If you ship air freight to middle east, have you ever been tricked by a freight forwarder? The truth is, as an Amazon seller, you will deal with freight forwarders a lot. So how do you tell if a forwarder is really reliable?

Pure tips – listen carefully.

The freight forwarding industry is full of all kinds of players. Some forwarders will take your money unfairly. For example, they tell you they are shipping by air freight, but actually they use a fast ship. Or they say it’s a fast ship, but they put your goods on a slow ship.

The way to deal with these forwarders is actually very simple. Right after you ship your goods, ask for the container tracking number. No matter if you are using ZIM, Matson, or any other carrier, they must give you a number.

Once you get the number, just go to the carrier’s official website and track it. You will see when it was shipped, when it left port, when it arrived at the destination port, and when it cleared customs – everything is very clear. If the forwarder makes excuses and refuses to give you the tracking info, you need to be very, very careful.

Another thing – some forwarders run their own Amazon business.

They use sellers’ shipments to find new products to sell. That means you become their product research tool! This is the most accurate way to do product research. These forwarders have their own operations team.

How to spot them? It’s also very simple. Just go to their company’s job postings online and see if they are hiring operations staff. If they do both freight forwarding and Amazon operations, watch out – you might be their product research tool.

Finding a reliable forwarder is not easy. Here are the key points:

First, the forwarder must be professional. Some forwarders are just middlemen – they don’t really understand the details. That leads to very slow customs clearance.

Also, some forwarders are very irresponsible. If you find a forwarder who is willing to take responsibility and compensate you – for example, if the shipment is delayed, they pay you; if goods are lost, they pay you – then even if their price is a bit higher, you should work with them.

When it comes to customs clearance for air freight to middle east, I know what I’m talking about.

Take our company DL Logistics as an example. As one of the top five air freight to middle east providers, we have a team of several hundred people for customs clearance and delivery at the destination, plus over 50 trucks. Because we ship large volumes, we have built a strong relationship with customs over many years. We have a VIP lane. For urgent cargo, right after the plane lands, we start unloading and sorting. We can finish customs clearance in 2 hours. Meanwhile, most other forwarders take 2 to 3 days just to clear and pick up the goods.

All the things I mentioned above – you can ask about them and discuss them at the beginning of the cooperation.

Once you ship your goods, the forwarder has all the power. One important thing to remember: when choosing a forwarder for air freight to middle east, never go for the cheapest option. Don’t pick one just because their price is lower than others. Many forwarders use low prices as a trick to fool customers.

It’s very possible that the first time you work with them, the price is really low. But bigger problems may come later. They may create all kinds of difficulties and traps for you to fall into.

Another very important point: don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

Always choose multiple forwarders to compare and have backups. This is the only way to reduce and spread your risk.