Getting overseas stock into an Australian warehouse
The gap between a finished production run and a sellable listing is a chain of handovers, and most delays happen where one party assumes another booked it.
If your product is made overseas, the gap between a finished production run and a sellable listing is a chain of handovers: manufacturer, freight forwarder, customs, transport, warehouse.
Most delays do not happen inside any one of those. They happen at the joins, where one party assumed another had booked something. This page is about how the chain fits together and what a fulfilment warehouse needs from you before the container lands.
How the chain fits together
Production finishes
Your manufacturer packs to a carton specification you have agreed. Carton dimensions and unit counts matter more than most brands expect, because they set both your freight cost and your storage footprint.
Freight
Air or sea, booked by you or your forwarder. Sea is cheaper and slower; air is the opposite. The choice is usually made by whether the stock has a date attached to it.
Arrival and clearance
Goods are cleared through Australian customs. This sits with you, your customs broker or your forwarder, and it is where an incomplete document set costs days.
Transport to the warehouse
Once cleared, the consignment is delivered to the fulfilment warehouse by road, on a date booked in advance.
Receiving
Counted against what was meant to arrive, discrepancies reported the same business day, then located and made sellable.
What Parcelo does and does not do here
Parcelo is the warehouse at the end of that chain. We can help coordinate the inbound process and work alongside the freight and customs providers involved in your shipment: agreeing the delivery date, telling your forwarder what the site needs, and receiving the consignment properly when it lands.
We are not a freight forwarder and not a customs broker. Import clearance, duty and GST sit with you or the provider you appoint. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either doing more than a 3PL does or is about to hand it back to you at the worst moment.
What we need before it arrives
- A booked delivery date, so someone is there to receive it rather than it sitting unattended
- Carton dimensions, weight and units per carton — these drive both receiving and storage
- A packing list showing what should be in each carton
- Confirmation the goods will arrive cleared, since a warehouse cannot receive uncleared freight
- Whether it arrives palletised or loose-loaded, and whether tailgate delivery is arranged
Common mistakes worth avoiding
Assuming pallet count. Brands are often quoted more pallets than their cartons actually make, and storage is charged on the footprint you occupy. It is worth checking the arithmetic against your real carton dimensions before you budget.
Sending stock without a booking. A consignment nobody was expecting can sit unattended, and stock sitting unattended is how shortages start.
Leaving barcodes until after arrival. If your units are not labelled the way your storefront expects, that has to be fixed before anything can be picked, and it is far cheaper to fix at the factory.
Common questions
- Do you handle customs clearance?
- No. Parcelo is the fulfilment warehouse, not a customs broker or freight forwarder. Clearance, duty and GST sit with you or the provider you appoint. We coordinate with them on the delivery date and receive the consignment when it arrives cleared.
- Can you receive a container directly?
- Tell us what is arriving and how, at quote stage. Whether a consignment can be delivered as-is or needs to be broken down first depends on its size and how it is loaded, and it is a question to answer before the goods leave rather than after they land.
- What if my stock arrives without barcodes?
- It has to be labelled before it can be picked. That is possible at the warehouse but it is slower and more expensive than having it done at the factory, so it is worth raising with your manufacturer while the production run is still open.
- How far in advance should I book inbound?
- As soon as you have a realistic arrival window. Booking early costs nothing and it means the space, the count and the person are all arranged. Booking late is how stock ends up waiting.
Not sure what your fulfilment would actually cost?
Work out a realistic range first, then get a quote based on your real numbers.