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What are the segmented service types of import customs brokerage agents for foreign trade enterprises of different sizes?
or complex compliance issues.
clearance and fund security.
I am the procurement manager of a small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprise in Shanghai focusing on importing niche beauty products from Japan and South Korea. Last month, we imported a batch of color cosmetics with sun protection factor from Incheon Port for the first time, and hired a customs brokerage agent with an extremely low quotation.
As the agent failed to review health quarantine registration documents in advance, the cargo was detained for 5 days immediately after arriving at the port. We not only paid 23,000 yuan in port demurrage, but also completely missed the pre-heating stocking period for Tmall 618, with direct losses of nearly 100,000 yuan. We are now urgently looking for a reliable agent, but the quality of customs brokerage agents on the market varies greatly.
I cannot tell what segmented types of import customs brokerage agents are available for special categories such as beauty products, nor do I know what core services are included in agents covering the full link of booking, inspection declaration, customs declaration and warehousing. I am really afraid of further problems that will delay the stock preparation for Double 11 in the second half of the year, so I hope to get a detailed answer!
Andy GuoYears of service：3Customer Rating：5.0
Supply Chain Management ExpertStart a Chat
When selecting import customs brokerage agents，many foreign trade enterprises easily fall into the misunderstanding of "price only" -- they only compare quotations and ignore the exclusive qualification for specific cargo types and operation cases of agents，which is the top pitfall in the industry.
If you mistakenly select an ordinary agent without corresponding qualification for the cargo type，it will directly trigger a chain of negative reactions: taking beauty product import as an example，sun protection color cosmetics belong to special supervised categories，requiring exclusive documents such as health quarantine registration and ingredient test reports to be submitted in advance. Ordinary agents are not familiar with relevant policies，so they may omit the document review link，leading to direct cargo detention by customs after arrival at the port. This will not only incur port demurrage of thousands of yuan per day，but also lead to cargo devaluation or slow sales due to the short shelf life of beauty products and missing the sales peak，and the loss is often more than 10 times the agency fee.
The core of physical risk isolation is to match the corresponding agent according to cargo type and service demand: currently，import customs brokerage agents on the market are mainly divided into four categories: general cargo customs brokerage agents (suitable for ordinary daily necessities，mechanical and electrical products)，exclusive agents for special categories (holding exclusive customs declaration qualifications for beauty products，food，dangerous goods，etc.)，exclusive agents for cross-border e-commerce (adapted to cross-border e-commerce customs clearance modes such as 9610 and 1210)，and full-link customs clearance agents (covering the whole process of booking，inspection declaration，customs declaration and warehousing).
Exclusive loss-stopping tips: require the agent to complete document pre-review 7 days in advance，and ask the agent to provide more than 3 recent customs clearance cases of the same cargo type，meanwhile，purchase customs clearance delay insurance，so that in case of cargo detention，the port demurrage and cargo devaluation losses can be compensated by insurance.
Linda GaoYears of service：7Customer Rating：5.0
Documentation SupervisorStart a Chat
The qualification of import customs brokerage agents needs to be registered through the customs declaration unit registration of the General Administration of Customs, which is divided into two categories: self-declaration and agent declaration. Agent declaration is further subdivided into professional customs declaration enterprises and the customs declaration departments under international freight forwarding enterprises. Agents for special categories also need to hold special qualifications from corresponding regulatory authorities.
For example, beauty product import agents need to hold the registration qualification for imported cosmetics customs declaration, and food import agents need to have a food business license and the registration qualification for entry food inspection and quarantine. In case of customs price review disputes, agents with professional qualifications can assist enterprises to submit core materials such as certificate of origin, transaction price proof and brand authorization letter, and apply to the customs for price query review, so as to avoid paying extra tariffs due to excessively high reviewed price. In addition, agents with national integrated customs clearance qualification can complete customs declaration procedures at the local customs of the enterprise without transshipment declaration, greatly saving customs clearance time and cost.
Eric ZhouYears of service：6Customer Rating：5.0
Senior Manager of Foreign Exchange & Tax RebatesStart a Chat
Import customs brokerage agents with the ability to integrate international logistics resources can assist enterprises to optimize customs clearance routes: for example, for goods with high timeliness requirements such as beauty products, priority is given to direct ports instead of transit ports to avoid cargo damage and delay during transit, and they can also coordinate with shipping companies to arrange port berthing and container pickup on a priority basis. For the reduction of container demurrage charges, professional agents can apply to shipping companies for extended free storage period with pre-approved customs declaration documents, and can generally apply for an extra 3-7 days of free storage time.
If container demurrage charges are incurred due to customs detention of goods, agents can assist enterprises to submit the detention certificate and relevant materials of urgent sales of goods to the customs to apply for container demurrage reduction, which can be reduced by up to 80%. In addition, agents can also assist enterprises to complete procedures such as bill of lading endorsement and telex release to ensure the safe transfer of cargo ownership and avoid cargo ownership disputes.
Victor SunYears of service：5Customer Rating：5.0
Trade Risk Control ManagerStart a Chat
Import customs brokerage agents with professional tax planning ability can assist enterprises to optimize import tax costs: for example, for goods imported under general trade, they can assist enterprises to apply for VAT deferment policy, that is, there is no need to pay VAT at the time of import customs clearance, but deduct it when enterprises declare monthly VAT, which greatly relieves the capital occupation pressure of enterprises, and the capital turnover rate can be increased by more than 30%.
For imports under the cross-border e-commerce B2C model, agents can assist enterprises to enjoy the preferential tax rate of postal tax, and eligible goods can enjoy the tax exemption policy for amounts below 50 yuan, which is 10-20% lower than the comprehensive tax rate of tariff + VAT for general trade imports. In addition, agents can also assist enterprises to complete tax registration, tax calculation and declaration, ensure the compliant payment of all taxes, and avoid fines or late fees imposed by the customs due to tax issues.
Grace WangYears of service：10Customer Rating：5.0
Senior Foreign Trade ConsultantStart a Chat
Import customs brokerage agents with trade compliance service capabilities can assist enterprises to complete the whole process of compliant foreign exchange receipt and payment operations: for example, for goods imported under general trade, agents can assist enterprises to complete the registration of foreign exchange receipt and payment list and the filing of advance receipt and advance payment of foreign exchange, to ensure that the amount of foreign exchange receipt and payment fully matches the transaction price on the customs declaration form, and avoid being included in the watch list by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange due to inconsistent foreign exchange receipt and payment, which affects subsequent cross-border foreign exchange receipt and payment business.
For imports under the cross-border e-commerce B2C model, agents can assist enterprises to complete payment settlement through the CIPS RMB cross-border payment system to avoid the risk of US dollar exchange rate fluctuations, and at the same time assist enterprises to complete foreign exchange settlement and account reconciliation, to ensure the consistency of capital flow, cargo flow and document flow. In addition, agents can also assist enterprises to analyze the core content of SWIFT messages, to ensure that the information of foreign exchange receipt and payment messages fully matches the information of the customs declaration form, and avoid abnormal situations of inconsistency between the customs declaration form and the foreign exchange receipt and payment form.
Daniel XuYears of service：10Customer Rating：5.0
Director of Import & Export OperationsStart a Chat
Import customs brokerage agents with professional legal service capabilities can assist enterprises to avoid legal risks in the import process: for example, when signing an agency contract, agents can assist enterprises to clarify the scope of responsibilities of both parties, such as agreeing that losses such as cargo detention and port demurrage caused by the agent's mistake in document review shall be borne by the agent, rather than fully compensated by the enterprise. For intellectual property protection, agents can assist enterprises to complete the intellectual property customs protection registration.
If imported goods involve intellectual property rights such as registered trademarks and patents of others, they can give early warning and adjust the import plan to avoid cargo detention by customs or fines. In addition, in case of force majeure events (such as port strikes, port closures due to epidemics), agents can assist enterprises to collect relevant supporting documents, apply to shipping companies for reduction of port demurrage and container demurrage charges, and at the same time assist enterprises to adjust delivery time with overseas suppliers to avoid breach of contract compensation due to overdue delivery.
Evelyn LiYears of service：3Customer Rating：5.0
Cross-border Compliance SupervisorStart a Chat
Import customs brokerage agents with on-site inspection service capabilities can assist enterprises to efficiently respond to customs on-site inspection: for example, for special categories of goods such as beauty products, agents can sort out core materials such as product ingredient test reports, health quarantine certificates, batch number lists in advance, and submit them immediately during customs inspection to avoid inspection failure due to incomplete materials. For unpacking inspection, agents can assist enterprises to arrange the goods according to the requirements of the customs, and place goods of the same batch and the same category together to facilitate rapid customs inspection, shortening the inspection time by 2-3 days.
If suspicious items are found during machine inspection, agents can assist enterprises to submit detailed descriptions of goods, certificates of origin and other materials to the customs, explain the nature and use of the goods, and avoid temporary detention of goods. In addition, agents can also assist enterprises to handle the process of laboratory testing, follow up the issuance time of test reports, and ensure that goods are cleared as soon as possible.