Export terms, shipping and documentation

Incoterms we quote

Four terms cover almost every order. We will tell you which one actually suits your situation rather than defaulting to the easiest to write.

Term	What it means in practice	When it makes sense
EXW Shenzhen	You collect from our plant. You handle export clearance, freight and insurance.	Only if you have a China-based forwarder who collects regularly. Otherwise the export declaration becomes your problem in a language you do not work in.
FOB Shenzhen	We deliver to the vessel and handle export clearance. You pay ocean freight and insurance from that point.	The default for most buyers. Your forwarder controls the ocean leg, which is usually cheaper than ours, and you see the real freight cost.
CIF your port	We pay freight and insurance to your destination port. Risk transfers when goods are loaded, not on arrival.	When you want one number landed at your port and do not have a forwarder. Note that CIF insurance cover is minimum, so declare a higher value if the goods are valuable.
DDP your door	We handle everything including import duty and destination clearance.	Convenient for the buyer, but only realistic where the destination customs regime is predictable. For some countries — Brazil, India, parts of the EU for certain goods — we will decline rather than promise a delivery date we cannot control.

Incoterms 2020 apply. The named place matters: "FOB Shenzhen" and "FOB Shanghai" are different quotes, and "DDP Germany" is ambiguous until a postcode is given.

Ports and transit times

We ship from Yantian and Shekou, both in Shenzhen. Transit times below are port to port and exclude destination customs clearance.

Destination	Sea transit	Notes
Los Angeles / Long Beach	14–18 days	Most frequent sailings; best rates on full containers
New York	28–34 days	Via Panama or Suez depending on sailing
Rotterdam / Hamburg	28–32 days	Reliable schedule; short inland legs into the EU
Felixstowe / Southampton	30–35 days	UK clearance is separate from EU
Sydney / Melbourne	16–20 days	Biosecurity inspection can add days for wood packaging — we use treated pallets
Jebel Ali	18–22 days	Common transhipment point for East Africa

Air freight is 3–5 days door to door for most destinations. It becomes competitive with sea below roughly 1 m³ once you count the working capital tied up in a slow shipment, and it is the right choice for samples and for launch deadlines.

Documents that travel with the goods

Issued and checked before the container leaves, not after. A discrepancy found at destination can hold a container for a week.

Document	Who issues it	Why it matters
Commercial invoice	Us	Itemised by part number, quantity, unit price, Incoterm. This is what duty is calculated on.
Packing list	Us	Carton count, dimensions, gross and net weight per carton. Customs and your warehouse both need it.
Certificate of origin	CCPIT	Needed for preferential duty rates under some trade agreements, and requested by many buyers as standard.
Bill of lading	Forwarder / carrier	Title document. We check the draft against the invoice before release, because an error here stops payment.
Mill certificate	Sheet supplier	Grade, lot and date of the acrylic sheet. Available on request at no cost.
RoHS test report	SGS	Report CANEC26018787801, covering the cast sheet. Raw-material scope — not a finished-part certificate.
Inspection sheet	Us	Measured values for the critical dimensions, with the reference temperature. Ships with every batch.

Export packing standard

Packing is specified per part, but the default for export is:

• Foam interleave between every part, both faces, so nothing rubs
• Corner protection on anything with a visible edge — this is where most damage happens
• Double-wall cartons, with heavy parts at the bottom and a divider above
• Weight limit per carton stated on the packing list and respected, not exceeded for convenience
• Palletised and shrink-wrapped for sea freight, with edge boards and treated timber
• Photographed before the doors close — the photo set goes to you and supports any transit claim

Neutral packing is available: buyer-branded cartons, no supplier marks, no Chinese-language labels. Specify it when cartons are ordered, which is weeks before the goods are ready.

Payment

Currency	USD, EUR or CNY
Standard terms	30% deposit by T/T, balance against bill of lading copy
Letter of credit	L/C at sight on orders above US$30,000
Small orders	Payment in full under US$3,000, because bank charges would exceed the deposit value
Bank charges	Charges at the sending bank are payable by the sender; we do not absorb shortfalls
Quotation validity	30 days

Duty, tax and destination requirements

Import duty and VAT are set by the destination country and are payable by the importer unless the terms are DDP. We do not give duty advice, because getting it wrong is expensive for you.

What we can do is supply the information your broker needs: correct HS code for the part, material description, country of origin and the declared value breakdown. Acrylic parts are typically classified under HS 3926.90 as other articles of plastics, but the correct code depends on the specific item and your broker should confirm it.

Where a destination requires a specific test — food contact, flammability, UV weathering — we can arrange third-party testing against that standard and quote it as a separate line. We do not imply certifications we do not hold.

What can go wrong, and who carries it

Risk	Who carries it	How it is handled
Damage in transit	Carrier under most terms	Photograph before unpacking further, claim within 7 days. Our loading photos support the claim.
Customs hold	Importer, unless DDP	Correct documents prevent most holds. We answer broker questions directly.
Delay to sailing	Shared	We book against a sailing date, not a loading date, and tell you immediately if production will miss it.
Duty classification dispute	Importer	We supply HS code and material description; your broker confirms. We do not warrant a classification.
Colour mismatch on repeat	Us	Retained master swatch, ΔE ≤ 2 measured per batch. This is why we keep the swatch.