I started importing products from China some years ago and found several tricks to the trade that I want to pass along to you.

First, I should mention that most importers make the same mistake. Some importers are very good at getting the "right price for goods", some others are good at getting the right "freight price", some are good at "design" or "packaging", some at "Duty Classifications" while others are very at "quality", but over 90% of them all make the same mistakes.

Over 90% of the importers in the world make the same mistake. It is the mis-use of space and ends up costing them well into 10% of the shipping cost. For all intent and purpose they have been putting round pegs in square holes! The first time I imported goods from China I made the same mistake; worked out a very good price for the goods that I was buying, got all my paperwork in order for customes, lined up a relationship with a ocean freight company. All was set I thought great I did everything right first time out! Yeah sure... The container arrives goes through customes fine get the darn thing to the dock and found I paid shipping for a heck of a lot of empty space and to me "space is money". In that one container I could have gotten about 200 more cases of something into the container had I that it would have been much more profitable. That was a lesson well learned and ended up being one of the secrets to my profit margin was the ability to work the space of the container.

A 40 foot ocean container has a fixed inner dimensions Length 39'5" (473") X Width 7'8" (92") X Height 7'10" (94") and will accept up to the weight of 59,040 lb. For other container sizes you can down load them [here]. What size cartons are you going to put this into and what is the pre pack that most suits your need for drop shipping? These are important questions, but where the secret lies is in the container dimensions. Listen you can put your goods into inner packs and then master packs which is a waste of space for handling might save a little on loading and unloading the container...but that is a joke and does not really hold true on your end of the shipment. There is a easier more cost effective way of doing that too, called "shrink wrapping". So let's say your ideal drop shipping package is a 72 piece pack. 11" X 43cs = 473" full length usage 9.4" X 10cs = 94" full height usage 13" X 7 cs = 92" almost full width usage .076923 lost width space. You will end up with a total of 3010 cs, full usage. You need to have in mind corrugated carton thickness top folds etc and inner case space. This base formula is only to aid you. I am well aware you have your own needs, but full usage of space maximizes the number of pieces to the container lowering you freight cost per pc, increasing your profit dollars. Change the dimensions slightly and you will quickly see how much difference it makes. Even when designing counter top displays you can take space usage into account. I have noticed that with many counter top displays 25% of the space is lost and can be so easily modified without sacrificing the over all presentation.

Why shrink wrap vs master pack? This is very simple; the amount of space usage that is wasted by a master case adds up very quickly plus merely by using shrink wrap you are accomplishing the same thing plus making it easier for you on the receiving and drop shipping end of the import equation. If you have handled master packs with inners before you should see in mind what I am saying if not then imagine opening a master case and trying to pull out the inners then think about the time usage of doing it. Now in mind see yourself cutting away the shrink wrap. 1,2,3, and you're done and wasted little space plus the shrink wrap can be used as stuffing where and when you need it. Oh, and did I mention you do not have to pay to throw out all that extra corrugated cardboard? Saving you more money.

Lets say you are importing a heavy weight item such as stoneware coffee mugs, which I did do. You are going to loose space based on weight allowances vs number of pieces per container. What can you or should you do to off set the space loss do to weight? You can do one of a few things that will lower your cost per pc and make more profit dollars. I had a choice either find someone else to peggy back the frieght with me by adding a light weight item to the container or add an item to my line. What I did was to add flexible straws to my line they took up the space and are light so the offset was a plus.

We do have forms available to help with your shipping space needs that if you want there is a modest cost of $4.99 USD

After payment you will be sent to the form.

Tariff/Duty rates:
Do not simply assume you know the duty rates. You will want to research them and the terms being used. As an example Bandanas' Bandanas have been called: hair accessories, scarves, and handkerchiefs. Look each up and you will find 3 different tariff rates and the cost to you is great. Before importing an item research the tariffs and terms, merely the wording you use can cost you profit dollars in importing. I am not suggesting fudging what your item is, but know what it is and how to classify it. With the bandana example above I called 3 different brokers and got 3 completely different answers that was when I knew I better learn tariffs myself.

Back to counter top displays:
You have designed a counter top display that holds 12 units, but you are loosing 10 - 25% of the space simply nest the units better or add "back up stock to the display". The average 12 - 24 piece display has spacing between the pieces that you can tighten up the space or add goods to it and increase your sale. Every extra piece you can get into the display is greater profit dollars at the end of the day. Most designers think in terms of the design and rarely take into account cost of space or production. Production being another topic we can be very helpful with, but takes physical presents to provide help with.

If you need help in the following areas we can:

1. Design & Manufacturing
2. Overhead Issues
3. Tariffs
4. Ocean Freight
5. Cutting Costs of Operations

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