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Shipping too expensive, not viable.
 

Hi, shipping costs are too high, how are people managing with such high prices? 20 usd per kg is ridiculous and I've checked multiple agents that are the middleman between Chinese ecommerce websites and shipping to you directly.
I've found profitable products but I have to use a middleman/agent since these sellers don't ship to western countries as they get enough business domestically in china to not bother with the hassle. I've checked so many agents/middlemen who will have the product shipped to their own warehouse and then they will ship it to me but the price is simply too much for shipping, not to mention their own fee which isn't low either, which results in no profit at all.
What is the cheapest way I can ship products from Taobao,1688 to Europe at a reasonable cost so i'm left with profit. Alibaba/AliExpress prices are 5x higher and hundreds of people already selling at the same price at Alibaba/AliExpress since they're dropshipping so that's not viable either.

Re: Shipping too expensive, not viable.
 

$20/kg? I just got this quote this morning (in RMB)

https://i.postimg.cc/jSHPVPmz/Untitled.png

So about $8.50/kg + $1.50 per shipment with DHL, or $11.61/kg with UPS. I'm just using my supplier's agent. :noidea:

Either way there's nothing we can do other than hope shipping prices come back down soon if they're too high for you now.

Re: Shipping too expensive, not viable.
 

Where did you get this quote? my quotes are nowhere near this, double this.

Re: Shipping too expensive, not viable.
 

Yo send me your forwarders info lol.

Ask your supplier if he is willing to share his forwarders contact info, ill send his shipper business and im sure a lot of people on here would be willing as well

Re: Shipping too expensive, not viable.
 

I didn't know I was so privileged, lol. I asked my supplier what it's costing them to ship currently and that's what they said. I don't handle anything on the China side.. my supplier/their agent does all of that.

I don't know if it makes any difference but that rate is for 21kg+ shipments and my orders usually consist of 5 or 6 shipments that size.

It's been really slow. This week it's down to 5-6 days before our DHL shipments are picked up. For the past month it's been more like 2 weeks. Are you guys paying more for faster processing?

Re: Shipping too expensive, not viable.
 

we are wating end. Just like that. I have increased prices. However - i have a lot of sales

Re: Shipping too expensive, not viable.
 

VMDETECTION.
I am sending you a pm.

Re: Shipping too expensive, not viable.
 

Thanks I received it but can't reply due to not having 25 posts. I will take a look at what you mentioned, however I do need shipping to the united kingdom so we will see whether it's suitable.

Re: Shipping too expensive, not viable.
 

44 kilogram is costing me $180 right now with a Direct UPS account but they are having constant issues and 6-7 days. They cartons get on the plane the same day but tons of problems in AK and South Korea with mechanical failures etc..

Re: Shipping too expensive, not viable.
 

Wow that's around 4.3 usd per kg, extremely good prices, i will have to check with ups and see if i can get anywhere near those prices from china to the united kingdom, doubtful but worth a try. Also, i was unaware that ups offered service from china to usa like you say, did you compare with all other delivery couriers who offer china to usa and ups are cheapest? good job!

Re: Shipping too expensive, not viable.
 

i checked with ups website and i'm still getting really expensive rates, no idea how you're getting it so cheap.

Re: Shipping too expensive, not viable.
 

Did you open a Chinese UPS account and spent tens of thousands of dollars with them a year for more than a decade?

We normally like Fedex better but right now because of the virus a balance is back logged soo we are using ****ty/expensive UPS service.

Re: Shipping too expensive, not viable.
 

With UPS, we have to take the receiver out for drinks to get the packages on the plane the same day and cant ship more than 2 cartons a day. What a freaking pathetic situation.

Re: Shipping too expensive, not viable.
 

depends on where you live,there are ethnic towns where they have their own way of shipping and receiving.

Re: Shipping too expensive, not viable.
 

bump, any info on how to get cheaper shipping? currently it's way too much.

Re: Shipping too expensive, not viable.
 

since 05-01 price for shipping increased dramatically. I use agents:
wegobuy https://login.wegobuy.com/en/page/lo...&type=register
or
superbuy https://login.superbuy.com/en/page/l...&type=register

Re: Shipping too expensive, not viable.
 

ethnic towns?

Re: Shipping too expensive, not viable.
 

Cheapest I found on some site is £6.50 / kg
Still too expensive...

Re: Shipping too expensive, not viable.
 

We use our DHL and no rate increase at all they simply put £13 extra charges for the covid19 per shipment
Cost us around £3/kg
But now seems delay 3 to 4 days from hk

Re: Shipping too expensive, not viable.
 

Hello, how did you get £3/kg? i've tried all shipping couriers and a variety of options and the cheapest i am still getting is 6.50/kg for China to UK. :noidea:

Re: Shipping too expensive, not viable.
 

warning external link
https://www.inxpress.com/contact-inxpress/
I signed up with them but never use their service.may be they can help you

Re: Shipping too expensive, not viable.
 

You need a account with them and its down to how much kg you import, we get around 80% against their list prices

Re: Shipping too expensive, not viable.
 

You can also open an account with usps, its cheaper

Re: Shipping too expensive, not viable.
 

USPS is not an option for getting your inventory from Asia to where ever else since they only ship within USA.

Aspkin needs to make a dedicated sub-forum where users can post jibberish until they get to 25 posts. :violin:

Re: Shipping too expensive, not viable.
 

dhl giving me expensive prices, the cheapest i have gotten them down to is £5.9/kg if i order 30kg, if i do 20kg, it's around 6-7/kg. I was hoping to get around the 4-4.5/kg at the very minimum but having difficulties. Maybe if i talk to dhl on the phone they can sort something out. i have requested account so we will see what they say but i think they are even more expensive than ups and others.
I will contact some logistics suppliers on alibaba and see what their prices are. Or maybe i should try and communicate with the chinese sellers on taobao/1688 using google translate or something better to see if they know a cheaper option to ship the product out themselves to me for less price. But most only taking alipay so foreign citizens can't even register on this chinese version of paypal so i need to fix this issue aswell. My experience with middlemen/agents is that there is no need to use them, they charge too much and aren't necessary if you have a good supplier and so you just need to take care of delivery.

Re: Shipping too expensive, not viable.
 

I've never had any trouble using Alipay, from USA.

Re: Shipping too expensive, not viable.
 

Well i have contacted a lot of shippers on many different sites but still not getting anywhere really. Their prices are high and really cut into profit a lot for me so i do want to cut costs a bit more and reduce shipping. Can't register for dhl/fedex/ups, they only want business customers and i don't have a business currently since i'm just getting started.

Re: Shipping too expensive, not viable.
 

As you are finding....Shipping is a cost of doing business that just is not very negotiable without having significant volume. You best bet would be to work on cost of goods.... Much more negotiable.

Re: Shipping too expensive, not viable.
 

I have tried to get the price reduced but i don't receive any response from sellers on 1688. I even send them messages in chinese but still nothing, not sure what is up with that. Also, they're already selling at low prices so it's highly unlikely that it will go anywhere. Shipping is the main issue and also the competitors who are doing really lowball prices and pretending to be UK sellers with uk flag in their pictures and location in the UK, meanwhile their business info is chinese and delivery estimate is 1.5-2 weeks, what a joke. Not to mention the issue of quality control. Sellers on 1688 have high returns rate which tells me product quality is not exactly up to par with what you would expect or require so without a shipping agent, i'd just ship faulty/missing items and agents are expensive.

Re: Shipping too expensive, not viable.
 

Most if not all worthwhile products are already listed and being sold by multiple chinese/asian sellers so not much you can do besides try to sell close to the same price they are doing but offer 2-4 day domestic delivery instead. However, there are other domestic shippers most of the time so it's still a hassle.

Re: Shipping too expensive, not viable.
 

I have an agent i have been using that's very fair on pricing, got to hunt for them!

Re: Shipping too expensive, not viable.
 

Still can't find a cheap option, dhl haven't gotten back to me to create an account so can't get a quote from them. Parcelforce are giving 8gbp/kg which is too much. My product does have battery so i can't use SAL and other cheaper options right? any help? china to uk