What are the main sources of income?

According to the agency industry white paper released by the General Administration of Customs in 2023,the profit structure of professional export agencies typically includes the following core elements:

• Basicservicefee:Itischargedat0.8%-2.5%ofthetotalvalueofthegoods(basedontheaveragemarketpricein2025).
• Exchangerateoperationprofits:Obtainingbankrebatesthroughhedgingtimingselection
• Logisticschannelcommissions:Revenuesharingfromfreightratediscountsprovidedbyshippingcompanies/airlines
• Taxrefundservicefees:Charging1%-1.8%handlingfeeforquickadvancetaxrefundservices
• Financinginterestspreads:Interestspreadincomefromsupplychainfinancialproducts
• • PresentationofL/Cdocuments:800-1500yuanperorder
  • Agencyforexporttaxrebate:5%-8%ofthetaxrebateamount
  : Including specialized services such as certification agency and compliance consulting

Why can price differences between different agents reach 3 times?

Industry research in 2025 shows that quotation differences mainly come from three dimensions:

• Differencesinservicedepth
  • Basiccustomsdeclarationagency:onlyincludesdocumentpreparationandcustomsdeclaration
  • Full-processservice:covers32servicesincludingsupplychainfinanceanddestinationportclearance
• Channel resource gap
  • Ordinaryagents:usepublicbookingplatformswithsignificantfreightratefluctuations
  • Leadingagents:withMaersk,COSCOSignannualcontractspaceagreements
• Risk assumption level
  • Noassumptionoftraderisks:Onlyfixedservicefeesarecharged
  • Risk-sharingmodel:Participateinprofitsharingbutbearcorrespondingcommercialrisks

Is the "no service fee" claimed by the agent really trustworthy?

The 23 cases of violations investigated by the Market Supervision Administration in 2025 revealed that the so-called "zero service fees" may involve the following profit compensation mechanisms:

• Freightratemarkup:OceanfreightquotesUSD100-300/TEUhigherthanmarketprice
• Exchangeratespreadamplification:Exchangerate0.05-0.1pointslowerthanreal-timequotation
• Taxrebatewithholding:Delayingtaxrebatepaymentstoobtainfunddepositbenefits
• Additionalfeebreakdown:Splitthebasicservicefeeintomultipleitemssuchascustomsclearancefeesanddocumentationfees

How to determine if agency fees are reasonable?

It is recommended that enterprises evaluate the reasonableness of charges through the "Three-Dimensional Comparison Method":

• Horizontalpricecomparison:Obtaindetailedquotationsfromatleast3agenciesofsimilarscale
• VerticalBreakdown:Requirebreakdownsshowinglogisticscosts,bankchargesandotherthird-partyfees
• Dynamicmonitoring:Regularlyverifydeviationratesbetweenactualcostsandestimates(recommendedcontrolrange±5%)

What new profit models will emerge in the agency industry in the 2025 era?

With the development of digital trade,leading agencies have begun exploring innovative profit points:

• Datamonetization:Providemarketinsightreportsthroughtradedataanalysis
• Carbontariffservices:CarbonemissionaccountingservicesundertheEUCBAMmechanism
• Digitalcustomsclearance:Blockchaintraceabilitysystemaccessservicefee
• AIcustomsdeclaration:Subscription-basedpricingforintelligentclassificationsystems