According the distance and selected courier service the international Freight shipping fee can be very high when foreigners shipping goods from China. Thus knowing how to calculate shipping fee and the international courier service terms is necessary for foreigners to save money as well as avoid unnecessary troubles.
How to calculate international freight shipping fee
The international courier delivery shipping fee usually composed by Billing unit of weight, first weight and continue weight, net weight and Volume weight, chargeable weight, package fee, general shipping fee calculation formula and fuel surcharges.
1. Billing unit of weight
Generally each 0.5kg can be accounted as a billing unit.
2. First weight and continue weight
Take 0.5kg as the first weight, then each additional 0.5kg is a continue weight. Usually first weight is higher than continue weight.
3. Net weight and volume weight
Net weight refers to the total weight of shipping goods and packaging weight. Volume weight refers to shipping goods which has big volume while net weight is light, items need convert volume into weight as the way to calculate shipping fee due to restricted volume of the transportation tool like track, train and plane.
4. Chargeable weight
In accordance with the net weight, volume weight and definition of international shipping associations, the chargeable weight in the freight shipping process is the higher one between net weight and volume weight.
5. Package fee
Usually the packages provided by the international courier delivery companies are free, which include carton box and bubble packaging material. However, for expensive and fragile products they will charge for the packaging fee and it usually doesn’t include in discount.
6. General shipping fee calculation formula
a. When net weight of the shipping goods is bigger than its volume weight, the freight shipping fee calculation method is: The first freight + (net weight (kg) × 2-1) × continue freight. For example: if you ship 5kg goods from China to USA, first weight is 100 RMB, 25 RMB for continue weight, the total freight shipping from China to USA is: 100+ (5 × 2-1) × 25 = 325 RMB
b. When net weight is smaller than volume weight, the freight shipping fee should based on volume weight charge, volumn weight formula is as follows by UPS, DHL, TNT and FedEx for regular items: length (cm) × width (cm) × height (cm) ÷ 5000 = Weight (KG) Irregular items: the biggest length(cm) × biggest width (cm) × biggest height (cm) ÷ 5000 = weight (KG).
7. Fuel surcharges
The international express sometimes add fuel surcharges, for example, the fuel surcharge rate is 9%, and shipper should add 9% extra of the shipping fee. Usually there has discounts for fuel surcharges with the shipping fee.
8. Total shipping fee
From the elements mentioned above we can come into conclusion:
Total shipping fee= (shipping fee+fuel surcharges)*discounts+ package fee+ other fees
Foreigners can calculate shipping fee directly via http://www.jfchinese.com/Charges/index.html to compare the shipping rates between UPS, DHL, FedEx, TNT and EMS.
Terms of Service of the international express delivery
1. The sender should fill sending information accurately in English or French with a typewriter or pen, so the handwriting is legible in th waybill;
2. The name of receiver and sender should be detailed and accurate, and should provide a phone number as much as possible in case contact on time if there’s a shipping issue; recipient address is only a post office box number is not allowed; the international courier company do not responsible for the delay caused by wrong address;
3. The package shall not contain cash, dangerous goods and other prohibited articles listed and banned as a carrier express delivery articles shipment within national laws and regulations; internal express delivery companies will not take any responsibilities for all losses owing to the sender violate the forbidden and restriction regulations;
4. According to the relevant provisions of the International Air Transport Association, when the volume weight is bigger than the net weight, shipping fee will be charged in accordance with its volume weight. The calculation formula is: length X width X height / 6000 = Volume weight;
5. To ensure smoothly customs clearance, the sender should fill in the relevant section in English in detail, accurately declare the express inner goods (including documents) such as the name, quantities, weight, declared value and country of origin and other projects, and any categories of goods shipment should attach triplicate commercial invoice in English, otherwise it may delay customs clearance;
6. Te packages with wrong or incomplete shipping address or enclose prohibited goods, the sender should afford the return shipping fee; If the sender does not need to return, the relevant shipment will be destroyed on the spot;
7. Compensation standard
(1) The compensation amount is 50% of the freight shipping fee for the confirmed delay delivery;
(2) The compensation amount is $100 for lost, completely destroyed business file packages (according to the terms of international transport standards compensation regardless the commercial utility or special value for sender), and return the express freight shipping fee;
(3) The compensation amount is $100 for lost, completely destroyed goods package (according to the terms of international transport standards);
(4) The compensation amount will be according to the declare value to the package loss or damaged goods package, but the maximum amount of compensation is no more than $100 (according to the terms of the standard of compensation in international transport);
(5) The international courier service does not assume responsibility for compensating the irresistible force and indirect losses.
The difference between courier service and air fright
The timeliness of international courier service is higher than air freight; the shipping fee is also more expensive, while the volume is less than air freight.
The international courier service is door to door and the transport way is three-dimensional, it can be shipped via air, railway, highway, waterway, the flow of goods delivery area is wide and distributed through two, three transfer networks. Due to more steps involved in the package delivery, the safety factor is lower than air freight.
Air freight transports only via airplane. Cargo delivery is usually between two urban cities. Usually direct delivery via truck, not transit required. The transport costs are relatively high. It is suitable for bulk cargo, fragile items shipping.
Once foreigners know how to calculate the international shipping fee and the cargo weight shipping from China, it is easy to select the economical freight shipping service shipping from China to overseas countries.
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