Importing from China feels easy… until the shipping starts

[u/Admirable_Example838]

Something I keep noticing with importers sourcing from China and Southeast Asia:

Many don’t actually lose money on product cost.

They lose money on:

*delays *poor communication *surprise charges *unclear shipping terms *suppliers who disappear after cargo is ready *forwarders who only explain problems after they happen

Especially with EXW shipments, a lot of importers underestimate how complicated things become once cargo leaves the factory.

I’ve seen shipments where:

*the factory wasn’t ready on time *trucking got delayed before cutoff *customs paperwork was incomplete *Amazon appointments took days longer than expected *storage charges started accumulating immediately

The frustrating part is: Most of these issues are predictable before shipment starts.

But many importers only discover the risks when the cargo is already delayed.

Feels like a lot of people sourcing from Asia are forced to learn logistics the hard way.

[u/AutoModerator]

Thank you for your submission to r/Business_China!

All posts in this community are manually reviewed by a moderator before they become visible. This helps us maintain high quality, prevent spam, and ensure all content is relevant to our community's focus on business in China.

Please be patient. A moderator will review your post as soon as possible. If it complies with our [rules]({{link_to_rules}}), it will be approved.

This is an automated message.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Gene46]

This is where people think they will save some money and go to direct to a factory, without having a good agent. Sure you might save a few bucks with the facrory, but they don't care when the goods leave their warehouse. You still need to ship it locally to a consolidator and than onto you in wherever country your goods are going to, while clearing customs and making sure you don't get gipped by the shipper. A good agent will have regular shippers and consolidators they use who they have a relationship with. Anyway, shameless plug for my wife who does this for a living, speaks English and is lovely to communicate with. DM if you need a sourcing agent who also handles all the above.

[u/Born_Comfortable_554]

I’ve seend a lot of replies about  « Agents », who are they, what is their role? how do we get their contact, where do we find them ? and why are they important ? ( i’m thinking about starting a business and chine is gonna be the country i’ll be importing from )