How to Import Products: Shipping, Freight, and Customs

Once you've placed an order, it has to physically reach you or Amazon. Shipping, duties, and customs are where landed cost and lead time really get decided, and where a surprise can wipe out a margin that looked fine on the spreadsheet. You don't need to be an expert, but you do need to plan for it.

• Air freight. Faster, usually about a week, but more expensive. Worth it for a first order, a launch, or a restock you can't afford to be late.
• Sea freight. Much cheaper per unit but slow, often several weeks plus port handling. The default for large, planned orders where timing allows.
• Courier (express). Fast and simple for small quantities and samples, priced accordingly. Fine for testing, expensive at scale.

For anything beyond a courier parcel, a freight forwarder handles the shipping, paperwork, and customs clearance for you. A good one is worth their fee, because they navigate the parts that are genuinely complicated and catch problems before they get expensive. For Amazon FBA, confirm your goods meet Amazon's inbound and prep requirements before they ship, because a rejected shipment is a costly detour.

Imported goods usually attract duties and taxes based on the product type and its declared value, and these land in your cost whether you planned for them or not. Rates vary by product and by country, so check the ones that apply to your market and build them into your landed cost from the start. Low-value import exemptions have tightened in recent years, especially for goods moving from China into the US, so don't assume small parcels arrive duty-free. When in doubt, ask your freight forwarder.

Lead time is a business risk, not just an inconvenience. On Amazon, running out of stock costs you rank that's expensive to win back, and in dropshipping, long delivery windows drive refunds and chargebacks. Build realistic shipping times into your reorder planning, and lean toward faster shipping when the cost of being late is high.