About Plain Freight

Most of our customers are small-volume importers who are not running full containers: Amazon FBA sellers restocking one product line, Shopify DTC brands consolidating a few SKUs, TikTok Shop sellers importing inventory before fulfilling orders domestically, trading companies moving sample orders, and individual buyers importing a single high-value item (a piece of industrial equipment, a custom furniture order, or a specialist component) who need the customs handled correctly the first time.

What these shipments have in common is that they do not fit neatly into the tools large-volume freight operations are built for. A customs broker who handles mostly container freight will not spend time on a 30-kilogram air parcel. A freight app built for de-minimis parcels will not handle formal entry requirements. We are built for the middle: shipments that are too big for a consumer parcel service and too small for a container operation to prioritize.

Shipments range from 100 g parcels to approximately 2,000 kg. Air is the default for small and urgent loads. Sea LCL usually becomes the cheaper lane from about 10 kg, for cargo that can wait roughly 28 to 32 days in transit; sea prices are indicative until we confirm them for your product.

You start with the quote form: what you are shipping, roughly what it weighs, and where in the US it is going. For most goods the all-in price shows on screen in seconds, with a copy in your inbox. Goods that need a closer look, such as lithium batteries, liquids or food, go to a person first. Before the shipment moves we check the commercial invoice and packing list and confirm the HS code and duty rate. The price covers freight, handling, US customs clearance, and delivery to your door or Amazon FBA warehouse, and it says whether the duty is inside it.

Once you approve the quote, we send you our China warehouse address and a carton mark, and your supplier ships the cartons there by domestic courier. The cartons are counted, weighed and measured at our warehouse, you are invoiced on those numbers (if the chargeable weight is within 5 percent of the quote, the quoted price stands), and the shipment leaves once payment has landed. From there we manage the freight, the export documentation, the US customs entry and the duties, and the domestic delivery. We keep you updated at each stage: confirmation when the cargo departs China, tracking through clearance, and notification when delivery is complete.

If there are any issues at customs, such as an examination request, a hold, or a request for additional documents, we handle it. If the duty rate turns out to be different from what we quoted because of a reclassification or a new tariff, we tell you before the goods move, not after. No surprises after delivery.

Most freight quotes are not really quotes. They are estimates for the freight portion alone, with duties, broker fees, exam fees, port fees, and delivery costs invoiced separately after the goods land. For a first-time importer or a small business managing cash flow tightly, a shipment that was quoted at $400 can arrive with a $700 bill. That is not a freight cost problem. It is a visibility problem.

Plain pricing means the number we give you before anything moves is the number you pay for the shipment you described. On a delivered duty paid quote we include the duties by calculating them from the actual HS code and declared value. We include the customs clearance fees because we arrange the clearance. We include delivery because the shipment is not done until the goods are at your door. If something changes, such as a tariff update, a reclassification, or a surcharge, we tell you before the goods move so you can decide whether to proceed.

For small importers, this predictability is worth more than a slightly lower headline rate with unknown downstream costs. You can set your product pricing, manage your inventory budget, and plan your next order without waiting to see what the final logistics bill looks like. That is why we built the service this way, and it is the one thing we will not compromise on.