Shipping Household goods to China

[Mel Micic]

I am supposed to be moving to Chengdu in January and I am wondering if anyone has had any experience shipping their household to China.

Were there issues with customs? Were there any items that were not allowed? I am mostly considering shipping clothing, kitchenware, bicycles, and possibly furniture. I am guessing no point in shipping electronics since the electricity standard is different than the one in the US.

Thanks

[AKK]

Hey, me too will be moving to Chengdu in Jan 2012.

Would be appreciating any advice as above as well.

Mel, you gotten your lodging yet?

[benjaminlee]

Is there any particular reason you don’t want to just purchase some of those items here? For sure bring as much clothing as you can. As far as electronics go, just pick up a power converter before you come (or pick it up here) and everything will work fine.

I have no idea how much shipping costs are for all these things but I think it would be cheaper/way more convenient to just buy that stuff here. How long do you plan on staying?

[Brendan]

I’ll be receiving my shipment before the year is out, some 300+kgs sat on a pallet in a warehouse in Canada. I’m flying it out with insurance for around $2000.

I don’t know what your situation or circumstances are, but I’d personally hesitate to bring furniture unless it was a long term move, and I absolutely did not want to let go of or hold in storage those items. I’ve managed to pick up most things I wanted in IKEA, but for the smaller items I have coming like an espresso maker, coffee grinder, etc. I’m bringing out a significant amount of electrical gear too, as picking up a converter means I don’t have to think about replacing anything. I did sell my Plasma, just because I didn’t want to risk seeing it damaged during shipping.

Keep us updated on how you manage.

[Cress]

I’m a pro of this. If you hold a z visa or residence certificate the customs is easy. Also dun forget there is quarantin. If the company if paying for the shipment, you better find a relocation company to do this. If not, then dont even bother to bring bikes or furniture. You can almost get everything here. The apartmnet you rent will mostly come with furnitures and appliances.

[Rick in China]

** Listen to Cress, she did it as a profession 😀

[AKK]

Well, mine isn’t that much furniture or other stuff, just checking how the service is. Wouldn’t be having too much to move either.

Cheers

[Mel Micic]

Updates:

Still waiting to see if I am going or not, no official offer yet, but here is what I have found out so far.

I was quoted by one company a rate of $11 per cubic foot for door to door service, Seattle to Chengdu. Minimum 250 cu-ft, and I am sure after some point it would get cheaper for much larger volume, but this was priced for around 300 cu-ft shipment.

Another company, offered me a wooden box of just under 200 cu-ft and with 1,000 load, and it was for about $4k (a bit steep) also door to door, or a 20 ft container (I think it was over 1,000 cu-ft) and about 3,000 lbs of weight for about $7.5k

Looks like the furniture will be staying behind. but few boxes and couple of bicycles will probably be coming with.

[7]

Hope your shipment goes better than mine has. Apparently the shipping company screwed up & instead of shipping to Chengdu VIA the port in Shanghai they just shipped it TO the port of Shanghai.

[Mel Micic]

That sucks, hope you get it resolved.

Btw, do you care to share some information on the size of shipment and approx cost, and where was it shipped from and the name of shipping company?

[Author]

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