In short
- Door to door means one accountable contact from factory pickup to final delivery — it does not mean every possible cost is inside the number.
- Duty and taxes, inspection handling and remote-area delivery are usually quoted separately even on door-to-door terms.
- Responsibility transfers at defined points; knowing the transfer point tells you who pays when something goes wrong.
- The honest comparison is not two headline numbers — it is two inclusions tables side by side.
What door to door actually means
The term covers a scope of legs, not a scope of costs. A proper door-to-door offer states both.
- Pickup at origin — factory loading, trucking to the port or airport of departure in China.
- Export formalities — Chinese export declaration on the true invoice.
- Main carriage — the sea or air leg to Jakarta, Semarang or another agreed gateway.
- Import formalities — PIB filed by a licensed PPJK; duty and taxes per the agreed term (usually to your account).
- Final delivery — trucking to the address you nominate, including unloading where agreed.
Usually included versus usually extra
Practice varies between providers, but this is the honest baseline. Treat any deviation as a question, not a surprise.
| Item | Typically inside a door-to-door price | Typically billed separately |
|---|---|---|
| Pickup and export customs in China | Yes | — |
| Ocean or air freight | Yes | — |
| Import declaration (PIB filing service) | Yes | — |
| Import duty (BM), PPN, PPh 22 | No — to importer of record | Yes, per the customs assessment |
| Inspection handling if customs examines cargo | No | Yes, at cost |
| Storage beyond free time | No | Yes, per day |
| Remote-area or off-Java delivery | Sometimes | Often as a surcharge |
| Unloading at destination | By agreement | Often excluded |
Where responsibility transfers
On a door-to-door move the practical transfer points are fewer than people assume, but they decide who absorbs a delay or a damage.
- If your seller quotes "DDP delivered", read DDP vs DDU first — on this lane, some "all-in DDP" offers are actually an undername import wearing a nicer name.
| Stage | Transfer point | Who carries the risk before / after |
|---|---|---|
| At the factory | Cargo loaded and signed over | Seller / freight side |
| At the port or airport of loading | Cargo received on board | Freight side under its carriage terms |
| At import clearance | PIB filed; duties assessed to importer of record | Importer of record for duties and declarations |
| At final delivery | Cargo handed over at the nominated address | Trucking partner until handover |
One door-to-door bill, line by line
Here is how a realistic bill assembles. All figures are illustrative examples — your costs are subject to the prevailing quote and the customs assessment.
| Line | Basis | Illustrative amount (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| Pickup Shenzhen + export customs | per shipment | 180 |
| Ocean freight LCL, 6 CBM | 6 × USD 62/CBM | 372 |
| D/O, CFS handling, clearance service | per shipment | 310 |
| Duty + taxes (BM 10% + PPN ~11% + PPh 22 2.5% on CIF 5,000) | per assessment | 1,175 |
| Trucking Jakarta port to Bekasi warehouse | per shipment | 150 |
| Total door to door (excluding duty lines: 1,012; with duties: 2,187) | 2,187 |
Why it matters: A competing "door to door USD 900" headline that excludes duties and inspection handling is not cheaper — it is incomplete. Rebuild both offers into this shape before comparing.
When door to door is worth it
Door to door earns its keep when the cargo is complex, the buyer is new to the lane, or accountability has a price.
- First shipments — one party owns the whole chain, so gaps between vendors cannot appear.
- Mixed commercial loads — LCL cargo with CFS handling, permits and last-mile delivery benefits from one coordinator.
- Fixed internal budgets — you still carry duty separately, but the logistics lines are consolidated and predictable.
- Time-sensitive projects — one accountable contact shortens the phone chain when a vessel rolls or a file is queried.
How to compare door-to-door offers properly
Normalize first, compare second. The comparison method is the same regardless of provider.
- Ask every provider to price the same inclusions list — pickup to delivery, with duties listed but separated.
- Reject any offer that will not state who files the PIB and under whose NPWP/API.
- Ask explicitly what happens on inspection, storage overrun and redelivery, and at whose cost.
- Then compare totals. The method is detailed on Comparing Quotes, and the full landed arithmetic on Full Cost Breakdown.
Related pages
This page summarizes field practice and publicly available Indonesian import rules for general business reference only—it is not legal, customs, or pricing advice. Customs provisions, tariff rates, and licensing requirements keep changing, so the rules in force at the time and the official processing result always prevail. Wuhan Freedom International Logistics Co., Ltd. · Licensed PPJK in Indonesia · Jakarta / Semarang / Wuhan.