Bought machinery or equipment in China? Here is how it reaches your door

Step 0 · Before you pay the seller

The most expensive shipping problems are created before the cargo exists. Four questions, asked early, prevent almost all of them:

If the seller’s packing sounds flimsy for a heavy item, say so then — negotiating better crating before payment is easy; claiming damage after arrival is not.

Step 1 · Pickup and export packing

A truck collects the machine from the factory or warehouse. Heavy pieces move by forklift or crane — the collection plan matches the weight, not the other way round. If the cargo is not yet crated, export crating (heat-treated wood, ISPM-15) can be arranged; most machine sellers already crate properly, but it is worth having a forwarder’s eyes on it before the cargo starts moving.

Step 2 · Out of China

The export declaration is filed in China from the commercial documents — invoice, packing list, and an accurate description of what the machine is. This is routine forwarder work; what matters is that the documents describe the goods truthfully, because the same description follows the shipment to your border.

Step 3 · The main leg: sea or air

Most machinery goes by sea. A small machine shares a container (LCL); a large one, or several crates, usually justifies a full container (FCL) — crated cargo lashed inside the box so nothing shifts. Air freight exists for the rare case where the machine’s downtime costs more than the plane. The honest way to decide is to price both; the FCL/LCL logic is the same for machines as for cartons, with one extra factor: handling. A machine that can be loaded once and sealed in its own container travels safer than one consolidated with strangers’ cargo.

Step 4 · Your border: duty and tax

Every country charges import duty and usually tax on machinery; the amounts depend on what the machine is, its value, and your country’s rates. Who pays depends on the trade terms of your purchase — under DDP the shipper side pays, under most other terms you do, as the importer. Neither version is avoidable; duty is not a fee invented by forwarders. What a forwarder owes you is clarity: which terms apply, what the duties are likely to be, and what registration your country requires from you (an importer number, EORI, tax ID — the name differs, the idea does not). Our DDP guide covers the trade terms in plain language.

Step 5 · The last mile

Delivery to a business or workshop with a forklift is straightforward. Delivery to a home address is possible for many shipments, but a two-tonne crate sets limits no forwarder can argue with: truck access, unloading, and sometimes a lift-gate truck or a hired forklift. These questions get asked at quotation — because the difference between “no problem” and “no access” is a truck that had to turn around.

What to prepare, in one list

• The seller’s contact, and confirmation of packed dimensions and weight
• What the machine is and what it does (for the customs description)
• Your city and address — and an honest note on access (dock? forklift? residential street?)
• Whether you or the seller are arranging shipping — the “incoterm” on your order, in plain words: who pays the freight
• When it will be ready to collect

Send those five things and the quotation you get back will be itemised per stage — pickup, freight, border, delivery — so you can see exactly what “to my door” includes.