I am looking at importing from China recurring goods. I have a potential supplier who has quoted a price per unit, and states it is FOB from Shanghai, terms are Letter of credit or T/T
Ok, so the supplier will get the goods to the dock and onto the ship, is that correct, do I ask him for a quote for this service, or does another party deal with that, like a freight forwarder? would that forwarder be here in the uk or there in china? who would I pay to expedite all this, or does an agent take care of all that, I am in scotland uk, so it might be Leith Edinburgh, Glasgow, or maybe Newcastle, I don't know yet. I guess I will have customs vat and the freight charge, is a freight charge expensive, the boxes are 30kgs, 125/65/25 and maybe 10 at first. Any help really appreciated
Yes, FOB is Free on Board, your supplier will pay for getting it to the docks and loaded. Best thing to do is get a good Freight forwarder / shipping company. They will do everything from that point. They will also inspect goods if necessary to confirm they are on board so that the T/T can be sent or the LOC settled by the issuing bank. They will also arrange for collection from the docks and delivery to your premises. They will quote a complete price for their service, including the shipping charges and delivery from the docks. They will also advise regarding payment of VAT and duties, as there are different options regarding this. With my shippers I used to fax them a copy of the cheque I was sending to them for the Duties, they would then pay them to get the goods released as quickly as possible. The forwarder would be a local company to you, there are many and you'll find them in yellow pages or internet search. They will have a local agent at the shipping port. Shipping by sea is by container. All goods are containerised and you are charged by the container. You can get a part container shipment and share a container, not sure how that works as I only shipped by the container load. Again the Freight forwarder will tell you all about it. In summary, contact a local shipper/freight company. Some extra info, containers are either 20ft or 40ft. The weight does not matter unless you are airfreighting. Hope this helps.
Edit:- Thought I would add that I used Davies Turner, do a search if you like but I did that and see they have a branch in Glasgow. Also thought that I would add, regarding the VAT, they did all that as well and paid the vat on my behalf, as well as duty to get the goods released. You don't need a separate broker to do that. But Davies Turner did want a cheque in hand for the amount before paying it on your behalf. Once we had done a few shipments and they knew us, then we just faxed a copy of the cheque and posted it that day. I will say that they were very good, but I did work through the Bristol office. Also where the goods arrive in the UK has no relationship to where you are located. A lot of shipments from China, or Taiwan where my supplier was, come into Felixstowe, regardless of where you are. Your shipper gets them to our shores asap, then get them from the port to your premises. Night night
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Tips for Effective Sales Letter Writing!
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