Shipping and customs
Three words decide the quote — 海运 (sea freight), 空运 (air) and 快递 (courier) — and two decide who is responsible: 提单 (the bill of lading) and 清关 (customs clearance). The question worth asking before any of them is 报价是FOB还是EXW？, because the same number means very different things.
What actually happens
Freight is where a good price quietly becomes a bad one. A quote is only comparable once you know its incoterm: EXW means the goods are yours at the factory door and every cost after that is yours too, while FOB puts them on the ship at a named Chinese port. The gap between those two numbers is real money, and a supplier quoting EXW against a competitor quoting FOB is not necessarily cheaper.
The second thing to settle early is who controls the 提单, the bill of lading — the document that entitles someone to collect the goods at the far end. If the supplier arranges the freight, the supplier's forwarder holds it, and release can become leverage in a payment dispute. Nominating your own 货代 (freight forwarder) costs nothing extra and removes that possibility entirely.
The rest is vocabulary and chasing. 报关 is export declaration on the Chinese side; 清关 is import clearance at yours, and it is yours to handle. Sea freight to Europe or North America is roughly thirty to forty days port to port, plus a week either end that nobody quotes you, so build the buffer in before you promise anyone a date.
What they'll say back to you
Understanding the reply is the half of the conversation phrasebooks skip. These are the lines you will actually hear in this situation — learn to recognise them, not to say them.
What to say
Choosing how it travels
Terms and cost
Documents
Chasing it
The bit that isn't language
Ask what the factory's Chinese New Year shutdown dates are before you agree any lead time. Production stops for two to four weeks, the whole country's freight capacity is booked in the fortnight before it, and a January order that seemed to have plenty of slack routinely lands in March.
Quick quiz — 5 questions
Five questions built from the phrases above: you get the English, you pick the Chinese. No sign-up, no score kept — just a check that they have stuck.
How do you say this?
Common mistakes
| ✗ What visitors do | ✓ What works | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Comparing an EXW quote with an FOB one | Asking 报价是FOB还是EXW？ before anything else | EXW hands you the goods at the factory door; FOB includes inland transport, export clearance and loading. On a small shipment that difference can be a large fraction of the goods' value, so the cheaper-looking quote is often the dearer one. |
| Letting the supplier's forwarder hold the bill of lading | Nominating your own 货代 | Whoever controls the bill of lading controls whether the goods can be collected. If that is the supplier's agent, a disagreement about the final payment becomes a disagreement about your cargo sitting in a port charging demurrage. |
| Quoting a customer the supplier's transit time | Adding a week at each end and a buffer | "Thirty-five days" means port to port. It excludes the run to the port, the wait for a sailing, clearance at your end and the inland leg — none of which the supplier is quoting, and all of which are yours. |
Shipping and customs — frequently asked questions
What is the difference between FOB and EXW when buying from China?
EXW (ex works) means the price covers the goods sitting at the supplier's premises and nothing else — inland transport, export declaration and loading are all yours. FOB (free on board) means the supplier gets them onto the vessel at a named Chinese port. Two quotes on different terms are not comparable, so establish which one you are looking at first.
What does 提单 (tídān) mean and why does it matter?
The bill of lading — the document that entitles the holder to take delivery of the cargo. It matters because it is leverage: if the supplier's freight forwarder holds it, releasing your goods is something they can decline while a payment question is open. Nominating your own forwarder puts it in neutral hands.
How long does sea freight from China actually take?
Roughly thirty to forty days port to port for Europe or North America, but that is not the number to plan on. Add the inland run to the Chinese port, the wait for a sailing, customs clearance at your end and the delivery leg — six to eight weeks door to door is a more honest figure, and it is longer around Chinese New Year.
What is 拼柜 (pīnguì)?
Sharing a container with other shippers — LCL, less than a container load. You pay by volume rather than for the whole box, which is how almost every first order travels. It is slower than a full container because the load has to be consolidated and deconsolidated, but far cheaper than air.
Next
Before you fly
Work through the whole trip in Ready for a trip to China in 30 days, play Travel Survival Sprint to make the phrases automatic, practise saying them aloud in Airport Roleplay, or look up anything else in the Chinese → Pinyin translator.