Frequently Asked Questions
Q) How are your shipping costs calculated?
A) After you decide on your order, you indicate the shipment method that you prefer, sea or air. In the unlikely case where delivery has to be made via land routes, you will need to talk to us directly so that we can make the necessary arrangements.
Usually, it is more economical to ship small orders of up to 15-20 cartons by air. Of course there are other factors that might influence your decision like the urgency of the order and the price difference. The final decision is yours, we can offer multiple cost tiers and you can decide which one suits your needs.
We will need to know the destination seaport or airport of the goods. This usually is a location that is convenient and accessible to your company or domestic agent.
Once we calculate the total volume and weight of your order, we will email the most recent shipping costs and alternatives for your order (along with expected delivery dates, shipping origin, and other details). From this list you can pick the method and price tier that matches your needs. If you already have a logistics partner in China, we can arrange for them to pick up the goods for you at the source under our supervision, or arrange for a local shipment to their location. All arrangements and charges for shipping to a location within China will be prearranged and approved by you.
Q) Why can’t the shipping costs be automatically calculated?
A) There are multiple reasons for this: We have many shipping partners with different price ranges. To make things more complicated, air and sea shipping costs fluctuate depending on supply, demand and season, so there is no long term price catalog, although generally prices tend to cluster around a price point. Since there is no automatic price feed to automatically get the latest prices, we had two options: (a) charge enough to absorb these fluctuations, or (b) optimize costs and the expense of additional communication overhead with our customers. We opted for the optimization route to give you the best possible prices.
Having said that, we are looking into creating a calculator so that our customers can have a general idea of the shipment costs, where we will input each day’s prices from our biggest partners and produce a cost estimate. However, this number will not be binding and the final shipping costs will have to be calculated at the day of the order, for products that can be shipped immediately. For orders that are produced on order, the shipping costs will be indicative and will have to be finalized on the week the shipment will be made.
Q) Can I receive by air products that include batteries?
A) According to Chinese law, air shipment of batteries, or products that include batteries is not allowed. However, there are forwarders such as DHL or TNT that can ship out through Hong Kong.
If your order includes products such as power banks, rechargeable devices etc, these can only be shipped out by these forwarders through Hong Kong. Any other products, we can ship directly from Shenzhen, China.
Q) How is the weight calculated for air shipments?
A) For air shipments, the forwarder can either charge by calculating the physical weight or the volume weight, whichever is bigger. Volume weight is calculated by multiplying the volume with the number 200.
For example, if we have one cubic meter with a physical weight of 100 kg, it will be actually charged as 200 kg! However if our one cubic meter has a physical weight of 250 kg, then, the forwarder will charge according to this. For every order, the maximum of weight, physical or volume weight, is what they charge, sorry.
Q) What is our payment procedure?
A) If your order requires production time of more than a week, then you will have to deposit to our company’s bank account a minimum of 30% of the pro-forma invoice of your order, which we send to you via email beforehand.
The remaining amount will have to be paid before the shipment date, so that we can pay the vendor, after our quantity and quality inspection. If your order can be fulfilled by the factory’s inventory, you pay us the full amount of the invoice, we inspect and pay, and the order is shipped right away.
Q) What happens if there are defective products in your order?
A) We only cooperate with and suggest products from companies that assure us that they are willing to replace defective products. We try to rate the vendors and avoid those with high rates of defects in their products.
If the product’s price is high enough, we make arrangements with you to send us back the defective products and we arrange to replace them as soon as possible, the replacements usually shipped with your next order.
If the products are not too expensive, the vendors will agree to replace them without receiving back the ones that do not work. We make arrangements with you to send the replacements, usually with your next order in order to minimize any costs. We want to keep our customers happy, so, we focus on our after sales service with great care.