Help with importing goods from china

[ulikcathy]

I am trying to order samples from china through alibaba, but the companies only use WU as a payment method and they are asking me for my account details I have never dealt with china before and all i am looking for are small plastic swing clips for files and they want $85 to ship the samples that seems very expensive, also can anyone help me with the procedure of ordering samples, how do I pay them through paypal etc ,do I pay them or am I paying for the shipping and who is doing the shipping I keep on asking them for a price on shipping and they still say $100-200 for pieces of plastic!!!!! so I would like to know if I could order these through an agent here in the uk as I would only be ordering 1000-2000 pieces a month .

 

[ulikcathy]

Hi
Thanks for your reply what do you mean by drop shipping are you an agent and can you explain more do you know of an agent in the uk who could help me as my order is not big enough to involve an QC in china or to organize a freight company

 

[Lars Kristensen]

Hi

You have to understand that even if your little plastic thing is only 1 USD and weigh less than a matchbox, DHL or any of the other express companies have a set price list and they charge you for 0.5 kgs. The cost varies from company to company, but still if the supplier you buy your sample from does not use DHL a lot, the cost is high to send your sample from China to Europe, 85 USD sounds like a reasonable sample fee to charge if it includes the Express fee.

Kind regards

Lars Kristensen

 

[tongsinjoe]

I don't think USD85 for plastic swing clips are true, unless they are more or less 6kgs. What is the weight? I might help you with checking the shipping cost.
WU is the most often method for small orders in China, but paypal is also available to a lot of suppliers, you can try. You can also feel free to contact us if anythere is anything we can do for you here in China.

 

[ulikcathy]

Hi
The samples weight maybe 300grams, if that, as they are only plastic swing clips that attach to a file and I am looking for 11 of them (different designs). So I am at the mercy of either DHL UPS etc and I know they are expensive but after saying that I would be ordering 1000 to 2000 pieces a month at the start so I would have to ask a supplier in china what would that weight be. Because my order is so small compared to other importerd I was wondering if it was cheaper to deal with an agent in the uk who bring in stuff all the time and just add mine on, is that possible.

 

[tongsinjoe]

hi,I'm sure that sample shipping freight does not cost that much. Usually there is discount if the weight is above 5kgs, the same with DHL, UPS.
I don't know too much about your UK agent, sorry.
you can keep in touch with me if there is anything else I can do

 

[jdpackaging]

I think this freight is too high

 

[ugadgetscom]

i may help you. 1pcs is 0.3kg, 11pcs is 3.3kg, usually if shipped by DHL to UK, the cost is about 48-55USD, but you need to pay import tax if shipped by DHL. if shipped by EMS,the cost is about:65USD, but you no need to pay tax. need more help ,please contat me at skype bigtom68

 

[PrettyCherry1988]

I have ordered shoes from some sites like this, usually there are free shipping. I paid through paypal, paypal is safe.

 

[smallfish]

The cost varies from company to company, but still if the supplier you buy your sample from does not use DHL a lot, the cost is high to send your sample from China to Europe, 85 USD sounds like a reasonable sample fee to charge if it includes the Express fee.

 

[gzf1215]

Usually, small samples can be sent by express like DHL, UPS, TNT and Fedex. If you have an account of these companies, you can just let the factory send you the samples by using the one you have. But I guess you don't as I see from what you said here. In this case, I guess you would have to pay the freight cost to the factory first and let them arrange the shipment. Using some express agents here in China can be cheaper than going to the express companies directly. DHL agent price starts at about 25-30USD for the first 0.5 kg and about 7 usd every more 0.5 kg and it takes about 4-5 days to ship it from China to UK.
Sample cost can be really different from different factories. Some may not ask for sample fee as long as the sample cost isn't much. But the price you got from the factory is way too high unless the sample does cost them that much.
You'd better find more suppliers and compare.

 

[ugadgetscom]

the best express should be EMS, i think, if shipped by EMS, usually you dont need to pay tax, if by DHL, you need to pay about 5-20% import tax.