If you are sourcing from a marketplace like Alibaba, freight usually arrives as an offer from the supplier or from a forwarder they recommend. It is genuinely convenient — one counterparty, one invoice — and the convenience is priced in, usually invisibly.
The short answer
Supplier-arranged freight is fine for a first small shipment where simplicity matters more than cost. Beyond that, arranging your own forwarder gives you the freight margin, control of routing and free time, and a provider accountable to you rather than to your supplier. The switch usually pays for itself from about one pallet upward — and it is nearly always worth quoting both.
What you gain and give up
| Supplier-arranged | Your own forwarder | |
|---|---|---|
| Simplicity | High — one counterparty | Lower — two relationships |
| Freight margin | Invisible, inside the quoted price | Visible and competitive |
| Routing and free time | Chosen for them, not you | Yours to negotiate |
| Who the forwarder answers to | The supplier | You |
| Problem escalation | Through the supplier | Direct |
| Document control | Supplier holds the relationship | You do |
That fourth row matters more than the price row. When a shipment goes wrong, a forwarder appointed by your supplier has an incentive structure that is not aligned with yours.
The Incoterm is the real decision
Whether you arrange freight is largely a question of which Incoterm you buy on:
- EXW — you arrange everything including export clearance in a country where you have no standing. Usually the wrong default for a small importer.
- FOB / FCA — the supplier delivers to the port or carrier and clears export; you control the main carriage. The sensible default for a buyer arranging their own freight.
- CIF / CFR — the supplier arranges the ocean leg. Convenient, but you inherit their routing, their free time and a marked-up rate, and under CIF you carry the risk from origin while they hold the insurance policy.
- DDP — everything included to your door. Simple, and priced accordingly; the supplier is importer of record with all the exposure that carries.
Detail in Incoterms 2020 explained and DDP vs DAP vs FOB.
If you use the supplier's forwarder, ask these
- Is the quote all-in to my door, and what specifically is excluded?
- What are the destination charges, in numbers, before I agree?
- How many free days at destination?
- Whose bill of lading do I receive — theirs or the carrier's?
- Can I have the forwarder's company name and licence number?
That last one matters. A named, licensed company you can verify is a different proposition from an unnamed intermediary — the checks are in how to find a verified freight forwarder.
The destination-charge trap
The most common pattern with supplier-arranged freight: a low or even free-looking ocean rate, recovered through destination charges you only see when the cargo has arrived and you have no leverage. Always get destination charges quoted before shipment, in writing, as a number. If nobody will commit to them, that is your answer.
A reasonable approach
Ask your supplier for their delivered price, then get two independent quotes on FOB terms for the same shipment. The comparison takes a day and tells you exactly what the convenience costs. If the gap is small, take the simplicity; if it is not, you have found a recurring saving on every future order. Normalise the comparison using how to compare freight quotes.
Post the shipment as a request to get those independent quotes, or browse forwarders in China directly.
