Shipping from China to Amazon UK: Complete 2025 Guide
What are the shipping methods from China to Amazon UK?
There are two realistic ways to move goods from a Chinese factory into Amazon's UK fulfilment centres: air freight and sea freight. Air freight is fast — goods arrive in days — and is priced accordingly, which makes it sensible for small, light, high-value products or a first small order where speed matters more than cost. Sea freight is the workhorse for private label: it is much cheaper per unit but takes weeks, and it ties your money up while the goods are on the water. This guide will not quote freight rates, because they move with fuel, season and volume and any figure printed here would go stale — the honest summary is that air is fast and expensive, sea is slow and cheap, and the right choice depends on your product's value, size and how urgently you need it.
What are the actual steps, in order?
The sequence runs from factory to fulfilment centre. First, you agree terms with the supplier and produce the goods. Second, a freight forwarder books the transport — collecting from the factory, exporting from China, shipping, and clearing UK customs. Third, the goods are labelled to Amazon's FBA requirements before they leave, because the fulfilment centres reject pallets and cartons that arrive without the correct FBA labels. Fourth, the shipment clears UK customs, where duty and import VAT are assessed. Fifth, the forwarder delivers into the Amazon fulfilment centre, and Amazon takes over storage and customer delivery. Each step has paperwork, and the forwarder exists to handle most of it — that is what you are paying them for.
How do you choose between air and sea?
The decision is a trade-off between speed, cost and cash flow. Air is right when the product is light and high-value, when you are testing a market with a small order, or when a delay costs you more than the freight premium. Sea is right when the product is heavy or bulky, when you are reordering a proven product, or when you can wait a few weeks in exchange for a lower unit cost. There is a middle path — sea freight for the bulk plus a small air shipment to cover the gap — but that adds complexity you do not need on your first order. The practical rule is to start with the method that matches your order size and your tolerance for waiting, and to let the freight forwarder quote both so you can compare real numbers rather than guesses.
What are incoterms, and why do they matter?
Incoterms are the shorthand that defines who is responsible for what, and who pays, at each stage of the journey. The three you will meet most often are EXW, FOB and DDP. Under EXW (ex works) you take responsibility from the factory gate, which means you arrange and pay for everything after that point. Under FOB (free on board) the supplier gets the goods to the port and onto the ship, and you take over from there. Under DDP (delivered duty paid) the seller or your forwarder handles everything including the import duty, and the goods arrive cleared. DDP is the simplest for a first-time importer because there is one price and one handoff, but it is not always the cheapest. Know which term you are quoting, because "EXW price" and "DDP price" are not the same thing.
What about customs duty and import VAT?
Goods entering the UK are subject to import VAT, and most physical products also attract customs duty at a rate that depends on the product's commodity code. The commodity code is a classification of what the product is, and it determines the duty rate — so the code matters, and the wrong code can mean an unexpected bill or a delay at the border. Amazon UK sellers also need to be VAT registered in many cases, which changes how the import VAT is accounted for. This guide will not print specific duty rates, because they depend on the commodity code and change — the honest instruction is to get the commodity code right with your forwarder or customs broker before the goods ship, and to confirm the current rates rather than relying on a figure from memory.
How do you choose a freight forwarder?
The forwarder carries the shipment, and the choice deserves more care than most first-time importers give it. Ask what the quote includes, in writing — collection, export clearance, ocean or air freight, UK import clearance and final delivery into the Amazon fulfilment centre are separate services, and a low quote that omits the last two is not cheaper, just incomplete. Ask for the incoterm and the commodity code, and confirm both match what you are actually shipping. Ask how they handle FBA labelling and whether they can apply it before the goods leave the factory, because a forwarder who cannot is handing that job back to you. A good forwarder answers these questions without hesitation; a weak one answers with a single price and no detail.
Common mistakes to avoid
The mistakes are predictable because they happen at the handoffs. Shipping without the FBA labels, or with labels that are not scannable, so the fulfilment centre rejects the delivery. Quoting EXW and forgetting that you still owe the freight and duty. Choosing sea freight for a first order you needed yesterday, or air freight for a heavy product where the premium eats the margin. Guessing the commodity code instead of confirming it. And the biggest one: treating shipping as an afterthought rather than a cost and a timeline you plan before you order. If you would rather not manage any of it, our logistics service handles freight, customs and FBA delivery end to end, and the Amazon private label course walks through the sourcing-to-FBA process in detail.