How to get a China to USA shipping quote in Claude

Add the Plain Freight connector to Claude

There are two ways in, and both end with the same connector.

• From the directory: open the Plain Freight listing at https://claude.ai/directory/connectors/plain-freight and connect it, or search for Plain Freight under Connectors in Claude. If the listing does not open for your account, use the next route.
• As a custom connector on claude.ai or Claude Desktop: open Customize (or Settings), then Connectors, then Add custom connector. Name it Plain Freight, paste https://plainfreight.com/api/mcp as the URL, and leave authentication off, because the server needs none.
• On the Claude mobile app: add the connector on the web or on desktop first. Once it is added there, it also shows up in the mobile app.
• In Claude Code: run claude mcp add --transport http plainfreight https://plainfreight.com/api/mcp once. It registers the server under the name plainfreight.

In a chat, switch the connector on from the tools menu. By default Claude asks for your approval before each tool call, so you see which tool it wants to use before anything runs. If the prompts get in the way, choose Always allow for the tools you trust.

The same URL works as a custom connector in other MCP clients too, so nothing here ties you to one app. Plain Freight is also an app in ChatGPT, set up differently: see how to get a China to USA shipping quote in ChatGPT.

The five tools, and which ones record anything

You never call a tool by name. You ask a question, and Claude picks the tool. It still helps to know what sits behind the answer, mostly so you know when something is saved on our side.

So four of the five only read. The one that writes is generate_offer, and it writes a quote request, not a booking. No tool books or charges anything.

Start with a rough price

If you are still comparing suppliers or deciding how many units to order, ask for an estimate. Something like: "Roughly what would it cost to ship 45 kg of canvas tote bags from Guangzhou to a ZIP code in Ohio?"

The only thing the estimate needs is the total weight. The product and the carton sizes (or the total volume in cubic meters) are optional, and they make the figure better. With carton sizes Claude can report the chargeable weight, which is the greater of the actual weight and the carton volume in cubic centimeters divided by 6,000. For light, bulky goods that second number is the one that sets the price, as our chargeable weight reference shows with worked cartons.

The estimate comes back with an air price, and a sea price as well once the chargeable weight reaches 10 kg. Each line carries a transit estimate and says whether US import duty is inside the price. It also carries the date our pricing engine produced the figures. If you gave no carton sizes, the estimate assumes densely packed goods and says so, because volume could raise it.

Two limits are worth knowing. Goods that need a person's review get no figure from this tool. And an estimate is not an offer: the exact ZIP code, the pickup city and the cartons can move the price. For the same numbers as a table, without Claude, see our price index or the pricing page.

Check the goods before you ask for a price

Some products cannot be priced by a machine alone. Ask Claude directly: "Can Plain Freight ship rechargeable hand warmers from China, or does someone look at them first?"

The answer is one of three verdicts. General goods are priced at once. Goods carrying a brand or trademark are also priced at once, on the rate that applies to them. And some goods are reviewed by a person before any price is shown: batteries and goods with a battery inside, chemicals and aerosols, food, supplements and cosmetics, seeds and plants, vapes, and weapon-like items. For those, the answer lists what to have ready, for example the battery type and the supplier's safety data sheet.

This check applies the same goods screen our offers use, so it predicts what an offer will do with the same description. It is not legal or customs advice. For the rules behind the screen, read which certifications US imports need and, for anything with a cell inside, shipping electronics from China.

Ask for the real offer

When the order is real, say so and give the details in one message: "Get me a real offer from Plain Freight for 8 cartons of stainless steel water bottles, 95 kg in total, each carton 50x40x40 cm, picked up in Yiwu, delivered to ZIP 78701."

• Required: what the product is, and the total weight in kilograms. We ship 100 g to 2,000 kg from a China warehouse to any US address.
• Worth adding: the number of cartons and their size, the pickup city in China, the US ZIP code, and how urgent it is.
• Optional: your email address and name. If you give an email, the written offer is mailed there once the second check settles, at most one offer email per address per day. If you give none, nothing is mailed.
• Optional notes: an HS code, Amazon FBA requirements, delivery constraints or certifications you already hold.

The offer shows door to door prices in US dollars. Each option covers freight, US customs clearance and delivery, and says whether US import duty is included or paid at import. Door to door air (up to about 35 kg of general goods, 6 to 12 working days) and sea (28 to 32 days) carry the duty inside the price; heavier air loads fly as air consolidation, where the duty is paid at import. The difference is explained in DDP shipping from China, and the choice between the two modes in air vs sea freight.

Each request for a real offer records a separate quote request with us. That is the only trace the conversation leaves on our side.

What the offer card shows

In Claude the offer is drawn as a card inside the chat, not as a wall of text. From top to bottom it holds:

• The product, the declared weight, the chargeable weight when it is higher than the declared one, the cartons and the destination ZIP code.
• One box per option with its name, its price and its transit time. An option that is still an estimate is marked as confirmed before booking, and an option with duty inside the price is marked Duties included. Under that sits a line saying what the price covers.
• A note that the price is based on chargeable weight, and how many days the offer is valid.
• A line saying a second check is running, while it runs.
• Any questions whose answers can change the price.
• A Book with Plain Freight button and the first characters of the quote reference.

The second check starts right after the offer and runs for a few seconds. It looks at volumetric weight, goods classification and certifications. It can come back with questions, or it can hold the prices because the goods need a person. In that case the card drops the prices and says a person checks these goods first, and we follow up by email. You can also ask Claude "has the check on that offer finished?" and it reads the result by the quote reference.

After the offer: how booking works

Nothing is booked or charged from a chat. There are three ways to go ahead: press the booking button on the card, which opens the quote form on plainfreight.com already filled with your shipment and quote reference; reply to the offer email, if you asked for one; or write to info@plainfreight.com and mention the quote reference.

Nothing is paid before the goods are weighed at the warehouse. If you would rather not use Claude at all for this step, the quote form on our home page asks the same questions, and how to choose a freight forwarder lists what to compare before you commit to anyone, us included.

Track a booked shipment in the same chat

After booking you receive a tracking link by email. Paste it into Claude with a question such as "where is my shipment?" and the tracking tool reads the record. The link itself is the credential, so only someone you shared it with can read it.

The tracking card shows the shipment reference and current status, a 10-step progress bar from Booking to Delivered with the stage you are on and the next one, the route, the goods and the weight, the latest dated events, and an Open full tracking record button that leads to the full page on our site.

You can try this before you ship anything. We keep a public demo record at https://plainfreight.com/track/ccbd92bd158325e0b25c8ad1209d2abe, and the record is labelled as a demo shipment, not a real customer's order. The tool cannot change a booking; changes go by email to info@plainfreight.com with the shipment reference. The dashboard and tracking pages behind that link are described on what is new at Plain Freight.