I'm an office administrator for a 140-person company. I manage freight ordering—about $220,000 annually across three forwarders—and I report to both operations and finance. When I took over purchasing in 2020, I thought picking a freight forwarder was mostly about comparing ocean freight rates. It's not. The rate is one line in a longer document.
If you're an admin buyer, ops coordinator, or first-time importer trying to move cargo from China to the USA, Canada, Europe, or the UK, this checklist is for you. It's the process I use before I hand a new forwarder a real shipment. Seven steps. No theory.
Who this checklist is for
Use it when you're vetting a new China freight forwarder, switching a freight forwarding company, or adding a lane like shipping from China to Canada. It also works for FCL shipping from China, LCL shipping from China, FBA shipping from China, air freight from China, and heavy equipment shipping from China. I last updated it in April 2026.
The goal isn't to find the cheapest quote. It's to find the quote you can defend to finance when the invoice lands.
The 7-step checklist
Step 1: Write down the shipment profile before you ask for rates
Most bad quotes start with a bad request. Before I email any forwarder, I put this in one paragraph: lane, mode, cargo type, piece count, dimensions, gross weight, pickup address, delivery address, target ship date, and Incoterms 2020 term. If it's FCL shipping from China, I add container size and whether it's SOC or carrier-owned. If it's LCL shipping from China, I ask whether they consolidate at origin or co-load.
For FBA shipping from China, I include the Amazon fulfillment center code, appointment rules, and label requirements. For heavy equipment shipping from China, I include lifting points, center of gravity, and whether the cargo is roll-on/roll-off or flat-rack. Vague quote requests get vague answers—and vague answers get expensive later.
Step 2: Verify scope, licensing, and who actually touches the cargo
I'm not a customs broker, so I can't speak to HS classification. What I can do from a procurement perspective is ask who is licensed to do what. For US ocean freight, ask whether the forwarder is an NVOCC or uses one, and who files ISF. For Canada, ask how they work with a customs broker and CBSA requirements. For China to UK shipping, ask about EORI and UK customs. For shipping from China to Europe, ask about VAT and importer of record.
A China freight forwarder that says they handle everything may be subcontracting the part that matters. I want the name of the customs broker, the destination agent, and the person who calls me when there's an exception. If they won't name them, that's a signal.
No forwarder can guarantee customs clearance. What you can verify is the exception process.
Step 3: Demand an all-in landed cost breakdown—in writing
This is the step most admin buyers skip. Ask for ocean freight rates or sea freight from China rates separately from origin charges, destination charges, customs clearance, duties and taxes, delivery, documentation, demurrage, detention, and insurance. For DDP shipping from China, ask who is the importer of record and what's included in the DDP price. For door to door shipping from China to USA, ask where their responsibility ends at the final address.
When I compared the lowest quote and the all-in quote side by side—same lane, same container—I finally understood why the details matter so much. The low quote had no destination handling, no customs entry, and a five-day rate validity. It wasn't cheaper. It was incomplete.
I don't have hard data on industry-wide hidden fees, but based on our last three years, the spread between the lowest and highest all-in quote on the same lane is often 15-25%. That's not a reason to pick the highest. It's a reason to compare the same scope.
Step 4: Test responsiveness with a time-boxed quote request
I send the same shipment profile to two or three forwarders and ask for a reply by a specific date. Then I watch what they ask. Do they ask about cargo dimensions? HS code? Delivery appointment? If they don't ask, they're guessing. For shipping cost from China to USA, a quote without dimensions is a placeholder, not a price.
I also ask one follow-up question with a deadline. The forwarder who answers clearly and on time gets the pilot. The one who sends a one-line rate and disappears doesn't. Simple.
Step 5: Check documentation and customs exception workflow
Ask for the document checklist: commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading or air waybill, certificate of origin, and any product-specific certificates. For customs clearance China, ask whether export declaration is included. For US imports, ask about ISF timing. For Canada, ask about CBSA release. For UK, ask about EORI and customs declaration.
Then ask the question that matters: Who calls me if customs holds the shipment? What's the escalation path? What's the cutoff time for documents? I'd rather spend 10 minutes explaining options than deal with mismatched expectations later. This is where customer education pays off—for both sides.
Step 6: Confirm insurance, liability, and claims path
Carrier liability is not cargo insurance. Ask for the insurance certificate, coverage amount, exclusions, and claims timeline. If someone says all cargo is fully insured, I ask for the policy. For heavy equipment shipping from China, I also ask about lifting plan, lashing, and port handling. For dropshipping fulfillment China, I ask about pick-and-pack accuracy, returns, and who owns inventory discrepancies.
They warned me about demurrage on split deliveries. I didn't listen. A late FBA appointment turned into $1,400 in storage and rescheduling fees. Now I check appointment rules before I approve any FBA shipping from China.
Step 7: Run a small pilot and review the invoice against the quote
Don't hand over your whole quarter on a promise. Run a small shipment—one LCL pallet, one air freight from China parcel, or one ocean freight rates test lane. Track milestones: booking confirmation, document receipt, departure, arrival, clearance, delivery. Then compare the final invoice to the written quote line by line.
I set a 30-day review with ops and finance. Did the forwarder communicate? Did the invoice match? Did we get hit with accessorials we didn't expect? If yes, we either fix the process or move on. That's it.
Common mistakes I see—and made
- Comparing only ocean freight rates and ignoring destination charges.
- Using DDP shipping from China without knowing who is the importer of record.
- Forgetting that LCL shipping from China can be slower and more fee-heavy than expected because of CFS and co-loading.
- Assuming a freight forwarding company that handles China to Canada also handles China to UK shipping the same way. Rules differ.
- Not checking invoice capability. In 2022, I found a great price from a new vendor—$900 cheaper than our regular supplier. They couldn't provide a proper invoice, only a handwritten receipt. Finance rejected the expense report. I ate $1,200 out of the department budget. Now I verify invoicing before placing any order.
- Skipping the pilot because we were in a rush. That was the one time the verbal delivery promise got forgotten.
Bottom line
For our China-to-Canada lanes, I put imex through this same checklist. They offer FCL, LCL, FBA, and heavy equipment options—but I still ask for the written breakdown. An informed customer asks better questions and makes faster decisions. That's the whole point.
If you only remember one step, remember Step 3. Get the all-in landed cost breakdown in writing. The rest of the checklist exists to make sure that number is real.