The journey home is not the outbound one reversed. You are shipping more than you took, the relief works differently, and a good deal of what you accumulated in China does not belong in a British house. The cost question starts with what to leave.
One vetted mover from our network prices the return, and international movers with real China origin capability are a smaller group than those who ship outbound. Good movers will price the whole relocation, not just the sea leg. Ask who does the packing in China, because it will not be a UK crew.
Two things change the arithmetic in your favour. Local labour and packing in China cost less than in the UK, and Transfer of Residence relief removes duty and VAT on arrival if you qualify.
Origin costs fall. Packing labour, local transport and handling in China cost less than the equivalent in the UK. For the same volume, a China to UK shipment is often modestly cheaper than the outbound one.
Destination costs rise slightly. UK delivery, and any storage while you find somewhere to live, are priced at UK rates. Since a lot of returning families do not have an address ready, storage appears on this leg far more often than on the outbound one.
Relief works differently. Going out, you were seeking Chinese relief conditional on a residence permit. Coming back, you apply to HMRC for Transfer of Residence relief before the goods arrive. If you qualify, duty and VAT do not apply.
There is an extra export step. Chinese export clearance, and if you have bought anything made before 1949, a cultural relics certificate. Neither is expensive. Both take time and both should be started before the shipment is booked.
Volume is the variable that matters. This is the one people underestimate. A family that shipped fifteen cubic metres out routinely ships twenty five back. Furniture bought locally, children's things, the accumulation of several years. Since price follows volume, the return quote can exceed the outbound one even with cheaper labour.
On payment. Origin services may be billed in one currency and destination services in another. Ask which parts are payable in what, and when, so the exchange rate does not become an unwelcome surprise.
These bands assume a coastal Chinese origin. An inland city adds the domestic leg to the coast, which on the return journey happens before the sailing rather than after it, so it lengthens the timeline as well as the bill.
£250 to £1,000
Students and single people. Per box or per kilogram.
£1,100 to £4,000
Flat contents. The most common return shipment.
£3,300 to £9,000
Family homes after several years, which is most of them.
Tell us roughly what you have accumulated and where you are shipping from. The honest advice is usually about what to leave.
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Before shipping anything electrical or bulky, three questions decide it.
Will it work? China runs 220 volts at 50 hertz and the UK 230 at 50. That is close enough that most Chinese appliances work in Britain with a plug change rather than a transformer. This surprises people who assume the two are incompatible. The exception is anything with a very tight voltage tolerance, which is rare in household goods.
Will it fit? This is the harder question. Chinese apartments are smaller than British houses, and furniture is sized accordingly. A sofa that suited a Shanghai flat may look lost in a Yorkshire sitting room. Beds are a specific problem, since Chinese mattress sizes do not match British ones and replacing bedding for a Chinese bed in the UK is genuinely awkward.
Is it worth the cubic metres? Work out your rate per cubic metre from the quote and apply it to each bulky item. A wardrobe bought for a few hundred yuan is not worth several hundred pounds of freight.
On white goods. Cheap to replace in the UK, expensive in volume, and often sized differently for Chinese kitchens. Almost never worth bringing.
On things bought as investments. Tea, jade, art, antiques. If they are genuinely valuable, ship them properly with the right certificates and the right insurance. If they were bought as souvenirs, be honest about which they are before paying to crate them.
On the emotional exception. Some things come home because they matter, not because the maths works. That is a legitimate reason and it should be a deliberate decision rather than an accident of packing day.
Apply for the relief before anything else. It is the one part of the return that cannot be rushed at the end.
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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For the same volume, usually a little, because packing labour and local handling cost less in China than in the UK. In practice the return often costs more, because almost everyone brings back considerably more than they took out.
Not if you qualify for Transfer of Residence relief and apply to HMRC before the goods arrive. It covers used personal belongings when you move your home here. Alcohol and tobacco remain dutiable regardless.
Mostly yes. China runs 220 volts at 50 hertz and the UK 230 at 50, which is close enough that most household appliances work with a plug change rather than a transformer. Whether they are worth the freight is a separate question.
Usually not, unless it is genuinely good. Chinese apartments are smaller and furniture is sized accordingly, so pieces that suited a Shanghai flat can look wrong in a British house. Beds are a specific problem because mattress sizes do not match.
Three or four years accumulate. Furniture bought locally, children's things, purchases from markets and the general expansion of a household. Since price follows volume, the return quote can exceed the outbound one even with cheaper labour.
Chinese export clearance, and a cultural relics certificate for anything made before 1949. Neither is expensive but both take time, so start them before the shipment is booked rather than in the week before packing.
It varies, and origin services may be billed differently from destination ones. Ask which parts are payable in what and when, so the exchange rate does not become an unwelcome addition to a figure you thought you had agreed.
Common on this leg, and it is why storage appears far more often coming home than going out. Arrange it in advance rather than as an emergency, and remember that handling in and out usually costs more than the storage itself.
Work out your rate per cubic metre from the quote and apply it to each bulky item. That tells you what is economic. It does not tell you what matters, and some things should come home for reasons the arithmetic cannot see.
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.