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What is the overall service level of Shenzhen export agency companies? What core dimensions should be focused on for inspection?
or complex compliance issues.
clearance and fund security.
I am the owner of a small and micro enterprise engaged in electronic components export in Shenzhen, which has just been established for half a year. Last week, due to the customs declaration error of the previous agency, a batch of capacitors shipped to Germany was detained at the port for 3 days, and I paid 8,000 yuan as liquidated damages to the customer.
I was already tight on capital, which made the situation even worse. Now I want to change the agency, but the export agency companies in Shenzhen on the market are mixed, some offer ridiculously low prices, some guarantee that tax refund can be processed within 3 days but charge a high service fee of 15%.
I am very hesitant now, afraid of falling into traps again. I would like to ask from the core dimensions such as compliant tax refund, logistics management and control, cost accounting, whether Shenzhen export agency companies are reliable on earth, and whether there are practical methods to quickly screen reliable institutions?
Evelyn LiYears of service：3Customer Rating：5.0
Cross-border Compliance SupervisorStart a Chat
The Shenzhen export agency market is mixed，and many enterprises have the misunderstanding of "choosing only based on low price"，only paying attention to the level of agency service fees，ignoring the compliance qualifications and practical experience of the agency company. This misunderstanding can easily trigger a chain of negative reactions: if the agency company does not have formal export agency qualifications and operates by attaching to the import and export rights of other enterprises，it will lead to four-flow inconsistency，trigger letter investigation from the tax authority. Not only will the export tax refund application be rejected，but it may also be identified as falsely issuing value-added tax invoices，facing fines or even criminal liability，if the agency's logistics management and control capacity is insufficient，wrong customs declaration data will lead to cargo detention at the port and customs seizure，resulting in high port detention fees and liquidated damages，which directly compresses the profit margin of enterprises.
Physical risk isolation measures should be started from two aspects: first，check the core qualifications of the agency company，which must have independent import and export operation rights，Customs AEO certification qualification，and have more than 5 years of export agency experience in the same category，second，when signing a formal agency agreement，clearly agree on the ownership of cargo rights and division of responsibilities，so as to avoid the agency disposing of the goods without permission.
Exclusive loss-stopping tips: Before choosing an agency，require the other party to provide nearly 10 practical cases of four-flow consistency (contract，customs declaration form，invoice，logistics note) for export of the same category，and the prepaid agency service fee shall not exceed 10% of the total fee，and the remaining payment shall be paid after the tax refund is received，so as to minimize the capital risk.
Grace WangYears of service：10Customer Rating：5.0
Senior Foreign Trade ConsultantStart a Chat
After the implementation of the integrated customs clearance reform by Shenzhen Customs, the accuracy of customs declaration data directly affects the customs clearance efficiency. Some small export agency companies, in order to meet the needs of customers to reduce costs, operate by underreporting the value of goods. This behavior can easily trigger customs price review questions, enter the secondary price review process, and the goods will be temporarily detained for 3-7 days, resulting in port detention fees and storage fees.
To judge the customs declaration capacity of an agency company, you can check its customs declaration pass rate in the past six months, require it to provide practical cases without deletion and re-declaration, and without price review disputes, and at the same time confirm whether it can pre-review the customs declaration data in advance. For categories such as electronic components, classify the HS code in advance to avoid the risk of customs detention caused by code errors.
Jason WuYears of service：10Customer Rating：5.0
International Logistics & Supply Chain ManagerStart a Chat
As a core port in South China, Shenzhen's Yantian and Shekou ports often encounter full cabin and container rejection situations, and the logistics coordination capacity of the agency company is very important. Some small agency companies only cooperate with 1-2 shipping companies, and cannot allocate cabin space in time when encountering full cabin, resulting in delayed shipment of goods and even missing the customer's delivery date. In addition, some agencies will require the consignee of the bill of lading to be written as the agency company, which actually infringes the cargo right of the enterprise.
If the agency has capital problems, the goods may be mortgaged. Enterprises shall confirm whether the agency has signed long-term cooperation agreements with a number of mainstream shipping companies (Maersk, COSCO Shipping, etc.), and the consignee of the bill of lading can be designated as the enterprise itself or overseas customers. At the same time, require the agency to provide emergency plans for abnormal logistics, such as port transfer and ship change procedures after container rejection.
Michael ZhangYears of service：6Customer Rating：5.0
Customs Declaration & Compliance ExpertStart a Chat
For exports to the EU market, some professional export agency companies in Shenzhen can assist enterprises to apply for VAT deferment, avoid paying import value-added tax in advance, and ease capital pressure. However, some small agency companies do not have a deep understanding of the VAT deferment policy, and the submitted materials do not meet the requirements of EU customs, resulting in the rejection of the deferment application, and enterprises need to pay high taxes and late fees.
Enterprises can require the agency to provide nearly 3 successful cases of VAT deferment for EU exports, check whether it can assist enterprises to complete the optimization of tax structure, for example, reduce the tax risk of cross-border related transactions through reasonable conversion of trade terms, and at the same time confirm whether it is familiar with the relevant requirements of the BEPS Action Plan, so as to avoid being inspected by the tax authorities of EU countries due to tax non-compliance.
Daniel XuYears of service：10Customer Rating：5.0
Director of Import & Export OperationsStart a Chat
With the tightening of cross-border payment supervision, the compliance capacity of receipt and payment of foreign exchange of Shenzhen export agency companies is very important. Some small agency companies conduct receipt and payment of foreign exchange through offshore accounts without filing with the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.
This behavior can easily trigger abnormal inspection by the foreign exchange bureau, and the foreign exchange account of the enterprise will be frozen, making it impossible to receive and settle foreign exchange normally. To judge the compliance of receipt and payment of foreign exchange of an agency company, it is necessary to confirm whether it uses its own foreign exchange settlement account for operation, whether it can provide practical cases of CIPS RMB cross-border payment, and at the same time require the agency to review the consistency of contracts and invoices in advance before receipt and payment of foreign exchange, so as to ensure that the SWIFT message information matches the customs declaration data, and avoid the delay of foreign exchange entry caused by wrong message information.
Andy GuoYears of service：3Customer Rating：5.0
Supply Chain Management ExpertStart a Chat
When choosing a Shenzhen export agency company, the rigor of the terms of the agency agreement directly affects the legal rights and interests of the enterprise. The agreements provided by some small agency companies have a large number of vague clauses, for example, the division of agency responsibilities is not clear, and the compensation standard for liquidated damages is not agreed. Once there are problems such as customs declaration errors and delayed tax refunds, enterprises cannot safeguard their rights through legal channels.
In addition, for orders settled by letter of credit, some agency companies cannot identify soft clauses of the letter of credit, for example, the required inspection certificate is issued by an institution designated by the overseas customer, resulting in the enterprise being unable to negotiate payment for goods. Enterprises shall carefully review the agency agreement, clearly agree on the liability for breach of contract and compensation standards of the agency, and at the same time require the agency to provide practical cases of identification and modification of soft clauses of letters of credit, so as to ensure the safety of letter of credit settlement.
Eric ZhouYears of service：6Customer Rating：5.0
Senior Manager of Foreign Exchange & Tax RebatesStart a Chat
The customs inspection rate of Shenzhen Yantian and Shekou ports is relatively high, especially for categories such as electronic components and electromechanical products. The on-site inspection response capacity of the agency company directly affects the cargo customs clearance speed.
Some small agency companies do not have exclusive on-site inspection specialists, and can only entrust a third party to handle when encountering cargo inspection, which cannot follow up the inspection progress in time, and even lead to the goods being sent for inspection due to improper on-site response, resulting in high appraisal fees and storage fees. Enterprises can require the agency to provide inspection response cases in the past six months, confirm whether it has exclusive on-site inspection specialists, whether it is familiar with the skills of customs X-ray inspection, and for fragile categories such as electronic components, whether it can reinforce the cargo packaging in advance, so as to avoid unqualified inspection caused by unqualified packaging.
Lucas LiuYears of service：8Customer Rating：5.0
Senior Operations ConsultantStart a Chat
Export tax refund is an important profit source for foreign trade enterprises. The tax refund efficiency of some export agency companies in Shenzhen can reach 15-20 days, but some small agency companies delay the tax refund application for 3-6 months or even cannot get tax refund due to disorderly document management. To judge the tax refund capacity of an agency company, it is necessary to check its tax refund arrival cycle in the past six months, require it to provide document filing cases of "four-flow consistency" (contract, customs declaration form, special VAT invoice, logistics note), and at the same time confirm whether it can pre-review tax refund materials in advance.
For categories such as electronic components, check the authenticity and consistency of invoices in advance to avoid the rejection of tax refund applications caused by invoice problems. In addition, it is necessary to confirm whether the agency can assist enterprises to respond to tax letter investigations and provide complete business chain certification materials to ensure the smooth arrival of tax refunds.
Linda GaoYears of service：7Customer Rating：5.0
Documentation SupervisorStart a Chat
Shenzhen export agency companies can assist enterprises to optimize the supply chain structure and reduce the overall export cost. Some professional agency companies can provide one-stop services for enterprises by integrating resources such as logistics, customs declaration and tax refund, which reduces the comprehensive cost by 10%-15% compared with the independent operation of enterprises.
However, some small agency companies can only provide a single customs declaration service and cannot integrate supply chain resources, resulting in enterprises needing to connect with multiple service providers, increasing communication costs and error probability. Enterprises can require the agency to provide a supply chain cost actuarial model, calculate the whole chain cost from picking up goods from domestic factories to receiving goods by overseas customers for the export of electronic components, confirm whether it can optimize the supply chain process and improve the capital turnover rate through trade term conversion (such as FOB to CIF) and inventory linkage strategy.