Usually, the cost of bulk goods arriving at Russian overseas warehouses from China and then delivered to buyers is composed of China-Russia freight, fees paid to Russian customs, overseas storage fees, and delivery fees within Russia. The total cost of a 1 kg down jacket from China to sellers within the Moscow Ring Road through overseas warehouses and border warehouses is as follows. Overseas warehouse costs: China’s domestic logistics costs are $0.3, and China-Russia cross-border railway freight is $1. The fee to be paid to Russian customs through “white customs clearance” is $6.34, and the service fee of the customs clearance agent is $1. The delivery fee of express companies within the Moscow Ring Road is $6. The Russian import commodity inspection fee is $800. If 800 pieces are shipped at a time, it is calculated at $1 per piece. The overall cost is about $15.64. These costs do not include the storage and miscellaneous fees of overseas warehouses, which are very high costs in Russia. If it is delivered outside the Moscow Ring Road, the domestic delivery fee in Russia reaches $8-10, and if it is delivered to other regions, an additional $3-10 will be charged.
Border warehouse cost: For overseas warehouses, the cost advantage of border warehouses is mainly reflected in the cost advantage within China, because Russia is a country with high labor costs, especially in Moscow. The entire border warehouse shipment is through the Universal Postal Union system, with a total price equivalent to about US$14, and the price is uniform across Russia. Customers only need to send the goods to the border warehouse. After the order is generated, the border warehouse will directly ship the goods to the Russian seller. There is no tariff, value-added tax, commodity inspection fee involved in the middle, and there is no need to pay the local express delivery fee in Russia.
Both overseas warehouses and border warehouses involve customs clearance. The difference is that the goods in overseas warehouses are first cleared and then stored in overseas warehouses, while the goods in border warehouses are not cleared.
In the long run, when goods enter Russia in large quantities, bulk goods will involve large tariffs and cumbersome customs clearance procedures. In contrast, border warehouses do not have these troubles. After the customer receives the order, the goods are cleared from the border and cleared by post, which ensures the efficiency of customs clearance and the safety of the goods.
However, in terms of timeliness, border warehouses are 1 to 2 days slower than overseas warehouses. For example, in the Harbin border warehouse of Russia Express, after the customer places an order, the goods fly directly from Harbin to Yekaterinburg, which only takes 5 hours. As the third largest city in Russia, Yekaterinburg is located between Moscow and St. Petersburg, and the sorting speed is fast. In this way, the time it takes to transport goods from Harbin to Yekaterinburg and then sort them to major cities will be 1 to 2 days longer than shipping from Russian overseas warehouses.
From the perspective of comprehensive cost and timeliness, price-oriented and low-priced goods are not suitable for overseas warehouse services, while overseas warehouses are more suitable for heavy and high-value goods.