China to Singapore shipping

Every shipment leaves from our warehouse in Guangzhou. You pick the method when your parcels have arrived, so you can decide once you know the real weight.

Transit times are estimates, door to door. Once your shipment lands, a local courier delivers it on a day and time they set, so we can't promise a delivery date.

Your invoice has three parts. Add-ons you ask for (like a wooden frame) are extra, and a few last-mile charges are the courier's own, paid to them; see Delivery below.

1. Freight. Air and Sea by kg charge the higher of the actual weight and the volumetric weight (length × width × height in cm ÷ 5,000), each rounded up to the next whole kg. Sea LCL charges by volume in cubic metres (m³). The volumetric weight and CBM calculators work both out for you.
2. 9% import tax on the value of your goods (not on the freight). We pay it on your behalf and show it on your invoice. More in import tax on goods from China.
3. Fees, only when they apply: see the table below.

1. Get our warehouse address and your Paotui code on WhatsApp (reply Address).
2. Add it as your delivery address on Taobao, 1688, JD or any China shop.
3. Shop as usual. Sellers deliver to our Guangzhou warehouse. Check arrival on Track Parcel.
4. Send us your order list once everything has arrived: Air or Sea, tracking numbers, your Singapore address.
5. Pay the invoice by PayNow or bank transfer. We ship, clear customs and deliver.

The full walkthrough, with screenshots, is in How to ship from China to Singapore, step by step.

Any seller that can deliver to an address in Guangzhou: Taobao, Tmall, JD.com, 1688, Alibaba, Pinduoduo, Xiaohongshu, factories and small shops. You can combine parcels from different shops into one shipment, as long as they go to the same Singapore address.

• Taobao shipping to Singapore
• 1688 and wholesale orders
• Pinduoduo shipping to Singapore

• Normal goods: clothes, shoes, bags, furniture, home goods, books, sports gear, baby items, plug-in electronics without a battery.
• Sensitive goods (same price, but you must declare them): batteries and anything with one, liquids, cosmetics, packaged food, magnets. Liquids, perfume and cosmetics included, can go by air or sea unless they're flammable, dangerous or controlled. Sprays, aerosols, fragrance oils and diffuser liquids go by sea only. A wrong declaration costs S$10.00 per parcel to resend.
• Ask us first on WhatsApp: branded goods, medicines, fresh meat, seafood, fruit and vegetables, seeds, daggers and other decorative weapons, walkie-talkies, CDs, DVDs and video games. Some of these need a Singapore permit, so we check each one with you before you buy.
• Can't ship: weapons, toy guns and swords of any kind, drones, live plants, e-bikes, e-scooters and other mobility devices, animals, cash, drugs, tobacco and shisha, chewing gum, vapes and nicotine products, lighters, gas canisters, alcoholic drinks, frozen food, and ivory or other endangered-animal products.
• Register first: air-cons, fridges, clothes dryers, TVs, water heaters and three-phase motors need NEA registration before shipping (free at go.gov.sg/elsportal).

Not sure about an item? Search it in Can I ship this? on our homepage.

We deliver door to door, islandwide. Bulky items go to your door when they fit your lift as packed; otherwise the courier leaves them at the ground floor. Malls and buildings with fixed delivery hours may need a specific time slot, and any extra charge there is the courier's. Details: Delivery conditions.

Every invoice is built the same way, whichever method you choose. Here is the order we work in, so you can do the same sum before you buy.

1. Weigh and measure the packed parcel. Round the weight up to the next whole kg. Then work out the volumetric weight: length × width × height in cm, divided by 5,000, also rounded up.
2. Take the higher of the two. That is the chargeable weight for Air and for Sea by kg. For Sea LCL we use the volume in m³ instead, rounded up to the next 0.1 m³.
3. Look up the freight. Air: S$13.00 for the first kg and S$8.80 for each extra kg up to 4 kg, then S$8.80 for every kg from 5 kg, and S$8.50 for every kg from 31 kg. Sea by kg: S$8.00 for the first kg and S$2.50 for each extra kg. Sea LCL: S$90.00 up to 0.4 m³.
4. Add import tax: 9% of what you paid for the goods. Not 9% of the freight.
5. Add a fee only if one applies to your shipment. Most shipments have none. The list is in what's included and what's extra below.

The weight and size that count are the ones we take at our Guangzhou warehouse, after your parcels are combined. A seller's or courier's figure is a good guide, but it is not the final one.

These are typical loads, each with its packed size. The table shows which weight decides the price, and the freight by air and by sea. Use them to find the one closest to your own order.

Three things to notice:

• The 6 kg shoe carton weighs 4.5 kg but is charged as 6 kg, because the boxes take up space. Shoe boxes, bags and toys often work this way.
• The bulky parcel (a quilt and two pillows) weighs only 4 kg and is charged as 24 kg. Size decides here, not weight. By air that is S$211.20; by sea S$65.50.
• The 40 kg load is past the point where Sea by kg stops (34 kg), so by sea it ships as LCL: 0.16 m³ measured, rounded up to 0.2 m³, which is the flat S$90.00.

Now add import tax on a stated goods value to get the full amount:

These are examples, not quotes. Your invoice uses the measured weight and size and the goods value you declare. For your own boxes, use the calculator or the volumetric weight calculator.

Sea costs less than air at every weight. What you are really choosing is how long you are happy to wait: about 4–5 working days by air, about 3–4 weeks for Sea by kg, about 2–3 weeks for Sea LCL (all est., door to door).

Where each one usually makes sense:

• Air, for small parcels you want soon. At 1 to 2 kg the difference is S$5.00 to S$11.30, and you get your order weeks earlier. Whether that is worth it is your call. More in air freight from China to Singapore and small parcel shipping.
• Sea by kg, for anything you can wait for, up to 33 kg chargeable. The gap grows fast: at 10 kg air costs S$57.50 more, at 20 kg S$120.50 more.
• Sea LCL, from 34 kg or for bulky loads. At 33 kg, Sea by kg is S$88.00. At 34 kg it would be S$90.50, which is over our S$90.00 cap for by-kg pricing, so the shipment goes by volume instead: S$90.00 flat for up to 0.4 m³. Above that weight you pay for space, not for kilograms. A flat-packed desk of 120 × 70 × 30 cm measures 0.252 m³, charged as 0.3 m³: S$90.00. A sofa packed at 200 × 90 × 65 cm measures 1.17 m³, charged as 1.2 m³: S$165.60. More worked loads are in sea freight from China to Singapore and shipping Taobao furniture to Singapore, and the CBM calculator adds up your own cartons.
• From 11 kg, air costs more than the LCL flat price. 11 kg by air is S$96.80. That same S$90.00 covers up to 0.4 m³ by sea, however heavy the boxes are within our 500 kg per m³ limit.

You don't have to guess. Write Weight check as the first line of your order list and we weigh and measure your shipment, then send you both the air and the sea price. One condition: the shipment is sealed for measuring, so nothing can be added or removed afterwards. Send it only when all your parcels have arrived.

Included in the freight rate:

• Receiving your parcels at our Guangzhou warehouse and combining them into one shipment.
• Free storage for up to 45 days while the rest of your orders arrive.
• The air or sea leg, customs clearance in Singapore, and delivery to your door, islandwide.

Always added: import tax, 9% of your goods value. It is a separate line on the invoice. See import tax on goods from China.

Added only when it applies:

• Long or heavy parcel: S$60.00 once per shipment, on Air and Sea by kg, when a parcel is over 140 cm long, is 70 cm or more on two sides, or weighs over 40 kg on the scale. A shipment that is both long and heavy pays it once. Sea LCL has no such fee.
• 09xxxx postcode: S$35.00 for the last-mile delivery.
• Wrong Normal or Sensitive declaration: S$10.00 for each parcel that has to be resent. The prohibited and sensitive items guide helps you get it right the first time.
• Returning a parcel to the seller in China: S$5.00 plus the China courier's cost.

Optional, on request: a wooden frame for fragile goods, about S$40–80 per m³, confirmed once the goods arrive, and fuller cover at 10% of your declared goods value. Fragile items are not covered for breakage, with or without a frame.

Not ours, paid to the local courier if it comes up: for a single piece over 60 kg the courier may charge about S$200–300 for special equipment, and a mall or a building with fixed delivery hours may carry the courier's own charge. We can't confirm either in advance.

Once you have our warehouse address and your Paotui code, there is nothing to book and no need to tell us each time you order. A first shipment usually goes like this:

1. Read the step-by-step guide once. How to ship from China to Singapore shows the address format, your Paotui code and the order list, with screenshots.
2. Check what you are buying. Batteries, liquids, cosmetics and food ship as Sensitive goods and must be declared. Some items can't be shipped at all. Search yours in Can I ship this? before you pay the seller.
3. Shop on the app you like. We have a guide for each: Taobao, 1688 and Pinduoduo.
4. Watch your parcels arrive with parcel tracking. Parcels can wait at the warehouse for up to 45 days, free.
5. Send one order list when everything has arrived. Once the list is in, the shipment is sealed and weighed, so items can't be added. Anything late goes as a new order.
6. Pay the invoice by PayNow or bank transfer within 24 hours. It shows the freight and the import tax as separate lines.

A few rules that save first-timers trouble:

• One Singapore address per shipment. Two addresses means two shipments.
• You can split by method. Send two order lists, one for Air and one for Sea, each with its own tracking numbers.
• Waiting to combine usually costs less, because the first kg is charged only once.
• Timing is an estimate. We dispatch Monday to Saturday, and sale seasons and holidays slow things down. See China to Singapore shipping time.

The full price list in one place is on China to Singapore shipping rates.