There are many shipping agents in China but the key is hiring one which is reliable, a good fit for your needs and is familiar with how to deal with international customers. You're going for quality, not quantity.
There are a few things you want to look out for when looking for a shipping agent in China.
1. Find a shipping agent with access to a wide range of shipping routes by air, sea, rail and even the ability to ship to Amazon FBA warehouses around the world.
2. Find an shipping agent in China which can communicate with you effectively in English. Communication is extremely important when arranging international shipping from China as you don’t want your shipping agent who misunderstands your shipping needs. Therefore it is important to find a bilingual shipping agent in China which you can communicate easily with.
3. Find a shipping agent in China which offers you free storage, warehousing and consolidation services. When purchasing from multiple suppliers in China, it makes economic sense to consolidate all your purchases and then ship everything together from China. However, since different factories may not complete production at the same time, you will often need to have some of your goods stored at your China shipping agent’s warehouse until the rest of the goods are ready. With some shipping agents in China, storage costs can be very expensive. Therefore if you’re looking to minimize costs when shipping internationally from China, it is important to look for a shipping agent that can offer you free storage while you wait for all your goods to be ready.
4. Find a shipping agent in China which can accept payment in foreign currency (especially US dollars and Euros). This may seem obvious at first but you will find that there are actually many shipping agents in China who primarily cater to Chinese factories and therefore only accept payment in RMB and do not take any foreign currency. This means that unless you have a bank account in China, you will not be able to make payment to them and they will not do business with you. Therefore, one of the important things to check beforehand is whether your shipping agent in China can accept payment in foreign currency.
5. Find a shipping agent that preferably has customs broking partners in your destination countries that can help manage the customs clearance and deliver to your doorstep. For large shipments, you generally need either an import license via a registered company, or if you don't have one, then you need to hire a customs broker. This can be a hassle especially if you're doing it for the first time. Therefore, you would ideally want a China shipping agent like CNXtrans with strong international connections and partnerships with customs brokers all over the world that can help manage customs clearance for large shipments coming into your country from China.
Consolidating and shipping internationally from China? Get started now by obtaining the CNXtrans warehouse address in China.
For more information regarding shipping from China, do visit www.cnxtrans.com
