Every customs authority treats your own used belongings and goods bought for resale as two entirely different things. Put both in one container and you do not get your stock through under the household relief. You risk the relief on everything in the box.
One vetted mover from our network handles the split properly. Experienced international movers insist on it. Any firm offering to combine the two into a single declaration is not doing you a favour, whatever they say about it being simpler.
This matters far more in China than in most countries, because so many people who live here end up buying in volume. Furniture markets, lighting towns, wholesale complexes and factory outlets are all within easy reach of where the international population lives. Movers who work these cities raise it before you pack.
There is no secret formula. Customs officers apply a fairly consistent set of tests, and knowing them makes the line obvious in most cases.
Have you owned and used it? A sofa you have sat on for three years is personal. A sofa still in its factory wrapping is not, whatever your intention for it.
How many are there? One handbag is personal. Forty identical handbags is stock. This is the single clearest signal and no explanation gets round it.
Is it in retail packaging? New goods in original boxes with barcodes and price labels read as commercial regardless of what the inventory says.
Does the quantity match a household? Six dinner plates fits a home. Six hundred does not.
Is there an invoice? Goods bought wholesale come with paperwork that looks exactly like what it is. Including that paperwork in a household file is what turns a routine clearance into a protracted one.
What is your situation? Someone who has lived in Yiwu for four years running an export business is not moving a household in the same way a teacher leaving Chengdu is, and the file is read with that in mind.
None of this means you cannot ship goods you have bought. It means they travel as what they are, on their own documents, and duty is paid where duty is due. That is a normal commercial transaction and it is far cheaper than losing your household relief.
Two shipments cost more than one. That is the argument people make for combining them, and it holds right up until the point it fails, at which stage it fails expensively.
Second entry plus duty
Predictable. You know the number before you ship.
Duty on the commercial part
If it is spotted, which it usually is.
Duty on the whole consignment
Plus storage while it is resolved, plus the delay.
Tell us what you have bought as well as what you own. Getting the split right at enquiry saves a great deal later.
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Most cases are clear. A few are not, and these are the ones worth raising with your mover before you pack rather than discovering at a port.
Gifts in quantity. Twenty identical scarves bought as presents for friends at home. Genuinely intended as gifts, genuinely not for sale, and genuinely indistinguishable from stock on a manifest. Declare them and explain them. Do not bury them in carton thirty one.
New items for your own use. You bought a new sofa in Foshan because you needed a sofa. It is new, it is in packaging, and it is yours. This is a real situation and it is handled by declaring it honestly, not by claiming you have used it for a year.
Tools of your trade. Professional equipment, a photographer's kit, a musician's instruments. These often have their own treatment in both directions and should be identified separately rather than lumped in with the household.
Samples. Almost always commercial, even in small quantities, because their purpose is commercial. If you are carrying samples, they belong in the trade consignment.
Inherited or gifted items. Things you did not buy but do own. Usually fine as personal effects, though anything old also needs checking against the cultural relics rules on the way out of China.
Stock you failed to sell. Genuinely yours, genuinely not sold, and still commercial goods. This comes up constantly with traders leaving and the answer is always the same: it goes in the commercial shipment.
The rule of thumb that serves best: if you would struggle to explain it in one sentence to a customs officer, it needs declaring separately.
Both the Chinese and the UK sides treat this distinction the same way, so it matters in either direction.
A move usually means moving money too, whether that is a deposit on a Chinese flat or funds coming back the other way. We have helped customers with currency exchange in any currency through trusted partners for many years, and our partners can help with the money side of your move. Mention it on the form and it gets included.
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No, and it is the most expensive avoidable mistake on this route. It does not sneak your stock through under the household relief. It puts a question mark over the whole consignment, including the belongings that would otherwise have cleared without difficulty.
Quantity is the clearest signal. One handbag is personal, forty identical handbags is stock. They also look at whether items are used, whether they are in retail packaging, whether the quantity matches a household, and whether there are wholesale invoices in the file.
Two shipments, documented and declared separately. A household move under personal effects relief, and a commercial consignment on its own paperwork with its own invoices. Book both with the same firm so nothing goes missing between them.
Yes, a second entry and duty properly due on the commercial goods. That is a predictable number you know before you ship. Mixing costs nothing until it fails, at which point you face duty on the whole consignment plus storage plus delay.
That is a real situation and it is handled by declaring it honestly. It is new and in packaging, which reads as commercial, so it needs explaining rather than hiding. Your mover can advise on how it is best presented.
Twenty identical scarves bought as presents are genuinely not for sale and genuinely indistinguishable from stock on a manifest. Declare them and explain them at the outset rather than burying them in a carton and hoping.
Almost always, even in small quantities, because their purpose is commercial. If you are carrying samples they belong in the trade consignment rather than among your household effects, regardless of how few there are.
Still commercial goods. It is genuinely yours and genuinely unsold, and it remains stock. This comes up constantly with traders leaving Yiwu and the answer is always the same: it travels in the commercial shipment.
Professional equipment, camera kit and instruments often have their own treatment in both directions. Identify them separately rather than lumping them in with the household, and ask your mover which category applies to your destination.
Send your collection address, your Chinese destination, a rough idea of the volume and your date. A vetted mover from our network checks the route, the paperwork and the access, then comes back to you with the price.
Send your move detailsWe match international moving enquiries with vetted moving companies in the AGM Group network, each holding FIDI FAIM certification and BAR Overseas membership.
We are not a removal firm ourselves. We find you the one that suits your route, and you deal with them directly from there.