How do you ship your first production run from the factory to your customers?

A first production run of a small electronic product usually ships in slices. A run of 1,000 devices from China or elsewhere in Asia is a few pallets, too little for a full container, so the bulk typically goes in a shared ocean container (LCL), about six to nine weeks door to door from Asia to a US warehouse, while a first slice for early backers, reviewers or Amazon launch stock goes by air or express in one to three weeks. A freight forwarder books the move, a licensed customs broker files the US import entry for you as the importer, and a fulfillment warehouse (a 3PL) receives the goods and ships them on to customers, Amazon and backers. If the product has a lithium battery, you and the factory, not the forwarder, are responsible for classifying and documenting it, so have the battery's UN 38.3 test summary and data ready before anything is booked.

Should you ship by express, air or sea?

The table compares the four usual ways to ship a run from Asia to the US: what each fits, the time door to door, and what it cost in October 2026. Rates change month to month, and many guides still quote 2025 ocean rates that are roughly half today's, so ask for a current quote and check whether it's port to port or door to door.

Mode	Fits	Door to door, Asia to a US warehouse	Cost in October 2026
Express courier	Up to about 100 to 150 kg: samples, a first few cartons, urgent top-ups	About a week	One forwarder's indicative rate: about $15 a kilogram
Air freight	About 150 kg to a few pallets, with a deadline	About 1.5 to 3 weeks	About $6 to $8 a kilogram to Los Angeles or New York, plus fuel surcharges
Ocean, shared container (LCL)	About 2 to 15 cubic meters, one to several pallets, with 8 to 10 weeks to spare	About 6 to 9 weeks to the West Coast; 10 to 15 days more to the East Coast	Priced per cubic meter (one forwarder quoted about $140 port to port), plus charges at both ends
Ocean, own container (FCL)	Above about 15 cubic meters	About 4 to 6 weeks to the West Coast	About $8,000 port to port for a 40-foot container to the West Coast; it holds about 60 cubic meters, so it pays only when you can fill much of it

A run of 1,000 devices weighing a few hundred grams each, in retail boxes packed 20 to 40 to a carton, is roughly 25 to 50 cartons: about 300 kg to a ton, 3 to 8 cubic meters, two to five pallets. Air and express are charged on the larger of the actual weight and the volume weight (length × width × height in centimeters ÷ 6,000, or ÷ 5,000 at many express services), so light, bulky cartons cost more than their weight suggests. That's air or LCL territory. Many teams split it: air or express for the first slice, ocean for the rest. Who pays for which leg, and where the factory's responsibility ends, depends on the delivery terms in the quote, as explained in What's actually in a production quote.

What do a freight forwarder, customs broker and 3PL each do?

The factory packs the cartons, prints carton marks and labels, prepares the commercial invoice and packing list, supplies the battery documents, sets the battery charge, and, under FOB terms (the factory's job ends when the goods are loaded at the export port) or FCA terms (it ends when they're handed to your carrier), clears export.
A freight forwarder books air or ocean space, groups LCL cargo, and arranges pickup and paperwork. Many also hold a customs broker license or work with one.
A customs broker files the US entry and pays duty on your behalf. A customs broker can't act until you, as the importer of record, sign a power of attorney, one of the most common reasons a first shipment sits at the port. Hiring a broker doesn't move legal responsibility off the importer.
The carrier is the airline, ocean line or trucking company that moves the goods. Express companies combine carrier, forwarder and broker for small shipments.
A 3PL warehouse receives, stores, picks, packs and ships orders, and can label and prep cartons for Amazon.
A pledge manager, after a crowdfunding campaign, collects backers' final addresses, choices and shipping charges and sends the orders to the 3PL.

What you provide:

a commercial invoice with what US rules require, including a full description, quantities, the price per item, the currency, the country of origin, and any "assists" you paid for, such as molds;
a packing list per carton, with carton numbers, units, weights and dimensions that match the carton marks;
the HTS code (the US tariff classification) and product details for the broker;
the battery documents: the UN 38.3 test summary and a safety data sheet or a spec sheet with the battery's watt-hours;
for Amazon, the shipment plan and labels; for a 3PL, advance notice of what's arriving.

For ocean freight, the importer also files a security filing (ISF) at least 24 hours before the goods are loaded abroad, and needs a customs bond; a shipment worth more than $2,500 needs a formal entry. If a factory offers delivery to your door with duty paid (DDP), ask who will be the importer of record. Both are covered in What's actually in a production quote, and duty in US tariffs on electronics from China, Korea, Vietnam and Mexico (October 2026).

What changes if the product has a lithium battery?

Tested first. Every lithium-ion cell or battery must pass the UN 38.3 tests before it can ship at all. The test summary has to be made available, a link or QR code is enough, but forwarders, Amazon and some carriers will ask for it. A changed battery usually means new tests, as explained in Who buys the parts for a first production run.
Which rules apply by air. A small device with its battery installed ships under UN3481, packing instruction 967, Section II, the lighter set of rules for cells up to 20 Wh and batteries up to 100 Wh. A spare battery in the same box falls under packing instruction 966; a battery sold on its own is UN3480, which can go only on cargo aircraft.
Charge, since January 1, 2026. By air, batteries packed with a device (packing instruction 966) above 2.7 Wh must be at 30% charge or less; for batteries installed in a device (967), 30% is strongly recommended but not required.
Marks and paperwork. A carton holding several devices needs the lithium battery mark even if it ships alone, and the air waybill then needs a compliance line too. The device must be packed so it can't switch on, and marks must be repeated on a wrapped pallet unless they show through.
By sea. The ocean rules (the IMDG Code) have a similar exception for small batteries in equipment, but many ocean lines and consolidators still ask for a battery declaration, the test summary and a safety data sheet at booking, and some charge more or refuse.
Who's responsible. The shipper, which means you and the factory, classifies and documents the batteries; the forwarder coordinates but doesn't take that on. Check that your 3PL accepts products with lithium batteries.

Where should the units go: your own space, a 3PL, Amazon FBA or backers?

Can you ship from your own space?

Fine for a few hundred orders, or when you need to check or rework units before they go out. A pallet delivered to an address without a loading dock needs a liftgate truck, and LCL cargo arrives at a warehouse near the port and needs trucking from there. Packing hundreds of backer orders by hand is the classic time sink.

What does a 3PL cost for 1,000 units?

A 2025 survey of more than 600 US warehouses, published in 2026, puts typical charges at:

about $10 to receive a pallet;
about $20 a pallet a month for storage;
about $3 to pick and pack an order's first item, and about 50 cents for each additional item, plus packaging and postage;
a setup fee at about half of warehouses, often $250 to $1,000;
a monthly minimum averaging about $500.

For 1,000 units on two to five pallets, storage is $40 to $100 a month, so the monthly minimum can matter more than the rates. Pick a 3PL with a low or no minimum, and ask whether it accepts lithium-battery products.

What does Amazon FBA require for a product with a lithium battery?

Battery data comes first. Amazon runs a dangerous goods (hazmat) review on products with lithium batteries. Before a product can be listed for FBA, Amazon asks for the battery type, number, weight and watt-hours. Review takes two business days once the information is complete, and Amazon may ask for a safety data sheet or an exemption sheet. If a product is flagged after its inventory reaches Amazon, you have 14 business days to send documents, or the inventory is disposed of at your cost. Do this weeks before the stock lands.
Cartons. Amazon FBA boxes can weigh up to 50 lb, and a box of several units can't be longer than 25 inches on any side. Each box needs an FBA label and each unit a scannable barcode, and the box contents go into the shipment plan. Design the master carton to these limits from the start, so the same carton works for Amazon, a 3PL and parcel shipping.
Prep and fees. Since January 1, 2026, Amazon no longer preps or labels units for sellers in the US, so a 3PL or the factory does it. Amazon also charges a placement fee when you send inventory to fewer locations than it recommends.

How do you ship to crowdfunding backers?

In the US: ship from a US 3PL.
Abroad, four options: collect VAT at checkout and ship parcels with duty and tax prepaid (in the EU, through the IOSS scheme for parcels of €150 or less; the UK has its own scheme); let backers pay on arrival, the cheapest for you and the worst for backers, some of whom refuse delivery; send bulk freight to regional hubs in the EU, UK, Canada or Australia, clear customs once and deliver locally, which is best for backers and worth it for large international counts; or prepay duty per parcel through a carrier.
A new EU charge. Since July 1, 2026, the EU has charged a temporary €3 customs duty on low-value parcels of €150 or less, for each type of item (each tariff line) in the parcel, which adds to every backer parcel sent straight into the EU.
Batteries in the mail. International postal services accept lithium batteries only when installed in the device, within limits, so check before promising international shipping.

How should you pack for the trip?

Master cartons. Size them to Amazon's limits even if only part of the run goes there; 20 to 40 units of a 300 g device keeps a carton at about 8 to 15 kg. Use double-wall corrugated board, avoid underfilled cartons that crush in a stack, and add desiccant and bags for ocean freight, where condensation in the container is common.
Carton marks. Brand, order number, product code, quantity, carton number of total, gross and net weight, dimensions and "Made in…", matching the packing list.
Pallets. Wooden pallets entering the US must be heat-treated and stamped (ISPM 15). No cartons hanging over the edge, stretch wrap, and battery marks repeated on the outside.
Parcels to customers. If units ship to customers in their own box, test that box: ISTA 3A simulates parcel delivery, with drops and vibration, for packages up to 70 kg. It doesn't replace the battery tests.

What does insurance cover, and what doesn't?

What carriers owe you without insurance. An ocean carrier's liability to or from the US is capped at $500 per package, and you recover the lesser of the cargo's value and that cap, so list the carton count on the bill of lading: 40 cartons listed means up to $20,000, while "2 pallets" means up to $1,000. By air, about 26 SDR per kilogram, roughly $35 a kilogram.
Cargo insurance. Usually about 0.1 to 0.5% of the insured value for ocean all-risk cover and 0.3 to 0.6% for air, on 110% of the invoice value, with a minimum premium per shipment. Ask for all-risk cover; under CIF terms the seller only has to buy the minimum.
General average. If a ship has an emergency, every cargo owner shares the cost in proportion to cargo value, whether or not their own goods were damaged; after one 2018 container-ship fire, the contribution reached 54% of cargo value. Until someone puts up security for your share, the carrier can hold your goods; cargo insurance with general average cover does that for you.

How long does it take, and when should you book?

Then to customers: a 3PL processing 1,000 backer orders takes about one to two weeks after receiving the goods, plus two to eight days of US ground delivery. Amazon check-in can take days to weeks, longer in the fourth quarter.
Seasons. Lunar New Year 2027 falls on February 6, and factories in China slow down or close for two to six weeks around it, so finalize first-quarter production by late November or early December and book freight three to four weeks ahead. Korea's holiday is a few days. Ocean freight is busiest from July to October, and air rates rise through December.
Buffer. Add two to three weeks to an ocean plan and about a week to air, and promise backers a month, not a date, until the goods are received at the 3PL.

Example: 1,000 units, three destinations

This is an illustration, not a customer project. The product and all the numbers are made up.

A team's 1,000 handheld sensors, 300 g each with a 2.5 Wh battery installed, are packed 25 to a carton: 40 cartons, about 360 kg and 4 cubic meters. The factory sets each unit to about 30% charge and shipping mode, and the inspector checks both.

First slice by air: 200 units in 8 cartons go to the US 3PL for early backers and reviewers. They weigh about 72 kg but are billed on a volume weight of about 130 kg: in this made-up example, about $1,500 door to door, arriving in about two weeks.
The rest by sea: 800 units in 32 cartons go by LCL to the West Coast: in this made-up example, about $2,500 door to door, including charges at both ends, customs clearance and trucking, arriving in about eight weeks. The bill of lading lists 32 cartons.
At the 3PL: 300 units are labeled for Amazon and sent on in 12 cartons; 500 stay on two pallets for backers and web orders.
Insurance: cargo worth $40,000, insured at 110% at a made-up 0.3%, about $130.
Calendar: goods ready December 1, the air slice lands mid-December, and the sea freight arrives in late January. Had the goods been finished in mid-January instead, they would likely have waited out the Lunar New Year shutdown before leaving.

Where we come in

If you're planning a first run and how it will reach your customers, this is one of the situations Anamor takes on. We produce, inspect, pack and ship, and you get inspection results for each lot and units at your warehouse.

Anamor takes US hardware teams with a working prototype into their first production run: we redesign the product for production, line up partner factories and suppliers in the US and overseas, price it at your quantities, and run the build through to shipping.

Send what you have: photos of the prototype, the battery details, how many you plan to make, and where you plan to sell. Need an NDA? We'll send our mutual NDA, or review yours, before you send files. Within two business days, a real person on our team will reply with a free first look at your production run and a few times to talk.

Frequently asked questions

What's the difference between a freight forwarder and a customs broker?

A freight forwarder arranges the move: it books air or ocean space, groups shared-container cargo, and handles pickup and shipping paperwork. A licensed customs broker files the US import entry and pays duty on your behalf, once you, the importer of record, sign a power of attorney. Many forwarders offer both, but legal responsibility stays with the importer.

What does Amazon FBA require for products with lithium batteries?

Before listing for FBA, you enter the battery type, number, weight and watt-hours, and Amazon runs a dangerous goods (hazmat) review, about two business days once the details are complete. Have the UN 38.3 test summary and a safety data sheet or exemption sheet ready. Inventory flagged after arrival is disposed of unless documents follow within 14 business days.

Should a first production run ship by air or by sea?

Usually both. A run of 1,000 small devices fills two to five pallets, so most of it goes in a shared ocean container (LCL), about six to nine weeks door to door from Asia to a US warehouse. A first batch for early backers, reviewers or Amazon launch stock goes by air or express in one to three weeks.