Shipping Guides and Knowledge
These guides answer the questions that come up before and during a shipment: real transit ranges, what duty and tax apply, who clears customs, and the mistakes that cost money.
Practical guides on modes, costs, documents, customs and problem solving for shipping from China.
Which shipping questions do these guides answer?
Last reviewed 2026-09-17. Every entry is reviewed before publication.
Shipping from China: what goes wrong, and how to check for it before you book
Four structural tensions explain almost every problem buyers hit when importing from China — and each one comes with something you can check before you commit, whoever you end up shipping with.
Read guide →Market guideHow the China freight market works: rates, modes, costs and risk
What actually moves a freight rate, where each transport mode stops being the right choice, what a shipment really costs, and how exceptions are prevented — with the public source behind each answer.
Read guide →United States guideShipping from China to the United States: transit time, landed cost and who clears customs
Most China to US quotations answer the easy question (how much and how long) and skip the one that decides whether the shipment moves at all: who is the importer of record. This guide sets out the transit ranges by port pair and mode, the seven parts of a landed cost, and the 2026 entry mechanics that apply now that the $800 de minimis exemption is suspended.
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