Blogs.
Written by the people who actually run the warehouses. Freight costs, 3PL quotes that hide margin, packing that fails on certain product categories, supplier negotiations, and what changes the day you stop dropshipping and start holding inventory.
A battery built into the product is the easy case. A power bank counts as a battery on its own, and that changes which lines will take it.
A stock sample runs $0 to $30 plus $15 to $60 by courier. A custom one, $50 to $200. Ask before paying and the fee can come off the order.
The €2 EU handling fee starts 1 November on top of the €3 duty. Shipping lines start charging it on parcels from 26 October.
A printed insert costs cents and weighs a few grams. A mailer box can double the weight a line bills you for.
Parcels to Mexico took a median 15.2 days from the first scan, 3 more than the US. The last leg inside Mexico took under 2.
Every Chinese company has an 18-character registration code, and its last character catches a made-up number before you look it up.
WanbExpress parcels to the US took a median 9 days from the sorting centre scan to the door, and 9 in 10 arrived within 13.
1688 listings often look cheaper, but the gap shrinks once tax, delivery in China and an agent's fee are added.
Parcels took a median 10 days to the Northeast and 13 to the Mountain states. The gap opens after the US carrier takes over.
Yanwen parcels to the US took a median 8.6 days from Yanwen's pickup scan to the door, and 9 in 10 arrived within 12.
About 1 in 120 parcels stopped short of a delivered scan after the carrier had them. On a $40 order that is cents per order, not dollars.
Counted from the order, 9 in 10 parcels arrived within 18 days to Canada, 22 to the US and 24 to Australia. That is the number to write.
YunExpress parcels to the US took a median 11.0 days from first scan to door. To Australia, the slowest 1 in 10 took over 3 weeks.
Medians ran 11.2 to 12.2 days on frontier lines. The slowest 1 in 10 Australian parcels took about 5 days longer than Canada's.
US orders shipped direct from China took a median 13 days from order to door. From a US shelf, the USPS standard is 2 to 5 business days.
By the inspection standard's own maths, a 500-unit batch where 1 in 20 units is defective still passes about 3 times in 4.
A 1 lb return to China costs $22 to $29 at USPS prices, a quarter to a third of the median US order, before anyone checks the item.
About 1 in 220 parcels hit an address problem, and only 58% of those still arrived. Most can be caught before the label prints.
A "7 to 14 days" promise held for 57% of US orders. Here is the number to put in each rate name, measured by country.
Medians ran from 10.1 days to the Netherlands to 14.0 to Ireland. The days in China are the same everywhere; the last mile is not.
86% of orders had a first carrier scan within 2 days. If yours take longer, that is the first sign to check, before price.
97.9% of parcels reached a delivered scan, but 4 in 10 of those still had none on day 14, the day before a card dispute can open.
Measured on the same parcels, the median read 8.3 days at day 10 and 11.3 days once every parcel had landed.
After most scans, 9 in 10 parcels get their next update within 2 days. Measured status by status, with the point to act.
Last year about 9 in 10 US orders placed by 30 November arrived by Christmas Eve. Of those placed 8 to 14 December, 1 in 4 did.
Italy's €2 fee is per parcel and now starts 1 December, on top of the EU's €5 per product line. What each country adds to an order.
What the €2 handling fee (from 1 November) and the €3 duty (since 1 July) add to an order from China, with worked examples.