Case 1
Air Freight to Middle East: How Foreign Traders Can Get the Real Low Price from Freight Forwarders
With 20 years of experience as a freight forwarder, I’m going to tell foreign traders some hard truths. Freight forwarders give different replies to different inquiries. Once you understand the truth behind this, you can follow these tips and get the real low price.
In fact, freight forwarders receive 10 inquiries every day, and 8 of them are a waste of time. Freight forwarders are very busy. When they get too many inquiries, they can spot invalid customers at a glance and save their energy for real clients.
Type 1: Inquiries with No Basic Information
Some foreign trade customers ask directly: How much is air freight from Shenzhen to Middle East? This is the most common inquiry. There is no product name, no weight, and no time requirement. Freight forwarders won’t take such inquiries seriously, because you’re just treating them as a quoting machine.
I’ve even met more extreme cases: some people ask for the price and say it’s for a friend. These inquiries will most likely be used to bargain with other forwarders later. So freight forwarders won’t make a serious quote. Foreign traders should never inquire like this—it’s just a waste of time.
When facing such customers, freight forwarders will ask for basic information: product name, ready date, weight, etc. If you can’t provide these details and just say “I only want a price first”, it will definitely waste both sides’ time, and the forwarder won’t treat you seriously.
Type 2: Big Talk Inquiries
Some customers start with big promises: I have 100 tons of cargo for air freight to Middle East every month, give me your lowest price. New freight forwarders may get very excited about such large shipments, right? But experienced ones have learned their lessons and won’t take it too seriously—they just laugh it off.
I once had a customer who claimed 100 shipments per month for air freight to Middle East, but only shipped 3 times in half a year! Remember, real big clients care more about specific core details: transit time, customs clearance ability at the destination, flight schedule, delivery time, etc. Foreign traders with real large shipments focus on delivery date, not just asking for a low price directly.
Type 3: Price Comparison Robots
These customers only ask about price and ignore details. They send a long list of inquiries at once. If you reply carefully, it wastes your time and the deal still won’t close. They don’t really want to ship goods—they may just want to learn about the market and compare prices.
Keep in mind: freight forwarders have sharp eyes. They know real customers will discuss details with them, while fake ones only talk about price.
If you can talk further about details like trucking, airport pallet build-up, customs declaration, destination delivery and so on, 80% chance it’s a real order. Then freight forwarders will treat you seriously and follow up properly.
So next time you inquire about air freight to Middle East, pay attention to the points above. The more details you discuss, the more attention the forwarder will pay. They will think you are an experienced trader with real cargo, and dare not quote a high price. You will most likely get the best low price on the whole route.
We are DL Logistics, one of the top 5 providers for air freight to Middle East. We have booked 20 weekly pallet positions with two major airlines. We enjoy priority customs clearance at UAE airports, with priority pickup at warehouses. Our local logistics team answers calls at 2 a.m., with morning deliveries arriving at noon and noon deliveries arriving in the afternoon. We are truly one of the top 5 in air freight to Middle East. Choose DL for air freight to Middle East—all users say it’s smooth and reliable.【learn more】
Case 2
How Important It Is to Choose a Reliable Freight Forwarder for Air Freight to Middle East
How important is it to choose a reliable freight forwarder for air freight to Middle East? It can help you avoid risks and save you a lot of trouble at the same time.
First, look at professionalism. A reliable freight forwarder has a keen sense of the trade industry. They have a good understanding of industry trends, routes, ports, laws, regulations and policies.
Second, they have a deep knowledge of transportation methods including sea freight, land freight and air freight, as well as the operation process. Based on experience, they can analyze price, transit time and safety according to the type of goods, and provide suitable solutions for shippers’ shipping needs. Even practice makes perfect, large shipping volume can also help build professional capabilities.
If the level of professionalism is similar, then compare customs clearance ability. Customs clearance ability is the key to shortening transportation time. Since this step happens abroad and is not visible, it is often ignored by shippers. Shippers usually think that whoever has airline space is faster, which is wrong. The strength of customs clearance ability is the core reflection of a freight forwarder’s real power.
Although the speed of customs clearance depends on the customs, an experienced freight forwarder will prepare complete documents in advance, making things much easier. Small problems may occur during cargo transportation. Problems are not terrible. The key is who has the ability to solve them, respond in time, and protect customers’ goods and property safety as much as possible.
Take our company DL as an example. For air freight to Middle East, in terms of customs clearance, our customs clearance and delivery team is localized and large-scale. We have hundreds of staff, including 17 full-time customs clearance specialists and several senior consultants who used to work in local customs.
Thanks to our large shipping volume, we can cooperate closely with customs. Once the plane lands, we can immediately start unloading and sorting goods. We have a priority channel at UAE airports, with customs clearance finished in 2 hours. Most peers cannot do this, and it often takes 2 to 3 days waiting in line. This is the technical barrier brought by scale advantage, which ordinary small freight forwarders cannot achieve.
As the saying goes, real good is recognized by everyone. Check more reviews and customer feedback. Anyone can accept orders, but not everyone can get space. Without space, customers have to keep waiting, which greatly reduces experience and delays time and progress.
When you choose a freight forwarder for air freight to Middle East, do not only look at the price. More importantly, judge comprehensively by the strength of big companies, industry reputation and company history. Take our company DL as an example. We are among the top 5 freight forwarders for air freight to Middle East. Even Huawei chooses us for their project cargo.{learn more}
We once helped them ship electronic products worth 40 million RMB. Now Huawei’s exhibition goods are all shipped by us, because we can guarantee on-time delivery without delay.
Case 3
Common Tricks of Unreliable Freight Forwarders for Air Freight to Middle East – Avoid These Pitfalls
In the cross-border logistics industry, when you ship via air freight to Middle East, unreliable forwarders have all kinds of tricks you can hardly imagine. This article will reveal the most common scams during air freight to Middle East so you won’t fall for them.
1. Hiding Sensitive Goods Under Regular Cargo
Some forwarders offer very low prices, but they only use your regular goods to cover sensitive items such as anti-dumping products, prohibited goods, cigarettes and more.
These forwarders mainly profit from sensitive cargo. Your shipping cost seems low, but the risk is huge. If anything goes wrong, the forwarder will take no responsibility at all.
2. Switching Air Freight to Sea Freight, or Fast Shipping to Slow Shipping for Extra Profit
When you wonder why your goods are delayed, they always make up excuses: worker strikes, customs inspection, high-temperature weight limits, etc.
The real reason is they changed your shipping method to earn the price difference.
3. Low Initial Quote but High Hidden Charges
They first attract you with an extremely low price. After you send the goods, you will find many extra fees on the bill.
If you don’t have much experience with freight forwarders, you can easily get ripped off.
There was also a practice called “sending to a nearby warehouse instead of the distant one” on Amazon. Although this no longer exists due to system updates, you should still stay away from forwarders who did this before.
Many sellers have fallen into these traps when using air freight to Middle East. We also experienced similar problems when we first started cross-border e-commerce.
When choosing a freight forwarder, don’t only look at the price.
You should also consider the company’s strength, industry reputation, years of experience and other factors.
Take our company DL as an example:
We are among the top 5 companies for air freight to Middle East. Even Huawei uses our service for their project cargo. We once shipped electronic products worth 40 million RMB for them.
Most forwarders are just small offices in urban villages with only one desk.
Even experienced forwarders with over 10 years in business only get 2 to 3 board spaces per week from airlines.
But DL has exclusive 20 board spaces every week from 2 major airlines – 10 times the capacity of those small forwarders.
Many competitors look similar to us, but they dare not buy exclusive board spaces simply because they don’t have enough cargo volume.{learn more}
|
