In June 2024, SHEIN officially launched the "semi-hosted" model, attracting the attention of a large number of cross-border merchants. This model provides Chinese sellers who have inventory locally overseas with an overseas channel that takes into account the platform's traffic dividend and the flexibility of independent operation. Merchants can select products and provide supply prices independently, and SHEIN provides support such as front-end operations and fulfillment delivery.

And a key action behind this is to prepare goods in advance to the US overseas warehouse. So, for sellers who are preparing to settle in SHEIN semi-hosted, how much does it cost to prepare goods to overseas warehouses? How to choose a reliable and cost-effective overseas warehouse partner?

What does the cost of preparing goods for SHEIN's semi-hosted overseas warehouses include?

The essence of SHEIN's semi-hosted is that sellers prepare goods in advance in the United States, and then the platform uniformly operates sales and fulfills the delivery. This means that sellers need to bear the entire process of shipping from China to the US overseas warehouse. It mainly includes the following five categories:

1. First-leg transportation cost

This is the basic cost for sellers to transport goods from China to overseas warehouses in the United States. The cost is affected by multiple factors:

Transportation mode: Air transportation is fast but expensive, while sea transportation is more cost-effective but has a long cycle. The choice needs to be combined with product attributes and sales rhythm;

Transportation channel: LCL is suitable for small and medium-sized shipments, and FCL is suitable for large quantities;

Cargo type: general cargo, sensitive cargo, pure battery cargo, etc., the declaration and freight standards of different categories vary greatly;

Destination and delivery method: The freight to the East Coast/West Coast warehouse will also be slightly different.

Reference price (taking Shenzhen to the West Coast as an example):

Reference price for LCL sea transportation: 600-800 yuan/CBM;

Reference price for air transportation: 30-45 yuan/kg (sensitive cargo or pure electric cargo are negotiable);

The actual price needs to be personalized according to the departure place, cargo type and timeliness requirements.

2. Customs clearance and taxes

Although the SHEIN platform will provide guidance on the operation side, the responsibility for customs clearance lies with the merchant. The fees involved include:

Customs clearance service fee;

Tariffs and VAT (if applicable);

Sensitive goods may also involve testing and certification service fees, etc.

It is recommended to choose a logistics provider that provides double-clearance door-to-door services, which can effectively avoid the risks of port detention and return due to unfamiliarity with the process.

3. Warehousing costs

Overseas warehouses will charge on a daily/monthly basis based on the space occupied by the goods in the storage area. The common billing unit is cubic meters (CBM) or the number of SKUs.

The storage fees of different products vary greatly. For example, clothing products are small in size, have many SKUs, and have low costs; while home appliances, daily necessities, etc. are large in size and have high warehouse costs.

In addition, overdue storage fees (inventory backlog) or fast turnover incentive fees (SHEIN's incentive policy for dynamic sales products) may also be incurred.

4. Handling costs

The operating costs after the goods enter the warehouse, including:

Warehousing and shelving fees;

Picking and sorting fees;

Labeling/label change/packaging material fees;

Order processing fees (especially for drop shipping), etc.

For sellers with many SKUs and small batches, this part of the cost is more significant. Using overseas warehouses with a high degree of process automation can effectively reduce operating costs.

5. Local delivery costs (Last Mile)

Although SHEIN is responsible for front-end delivery in semi-hosted services, some merchants still need to bear the last mile delivery costs in scenarios such as multi-platform operations and independent station simultaneous delivery.

In this case, whether you choose a warehouse and distribution service provider with system docking capabilities, fast delivery speed, and high coverage in the United States will directly affect your customer satisfaction and platform performance score.

U-Speed US overseas warehouse: SHEIN semi-managed official certified cooperative warehouse, worry-free stocking

As one of the semi-managed cooperative warehouses officially certified by SHEIN, U-Speed US overseas warehouse has significant advantages in helping merchants reduce costs and increase efficiency, open up platform systems, and achieve full-link fulfillment support.

✅ Dual warehouse layout in the East and West Coast of the United States, accurate warehouse selection is more flexible

Covering the east and west coasts of the United States, close to major airports and ports;

The total storage area exceeds 20,000 square meters, and the peak daily processing volume reaches 100,000+ orders;

Flexible warehouse selection strategy, according to the source of traffic and platform warehouse and distribution requirements, scientific warehouse division, and nearby shipment.

✅ Complete first-leg warehouse and distribution integrated service, saving docking costs

Provide one-stop service for cargo collection-transportation-customs clearance-warehousing-shipping of general goods, sensitive goods, and pure battery products;

Cooperate with many sea transportation, air transportation channels and customs clearance agents, with dual guarantees of timeliness and price;

Two major teams at home and abroad are linked, and abnormal problems can be responded to and handled in a timely manner.

✅ Multi-platform system docking, support platform automatic order push

U-Speed WMS system has been bidirectionally connected with SHEIN/TEMU/TikTok/AliExpress and other platform systems, supporting:

Automatic synchronization of orders, reducing manual operations;

Real-time inventory updates and order tracking;

Report visualization, support for multi-dimensional management such as sales/warehousing/returns.

✅ Refined warehouse management, high delivery efficiency

SKU partition management + SOP standard operating procedures to improve picking efficiency;

24-hour outbound rate reaches 100%, and the platform score is excellent;

All processes are archived in the system, and the product status is traceable throughout the process.

✅ Professional after-sales & value-added service support

Provide return label replacement, destruction, refurbishment, FBA labeling and other services;

Efficient return processing, complete operations and upload data within 48 hours, to help merchants sell goods again;

The customer service team is composed of bilingual members in Chinese and English, with barrier-free communication and fast response to time differences.

Control costs and improve efficiency, starting with choosing the right overseas warehouse

SHEIN's semi-trusted model allows more Chinese brands to "go overseas with light assets", but the premise is that merchants need to have a stable supply chain and local warehousing capacity support. Cost control and efficiency optimization of overseas warehouses are the key links that determine the success or failure of a business.

As an official SHEIN certified warehouse, U-Speed's US overseas warehouse has served hundreds of cross-border sellers to successfully implement the semi-trusted model with its comprehensive advantages of wide coverage, strong system and stable operation.

If you are also worried about stocking costs, customs clearance obstacles and delivery time, you might as well choose a reliable, professional and platform-backed overseas warehouse partner.