How do you ship from China to the US: express, air cargo or sea?

A sample or a few pieces go by express or by mail: fast, and priced per parcel. A batch goes by air cargo, or by sea when it is heavy and can wait. Since every shipment now pays US duties and its own customs fee, the fewer shipments, the better. Rabbit buys on 1688, lists the shipping lines for your parcel and bills the one you pick.

By Hussayn Delli, founder of Rabbit · Updated November 9, 2026.

What the end of de minimis changed, with a worked example of 100 parcels against one batch: the end of de minimis for US resellers. This page is about choosing how your goods travel.

What are the ways to ship from China to the US?

• Mail. A parcel handed to the postal service. For one light piece.
• Express. A courier parcel, door to door. For a sample or a few pieces, when time matters.
• Air cargo. A batch flown as freight, then delivered to you. For a batch that is too heavy for express.
• Sea. A batch by ship. For heavy or bulky goods that can wait.

Rabbit calls a line “express” only if its longest delivery time is 15 days or less. A slower line that flies is an “economy line”, never express.

What each shipment pays at US customs

Every shipment from China pays its duties, whatever its value: the de minimis exemption is suspended. On top of the duties, CBP charges a fee per shipment, and it depends on the mode. Since October 1, 2026:

Above $2,500.00 of value, a shipment needs a formal entry, and its processing fee is calculated on its value: at least $34.58, at most $670.86. The duties themselves follow the product’s code in the US tariff schedule, not the mode: how to find the HTS code of your product.

What makes express, air cargo and sea different?

• Weight. Express and mail are made for parcels; a heavy batch moves to freight lines. Rabbit doesn’t rank the modes once and for all: the cheapest line changes with the product, the quantity and the country, so it compares the lines for your parcel.
• Size. By air, a light but bulky box is often billed on its volume, not its weight. When the volume sets your shipping price, Rabbit’s quote says so; when the scale does, it doesn’t pretend otherwise.
• Time. Each line comes with the delivery time its carrier gives. It is not a firm commitment: customs and logistics can stretch it.
• Duties. Some lines include the import duties in their price: nothing to pay when the parcel arrives. Others don’t: the duties are paid at delivery. Which one costs less in the end: DDP or DDU.

Which mode should you use for a sample, and which for a batch?

For a sample, speed is the point: you are waiting for it to make a decision. For a batch, the cost per piece is the point, and one shipment pays one customs fee instead of one per parcel. That is why Rabbit offers no sea line for a sample of up to 3 pieces, unless no other line can carry that parcel.

How does Rabbit show you the shipping options?

With a US account, Rabbit quotes delivery to the US. For your parcel, at your quantity, it lists the lines that differ in something that matters: cheaper, faster, or with nothing to pay at delivery. A line is left out when another line of the same kind is at least as fast and costs about the same or less. A duties-paid line also pushes out a line without duties that arrives at most one day sooner and costs about as much, or more. The list is sorted by price, and each line shows its price, its delivery time and whether duties are included.

Each line is named by its type: “Sea freight”, “Duties-paid line”, “Express line” or “Economy line”. Rabbit names the company that delivers only when it is sure of it; otherwise the carrier comes with your tracking number.

Which line does Rabbit bill?

The one you picked. Rabbit finds your choice again in the list it recalculates for your parcel; it never takes a price sent by your browser. If the line no longer exists, Rabbit tells you and you pick again. The delivery time on your quote is the one of the line you pay for, never another’s.

When do you pay for shipping?

• Up to 3 pieces. Shipping is in your quote, and you pay it with the order. The quote is a ceiling: when the parcel is weighed, a lower cost is refunded, a higher one is paid by Rabbit.
• More than 3 pieces. You pay the goods when you order. The batch is bought, then weighed and measured at Rabbit’s warehouse in China, and its delivery is priced on the real parcel. You pay it then, never more than the maximum shown in your quote; above it, Rabbit pays the difference. The delivery time runs from that payment. Storage is free for 30 days, and Rabbit extends it at its own cost for 21 more days while your batch waits for its delivery to be paid.

What can’t Rabbit do yet for US shipping?

• In dollars, the delivery of a batch of more than 3 pieces can’t be paid yet, and neither can a batch sent to Amazon. A sample of up to 3 pieces, shipping included, can. Rabbit tells you before you pay, rather than taking an order it can’t finish.
• Rabbit has no table yet of what a US recipient pays at the door on a line without duties included. That line says “amount unknown”, not a guessed number.
• Rabbit gives no delivery time of its own for a mode: only the time of the line you pick, as its carrier gives it.

How these costs land on your profit per piece: how to calculate your profit on a product from China, delivered.

For your exact situation: your accountant or a customs broker.