You do however have to balance the cost with the opportunity cost of having all of your stock sat on the high seas for upto three months, thats alot of dead stock just bobbing along. Whereas with air then its 36 hours from factory to my door and I can turn my money much quicker.

That airfreight sounds alot more attractive than waiting months for stock to arrive by sea!!

DSC how do you go about getting air freight so quick?Do you negotiate direct with the freight company, eg.-"i need parcel x delivered to destination y,what is the best price you can offer me?" or is it better to do it through a supplier?

No its all about knowing about timings, I know that a plane that a courier uses leaves HK in the early hours of Thursday morning, I know that they won't accept items after a certain time and also know that it will land in the UK in the morning and that bar a disaster they will get it out with the driver that day. So I can have an item sent late night from HK on say a Wednesday and it be delivered before lunch in England on Thursday for me to ship to my customers that day.

Of course you have to make sure there are no hitches, so all the paperwork in HK has to be correct and you have to be sorted with clearing it through customs in the UK but that can all be done whilst its in the air so not cost you any time.

After a few shipments you will learn the ropes, so get everyone working together and your sorted.

If you negotiate directly with a decent Shipping Agent in China or Hong Kong you should be paying no more than $5 - $10 a kilo by air and that is picked up and delivered direct to your door within 3 - 5 days. Prices fluctuate on a daily basis but the price quoted is a good guide.

Depending on what the item is and quantity, shipping bulk by sea is also a good option and ridiculously cheap especially your 'per unit price'.

However it is a delicate balancing act between the right vessel for you, timing and experience. Not to mention it can play havoc with your cash flow as you have to plan and manage your stock 30 - 90 days in advance. Once you are dealing in serious quantities or bulky items, sea is the way to go If done properly you can have your stock landed in 3 - 4 weeks.

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Last edited by greedyboy; 22-07-2007 at 08:02 AM.

Greedyboy when you say a decent shipping agent do you mean a well known one eg-UPS,DSL etc..?

DSC what paperwork needs to be in place when shipping from the far east is it different from anywhere else?

A shipping agent will buy in bulk from UPS, DHL etc and therefore have much better contract rates.

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Last edited by greedyboy; 22-07-2007 at 10:03 AM.

Hi, it's not certain that shipping from china is expensive. I sent our memory cards to our clients in Africa.it only cost below 1 usd delivery charge for each items.the total weight is 2.5kgs.but it is delivered from our account.it is discounted. The goods arrive my client's place was the day after tommorrow. But client get products after 5days later. It 's because that clearing custom in their place need two days. If it is easy to deal with custom, so he can get products the day after tommorrow. Hope my information will be useful for you.

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Last edited by pcrole; 22-07-2007 at 01:14 PM.