Shipping
Shipping from China
Everything leaves from China. Here is what that costs to your country, before anyone asks you to commit.
Freight is the part of a wholesale order that is easiest to hide and hardest to guess, so we publish the benchmark we work from instead. The ranges below are published 2026 market rates for each lane — not our contracted rates. They are indicative, they move weekly, and every one of them is confirmed in a firm quote before you pay anything.
Three ways out
Pick the mode before you pick the number
The same parcel can cost three very different amounts depending on how much time you have. Express is charged for speed, air is charged for weight, sea is charged for space.
| Mode | Charged | Transit | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Express courierDHL Express · FedEx · UPS | Charged per kilogram | 3–7 days door to door | Small, urgent, high-value parcels — samples, a single style, a gift order. |
| Air freightConsolidated air cargo via a forwarder | Charged per kilogram | 1–4 days in the air, plus customs and delivery | Roughly 10–300 kg — a first wholesale order, or a restock you need quickly. |
| Sea freight (LCL)Less-than-container-load, consolidated | Charged per cubic metre | 28–45 days port to port | Over roughly 1 CBM — bulk restocks and heavy goods where time is not critical. |
Express courier
Billed on the greater of actual and volumetric weight, and a small parcel carries a minimum shipment charge that pushes the effective rate per kg up.
Air freight
Accessory charges are heavy on this mode: they routinely add 30–60% to the base rate. Minimum handling charges apply.
Sea freight (LCL)
Bills on the greater of volume and weight (1 CBM = 1,000 kg), so light-but-bulky apparel and bags are charged on the space they take, not what they weigh.
Freight estimator
What will it cost to ship?
Enter an approximate weight and a destination. You get a range per mode, the published rate it came from, and the transit time — nothing rounded into a fake precision.
All 50 states
Express courier
DHL Express · FedEx · UPS
Small, urgent, high-value parcels — samples, a single style, a gift order.
3–6 days door to door
$140.00–$200.00
$7–10 per kg · At the up to 21 kg weight break
Forwarder-account rates by weight break. Buying at DHL retail instead of through a forwarder runs about $9–16/kg on the same parcel.
Air freight
Consolidated air cargo via a forwarder
Roughly 10–300 kg — a first wholesale order, or a restock you need quickly.
1–3 days in the air
$114.00–$150.00
$5.7–7.5 per kg · Across the full lane range
Asia → North America spot rate. Shanghai – Los Angeles benchmarks run $6.50–7.40/kg.
Sea freight (LCL)
Less-than-container-load, consolidated
Over roughly 1 CBM — bulk restocks and heavy goods where time is not critical.
28–38 days port to port, Shanghai – LA / Long Beach
$1.60–$3.20
$80–160 per CBM · Floor estimate on a minimum billable 0.020 CBM
US East Coast (Shanghai – New York) runs $100–180 per CBM at 35–45 days.
Before surcharges. These are published 2026 market benchmarks for the lane, not our contracted rates — fuel, security, handling, peak-season, remote-area, duty and VAT all sit on top, and carriers bill the greater of actual and volumetric weight. Treat every figure above as a floor, confirmed in your quote.
noahmoving333@gmail.com · WhatsApp +44 7871 590194
Not sure what a wholesale order weighs? For scale, the pieces we have confirmed come in at 8 g (enamel charm), 170 g (structured tote), 200 g (shoulder bag), 220 g (modal tee). A ten-piece order of small goods is usually under 5 kg; a mixed carton of bags and apparel is usually 15–25 kg.
Rate card
Published benchmark, lane by lane
Indicative freight from China, benchmarked per lane: express courier $5–13/kg (3–7 days), air freight $3.90–9.80/kg (1–4 days in the air), sea freight $40–180/CBM (10–45 days). Surcharges, duty and VAT sit on top and are confirmed in your quote.
United States
All 50 states
Express courier
DHL Express · FedEx · UPS
$5–13/kg
3–6 days door to door
Forwarder-account rates by weight break. Buying at DHL retail instead of through a forwarder runs about $9–16/kg on the same parcel.
≤2 kg $10–13 · ≤5 kg $8–11 · ≤21 kg $7–10 · ≤70 kg $5–8 · ≤300 kg $5–7
Air freight
Consolidated air cargo via a forwarder
$5.7–7.5/kg
1–3 days in the air
Asia → North America spot rate. Shanghai – Los Angeles benchmarks run $6.50–7.40/kg.
Sea freight (LCL)
Less-than-container-load, consolidated
$80–160/CBM
28–38 days port to port, Shanghai – LA / Long Beach
US East Coast (Shanghai – New York) runs $100–180 per CBM at 35–45 days.
European Union
Germany · France · Netherlands · Italy · Spain · Poland
Express courier
DHL Express · FedEx · UPS
$5–9/kg
3–6 days door to door
DHL zone 6–7. Weight breaks are published for the US lane only, so this is the flat lane range.
Air freight
Consolidated air cargo via a forwarder
$3.9–9.8/kg
1–4 days in the air
Asia → Europe spot rate (€3.60–9.00/kg on the same lane). China – Frankfurt/Munich runs €4.00–9.00/kg.
Sea freight (LCL)
Less-than-container-load, consolidated
$70–150/CBM
30–42 days port to port, Rotterdam / Hamburg
United Kingdom
England · Scotland · Wales · Northern Ireland
Express courier
DHL Express · FedEx · UPS
$5–9/kg
3–6 days door to door
Uses the DHL Europe lane band; UK import VAT and duty are cleared separately since Brexit.
Air freight
Consolidated air cargo via a forwarder
$3.9–9.8/kg
1–4 days in the air
Asia → Europe lane. The published routing is continental, so the UK leg is confirmed on your quote.
Sea freight (LCL)
Less-than-container-load, consolidated
$70–150/CBM
30–42 days port to port
The published lane is North-European (Rotterdam / Hamburg); the UK port rate is confirmed on your quote.
Australia & New Zealand
Australia · New Zealand
Express courier
DHL Express · FedEx · UPS
$6–10/kg
4–8 days door to door
DHL zone 7.
Air freight
Quoted per order
We have no published benchmark on this lane, so we will not print a number we cannot stand behind.
Sea freight (LCL)
Quoted per order
We have no published benchmark on this lane, so we will not print a number we cannot stand behind.
Japan & South Korea
Japan · South Korea
Express courier
DHL Express · FedEx · UPS
$4–7/kg
2–5 days door to door
DHL zone 5 — the cheapest express lane out of China.
Air freight
Quoted per order
We have no published benchmark on this lane, so we will not print a number we cannot stand behind.
Sea freight (LCL)
Quoted per order
We have no published benchmark on this lane, so we will not print a number we cannot stand behind.
Middle East
UAE · Saudi Arabia · Qatar · Kuwait · Israel
Express courier
DHL Express · FedEx · UPS
$6–11/kg
3–7 days door to door
DHL zone 6–7.
Air freight
Quoted per order
We have no published benchmark on this lane, so we will not print a number we cannot stand behind.
Sea freight (LCL)
Quoted per order
We have no published benchmark on this lane, so we will not print a number we cannot stand behind.
Southeast Asia
Singapore · Malaysia · Thailand · Vietnam · Philippines · Indonesia
Sea freight (LCL)
Less-than-container-load, consolidated
$40–90/CBM
10–25 days port to port
Intra-Asia short-haul lane — the cheapest sea option we can benchmark.
Express courier
Quoted per order
We have no published benchmark on this lane, so we will not print a number we cannot stand behind.
Air freight
Quoted per order
We have no published benchmark on this lane, so we will not print a number we cannot stand behind.
Rest of world
Everywhere else
Every mode on this lane is quoted per order. Send us the styles and the postcode and you will have a firm figure — usually the same day.
The part that surprises people
You are billed on the bigger of two weights
Carriers compare what your carton weighs against the space it takes up, and charge the greater of the two. A carton that is light but bulky is billed as if it were heavy.
- DHL Express international
Length × Width × Height (cm) ÷ 5,000
Some forwarder consolidation channels use ÷6,000 instead. Confirm the divisor on your lane before approving a quote.
- Air freight
Length × Width × Height (cm) ÷ 6,000
A 1 m³ carton at 80 kg actual weighs 167 kg chargeable — 167 kg is what you pay for, which more than doubles the effective cost per kg.
- LCL ocean freight
Greater of volume (CBM) or weight, at 1 CBM = 1,000 kg
Apparel and bags are light for their volume, so sea is almost always billed on space, not weight.
What sits on top
The rate is not the bill
A quoted per-kg figure is the base. These are the charges that attach to it, named plainly so nothing arrives as a surprise on an invoice.
Fuel surcharge
Express courier
Exports ran at roughly 46–48% of base in May–June 2026. Treat 30–50% as the planning range; it updates weekly.
Fuel surcharge
Air freight
$0.41–1.65 per kg on Asia–Europe lanes, and 20–40% of base on Asia–Europe / 25–50% on Asia–North America.
Security & handling
Air freight
$0.10–0.22 per kg security, plus a $20–38 minimum handling charge and $0.10/kg/day storage after free time.
Customs & pickup
Air freight
$50–150 per shipment.
CFS handling
Sea freight (LCL)
$15–40 per CBM at each end, on top of the ocean rate.
Bunker & congestion
Sea freight (LCL)
BAF adds 10–25% and port congestion 5–15% to the base ocean rate.
Remote area
Express courier
Applies when the delivery address falls outside the carrier’s primary zone. Confirmed against your postcode.
Oversize / overweight
Express courier
A single piece over 68 kg, or a longest side over 100 cm, is quoted separately.
Peak season
All modes
October–December and around Chinese New Year add 25–40% on the major lanes and tighten capacity.
Duty & import VAT
All modes
Set by the destination country, not by us or the carrier, and never included in a freight rate. We ship DAP unless you ask for DDP.
Cargo insurance
All modes
1–2% of declared cargo value.
We ship DAP by default — you clear your own import duty and VAT. Ask for DDP if you would rather have one landed price with the duty already inside it; we will quote it either way.
Where the numbers come from
Sources
We would rather show our working than ask you to trust a table. Every figure on this page traces back to one of these published 2026 rate guides.
- DHL Express per-kg rate benchmarks, China → US / EU lanes (2026)
Forwarder-account and retail per-kg ranges by DHL zone, weight breaks for China → USA, and the 2026 surcharge picture.
- Air freight spot rates per kg, Asia → Europe / North America (April 2026)
Air-freight spot rates per kg by lane, chargeable-weight worked examples and the accessory charges that ride on top.
- LCL ocean freight rates per CBM (2026)
Sea freight (less-than-container-load) rates per cubic metre by trade lane, transit times and the CFS / BAF add-ons.
Rates are volatile: the same sources record 10–20% weekly swings on ocean lanes and a 5.9% base-rate increase on express in January 2026, with the fuel surcharge moving to a weekly index in April 2026. Re-check before treating any figure here as current.
Firm quote
Send us the styles and the postcode
We will come back with a real freight figure, a lead time and a landed price — either DAP or DDP, your call.
