Paid import consultancy — Australia & New Zealand
You pay us a fee. We research your product across the Chinese market, negotiate directly with the factories that actually make it, model the full landed cost to your door, and map what it takes to sell it lawfully in Australia and New Zealand. No commission from suppliers — so the recommendation is the one we would make with our own money.
Savings guarantee
Already importing? If we cannot beat your current landed cost by at least 8%, the audit fee is refunded in full. Conditions on the package below.
Almost every quote an importer receives is a unit price at a term that hides most of the cost. A factory quoting FOB is quoting a different obligation from one quoting CIF, and neither is what you will actually pay to have the goods sitting in your warehouse.
Below is the shape of a delivered cost on a 40' container, traced through the journey the goods actually take. The factory price is the part everyone negotiates. The other eighteen per cent is the part almost nobody audits — and it is where we usually find the money.
AUD — one 40' container, indicative worked example
01 · At the factory
Quoted FOB Ningbo — the only number most buyers negotiate
21,000
Running total
02 · On the water
Ningbo → Melbourne, one 40' container
23,946
Running total
03 · At the border
Cleared for home consumption
25,051
Running total
04 · At your door
Delivered to the warehouse, excluding GST
25,691
Delivered
The price everyone negotiates
Everything else — AUD 4,691
Illustrative example for explanation, not a quotation. Freight, port and clearance charges vary by lane, carrier and season; duty depends on the tariff classification of your specific goods. Every engagement includes a model built on live quotes for your product.
| Stage | Cost line | AUD — one 40' container, indicative worked example | Running total |
|---|---|---|---|
| At the factory | Factory price | AUD 21,000 | AUD 21,000 |
| On the water | Sea freight | AUD 2,850 | |
| Marine insurance | AUD 96 | AUD 23,946 | |
| At the border | Customs duty | AUD 0 | |
| Port & terminal charges | AUD 720 | ||
| Broker & clearance | AUD 385 | AUD 25,051 | |
| At your door | Transport from wharf | AUD 640 | AUD 25,691 |
Every quote researched, negotiated and rebuilt as one delivered cost
Fees are credited against your first order placed through us
Every engagement is quoted and confirmed in writing before any work starts, and invoiced up front. We do not take commission from suppliers on any tier.
One product, properly researched
Credited in full against your first order placed through us
The fastest way to find out what your product should actually cost. We take one product, shortlist real factories that make it, and hand you the numbers.
We take on your existing supplier
Credited against your first order — or refunded under the guarantee
Already importing? Send us what you pay now. We re-source the same specification and show you, line by line, where the money is going.
Savings guarantee
If we cannot beat your current landed cost by at least 8%, your fee is refunded in full.
The guarantee applies where you supply a current supplier invoice or written quote dated within the last 12 months, covering goods of the same specification, quantity and Incoterm. Comparison is made on total landed cost per unit to the same delivery point. It does not apply where the specification changes, where the compared quantity differs by more than 20%, or where the incumbent price is below verifiable factory cost. Refunds are paid within 10 business days of the report being delivered.
Ongoing, retained
Monthly retainer, minimum three months, 30 days notice
We become your sourcing department. Continuous supplier management, QC bookings, freight coordination and compliance monitoring across your whole range.
Full Sourcing Programme — 10 business days
You complete the import brief. We come back within one business day with the questions that matter and confirm scope, fee and timeline in writing.
We classify your product, identify the duty position and any FTA preference available, and map the AU/NZ standards it has to meet before it can be sold.
We identify real manufacturers rather than trading companies, verify their business registration and export history, and confirm they genuinely make what you need.
Direct phone negotiation in Mandarin against your specification and volumes. Not an email blast — a conversation with the people who set the price.
Every quote normalised to the same Incoterm and rebuilt as a delivered cost: goods, freight, insurance, duty, GST, clearance and delivery to your door.
A ranked shortlist with our recommendation and the reasoning, the risks named, and a call to work through it. Samples ordered on your go-ahead.
Percentage reduction in total delivered cost per unit
Figures shown are from the illustrative sample case studies shipped with this site. Replace them in the admin panel with your own engagement data before launch.
| Category | Reduction (%) |
|---|---|
| Hardware & tools | 19 |
| Industrial equipment | 6 |
lower landed cost
A Queensland hardware wholesaler
Six years with the same sourcing agent, a stable unit price, and an entirely avoidable 5% duty being paid on goods that qualified for duty-free entry under ChAFTA.
Read the case studydelay accepted to avoid a total loss
A Melbourne homewares brand
A first-time importer, a decorative light product with a coin cell battery, and a factory that had never heard of Australia's mandatory button battery standards.
Read the case studyWe had been buying through the same Guangzhou agent for six years and assumed we were getting a fair price. The audit found duty being paid on a line that qualified for ChAFTA preference, and freight marked up twice. The report paid for itself before we changed a single supplier.
19% lower landed cost
Simon Bicknell
Operations Director · Derwent Tools · Brisbane, QLD
First time importing and I had no idea what I did not know. The compliance checklist alone saved us — our product needed button battery certification and the factory had never heard of it. We would have shipped a container of unsaleable stock.
Compliance failure caught pre-shipment
Criss Harrison
Founder · mineral explorations limited · Melbourne, VIC
The landed cost model was the first time anyone had shown me the actual numbers instead of a unit price. Being able to see freight, duty and GST as separate lines changed how we quote our own customers.
Full cost visibility
Warren McDonald
Managing Director · sothern mining equipment · Auckland
Importing into Australia and New Zealand is governed by a dozen separate regulators, and the obligations land on the importer — not on the factory. These are the frameworks every engagement is built against.
Frameworks we operate to
Australian Border Force
AUImport declarations, tariff classification, prohibited goods and border enforcement.
Australian Government
Australian Taxation Office
AUGST on taxable importations, low value imported goods, and the deferred GST scheme.
Australian Government
Dept. of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
AUBiosecurity import conditions, wood packaging treatment and seasonal pest measures.
Australian Government
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
AUMandatory product safety and information standards under the Australian Consumer Law.
Australian Government
Australian Communications and Media Authority
AUEMC, radiocommunications and telecommunications compliance and the RCM.
Australian Government
Electrical Equipment Safety System
AUResponsible supplier registration and certification for in-scope electrical equipment.
Electrical Regulatory Authorities Council
Australian Industrial Chemicals Introduction Scheme
AURegistration and categorisation for the introduction of industrial chemicals.
Australian Government
New Zealand Customs Service
NZImport entries, tariff classification, duty and GST collection at the border.
New Zealand Government
Ministry for Primary Industries
NZImport Health Standards, biosecurity clearance and imported food.
New Zealand Government
Commerce Commission New Zealand
NZConsumer Guarantees Act, Fair Trading Act and product labelling enforcement.
New Zealand Government
WorkSafe New Zealand — Energy Safety
NZElectrical article risk classification and supplier declarations of conformity.
New Zealand Government
Environmental Protection Authority
NZHSNO approvals and group standards for hazardous substances.
New Zealand Government
Radio Spectrum Management
NZRadio and EMC equipment compliance and the R-NZ mark.
MBIE, New Zealand Government
Audit & inspection protocols
ISO 9001 factory audit protocol
CNQuality management system verification applied during supplier assessment.
Pre-shipment inspection to ISO 2859-1
CNAQL 2.5 / 4.0 sampling plans, booked and reviewed before balance payment is released.
Because a free quote is not free. An agent who is paid by margin on the goods has every incentive to route you to the supplier that pays them best, and to bundle freight so you cannot see what anything actually costs. We charge a fee up front and take nothing from the factory, so the recommendation is the one we would make if it were our own money. The fee is credited against your first order in any case.
On the Beat-Your-Current-Deal Audit, you get the fee back if we cannot beat your landed cost by at least 8% on a like-for-like basis. The full conditions are on the package itself, not in fine print. In practice, roughly as often as we find a cheaper supplier, we find that the supplier is fine and the money is being lost somewhere else — a misclassified tariff line, an unclaimed origin preference, or a freight arrangement that has not been tested in years.
No, and we are careful about the distinction. Acting as an importer's agent in customs business for reward is licensed activity under the Customs Act 1901. We are a sourcing, negotiation and landed-cost advisory service. Customs clearance on programmes we run is performed by a licensed broker partner, and anything we tell you about classification or duty is general information for your broker to confirm before lodgement.
Often. First-time importers are usually the ones who benefit most, because the expensive mistakes happen before the first order is placed — buying from a trading company that presents as a factory, agreeing terms that leave you with no recourse, or committing to a product that cannot lawfully be sold here in the configuration the factory intends to ship.
That depends on the goods, the volume and the lane, which is why we model it rather than guess. Our landed-cost calculator will give you an indicative number in about a minute, and every engagement includes a full model with each line broken out — including GST shown separately, because for a registered business it is a cash-flow cost rather than a real one.
Yes. You are buying research, not a permanent intermediary. On the report and programme tiers you receive the factory identities, contact details and the quotes as issued. If you want us to keep managing the relationship afterwards, that is what the retainer is for — but it is your choice, not a condition.
