The process
How your goods get into China
A shipment into China passes through six steps. You tell us what you have. We choose the customs route, move the goods and file the entry. The goods go into bonded space or out for delivery. This page says who does each step and where shipments get stuck.
Six steps
From your warehouse to China
Tell us what you have
You send the country the goods are in, a description and a rough weight. For returns, we ask how the goods left China, because the export record decides the tax treatment when they come back. For new products, we ask for the HS code and the retail price. This step stalls when the description is vague. “Electronics” tells customs nothing. “Bluetooth speaker, 5 W, lithium battery” does.
We check documents and choose the route
We read your invoice, packing list and export records against what Chinese customs will ask for. Then we recommend a route: returned exports, cross-border e-commerce, a personal parcel or general trade. Each has its own tax rules and limits. You get a price and a list of the documents still missing. Most border delays start with a document nobody prepared, so we find the gaps before the goods move.
Pickup and freight
We collect the goods from your warehouse, from a marketplace fulfillment center through a removal order, or from a receiving warehouse we arrange in the country. Small or urgent shipments fly with an express carrier. Larger ones go by air or sea freight. For returns, we inspect and sort at the overseas warehouse first, so you do not pay freight on units that should stay behind.
Customs entry
When the goods land in Shenzhen, Guangzhou or Hong Kong, our team files the customs entry in Chinese. Returns are declared as returned exports, with the original export declaration and the return records as evidence. E-commerce orders are declared against the platform’s order record and the payment record, with our logistics record as the third. If customs selects the shipment for inspection or asks a question, we answer it and tell you what happened.
Bonded zone or direct delivery
Cleared cargo goes to the consignee by domestic courier or truck. Two kinds of goods stop in bonded space instead. Returns that need repair before re-export enter a bonded zone, where no import tax is due. Stock for cross-border e-commerce waits in a bonded warehouse, and each unit is imported at the moment a shopper buys it.
Delivered, repaired or re-exported
The shipment ends in one of three places. Returns reach your factory or repair line. Stock for the Chinese market reaches shoppers, order by order. Repaired goods leave the bonded zone on an outbound customs entry and ship to the market you choose. You see each movement in our tracking and warehouse systems.
Documents
What to have ready
Send what you have with your first message. We tell you what is missing before the goods move.
Every shipment
- A commercial invoice that names each item, its quantity and its value
- A packing list
Returns going back to China
- The export declaration for the original shipment out of China
- Return or refusal records from the marketplace, or a return agreement
- For stock that did not sell: a signed statement of the reason
- If you claimed an export tax rebate: the tax office certificate showing you repaid it
New products for sale in China
- The product name, brand, specification, origin and HS code for the customs filing
- The retail price, so we can check the order against the cross-border e-commerce limits
Next step
Start with step one.
Tell us the country and the goods. A rough weight helps.