rules and regulations, you may not know where to start and where you expect to be.
Once you have learned the necessary basics, it will become clearer. You can easily manage your china shipments.
Below we’ll discuss what needs to be done in shipping from China to USA and guide you in the direction you are finding.
1. What Shipping Mode Is The Best?
2. Who Will Be Responsible For Arranging Transportation?
3. What determines the cost of Shipping From China to USA?
4. How To Get A Shipping Cost Quote?
5. How To Send the Goods In Proper Packaging?
6. Are There Any Restrictions On U.S. Customs?
7. What Documents Do You Need to Prepare?
8. How To Understand The Progress Of The Freight?
9. How To Receive Goods And Clear Customs?
10. What Should I Do If The Goods Are Damaged Or Lost?
You Should Choose The Best Way Of Shipping
You can choose different shipping methods according to your requirements and the type of freight. One thing is for sure, international shipping has gone a long way in terms of how many modes of transport are available and offers enough ways. You can determine what shipping options are available for your needs.
Air Freight
Air freight may be your best option for urgent cargo requiring quick arrivals to the United States. Sometimes you have to get the product quickly to land at your destination, and if so, they should have enough airlift capacity to do so. There are many flights between China and the United States, and your cargo in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Beijing, Hangzhou, Zhengzhou, and Qingdao, where there are direct flight options, can be rapidly delivered to the United States.
Sea Freight
Sea freight costs far less than air freight. The advantage of shipping by sea is providing a large amount of cargo transport. If the time limit is available, it is also an ideal and low-cost way to ship large quantities of goods. However, shipping time is long, which depends on your destination port on the east coast of the United States or the west coast, you can expect your cargo to arrive from a few weeks to two months.
Containers Shipping
It brings a huge benefit to freight shipping. Shipping agents set prices for each container. If your goods are not enough to fill the full container, you will need to share the container (LCL) with other shippers, then charge per cubic meter. The larger the number of goods, the lower the unit transport price. The common shipping container sizes are 20′ and 40′, which can load various goods, which is why shipping is considered a good choice for large quantities of goods and large cargo shapes.
Now we can provide door-to-door container shipping for your U.S. cargo imports from China, especially Amazon FBA products.
Courier service
Today, everyone uses common shipping methods such as DHL, UPS, and FedEx. They also provide door-to-door service, and they will pick up your goods at the door and transport it, they will deliver them directly to your customer’s door and assist you in customs clearance. This shipping service is a little more expensive than the others, but it is well worth the extra cost for the convenience and time saved.
Our Suggestion
So before you start, you need to identify some important things to choose the right shipping method:
• how long do you want to get your consignment?
• The quantity, size, nature, and size of the goods you transport.
• Your shipping budget.
We can decide on how long to arrive and the fastest way to fly, the plane carrying your cargo can arrive in the United States in a day at an airport in China, or it may take a week to reach your designated airport based on a direct or connecting flight. If you don’t want to receive your goods as you want, the courier is the best way to do it, including customs clearance and door-to-door. It takes 12 days to ship to the west coast of the United States.
Sometimes you have to get the product quickly to deliver your order, and air freight can do it for you quickly. If you want to handle large quantities of goods at a lower cost, sea freight is the most cost-effective way. While sea freight helps you save freight costs, you still need to make sure that your goods are delivered within a reasonable time.
Understanding the differences between different shipping options allows you to find which is right for your business.
Who Will Be Responsible For Arranging Shipping?
In most cases, international trade and transportation may involve two or three parties: buyer, seller, or recipient.
Buyer Arranges Cargo Transportation
According to the sales contract between you and Chinese suppliers, if the freight is included in the contract, the seller will arrange the transportation under the terms of groups C and D.
Under the sale contract for these two terms, like CFR (Cost and Freight) or CIF (Cost, Insurance, and Freight), you have paid the supplier the cost of shipping (CFR) or insurance cost (CIF) to the port. In this case, the buyer is responsible for arranging the main transportation to your port.
Arrange Shipments Through A Buyer’s Freight Forwarder
When the contract is under EXW (Ex Works) or FOB (free on board), you (the buyer) need to choose a freight forwarder to arrange shipping from China to USA. You could choose these terms for better control over freight shipping and its costs.
In this section, choosing a freight forwarder is what you need to follow. Freight forwarders are in professional transport. If you are a business owner, then you already know that using freight services to transport goods has always been one of the practical solutions. You also know that paying as little as possible for your goods to reach the final destination is what you want. Choose an experienced freight forwarder to get professional guidance and save you time and trouble.
Professional freight forwarders need expertise in all aspects of shipping and customs clearance. They can make your process easier. You can expect these experts to help you in the process of cost determination, document preparation, customs clearance, cargo consolidation, and more.
You may need to read:
How to find a good freight forwarder?
Do you need a China freight forwarder?
Things That affect the cost of shipping From China to USA/US
When importing from China, you always try to get the best deal, but how do you know what you are paying is right? Before international shipments and receipts, costs were a very important thing that existed in your mind. I will help you understand all factors of logistics cost.
The Mode Of Shipping Determines The Shipping Rate To A Large Extent.
International shipping prices will vary depending on the mode. Air freight is the most expensive option at the moment.
Sea freight rates and air freight rates vary greatly. Sea freight rates vary according to your choice of full container loading or less than container loading. The delivery of goods involves door-to-door service, and you will pay more cost.
Depending on your actual requirements and budget, you can choose from three delivery modes: 1. airport to airport shipping, 2. port to port shipping, and 3. door to door shipping.
It is important to choose the best mode of shipping for your company, and you need a thorough comparative analysis to determine which is best for you.
The Weight And Volume Of The Goods Determine The Total Costs.
Depending on the mode of shipping, the cost can be based on weight and volume or anyone. For example, for FCL shipping, shipping agents set prices for each container, and the charges depend on the number of containers.
On the other hand, for smaller goods that cannot fill standard sea containers, when shipping by air and LCL, the goods are based on weight and volume of the goods. You may also calculate a larger shipment by weight or volume. The easiest thing to remember is that the bigger the package, the higher the shipping cost.
When dealing with a larger number, you should try to find more cost-effective options. Air freight costs are very high in large quantities and bulky goods, and you should use sea freight.
The Nature Of The Goods May Also Affects the Shipping Cost.
Tipping dangerous goods like lithium batteries involves safety, and freight forwarders usually charge more.
Oversized or irregular goods require special loading and additional operating costs. You can generally expect to pay more if the product needs additional security and treatment.
You May Pay Two-Level Service.
Many freight service companies offer a wide range of two-level logistics services, including customs clearance paperwork, shipping packages, warehousing consolidation, insurance coverage, import taxes, etc.
Often, these services require you to pay the extra money, and it is worthwhile for professionals to handle the technical and legal aspects of product transport.
How to Get Shipping Cost Quotes
Sometimes someone contacted me and asked me about shipping charges from China to USA. Many times they try to transport most cheaply,
I have handled a lot of goods to USA. First, I will tell you what information you need to get a complete shipping quote.
To obtain a freight quote, you will need to provide:
- Method of shipping. (Usually by sea or air.)
- Delivery mode. (Door to door, door to port or port to port.)
- Origin and destination details.
- Descript the goods like weight, quantity, and size.
- The nature of the goods transported. The cost of transporting fragile goods is expensive.
- Special needs of customers. For example, if you want items delivered faster, you may need to pay more.
Send the above information to any shipping agent, and they will provide you with a shipping quote.
Follow these tips to get accurate quotes. Make sure the quotation is confirmed by email. Verify that the quotation includes fuel charge, customs clearance fee, declaration fee and shipping cost, and transit time.
If you accept the offer, the shipping agent will get you the rest of the details.
Are you looking for shipping from China to the US? You only need to fill out a form to get your shipping Cost Quote when you contact us. Contact us for more detailed information about international shipping operations, and you will also get detailed cost information.
Make Sure Your Shipments Are Properly Packaged
You can’t be sure how the goods will be treated in transit, such as rude operations and unpredictable extrusions that could damage it. Therefore, before shipping, you must send the packaging requirements of the goods to your supplier. There is no doubt that packaging is an important step in ensuring the safety of the goods. Brittle items should be packed in corrugated cardboard boxes and filled with soft materials and foam to prevent abrasions and friction. Therefore, all packaging should be sealed to avoid leakage, breakage, overflow, and other related accidents.
Your goods are money, so you have to be very careful by carefully packaging from the inside out to ensure the safe transportation of goods to the destination.
We should prepare the goods according to the following guidelines:
- Wrap the goods in a solidly sealed container, and don’t use too many big or small boxes.
- Packaging should have the correct label to avoid shipping interruptions or shipping loss.
- Cargo weight should be evenly distributed to provide solid support in the container.
- The packaging should be waterproof and dampproof.
More packaging techniques on the post how to package properly
U.S. Customs Restrictions – You Can’t Ship Any Product
Generally, you can ship many kinds of goods internationally. However, certain items are prohibited, like dangerous goods, flammable substances, pharmaceuticals, liquids, currencies, etc. These items are not accessible to USA. Before shipping, you should know the list of items not allowed, so your goods do not have any trouble with U.S. customs clearance.
So you will need to do some good research and find out which products are limited, and USA has laws to prohibit some items from being imported. If you want to send a restricted item in China, it will not be admitted for shipment or will be impounded by the US customs.
You must remember that every country has laws prohibiting importing certain items. Read this post to learn about the Prohibited and Restricted Goods on importing.
Prepare Necessary Shipping Documents
In order to ensure the safety and legality of import shipment, you should know the customary laws and regulations of USA. In this regard, people are most likely to make clerical mistakes. Besides, your customs broker does not provide the necessary information for your items.
Appropriate documents must be prepared for smooth delivery and customs clearance. Paperwork mistakes will lead to shipping delays, and any shipment delayed by customs may result in a poor customer experience.
If the document is not properly prepared, it will lead to：
There is a problem with shipping when clearing the origin Customs.
When the goods arrive at the destination, the consignee will not be able to clear the goods through Customs.
The customs department of the importing country may detain or seize the goods.
Customs may fine customers.
The customs has a set of import regulations and what documents they need. The most common customs documents may include an air waybill, bill of lading, commercial invoice, certificate of origin, shipper’s export declaration, and so on.
View this post Shipping Documents, to learn more information.
How To Understand The Progress Of The Freight?
If you are concerned about the operation of the goods during transportation, please use cargo tracking. It must be said that cargo tracking is an extremely excellent service. Many shipping companies offer cargo tracking to allow shippers to obtain information about the exact location of the goods.
Say goodbye to the era of information blocking in the past, and we do not need to call to ask where the shipment is or wait for the goods to arrive at the destination without notification, the freight company provides online tracking services. On the shipping company’s website shipping tracking page, you can get the position and status of the goods at the time by simply entering your waybill number.
Cargo tracking is another important aspect because it helps to understand the status of your goods and receive your goods. You can also arrange your picking plan according to the location of the goods. If there is any detention, the shipping company can notify you in time and take measures to cope with the delay.
Cargo Tracking services are also important to provide good customer service, reducing the tension of customers waiting for goods.
How To Receive Goods And Clear Customs?
Before the goods arrive at their destination or port, the consignee must prepare the relevant documents and send them to the customs clearance agent to speed up the cargo withdrawal when the transport vessel stops at the port. After obtaining customs clearance, the officially recognized bill of lading should be processed, cleared, collected from the warehouse and transported to your warehouse.
Customs clearance of sea cargo is usually not handled by consignees, and they must rely on the services of the forwarding agent to perform this operation. The consignee should employ the services of a reputable freight forwarder to take care of their interests.
In the case of air freight, it is easier and less time-consuming for the consignee to handle customs clearance and cargo collection. Depending on the destination, it may also be necessary to hire a customs clearance agent to complete the process.
When the goods arrive at the destination, the cargo station will issue a notice, and you need to clear and collect in time, otherwise, there will be a warehouse fee.
What Should I Do If The Goods Are Damaged Or Lost?
It is disturbing to see that your cargo is damaged or lost. No one wants to receive the damaged goods. If this happens, you need to take the necessary steps immediately.
If your goods are lost, the goods are sent for air cargo. First, you contact the shipping company or shipping agent. Some of the goods may have been omitted somewhere in the warehouse of the transport company or were transported to the wrong destination. In this case, the shipping companies could locate them and resume transport. However, they could not retrieve the lost package, which became the same as the package that was damaged in some way during the transport process.
If the goods are damaged, you can hold the company responsible for the transportation and ask the shipping company for compensation. If you are unsure of the amount, you are not advised to give an estimate. It is best to take the freight forwarder’s responsibility to the fullest extent and clearly identify the most probable cost.
You must perform these operations if you receive damaged goods or the goods are missing.
1. The packaging of the goods, any damaged items, and seals together to save. Take pictures and make video recordings of packaging and damaged goods.
2. Make representations to the shipping company that handles your goods.
3. Ask your freight forwarder to check for non-compliant operations in transit.
4. If your goods are insured, contact your insurance company for further processing.