4 Ways to Save Shipping Cost from China to Amazon U.S. by Sea


Sea shipping rates from China to U.S. doubled within 6 months from February to August. Here are the 4 ways that may help you save some shipping cost. 




Way 1: use the right packaging materials

These include use correct size cartons and product boxes.

  • if you have a 5 CM (centimeter) extra space inside each carton,  this can easily cost you hundreds of dollars for a single shipment.
  • if you can revise your product box, you may also be able to reduce the overall shipment size by 10 or 20 percent easily. 
  • you also need to use good quality cartons (shipping cartons) because the poor quality cartons it can be easily crashed during transportation. this will give the couriers a good reason to charge you by the deformed box size.
  • you need also to be careful about the limits for box size and the kilos, because both couriers and Amazon they charge extra for oversize and overweight. you can easily find this information in amazon seller center and also from couriers website. we also prepared guidelines in both Chinese and English language which you can download for free. 

So this is the number one way - you need to use the correct size correct quality packaging materials to save shipping costs.




Way 2: use the right freight forwarder

There is a saying goes like "let the professional people do the professional job". Compared with using your suppliers' forwarder, there are some advantages of having your own forwarder.


  1. you will have direct communication with your own forwarder instead of talking shipping with your supplier. Because they(your supplier) will also need to ask their forwarder. In this way you will have better service and less turnaround time. 
  2. you will have more options. Because for forwarders, they usually have more resources and flexibilities. For example, for a single shipment you can choose to have the fastest service, the secondary fast, or the slow service at different prices. you can also split shipment, you may air some and you may also sea ship some, at your time. this flexibility can also save you shipping costs. 
  3. you will have an independent information source. your forwarder normally they report to you your box size and kilos. with this information, you can compare the box size and kilos from your supplier, then you will have a better idea of your real shipment size. without an independent, a third-party, information source you may never know your real shipment size, then you won't be able to know what are the real price you are paying.
  4. you will have better rate (for the SAME service). compared with your supplier, your own forwarder can usually offer a better rate. this is something like wholesale price and retail price. your forwarder should at least have wholesale price, and your supplier usually have retail price. 

okay, that's the second way, is to have a right freight forwarder to help you save shipping costs. 




Way 3: pay shipping cost after inspection

You only pay shipping cost after your products, after shipment, is inspected. the most expensive cost would be shipping faulty products all the way from China to U.S., than to Amazon.

you don't have to pay (hire) inspectors every time to do the inspection in factory. A lot of your forwarders they can inspect your shipments fairly well, at an affordable price. Because many of the mistakes are obvious and can easily be checked out.

For example, the poor quality barcode label may not be scannable at Amazon, then your products will be put aside. The wrong labeled FNSKU will cause your customer receive wrong products. these mistakes can easily be found and then fixed by your forwarder. the other small problems like without "Made in China" information, this will cause problems at U.S. customs. Lack of suffocation labels will also cause problems with Amazon.


So, you have to have the products and the shipment inspected before shipping out. This is the third way to help you save shipping cost.




Way 4: create bundles

Instead of paying expensive shipping costs to ship air from China to U.S., you can fill up the space between your products with other small products or accessories which can add value to your customers. That's to say, you can prep a kit or create a bundle.

For this part, there are many good examples, I will not go deep because all of you are experts for this. So, this is the last way (the fourth way) I can think of to save shipping cost - is to create bundles, pay the same shipping cost but for more value.




All right,  these are all the four ways that can help you to save the shipping cost during these crazy times. I hope it helps. Thank you very much.