A first-time importer found a lighting supplier, agreed a price, and let the supplier arrange the freight because the quote was the lowest of three. The container arrived at the port a week late, the freight bill was 40% higher than quoted, and forty cartons of lamps were crushed because they had been stacked under steel fittings on a shared pallet. The lamps themselves were fine. The import failed in the logistics, not the product. If you are buying light bulbs from China in any volume, the freight and customs chain will decide your margin as much as the factory price does.
Start with the weight-and-volume math, because shipping light bulbs from China is priced on volume: a carton of halogen capsules weighs little and fills a lot of space, which makes dimensional weight — the space a package occupies, not what it weighs — the number that drives cost. For full containers, the question is how many cartons fill a 20-foot or 40-foot container under the exporter’s carton dimensions; for partial loads and air freight, dimensional weight decides the quote. Get the exporter’s carton size and a pallet plan before you compare freight rates, or you are comparing quotes for different products.
The Incoterms on your contract decide who owns the risk at every stage. EXW leaves everything to you from the factory gate; FOB transfers risk at the port of loading; CIF and CNF include freight but not door delivery; DDP puts the delivery obligation on the seller. The traps are in the edges: demurrage and detention charges when a container sits at the port longer than the free days, terminal handling fees at arrival, and the gap between the port and your door. Buyers who chase the lowest FOB price often discover that the port-to-door leg and the delays are where the money went.
Packaging is the difference between arrived and arrived intact, and filament lamps are genuinely fragile. The exporter’s carton must protect against shock in three directions — lamps fail from filament sag and broken glass when cartons are dropped or stacked deep under heavier cargo. Ask for the export carton specification: inner dividers or trays, carton weight limits, and whether the batch is palletized with the heavy goods on the bottom. A factory that packs lamps the way it packs for domestic delivery is shipping you breakage you will pay for twice.
Customs is where lighting imports stall. The HS classification for lamps sits in the 8539 heading family, and the duty rate and any quotas depend on the exact subheading and the country of import; the EU additionally enforces CE marking and RoHS documentation on electrical goods at the border, and the US applies FCC and DOT requirements depending on the lamp type. The commercial invoice must describe the goods accurately — under-declaring value to save duty is how containers get held and inspected. Your freight forwarder or customs broker should see the full packing list and certificates before the shipment leaves China, not after it arrives.
Payment structure and inspection complete the chain. The standard progression is a deposit with the order and the balance against the shipping documents, with an independent inspection before shipment for first-time suppliers or large orders. Sample approval is not batch approval — the production batch should be checked for the same base type, wattage, voltage and markings that you approved in the sample. Releasing final payment before inspection is how importers discover the batch does not match the sample.
The six-point import checklist: calculate dimensional weight and container fill before comparing freight quotes; choose Incoterms consciously and budget demurrage and door delivery; require the export carton and pallet spec in writing; confirm HS codes and compliance documents (CE/RoHS for the EU, FCC/DOT for the US) before shipment; pay against documents with pre-shipment inspection; and keep the sample batch as the reference for the production check. Our sourcing guide covers the supplier checks before the PO; when you are ready to ship, Shunqi Lighting provides export cartons, full commercial documentation and pre-shipment inspection on every order — request a quote and we will attach the shipping checklist and carton spec alongside it.