What’s The Average Alibaba.com Shipping Price From China To The US? (Explained with details!)

The average Alibaba shipping costs can be anywhere between $2 and more than $6 per pound. The items that weigh less than this can usually be shipped using ground freight. This method is popular but also a bit unwieldy because of how much it might cost to ship something by plane or by boat.

Key Takeaways

• There are three different sizes of shipping containers available to ship products from China to the USA
• Usually, sea freight from China to the USA costs around $1500-$3900 per container
• Airfreight is the fastest option for delivering goods from China to America but it is very costly and it will raise the cost of your products
• The weight of your products directly affects the cost of shipping, the more the weight, the higher the shipping cost will be

Alibaba Shipping Costs to the USA

The most common route that ships take when bringing products from China to the US is via the Pacific. After entering through the South China Sea, these vessels sail up to the Sea of Japan after going through the Okhotsk and then taking a left turn into the Pacific Ocean and they can now access Latin America along with the Western United States.

Cost of Sea shipments (20ft, 40ft, and 40ft HQ containers)

There are three different sizes of shipping containers available to customers when they ship and order goods from China: normal, extra-large, and large. The dimensions of a standard Chinese shipping container are roughly 8 feet wide, and 8.5 feet high, and come in either 20 or 40-foot lengths. Extra-large shipping containers carry the same dimensions as those of a standard container but are 12 feet wide. Similarly, large boxes are only slightly larger than the standard-size containers but have the benefit of being 2.2 meters longer while taking up almost exactly the same amount of floor space. Usually, sea freight from China to the USA costs around $1500-$3900 per container. 

Cost of Airfreight

Some of your customers might prefer having their orders delivered faster with a next-day delivery approach, but the only way to accomplish this is by paying a premium, which can significantly raise the cost of your products. The fastest options for delivering goods from China to America, however, are sea and air freight services. The facts about each method are outlined here in an itemized list that you can use to determine which one makes the most sense for your specific needs. You will note that air shipping charges tend to be based on weight rather than volume – because otherwise, many large shipments might get charged high cargo rates even if they don’t actually weigh much! As such, small packages are often more expensive to ship using this approach than larger ones which may not cost as much when it comes right down to it (if you factor in the cost per kilogram).

Express Air shipping costs (Real weight vs. Dimensional weight)

The last and final method of doing an Alibaba shipping rate is called express air shipping. The printing process will often remain intact, but the packaging will change. Expensive companies such as FedEx or UPS do this, so you’ll want to make sure you determine how flexible they are when it comes to packaging. You have a choice of using real weight or dimensional weight; let’s take a look at some examples here: If you have lightweight products that also aren’t all that small (like a lot of large books for example), then your shipping price will be determined by dimensional weight. No sense in paying for extra products in the package! 

Similarly, if you’re shipping thin products but there are a lot of them, then you can use this opportunity to pay less depending on what kind of package the items are packed inside. For products with a higher density, the price is often calculated based on real weight and the size of the parcel. For example, a product with a volume between 5 and 10 cubic meters can cost $85 to ship using express shipping.

Is Alibaba Shipping Really Expensive? 

Alibaba is an online marketplace where entrepreneurs can find wholesale products easily. This is important because finding these products are difficult if searching through websites other than Alibaba. The reason why Alibaba is used over other sites is that it has made it easier for people to get the products they need for their business at a lesser cost, which means that entrepreneurs have more profit available for themselves and their businesses.

On Taobao, vendors offer products at a lower cost because they can buy in bulk and fulfill a large number of orders. They can significantly reduce the price per unit through the wholesale model. Additionally, they don’t have to worry about breaking even in order to sell their item(s) since shipping costs aren’t deducted upfront. E-commerce platforms such as Alibaba charge less for shipping on Taobao than other websites do. It’s an attractive offering for buyers who plan to buy lots of items and ship them internationally at once!

Reasons For Alibaba Increased Shipping Costs

The quality costs of Alibaba are expensive because they have a number of factors that you will never be aware of unless you go through their official website and look at your shipment.

Weight of the Product

The weight of your products directly affects the cost of shipping. For example, a product weighing around 0.5 – 10 kgs is estimated to cost anywhere from $20-$100 to ship via international courier companies. So, for 10-20 kgs, the price will be in a similar range (approx $100-$200).

Distance Affects the Shipping Cost

Another important factor that must be considered when determining shipping costs is how far away the supplier’s manufacturing plant is from your storage facility. If you are buying a product from China and getting it delivered to your warehouse in America, which is around 6000 miles, then the costs of covering up that distance will lead to high shipping costs.

Size of the Shipment

Another shipping-related factor that you should take into consideration is how much you are sending. If you’re only sending a few items in one shipment, then utilizing a bulk carrier may be the more financially viable option since they tend to be more cost-effective when sending larger quantities of goods from point A to point B. However if your product ships in smaller numbers, then it might make sense to go with a short sea shipping company, especially if your destination is nearby or specific countries whose geo-political status may change at any given time and affect future trade agreements.

Alibaba shipping is not excessively costly and this has to do with what one is hoping to acquire by way of products and where the supplier ships these products too. For a new business, it’s best to go for smaller items and move them to the nearest warehouse to minimize shipping costs. Plus, you can always negotiate with the supplier if he or she asks for a shipping fee.

Why Should I use Alibaba shipping for Dropshipping?

Dropshipping is becoming more popular among business owners as a result of the several positives it holds. Several dropshipping companies have begun to use their services as an alternative method for generating revenue. In addition, simply linking the drop shipping business with Alibaba is an excellent way to increase profit margins. For instance, if DropshipperABC was planning on shipping water bottles from Alibaba, they could sell them in the USA for about $9-$10 dollars each. Because there are no storage fees incurred when operating a dropshipping business, the rest of this money would be considered profit by your company! Lorem Ipsum is simply dummied text of the printing and typesetting industry. 

Conclusion

Alibaba is a website used by importers of American, European, and UK markets. This is because this platform has thousands of suppliers available offering millions of different products and services, making it a cost-effective solution to start a business in the US, Europe, and UK. Shipments from Alibaba can be somewhat difficult, as there are multiple steps involved and if these steps aren’t taken care of properly then mishaps may result which could cost you time and money. Here is an article with the most relevant information about shipping costs for your imported product from Alibaba. We have compiled this article with different shipping methods and their price range so that you can select the best shipping method to use for your import business item.

References:

https://www.alibaba.com/showroom/shipping-rates-from-china-to-usa.html
https://www.freightos.com/shipping-routes/shipping-from-china-to-the-united-states/

Last Updated on November 1, 2022 by Magalie D.