1688 shipping to Singapore for business: consolidate by the CBM

1Who this is for, and who it is not for

This guide is for a Singapore business buying stock on 1688: cartons of product for a shop or online store, packaging, fittings for a café, components for a workshop. You are buying from one supplier or several, in cartons or pallets, and you want the whole order to arrive together, cleared, at your premises. If the order is tables, chairs and shelving for a fit-out, the furniture shipping guide covers the packing and delivery side.

It is not for a single small parcel. We are a freight forwarder: our sea LCL service starts at 1 CBM and our air service at 10 kg. One box from one seller is a job for a parcel forwarder or a courier. If your order is a few cartons or more, or you are combining several suppliers, read on. The pillar guide to shipping from China to Singapore covers the modes in general; this page is about the 1688 workflow.

Buying for a home rather than a business, from Taobao or several small shops? The Taobao consolidated shipping guide covers that, through the same hub at the same rate. If you would rather we dealt with the sellers or your supplier for you, see our 1688 buying agent service.

2Why most 1688 sellers will not ship to Singapore

1688 is Alibaba's domestic wholesale marketplace. Its sellers are set up to deliver by domestic express to a Chinese address, and that is what their prices assume. Many offer no international shipping at all; those who do are often quoting courier rates that make the purchase pointless. The seller is not the problem. The route is.

The fix is to give every supplier a Chinese address to deliver to. Our consolidation hub in Foshan, Guangdong exists for exactly this. Your suppliers ship domestically, which they are happy to do and which costs very little; we receive the cartons, hold them until the order is complete and move the lot to Singapore as one shipment. Copy the Chinese address exactly as written, because that is what the domestic courier reads, and put the marking code from your booking confirmation in the recipient name. On a courier parcel, the label is often the only marking we see.

Receiving hours at the hub are Mon–Sat, 8:00am – 5:00pm, except public holidays. Departures run Monday to Saturday, and cargo received on a working day leaves the next working day; the cut-off is 5:00pm the working day before. Tell suppliers to deliver within receiving hours, or the courier will attempt delivery to a closed door and try again the next day.

3Consolidating several suppliers into one shipment

Most 1688 orders for a business involve more than one seller: the product from one, the packaging from another, a display stand from a third. Each delivers to the hub with the same marking code on its cartons; one that will not deliver can be collected by our China domestic delivery service. We log every carton as it arrives and tell you what is in and what is still missing. When the last carton lands, we pack everything into one consignment with one CBM figure, one price, one import permit and one delivery in Singapore. GST is collected once, on the combined value.

Storage at the hub is free for 5 days. After that it is S$20 per CBM per day. The free window is there to absorb the normal gap between suppliers, not to warehouse stock. Consolidation itself is included in the sea LCL rate; you pay per shipment, not per supplier.

4Packing-list discipline: the habit that saves you money

Sea LCL is priced by volume, or by weight for heavy goods at 500 kg per CBM, so carton dimensions and weights decide your freight bill, and the packing list is the document everything is checked against. Before you pay a 1688 supplier, ask for the carton count, the outer dimensions of each carton and the gross weights. Sellers will provide these if asked; they are far less forthcoming after the goods have shipped.

• Get the packing list first. Put the dimensions into the CBM calculator and you have your indicative freight before the order is placed.
• Mark every carton. Your booking confirmation gives you a marking code: WHL/SHIPLET/ followed by five characters. Ask each supplier to write it on the outside of every carton with the carton number (1/20, 2/20 and so on). A hub receiving cartons from hundreds of sellers cannot otherwise tell whose cargo is whose.
• One code per order. The code is for that booking only, and your next booking gets a new one, so book before your suppliers dispatch and brief them again for each order.
• We count on arrival. Every carton is counted against the packing list. If the numbers do not match, we tell you before it sails, not after, while the supplier is still reachable.
• We do not open cartons unless you ask.

5Documents: what Singapore Customs needs

• Commercial invoice showing the seller, a plain description of the goods, the quantity, the unit price and the total value actually paid. This is what Singapore Customs assesses GST on. A 1688 order screenshot is accepted if it shows those things clearly.
• Packing list showing carton count, dimensions and weights. This is what we check the cargo against at the hub.

Declare the real value. Under-declared invoices delay clearance, and if anything is lost the claim is settled at the declared figure. The GST and customs clearance guide explains how the permit is lodged and what a Registered Declaring Agent does.

Two guides go deeper on the paperwork: what the commercial invoice and packing list must show, with a filled-in example, and Incoterms when buying from China, for when a supplier quotes EXW, FOB or DDP. Every item on the permit is declared under an HS code; the HS code guide explains it, and we help you find yours.

6What it costs: sea LCL by the CBM, with a worked example

Sea LCL from the Foshan hub to your Singapore door is S$82 per CBM, minimum 1 CBM. The rate includes receiving and carton check at the hub, consolidation, sea freight, the Singapore import permit and customs clearance, delivery to your address, cargo cover at declared invoice value and 5 days' storage. Excluded are GST and any duty, the supplier's domestic delivery to the hub, storage beyond the free days and special handling such as stairs or timed delivery. Transit is 10–14 days hub to door.

A worked example. A supplier sends 20 cartons of garments, each 60 × 40 × 40 cm. One carton is 0.6 × 0.4 × 0.4 = 0.096 CBM, so 20 cartons come to 1.92 CBM and the freight is 1.92 multiplied by S$82. Add a second supplier's 10 cartons of hangers at 40 × 30 × 30 cm, 0.036 CBM each or 0.36 CBM in total, and the consolidated shipment is 2.28 CBM, priced as 2.28 multiplied by S$82. The second supplier added a small increment rather than a second shipping bill, which is the point of consolidation. A mixed order below 1 CBM is billed at the minimum.

Rates are indicative until they are on your confirmed quote. FCL is quoted per booking because carrier rates move weekly. You pay when your cargo reaches Singapore, before we deliver it, by PayNow or bank transfer, with no deposit and no card details.

7GST on 1688 imports

Singapore charges GST at 9% on the import, calculated on the value of the goods plus freight and insurance, plus duty if any. By sea it applies whatever the size of the shipment; by air, a shipment valued below S$400 is not charged GST. We lodge the permit as Registered Declaring Agent, pay the GST at clearance and pass it through at cost as a separate line on your invoice, payable with the freight when your cargo reaches Singapore, before delivery. Ordinary 1688 stock is duty-free but GST-liable. By default our company is the importer on the permit, at no extra cost, so the GST is a cost to you. If your business is GST-registered in Singapore and wants to claim the GST back as input tax, choose your own company as importer when you book; it costs extra, as the pricing page sets out, and whether you can claim depends on your registration and the use of the goods, so check with IRAS or your accountant.

8What to ask your 1688 supplier before paying

9Timing suppliers so the order sails together

The transit clock starts when the last carton arrives, because we ship your order as one consignment. Ask each supplier for their dispatch date and domestic transit time, then place the slow ones first, so the last carton lands within a few days of the first and inside the 5-day free window. If one supplier is badly late, tell us and we will work out with you whether to wait or to ship what has arrived; the 1 CBM minimum applies to each shipment.

Around Chinese New Year, factories and domestic couriers close for a week or more and the weeks either side are congested. Order early; we publish each year's cut-offs under Updates.

10Air for urgent samples and small first orders

If you need a sample run in Singapore this week before committing to a production order, air is the fit. Air freight is from S$6.50 per kg on chargeable weight, the greater of actual weight and volumetric weight (length × width × height in cm ÷ 6000), with a 10 kg minimum, and takes 3–5 days hub to door. Air cargo goes to our air freight warehouse in Shenzhen rather than the Foshan hub, with the same receiving hours; the permit, clearance and payment on arrival in Singapore are the same as for sea. Samples of electronics often contain batteries, which is where air carriers are strictest, so tell us what the sample is before the supplier sends it.

Ready to consolidate? Tell us how many suppliers and roughly the volume, and get an instant quote with sea LCL pre-selected. The instant quote appears as you type, you receive a reference number immediately, and the confirmed quote follows in writing within a few hours. Nothing is booked and nothing is payable until you confirm.