Can you import from China without importer status?

Many people think importing from China into Argentina starts only one way. A company, an accountant, importer status. Then a customs broker and a container, and a mountain of paperwork with them.

In practice the start can be simpler. If you need a sample, equipment, goods for yourself or a small test batch, there is courier delivery.

Courier means DHL, FedEx, UPS and similar services. They carry the box and also clear the shipment through customs under a simplified regime. You usually do not need a separate broker: the courier handles the paperwork and you pay the taxes and fees as they instruct.

Do not confuse courier with pequeños envíos

Courier is a way of shipping and clearing. The goods travel with DHL, FedEx, UPS or a similar service. Both personal purchases and commercial shipments travel this way, as long as they fit the limits.

The courier limits are:

• up to 3,000 dollars FOB per shipment;
• up to 50 kg per package.

Pequeños envíos is a preferential regime within courier, for small personal purchases. Its restrictions are tighter:

• up to 3 identical units;
• up to 5 shipments a year per person;
• not for commercial purposes.

What “not for commercial purposes” means

It means not for resale. You can order goods, a sample or equipment for yourself through a courier.

If you are a monotributista and order a batch to sell on Mercado Libre, the risk is different. Monotributo does not cover importing goods for resale.

The difference is simple. Receiving a parcel through a courier is one thing. Regularly bringing goods from China and selling them is another.

About the well-known trick

There is a well-known trick. Order the goods as if for yourself, as a test or as samples, and then quietly sell a small batch. In practice people do it.

But if the goods are bought for resale, the matter is already commercial. Hence the questions about taxes and paperwork, and then about customs.

For a one-off market test the trick looks tempting. Building a business on it is a bad idea. Better to know in advance what import regime, tax status and documents you need.

FOB and DAP, two words worth knowing

FOB is a term from international trade. In the classic sense the supplier delivers the goods to the port of departure, and from there the shipping and the risk are yours. But when people talk about the 3,000-dollar FOB courier limit, they usually mean the value of the goods themselves, without international shipping and insurance.

DAP stands for Delivered At Place. The supplier arranges delivery to Argentina. The import taxes and duties, plus the courier fees, you pay here.

For a first small shipment through DHL, FedEx or UPS it is easier to ask the supplier for the term DAP Argentina via DHL. You will not have to find a carrier, work out the freight or deal with logistics yourself.

Only DAP does not mean “everything free and tax-exempt”. Delivery is arranged, but the import charges in Argentina are still yours.

The short version

Courier is good for starting out and for tests. But it is not a magic button marked “import and sell as I please”.

Before ordering, decide what the goods are for. Yourself, a test, or regular resale.

The next article covers three ways to start: courier, cargo and full import in your own name.

⭐ By the way: the full landed cost with clearance, air versus container, recoverable taxes and country of origin are worked out in our customs calculator 2.0 from the PRO pack. The same place has import guides for each of the six countries.