Mainly:
1, saving money: freight forwarders generally have lower prices than official carriers (such as UPS/DHL) because of their scale advantages. Moreover, excellent freight forwarders can recommend suitable and economical transportation schemes according to your situation.
2. Specialty: Choosing the logistics mode of cross-border logistics, and handling the possible import and export customs declaration, customs clearance and other processes require the professional skills of freight forwarders.
3. Save trouble: Many problems in cross-border transportation are solved by freight forwarders.
How to choose a good freight forwarder
This question is not delved into here. For the first time, sellers and friends can find friends to introduce reliable products, or they can find several more, compare prices, compare the professionalism and service attitude of freight forwarders, and compare the strength of the company. After the selection, make several deliveries, get a general understanding of the whole cross-border logistics process, matters needing attention, and the business level of freight forwarders in dealing with various cross-border logistics problems, and then judge whether to continue to cooperate with the current freight forwarders or find another home.
After selecting the freight forwarder, the seller can choose the mode of transportation by communicating with the freight forwarder. First of all, we don't need to study the import and export processes and materials involved in cross-border transportation (these issues involve many laws and regulations and are quite difficult to understand). Just follow the requirements of the freight forwarder.
Choose the right mode of transportation.
At present, the transportation modes of cross-border logistics mainly include the following:
Postal channel
Postal channels include international parcels and international express mail EMS, and the international mailbox treasure that is currently used more often also belongs to this category. Thanks to the Universal Postal Union and the Kahala Postal Organization (KPG), it uses the global postal network for transportation.
International parcels: Belgian parcels, Dutch parcels, Singaporean parcels, China postal parcels, Hongkong postal parcels, etc. There are two kinds: ordinary mail and registered mail. Registered mail can be used to check the tracking situation.
Features: low cost; The billing method is global and unified, simplifying freight accounting; Strong ability of air parcel clearance; Covering a wide range, it can be sent to customers in almost any country or region in the world.
Limitation: Asian neighbors 5- 10 days; Major countries in Europe and America take 7- 15 days, and it takes longer when the transportation capacity is tight.
Stability: Aging stability is the worst of several ways. Then the rate of missing parts is said to be 1%-5%, and sometimes it may be higher.
Pricing method: based on the actual weight, charge per gram, excluding the first weight and the continued weight.
Price: Take the quotation of a freight forwarder sending a registered parcel to the United States by Hongkong Post as an example. The charging standard is: 105 yuan/kg+16 yuan/registration fee. Calculated by grams, 0.5 kg is 68.5 yuan. The quotations of different freight forwarders are different, but the difference should not be too big. Freight forwarders with ultra-low prices should be vigilant. )
Basic requirements: general 1 ticket 1 piece, and the weight of a single ticket does not exceed 2KG. Square: length, width, height ≤90cm, and unilateral length ≤60cm. Axial shape: diameter *2, length ≤ 104cm, and unilateral length ≤90cm. Small bags are not bubbles, only the weight.
Suitable for goods with low value (it is not a pity to lose parts), light weight and buyers' low requirements for the timeliness of arrival.
At present, Amazon has strengthened the assessment of the effective tracking rate of orders, so it is generally necessary to choose registered international parcels.
In particular, introduce the international mailbox treasure:
International electronic postal treasure: China Post cooperates with major e-commerce platforms to launch express products that meet the delivery needs of cross-border e-commerce and integrate postal express logistics network resources. At present, it provides parcel delivery services to the United States, Australia, Britain, Canada, France and Russia. E-mail services in the United States, Australia and Canada provide comprehensive tracking and inquiry, but do not provide proof of receipt of recipients.
Prescription: 7- 10 working days. It's faster than the general international package, and it can provide full tracking inquiry when it is sent to the United States, but it doesn't provide the recipient's receipt certificate.
Stability: good.
Price: China Post official website's mail price standard: (There is no discount on the price obtained through the freight forwarder)
E-mail has an advantage over ordinary international parcels in sending American prices.
In the above specific countries, on the whole, it is better to choose Yixin Bao than to choose international parcels.
International express mail: express transportation through postal network. Strong customs clearance ability, there are many kinds of things that can be shipped out of the customs. Can transport goods restricted by other companies, and the freight is cheaper than commercial express delivery. But the speed is not as fast as commercial express delivery, and the query information lags behind. The prescription takes about 5-8 days. This channel is specially prepared for some sensitive goods or sensitive areas of commercial express delivery, such as mailing food, products with batteries, imitation cards and so on. Or go to Russia, Brazil, India and other countries that are not easy to clear customs.
International commercial express
International commercial express mainly refers to UPS, DHL, FEDEX and TNT. These international express delivery companies bring excellent logistics experience to customers through their self-built global networks, powerful IT systems and localized services all over the world.
Time limit: generally within 2-7 working days, the whole process can be tracked and inquired.
Stability: stable and reliable. The loss rate is extremely low.
Pricing method: according to the actual weight and the larger weight, the first weight price and the continued weight are set, and the continued weight is generally 0.5kg, for example:
Price: Take the DHL quotation sent by a freight forwarder to the United States as an example, and send 0.5KG package to the United States, with a cost of 90.7 yuan (postage).
Generally speaking, international commercial express delivery is fast and the service is good, but the relative express delivery price is higher. Suitable for goods with high value and weight above 0.5kg, and buyers have high requirements for timeliness.
Matters needing attention in international express delivery service:
1. International express parts are divided into actual weight, volume weight and billing weight. Courier companies generally take the greater of actual weight and volume weight as the billing weight.
2. Calculation standard of volume weight: (length * width * height) /5000, unit: cm.
3. The weight of international parcels has the first weight and the second weight. The first weight is generally 0.5 kg. If the goods are less than 0.5 kg, they will be charged at 0.5 kg. There is no intermediate value, which is different from that of international parcels per gram. Therefore, the charging weight is only integer and XXX.5
4. If the international express parcel is greater than or equal to 68kg/ piece, it must be packed in a pallet with legs (some countries reject the original pallet packaging), otherwise the express company will reject the goods;
5. The specifications of international express parcels also have corresponding restrictions;
6. The price of international express delivery will change frequently, and the instant price needs to be confirmed by the freight forwarding company.
Autonomous dedicated line
Cross-border dedicated logistics general logistics companies cooperate with airlines, transport them abroad by air parcels, and then deliver them to destination countries through cooperative companies. The most common special logistics products on the market are American special line, European special line, Australian special line and Russian special line. And many logistics companies have also launched special lines in the Middle East, South America and South Africa.
In terms of timeliness, special line logistics is slightly slower than commercial express delivery, but much faster than postal parcels.
Stability: not as stable as international express delivery.
Its price is generally lower than that of commercial express delivery and higher than that of international small parcels. Pricing methods, different logistics parties have different charging methods, some of which are the first and some are not. Some only calculate the actual weight, while others consider the volume weight. Specifically, look at the special line pricing. The pricing method of the company's private line is as follows:
The special line uses a large number of goods to gather and transport to gain price advantage, but the destination is limited. Some problems in customs clearance may be caused by different agents, and customs clearance is also quite different.
Generally, the weight of a single ticket does not exceed 30KG. Generally speaking, it is suitable for packages with a weight in the range of 2KG-30KG corresponding to the destination.
Overseas warehouse
A way that many cross-border e-commerce platforms and large cross-border e-commerce sellers are trying. Overseas warehousing service refers to the one-stop control and management service for sellers to store, sort, package and deliver goods at the sales destination.
Overseas warehousing includes head-end transportation, warehousing management and local distribution.
Head-end transportation (similar to FBA head-end transportation): The seller transports the goods to overseas warehouses by sea, air, land or combined transportation.
Warehouse management: the seller remotely operates overseas warehouse goods and manages the inventory in real time through the logistics information system.
Local delivery: Overseas storage centers deliver goods to customers by local post or express delivery according to the order information.
Its biggest advantage is the local distribution of goods. For buyers, the prescription is much faster than the above methods. The comprehensive cost rate varies greatly under different circumstances. It may be that the distribution cost rate is the lowest in a year, or it may be because the quantity is small and the cost rate is high. For the specific price, you can contact the logistics company that provides overseas warehouse services.
For sellers, the financial pressure may be relatively large, because there is inventory and a lot of transportation costs. And it will be greatly influenced by some policy changes in local countries. Suitable for relatively standardized, few SKUs and bulky products. Overseas warehouses are not suitable for novice sellers, but for cross-border traders with relatively mature and stable sales.
Member of the British society
FBA can also be counted as an overseas warehouse, but this overseas warehouse is Amazon's own. With overseas warehouses, it involves FBA head office, warehouse management and local distribution. The first journey of FBA is to transport goods from China to FBA warehouse, which is generally large in quantity, high in value, and does not require high timeliness. This transportation process generally adopts international express delivery, independent special line, sea transportation and air transportation. Forwarders are required to have good customs clearance ability. At the same time, understand the requirements of Amazon warehouse for goods warehousing.
At present, many freight forwarding companies specialize in FBA head office services.
Factors of choosing cross-border logistics mode:
After fully understanding the advantages and disadvantages of each logistics mode, the seller shall choose the logistics mode according to the following contents:
1. Understand the packaging characteristics of the goods you want to transport: the price, actual weight, volume, size and quantity delivered at one time, which is convenient for calculating the price and whether it is restricted by different modes of transport;
2. Restrictions: If the seller promises to the buyer what kind of transportation restrictions need to be provided, it is necessary to choose a transportation mode that meets the restrictions;
3. Stability: unstable transportation time limit and missing parts will lead to buyers' complaints. Sellers need to choose the corresponding stable way according to their own positioning of logistics distribution service level;
4. Customs clearance ability: Strong customs clearance ability can avoid problems in the customs clearance process as much as possible, saving trouble and money.
5. Price: consider your own logistics needs and final quotation, and consider what mode of transportation to choose.
Generally through the freight forwarding delivery process:
1. The seller prepares the goods, prepares the documents and confirms the delivery time and method;
2. The seller sends the goods to the place (warehouse) designated by the freight forwarder or the freight forwarder comes to pick up the goods;
3. The forwarder handles the goods and the corresponding procedures;
4. The forwarder delivers the goods to the corresponding forwarder;
5. After the goods arrive at the destination port, if necessary, the responsible party shall be responsible for customs clearance;
The carrier will deliver the goods to the destination.
After selecting the freight forwarder and transportation mode, you can deliver the goods according to the delivery process.