Start with the deadline, not the price

The cheapest option is the one that still arrives in time. Work backwards from the date the goods need to be on your shelf, subtract the clearance time at both ends and the handling days at the origin warehouse, and only then compare rates.

A container that saves you four hundred dollars but lands eleven days late will cost more than that in adverts, stock-outs and patience.

The three options compared

Sea freight

Sea is the default for anything heavy, bulky or not urgent. Rates move with the season, so a quote in February and a quote in August can differ more than the difference between two forwarders.

Ask what the quote includes. Terminal handling, documentation, destination charges and inland delivery are frequently billed separately, and that is where a cheap headline rate stops being cheap.

Air freight

Air is priced on chargeable weight, which is the greater of actual weight and volumetric weight. Light but bulky goods — cushions, packaging, plastic parts — can move the number a long way, so always ask for the volumetric calculation.

Air suits samples, replenishment of a best seller that is running out, and any order where the product value is high relative to its weight.

Courier

Courier is the simplest option for small parcels and samples because the door-to-door price usually includes clearance. It stops being competitive quickly as weight rises, and oversized items attract surcharges that appear after the parcel has already shipped.

Questions that change the number

• Is the quote door-to-door or port-to-port?
• Is the origin pick-up inside the factory price?
• Who handles clearance at the destination, and what does it cost?
• What happens if the shipment is held for inspection?
• Is the rate fixed, and until when?

Getting one number for the whole order

This is the part most importers get wrong. Product cost, local transport inside China, export documents, international freight and delivery are five separate invoices from five separate parties.

We put them together into one costed figure before you commit, so the price you approve is the price you pay, and the cheapest factory quote does not quietly become the most expensive delivered order.