Freight · Ningbo and Shanghai
Shipping Wooden Dollhouses
Dollhouses ship by volume, so the shipping decision is really a decision about cartons: how many cubes the order makes, whether that fills a container, and whether palletising costs more volume than it saves in handling. This page sets out the shipping options for this catalogue, the documents that travel with an order, and the points where a buyer's nominated forwarder and our loading plan have to meet. It assumes the goods are sold FOB, which is the usual route for a first order in this category and the one that keeps the freight decision with the buyer.
Goods ship FOB Ningbo or Shanghai: we deliver the loaded container to the port against the buyer's nominated forwarder, and the buyer controls the ocean freight. LCL suits part-container orders but is priced by volume with a minimum charge; a 40HQ is the efficient unit for anything above about 25 m3 of cartons.
At a glance
| Ports | Ningbo or Shanghai, FOB; CIF and DDP are quoted on request against a destination |
|---|---|
| Container | 20GP about 28 m3 gross, 40HQ about 68 m3 gross; plan 24 m3 and 60 m3 as working numbers |
| LCL | priced by volume with a minimum charge; usually the right answer below about 15-20 m3 |
| Palletising | costs 10-15 per cent of container volume; normal for distributor and retail orders, optional for marketplace |
| Documents | commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading, origin paperwork and a product data sheet per model |
| Freight time | four to six weeks sea from Ningbo or Shanghai to a UK or EU port, plus port handling |
FOB, and why it is the default
- Under FOB the buyer nominates the forwarder and pays the ocean freight, and we deliver the loaded container to the port against that booking. The buyer keeps control of the freight cost and the routing, which is what most importers want on a first order.
- CIF is quoted on request where the buyer would rather have one number delivered to the destination port. DDP is quoted against a specific destination and is a different exercise, because it moves the import declaration to us and is not available for every market.
- The loading plan and the carton list are produced before the container is booked, so the booking is made against a real volume rather than an estimate.
- We load and photograph the container, and the photographs go into the order record with the documents.
LCL or a full container
- LCL is priced by volume with a minimum charge, so a small order of tabletop houses can pay proportionally more in freight than in goods. Below about 15-20 m3 the total is usually lower LCL even at a poor rate per cubic metre.
- A 40HQ is the efficient unit above about 25 m3 of cartons, and it is the only unit that makes the large band sensible: at 0.10-0.25 m3 per carton, a mixed order of large houses reaches container volume quickly.
- A 20GP is worth costing on a single-model tabletop order where the cube is between 15 and 28 m3 and the weight is low; it is cheaper to book than a 40HQ but the volume ceiling is low.
- Consolidation with other suppliers at the same port is common for a first order; the loading plan still has to be carton-specific, because a consolidated container is loaded by carton, not by supplier.
Packing, pallets and the destination
- Palletising costs 10-15 per cent of container volume and protects the carton corners and the unloading time. A distributor order is usually palletised; a single-SKU marketplace order is often floor-loaded and carton-counted.
- Carton grade, corner protection and internal blocking are the three things that decide whether a house arrives intact. They are specified per model, not chosen at the last minute.
- The destination delivery terms matter as much as the port: a 12 kg carton is a two-person parcel, a 25 kg carton is not, and a large house is a freight delivery rather than a courier one.
- Returns and damage in a marketplace channel are the buyer's cost, so a drop check before the container is loaded is cheaper than a claim after it lands.
The document pack
- Commercial invoice, packing list and bill of lading travel with every shipment, plus origin paperwork and a product data sheet per model with material, size, age grade and carton data.
- The product data sheet is the document an import file needs and the one most often missing from a shipment; it is prepared per model against the catalogue record.
- Test reports are released per model and per market where they exist. Where they do not exist, the order record says so before production rather than after the container is on the water.
- The import declaration and the conformity documents for the destination market remain the buyer's responsibility as importer of record.
FAQ
What shipping terms do you offer?
FOB Ningbo or Shanghai as standard, which keeps the ocean freight with the buyer and the loading with us. CIF and DDP are quoted on request against a specific destination; DDP in particular depends on the market and the buyer's registration position, and it moves the import declaration to us, so it is not available everywhere. The shipping term is quoted with the goods rather than assumed, and the port and the forwarder are confirmed before the container is booked.
Is LCL worth it for a small dollhouse order?
Below about 15-20 m3 of cartons, usually yes, even at a poor rate per cubic metre, because LCL avoids paying for a container that is mostly air. Above that the LCL rate starts to lose to a full 20GP or 40HQ. The calculation is carton-driven: sum the cartons, apply the 3-5 per cent pallet allowance if the load is palletised, and compare the total volume against the working container volumes of 24 m3 for a 20GP and 60 m3 for a 40HQ. We produce that comparison with the quotation for the model list you send.
Who handles customs and delivery at my end?
The buyer, as importer of record, handles the import declaration and the destination delivery; the forwarder the buyer nominates handles the ocean leg and the port handling. We deliver the loaded container to the port against that booking and provide the document pack the forwarder and the customs broker need. For a first order, it is worth asking the forwarder what the destination charges will be before the container is booked, because they are often larger than the freight and they are the buyer's cost either way.
Send the destination and the volume
Tell us the market, the forwarder and the carton list; we return the FOB quote, the loading plan and the documents.