Sourcing Guide
How Lash Orders Ship from China: Couriers, Timelines and Import Duties
Direct answer: three lanes — express courier in 3–5 days, Eco Express in 5–8, sea or rail in 25–35 for bulk — all tracked to your door, with the export side handled by the factory. Duties and import taxes are the one part with no universal answer: they depend on your destination market, so they belong in your quote, not in a generic promise.
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The three lanes
| Lane | Transit | Best for | The trade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Express courier (DHL / FedEx) | 3–5 days | Samples, first orders, urgent restocks | Fastest and simplest; tracked door-to-door. The default until your volumes outgrow it. |
| Eco Express | 5–8 days | Mid-size restocks that can wait a few days | Meaningfully cheaper than express; same tracking, a few days slower. |
| Sea / rail freight | 25–35 days | Bulk orders where weight makes courier pricing hurt | Lowest cost per kg by far; plan it into your inventory cycle rather than around a launch date. |
All lanes tracked; LashPlus handles the export side and logistics to your door. Restocks ride the same lanes faster — specs and packaging are already locked.
How to choose a lane
The decision is weight against urgency. Courier pricing scales with weight, so small orders fly cheap and heavy orders fly expensive; sea and rail invert that. In practice: samples and first orders go express — you want them in hand, and the weight is trivial. Growing brands move restocks to Eco Express once the few days stop mattering. Bulk buyers put planned inventory on sea or rail and keep express as the emergency lane. A good quote prices your actual order on more than one lane so you can see the crossover yourself.
Shipping inside your landed cost
Freight is the third piece of your real per-unit cost: tray + box + shipping = landed cost per boxed tray. The public range for the first two is US$2.9–3.5 per 16-row tray and US$0.3–0.8 per custom box; freight depends on lane and quantity, which is why it is quoted rather than listed. Comparing suppliers on tray price alone hides the number that actually hits your margin.
Import duties: why the honest answer is per-market
Duty rates, tax regimes and low-value thresholds are set by your destination — the US, UK and each EU member state run different systems, and they change. A supplier who promises a single blanket answer for every market is either padding the price to cover the guess or leaving you to discover the truth at customs. Our approach is the boring, correct one: your quote is prepared for your destination and states exactly what is included and what, if anything, is due on arrival — case by case, before you commit.
What we control, we state plainly: export clearance handled, tracked delivery to your door, standard export paperwork (commercial invoice, packing list) with every shipment, and origin and test documentation on request for your importer or broker.
The full clock, stacked
Production first, freight second: 14–28 days of production from artwork approval (14–16 for 100 boxes, 17–19 for 1,000, 24–28 for 10,000), then your lane’s transit. Express puts a first 100-box order at your door about 3–5 weeks after artwork approval; sea freight trades that for the best rate on bulk. The full journey from first message to branded trays is walked through step by step in how private label manufacturing works.
FAQ
How do eyelash extension manufacturers in China ship to the US, UK and EU?
Direct answer: three lanes. Express courier (DHL/FedEx) arrives in 3–5 days and is the default for samples and first orders; Eco Express takes 5–8 days at a lower rate; sea or rail freight takes 25–35 days and wins on cost once an order is heavy enough. LashPlus handles the export side and logistics to your door on all three, with tracking.
Who pays import duties and taxes on a lash order?
Direct answer: it depends on the destination market — duty rates, tax regimes and low-value thresholds differ between the US, UK, EU and elsewhere, and they change. That is why we do not publish a one-size answer: your quote is prepared for your destination and states exactly what is included and what, if anything, is due on arrival. Case by case beats a generic promise that turns out wrong at customs.
How long does shipping take in total, including production?
Direct answer: stack the two clocks. Production runs 14–28 days from artwork approval depending on quantity; freight adds 3–5 days by express, 5–8 by Eco, or 25–35 by sea or rail. A first 100-box order by express is therefore usually at your door 3–5 weeks after artwork approval; repeat orders compress to 2–3 weeks of production plus the same freight.
Do samples ship the same way as bulk orders?
Direct answer: samples go by express courier — in-stock trays dispatch the next day and you cover the sample shipping. Bulk orders choose their lane by weight and urgency; restocks ride the same lanes faster because specs and packaging are already locked.
Is shipping included in the tray price?
Direct answer: no — think in landed cost. The public range is US$2.9–3.5 per 16-row tray of lashes plus US$0.3–0.8 for a custom box; add freight for your lane and quantity and you have your landed cost per boxed tray. Your quote lays those three parts out separately so you can compare lanes honestly.
What documents come with an export shipment?
Direct answer: the standard export paperwork for your shipment — commercial invoice and packing list — plus, on request, fiber origin documentation and third-party test reports (SGS GZCPCH190804021). If your importer or customs broker needs a specific document, ask before the order ships, not after it lands.
Price your lanes
Tell us your destination and quantities — the quote comes back with lanes compared.
Destination-specific, duties addressed for your market, nothing generic.
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