Hi all. I'll be receiving some goods from China by sea and would like to see if I can get them without a customs broker / clearing house. Has anyone done this themselves and is able to offer any advice? TIA.
Customs Clearance and Picking up Sea Freight
fantombloo on 03/07/2018 - 12:40
Comments
One off - Sydney
It's not worth it for a 1 off, I used FMI located in Perth and they were awesome. Plus no duty or extra unknown port costs. See if they can help you, pm. If you want a contact I used.
The risk on fees delays isn't worth the small broker cost plus their freight was so cheap apose to others.
Plus they organised insurance for me.
Be wary of freight forwarders out of china they often hold shipment for extra payments then extra delay port charges even if all all the freight was paid to somone else
Anything you are bringing in on a shipping container I would hope would need a customs clearance, and how else could you go through the hoops (different inspection methods and payments for them) without a broker/house who has all the contacts with customs/quarantine/border force ect?
No problem with customs - I'd just prefer to save the cost of using a broker
You could, but I wouldn't recommend it.
A freight forwarder would clear it straight away. - any issues would be fixed very quickly and you would have your cargo in no time.
If you try to clear the goods yourself, it will take about a week for customs to advise that the goods have been cleared OR to advise you that something else needs to be done. If something isnt correct (which is very likely) then your cargo could sit in storage and accumulate a lot in storage costs..In addition to this, if you haven't already.. I would highly suggest obtaining a CHAFTA Certificate of Origin from the supplier as it will mean that you wont have to pay any duties (assuming the goods are made in China…).
I agree. I've done it and it took 6 hours of my day. Get an agent to do it for you.
Thank you for the advice. TBH I'm not that concerned about time but definitely would not like to pay for storage.
Do you have any suggestions for a broker? Goods will be worth around $1500 - plastic parts.
$1500 doesn't even sound like a Full container? unless you're buying pre-inflated beach balls or something!
So you'll likely be shipping LCL in which case pretty sure everything will already be taken care of.
If it's not a full container be prepared to pay a multiple of the cost of the goods in fees. I hope you've done your research and haven't just purchased FOB from china without detailed study.
There's plenty of fixed cost fees and the system is setup to really only work if you have a full container load.
Yes I've figured this out now after the fact.
I'd highly suggest sea freighting more than $1500 worth of stock next time.. you'll probably end up spending at least $600 to get it to your door (assuming incoterms were CIF Australian Port).
I'm not sure about Sydney specifically, but most ports are very strictly managed in regard to release of goods, access to collect, etc., even if it is a FCL.
If you only have a part-container, even more difficult as it will need to be moved to a site and broken down before collection.A freight forwarder is probably your only solution, but it will most likely be very efficient if that is any consolation. You should engage one now, and get the paper work submitted prior to the ship's arrival.
Go see a broker, they aren't that expensive and any hold ups will cost you $$$ for demurrage anyway. It's a matter of paying up front or running around with a headache AND having to pay.
Thank you all. Seems the consensus is to get a broker.
I did use a broker about 18months ago for about $10k of electrical equipment and it cost me about $3k on top of the GST, including the delivery of 3 pallets to my door. I have a feeling I was shafted on that.
Doesn't sound too bad to me.
The system is set up so that it's profitable to ship Full 40' Containers, Smaller containers cost around the same money even though they hold less than half the volume, and LCL costs can easily get to the same as a full container even for my company who is bringing in tens of thousands of containers annually.
For a nobody like you, $3000 delivered sounds like a bargain!Got quote of $1200 for this shipment.
We just brought in a pallet of goods shipped from USA. Freight, Dock and Customs charges (etc) from ex-factory USA delivered to our door were $A1,400
Looks similar to my $1200 above.
I brought a car in LcL (a very small historic vehicle)
I didn’t use a broker but had a freight forwarder (specific freight)The list of charges I received was at least 15 different things and much more than I was expecting, but having said that it was hassle free.
Total was about $2000 all up
Is it a one off import or regularly?
Also what state/port