Most buyers spend an afternoon optimising the service fee and then get surprised by freight, which is usually the larger number. A ¥300 item with no service fee is a good result right up until you price getting it to the buyer — on a 2kg air parcel the freight can be several multiples of the fee you just saved. This piece benchmarks all five agents at 2kg, 5kg and 10kg, then lays out what each destination piles on afterwards. One caveat to read before the numbers: three of the five publish a live freight calculator you can check for yourself, and two do not. Where a figure is our own estimate rather than a published rate, we say which it is.
1. US shipping: $40/kg air, $15/kg sea — BuckyDrop is cheapest for bulky
For a 2kg parcel to the US the per-kg spread between lines is wide, and freight alone does not decide anything — it is the cheapest line each agent will quote for your particular cargo. Run through the comparison, Supplyia’s cheapest compatible air line works out near ¥86 of freight, BuckyDrop around ¥176, Superbuy around ¥196. Two things flip that ordering more often than buyers expect: Oopbuy prices through a fixed 1.6× markup on its own forwarder estimate, which gets expensive quickly as weight climbs, and several agents either refuse or surcharge a cargo class — batteries, liquids, branded goods — which is not visible in a headline rate. Before comparing prices at all, check what each will actually carry. Sea brings the per-kilo cost down to roughly a third of air, against 30 to 50 days in transit and a minimum weight in practice, which suits restocking rather than testing. The destination side has changed too: the US suspended its $800 de minimis exemption during 2025, so a sub-$800 parcel is no longer automatically duty-free.
2. EU shipping: the €150 de minimis is gone — every parcel now has duty
On 2026-07-01 the EU abolished the €150 de minimis for all non-EU imports. Every parcel now pays a fixed ~€3 customs handling fee plus the normal VAT (19–25% depending on country), calculated on (item + shipping + service fee). For a €150 order this adds roughly €35–€45 in total — not catastrophic, but no longer "free." Whether the tax is collected upfront depends on the shipping line, not the platform: duty-prepaid (DDP) lines bundle it into the freight, while standard lines leave it to the destination. Availability differs by destination, so the extension only offers the lines an agent actually quotes for your parcel.
3. JP / KR / AU / UK: smaller markets, fewer routes, higher per-kg
Japan is the most competitive lane — dense 1688 consolidation routes run through Tokyo and Osaka. A 2kg parcel via the cheapest agent line lands around ¥1,800–¥2,400 (~$12–$16). Korea is similar but with fewer daily departures. The UK is expensive: 2kg air typically £20–£28; sea is £10–£14/kg but takes 70+ days. Australia is the costliest — 2kg air averages A$50–A$65 with slow consolidation. De minimis: JP ¥10,000 / KR ₩200,000 / UK £135 / AU A$1,000. For these lanes more than any other, check the live quote in the extension — route availability, not the headline rate, decides who can serve you at all.
4. Sea vs air: when 60 days is fine
Sea freight is roughly 1/3 the cost of air, but adds 50–80 days and a $5–$15/kg "consolidation fee" on top of base rate. It only makes sense when (a) order value is high enough that shipping % is small, or (b) you are restocking inventory and 2-month lead time is fine. CSSBuy and BuckyDrop have the most predictable sea routes. For one-off gifts or samples, air is the only realistic option. None of the 5 agents offer guaranteed sea delivery in less than 50 days.
5. The hidden cost nobody mentions: parcel consolidation fees
When your 1688 orders arrive at the agent warehouse as separate parcels, the agent merges them into one international shipment. The handling, per-inbound QC and repacking all vary by agent: BuckyDrop, for example, charges ¥9.9 per fulfilled parcel plus ¥2 per item once a parcel carries more than 5 pieces, and Superbuy charges its own per-item QC rate. On a 10-SKU order pulled from 10 different 1688 sellers — a common dropship scenario — these stack up before any international shipping is quoted. Fewer inbound parcels means fewer handling charges, so order from one seller where you can and use 1688 official consolidation-warehouse features to merge SKUs.
FAQ
What is the cheapest agent for a 2kg parcel to US?
Freight alone, on a 2kg US parcel, runs near ¥86 on Supplyia’s cheapest compatible line, around ¥176 at BuckyDrop and around ¥196 at Superbuy. That is not what you pay. Supplyia takes a 10% service fee on top, BuckyDrop takes a flat ¥9.9 per parcel and no commission, and every one of them adds the domestic leg from the 1688 seller to their own warehouse. Those three line items are exactly why the finish order changes from parcel to parcel, and why we do not print a winner here: put the weight and destination into the comparison bar on the product page and read the total. Two things worth knowing while you compare — Oopbuy prices through a fixed 1.6× markup on its own forwarder estimate, which gets costly as weight climbs, and sea drops the per-kilo cost to about a third of air against 30 to 50 days in transit.
Will my order to EU be duty-free under €150 now?
No, not since 2026-07-01. The EU stopped relieving duty below €150 and moved to a temporary flat €3 customs duty per item, plus whatever the CN code normally pays. VAT is separate and was never part of this change — every import has carried it since 2021-07-01, calculated on item plus shipping plus any service fee, so on a €150 order expect roughly €30 to €35 of VAT before duty is added, with a further per-parcel handling fee announced for late 2026. Look up your own CN code rather than working from an average: duty rates move far more by product than anything about the destination.
How much does sea shipping really save?
Roughly 1/3 the cost of air — a 5kg US parcel is ~$75 by air (BuckyDrop $140) vs ~$50 by sea. But sea takes 50–80 days and adds a $5–$15/kg consolidation fee. For high-value orders ($1000+) sea saves 5–8% of total landed cost; for low-value samples or gifts, air is the only viable option.
Do I have to pay US Section 321 duty if my order is under $800?
Usually yes, and this is the answer that has changed most recently, so read it slowly. The $800 de minimis exemption was suspended for Chinese and Hong Kong goods on 2025-05-02, then for every other origin on 2025-08-29, and CBP made the suspension indefinite in rules published 2026-06-24, with statutory repeal scheduled for 2027-07-01. The $800 figure still exists in law but no longer buys relief, so parcels below it are now assessed duty at the applicable HTS rate, Section 301 where it attaches to Chinese origin goods, and the Merchandise Processing Fee at 0.3464% of entered value. Splitting one order into several same-day parcels will not change the outcome and doing it specifically to avoid duty is evasion, not planning. Verify CBP public guidance before you ship — this moved four times in eighteen months.
Can I ship batteries, liquids, or food from 1688 overseas?
Lithium batteries need UN38.3 certification and most agents surcharge battery items. Liquids (cosmetics, oils) ship normally but must be sealed; air freight usually caps at 500ml per container. Food is the hardest — many agents refuse raw meat, fresh produce and dairy, while dried snacks and tea are usually fine. Category rules are not uniform: the extension shows the per-category verdict (allowed / restricted / banned) for each agent you compare, so check there rather than relying on a general rule of thumb. Always declare accurately — undeclared restricted items can get the whole parcel seized.