How to calculate shipping?

If you have been doing international trade for a while, you would already know how international shipping companies calculate the weight of the parcels. However, if you do not know enough about this subject, you may feel deceived when you see that you are charged based on weight greater than the total weight of the products you have purchased. You can also find many blog posts and videos that deal with this topic. Since you are supplying goods from other countries, it is important to learn this calculation, which may seem a bit complicated at first, in order to calculate your costs correctly.

Basic info first

Shipping companies charge by calculating the weight of the product in the package and the area covered by the package. To do this, they calculate a unit of measurement they call "Volumetric Weight" or "Dimensional Weight". For pricing, they calculate according to the weight of the product and the volumetric weight, whichever is greater.

Volumetric weight is calculated by multiplying the width, length, and height of your package and dividing by 5000. (This calculation is valid for express cargo companies such as DHL, UPS, FedEx, TNT or for shipment by truck. However, the calculation method varies for palletized shipment by plane and container shipment by ship.)

For example, the dimensions of our standard cardboard box are 40x60x40 cm. Volumetric weight of this parcel = (40x60x40) / 5000 = 19.20 Kg.

If the weight of your package is fractional, it will be rounded up to the next full pound or the next half kg due to international shipping regulations. For this reason, the volumetric weight of our parcel is considered to be 19.50 kg. 

Accordingly, if 50 pieces of products weighing 270 grams/pcs fit into the box, the total weight of the products will be 13.50 Kg. But since the volumetric weight of the parcel is 19.50 Kg, it is calculated as 19.50 Kg when calculating the shipping fee. In other words, as if the products in the parcel were 390 grams, you would be paying the shipping fee.

In an other saying; Let's say 50 pieces of a product you buy fit into a box and the shipping fee is 100 dollars. If only 10 pieces of another fluffy product fit in the same box, this time you have to pay 100 dollars for 10 items.

For more information about Volumetric Weight: Wikipedia

Box size may change later

Another factor affecting the shipping fee to be paid is that the size of the parcel may differ when re-measured in the warehouse of the cargo company. Cargo companies use automatic laser systems to accurately measure the dimensions of the parcels arriving at their warehouses.

While the parcels are delivered from the manufacturer's warehouse to the cargo company's processing center, they are transported by stacking. In the meantime, the boxes at the bottom may swell a little from the sides. Or, a plastic bag can be placed outside so that the parcels do not get wet during international shipping. Bulging or protrusions on the edges of this bag may also cause the parcel to be measured larger than it is.

Why do you suggest me to buy more than 30 kg of product?

Customs clearance

If there is a customs tax that you have to pay when your products arrive at the customs of your country, the courier company will inform you to make this payment. If you are working with a customs consultancy firm, this consultancy firm that you have authorized can follow the customs procedures on your behalf.

After clearance

Your products, whose customs controls are completed, are on their way again to be delivered to you. If your products are shipped in more than one parcel, in principle all parcels should move together, but due to the nature of international shipping, the documents of your products are repeatedly checked at the customs of more than one country. In some cases, customs officials may also inspect the products themselves. In such cases, some of your parcels may fall apart from others.

We use all shipment alternatives

As a company, we prefer to work with the most successful, internationally known and reliable DHL and UPS companies in express shipping. In some cases, we can also ship with FedEx or TNT companies. On the other hand, we can ship to neighboring countries that have road access by truck, in line with our customer's request. 

In cases where it would be more economical to send by air cargo, we also get quotes from airline companies and submit them to your approval. 

According to Turkey's location, if you are in an overseas country; When you order in large quantities and you are not in a hurry to get your products delivered to you, shipping by ship will usually be at the most economical fee.

If something goes wrong

International shipping is a business with serious risks. In rare cases, the plane may crash, the ship may sink, or the truck may burn. Even if nothing that bad happens, parcels can be sent to the wrong country or lost on the way.

We hope not to encounter such bad situations, but we make our shipments insured so that you can cover your losses in case something happens to the products we send.

Could there be a delay in shipping?

In many cases, the courier company can predict the estimated date of delivery of the products to you. We notify you of the expected delivery date. However, please note that this date is not exact. Because there are also customs processes that the cargo company cannot influence.

For this reason, please keep in mind that after the products leave the manufacturer's warehouse and reach the processing center of the cargo company, we cannot have any influence on the cargo and customs processes. However, if some or all of the parcels have not yet been delivered to you, even though the expected delivery date has passed, we can open a file for investigation.

What if I want you to ship it guaranteed to be delivered on a certain date?

In some cases, it may be necessary for the products to be delivered to you before a certain date. Sometimes, for example, products need to be delivered or sold at an event. 

For such cases, we may offer you UPS' guaranteed shipping service. For regular shipment, for example, 5-7 days takes the delivery to the USA, UPS can deliver the same shipment in 3 days guaranteed. 

Of course, this service is provided at a higher price than normal shipment, but if your business is urgent, it is useful to know that you have the option to receive it in 3-4 days guaranteed.

Please let us know when you need something like this. We can inform you by getting the best price offer for you from the cargo company.

Can you deliver the products directly to my customer?

As a business that sells Turkish Towels, in some cases, you may need the products to be delivered directly to your customer's address instead of your address. We are happy to assist you in these cases. 

There is a handicap in delivering the products to another address instead of the purchasing company. As you know, as the buyer your information, product names and price information are included in the official documents of the products and especially on the invoice. This invoice must be taken from the paperwork pocket of the parcel before delivery and should not be handed to the receiver (your customer, the 3rd party).

UPS can provide a "neutral delivery" shipping service in this way. They can make neutral delivery for a small fee, and before delivering the parcels, they take the invoice issued by us to your name, on the parcel.

However, UPS officials in Turkey state that this service is not guaranteed. While we are sending your parcels from here, we can request that the invoice be taken from the document pocket. If the UPS employee at the delivery location does not notice this request, there is a small possibility that the buyer will receive it with our invoice.

For this reason, if you want to have neutral delivery with UPS, we recommend that you make sure that UPS has such a service at the location where the delivery will be made.

Freight services are actually a much broader issue. Shipment by air cargo with parcels or pallets and shipping by container are other issues with their own characteristics.

If there are any points you would like to add on this subject, please feel free to contribute as a comment.

Towel Age
Turkish Towels

Image Credit: © Huseyin Gonullu from TowelAge

Disclaimer: The information provided in this blog post is for illustrative purposes only. Please consult TowelAge for specific details regarding our embroidery services and options.

Please note: The original version of this text is in English. Its translation in other languages was made automatically by artificial intelligence software. If you do not understand or have doubts, please refer to the English version.