For first-time importers, the real challenge of shipping from Alibaba is getting them home without unexpected fees, puzzling paperwork, or costly delays.

That’s why you need to pair up with an Alibaba freight forwarder. They work as your logistics agent to ship your goods from Chinese factories to your destination.

You can choose either Alibaba’s native logistics or better off hiring an independent freight forwarder.

To pick the right support, you’ve to understand how to buy from Alibaba via the right shipping method, the secrets behind their DDP shipping, and how to verify a forwarder to avoid costly scams.

And to catch on to all these, this is the only guide you need to read. Let’s head into it.

Begin by wising up on the common pitfalls new importers face when relying blindly on the Alibaba suppliers to handle the shipping directly. Attention again! Don’t fall for these traps:

It’s needless to mention that your suppliers are production experts, not pros in logistics, right?

So, when they have the shipping responsibility, they simply rely on 3rd-party brokers, which is gonna cost you a high markup fee on top of your actual freight cost. And that’s the reason people find Alibaba shipping cost so expensive.

You lose visibility when your suppliers control the shipping of the Alibaba goods you purchase. Most of the time, you can’t even track the cargo. Therefore, you don’t have any idea about the carrier, and then, when a problem appears at the port entry, you’ve no idea what to do next.

There’s a classic scam involving Alibaba quoting. It’s like they offer you a very low shipping rate upfront, using the CIF Incoterm.

Then, when your product arrives at your destination port, you’re hit with surprise destination port fees, handling charges. You end up in a situation where you can’t get your products without burning that money.

When you buy from multiple suppliers in China, shipping each product separately only increases the shipping costs. That’s where consolidation comes in.

However, your suppliers aren’t able to consolidate all items from different factories and merge them into a single shipment.

In such cases, only a dedicated freight forwarder from China can help you out.

Reducing your shipping costs starts with understanding how to calculate the freight rates. There are several factors that influence your Alibaba shipping cost. Such as:

1. Weight & Volume (Chargeable Weight): Carriers charge you depending on either dimensional (volume) weight or gross weight–whichever is higher. You should calculate the chargeable weight before to avoid overpaying for light, bulky items.
2. Shipping Method: The fastest way to ship your product is express courier services such as DHL, FedEx. But they are most expensive too. Ocean freights are cheaper than air cargo, however, slower.
3. Distance & Destination: Depending on the routes your freight forwarder chooses, the cost may vary significantly. For instance, Shipping Alibaba goods to the US West Coast (Los Angeles) is cheaper due to less distance compared to the East Coast (New York).
4. Season: During the peak shipping seasons, there are price hikes in Alibaba freight forwarding costs. For example, in situations like Christmas, Black Friday, Chinese New Year, expect a surcharge price.
5. Tariffs & Fuel Surcharges: Sometimes you’ll see changes in import duties and tariffs. Also, if the global oil price increases, you’ll face that affecting your freight cost too. Although these aren’t frequent.

Here’s the exact blueprint to follow when importing goods via Alibaba to your country. This is the same way we at Winsky Freight process product shipping for our clients from China.

In the very beginning, we, as your freight forwarder contacts the Alibaba supplier once the ordered products are manufactured. They confirm your cargo weight, dimensions, and readiness date.

In case you choose to use EXW terms, we send a truck to Alibaba’s supplier’s factory to pick up your products.

Next, we dispatch the truck with your goods to the bonded warehouse (ex, in Shanghai or Shenzhen).

If you’ve ordered products from multiple suppliers, we perform consolidation services as mentioned earlier.

Up next, we arrange all the customs documents and formalities, including the certificate of origin, commercial invoice, and packing list, to get your products cleared through Chinese customs.

Based on your preferred shipping method, the cargo will then be loaded onto the ship or aircraft. You’ll discover more about the shipping methods later on this blog. BTW, you get the Bill of Lading or Air Waybill at this stage.

Within the due date, your cargo arrives at the destination port, where our selected customs broker handles the entries with the domestic authorities. For example, it’s CBP in terms of the US. They also pay the duties and taxes by now.

Upon getting cleared by customs, we’ll finally truck your goods via UPS, FedEx, or any similar delivery support depending on your region.

Want us to tackle the whole freight forwarding process on your behalf? Get a free quote now.

Air, sea, rail–you’ve got all types of shipping method options available when importing goods via Alibaba. Which one is the right method depends mostly on your budget and deadline.

For the fastest delivery at your doorstep, air shipping is the best option. You can invest in either standard express courier or air freight.

Express Courier: For smaller consignments, weighing less than 150 kg, it’s the best door-to-door service. This is ideal for small, yet high-value shipments.

Typically, they take 3-7 days to deliver the product to your location, yet it’s the most expensive one too

Check out our full guide on express freight shipping from China.

Standard Air Freight: If your products or cargo weigh between 150 kg and 500 kgs, this is the way to go. Basically, your goods are delivered from the Chinese airport to your local airport.

Once products land at the destination airport, there are some customs clearances that need to be settled. And when that’s done, the freight partner arranges final delivery.

Due to this, it takes more time, but very much cost-effective for medium-sized shipments.

Considered as the backbone of the internal trading, ocean freight is the most economical path to transport large volume products. There are two ways you can import via sea route–LCL and FCL

LCL (Less than Container Load): In general, the cargo container sizes are either 20ft or 40ft. If your shipment isn’t large enough to fill the whole container, you go for the LCL method.

In this method, you rent a shared space in a single container with other importers’ products. So, it’s like paying only for the space your products consume, measured in cubic meters/CBM.

You can also get the consolidation facility for your goods if buying from multiple suppliers.

FCL (Full Container Load): As the name suggests, if your goods’ volume is large enough to accommodate a whole container (typically over 15CBM), FCL is actually value for money.

Things you should note that FCL operates faster than LCL since there’s no consolidation process involved.

Discover more about the differences between Winsky Freight’s LCL and FCL facilities.

If you’re gonna import from the UK, Germany, Poland, and Europe, the rail freight shipping method has recently emerged as a middle-ground option.

China to Europe rail freight is significantly faster than sea freight as these travel along the modernized “Belt & Road” routes. You can expect to get the product within 15-20 days. Also, it’s much cheaper.

At A Glance Comparison Table

Still wondering which shipping method is best for your business. Winsky Freight can help you make the right call. Let’s discuss.

International Commercial Terms, also known as Incoterms 2020, are the global rules for shipping. The terms define the responsibilities of both you (or your forwarder) and the suppliers. So, you don’t get a grip on this means you lose money.

Among dozens of terms, the two most common that you often need to negotiate with the Alibaba sellers/factories are: EXW and FOB.

In this sort of deal, your suppliers’ only job is to produce the product and leave it at their factory door. Upon confirmation, you, via your forwarder, have to tackle the rest, like pickup, export customs, sea freight, import customs, vice versa.

The good part of Incoterms EXW is that you get more control over the shipping process, which is also a bottleneck since you’ve to tackle the whole operation yourself.

In Incoterms FOB, your Chinese supplier bears the cost of transportation from their factory to the departure port, such as Shanghai or Shenzhen. They manage export customs as well.

You’ve to worry about the shipment once it’s loaded onto the vessel. For beginner importers, it’s a pretty safe starting point.

Both FOB and EXW were okay, but you still have to handle the full or partial operational burden. If you can’t afford any of these, the Alibaba DDP shipping is something that takes away your stress, especially if you’re in the e-commerce business.

DDP stands for Delivery Duty Paid. Under the incoterms DDP, your freight forwarder, Winsky Freight, handles the entire door-to-door process on your behalf.

So, we handle sea freight transit cost, import customs, duties, and tariffs. And lastly, truck the goods to your doorstep.

Alibaba to Amazon FBA shipping mostly relies on DDP since Amazon fulfillment centers don’t tackle customs duties for you. Basically, if your goods have any taxes due, Amazon simply rejects the consignment.

With the help of an experienced Amazon FBA forwarder, you can pass all formalities at the ports.

Reddit and social media are full of posts about people getting scammed by anonymous freight forwarders. Do yourself a favor by reading the guide below on vetting the right Alibaba freight forwarder:

Alibaba has its own built-in filter for finding logistics agents. Here’s what to look for:

Verified Supplier: The badge you see on some of the freight forwarder profiles is basically added by the third-party inspection agencies, such as SGS. They physically visit those suppliers’ factories to inspect their business license and operations. Only deal with parties featuring the badge.

Trade Assurance: This one is Alibaba’s escrow service. If your supplier fails to deliver the consignment, this term enables you to apply for a dispute and refund. Don’t make an order with forwarders not offering Trade Assurance.

Years on Platform: For first-timers, we suggest dealing with freight forwarders who are the Gold Suppliers for 3-5 years. Scammers don’t maintain an account for that long.

If you witness a forwarder offering an unexpected cheap price per kg, consider it a warning.

What happens is that once your factory hands over the product, the forwarder holds your cargo hostage.

They tell you the cargo is oversized or that seasonal surcharges are applied, and so on. Eventually, they disagree to release the Bill of Landing if you don’t pay that fee.

Always ask for an all-inclusive quote in writing before confirming the deal. Once you get the price, compare that with the reputed agents’ rates.

Before committing, get a meeting with your shortlisted freight forwarder with the following questions:

1. Are your quotes all-inclusive? (ensure they provide freight, origin fees, customs, and final delivery charges)
2. Do you have your own bonded warehouse for consolidation?
3. Can you handle EPA/FDA or specific customs clearance documents for my niche products?
4. Will you provide a dedicated agent or an automated ticketing system for support?
5. Do you provide shipping insurance?

Your stress will get just higher if you’re unable to track the concurrent status of your shipment. Fortunately, nowadays, you can track that.

Alibaba’s logistics service platform features a tracking system (powered by Cainiao) for users booking directly. You can find it in the buyer dashboard.

This native tracking system gives you updates on when the products depart the port or arrive at the destination customs.

Unfortunately, the native system sometimes gets dark during the final mile. Even when your container is devanned, the Alibaba dashboard often shows you any updates.

The solution lies in pairing up with a tech-forward agent. If you shakes hand with a premium freight forwarder, they will provide an independent tracking link, which is integrated with all carriers.

So, you get the updates on every heartbeat, from ocean liner like Maersk to your domestic delivery truck. I guess that answers why it’s vital to have the right freight forwarding partner.

You’ve got the options to use an agent on the Alibaba platform, or a specialized freight forwarder from China like Winsky Freight.

0 Platform Fees: If booked on Alibaba, you’ve to share a commission charged by the platform.

The best part of having Winsky Freight onboard is that we offer you direct, wholesale carrier rates. So, there are no markups from middlemen.

Active Problem Solving Support: Whenever your shipment is flagged as missing the HS Code, the AI bots on Alibaba can’t help you instantly.

With Winsky Freight, you get a dedicated agent looking over your consignment status all the time. If there’s an issue, our agent will proactively work to resolve it.

True Consolidation: Suppose you order products from Alibaba, 1688.com, and another off-platform supplier. We receive all of these products at our Chinese warehouse.

After inspecting, we repackage and ship them as one unified cargo. That’s the advantage of an independent forwarder like us, that you can’t get on those platforms.

Personalize Communication: Unlike others, you don’t have to deal with multiple representatives from different time zones. Instead, you get a dedicated manager who’s assigned to commute matching your needs.

Whether you’re importing goods from China to the USA, UK, Canada, Australia or Europe, Winsky Freight is one of the best Alibaba freight forwarder partner you need.

Contact Winsky Freight today to get a free, no-obligation freight quote.

It’s always a no-brainer and cheaper to use your own independent agent against the Alibaba freight forwarder. It’s because the agency doesn’t need to pay platform fee to Alibaba. So, you get a lower rate.

Absolutely. It’s the core advantage of getting a freight forwarder in China. If you buy goods from different suppliers from different cities, your freight forwarder picks them up all, gathers them in their bonded warehouse, repackages the goods, and finally ships them as a single consignment.

Just share with the forwarder information such as the cargo’s total volume (CBM), total gross weight, pickup location, and delivery address. Also, mention your desired Incoterm.

Yes, if it’s comprehensive forwarders like Winsky Freight, it’s supposed to have in-house brokerage services as well. In such cases, you book a DDP (Delivery Duty Paid) shipment. So, we handle customs clearance, including paying the duties and taxes.

You’re required to have a packing list, a Commercial Invoice, a Bill of Lading, and sometimes a Certificate of Origin. When importing sensitive goods to the USA, you might also need to have ISF or Importer Security Filing documents.