Champagne taste. Beer budget.Landed to your door, every line priced.Direct from vetted factories. No showroom. No importer's markup.Inspected before the balance is paid.WaterMark checked on the register, not on the factory's word.Every fee printed, both sides.Champagne taste. Beer budget.Landed to your door, every line priced.Direct from vetted factories. No showroom. No importer's markup.Inspected before the balance is paid.WaterMark checked on the register, not on the factory's word.Every fee printed, both sides.

Glossary

Every word in a factory quote, a shipping document and a compliance certificate, in plain words.

Get a landed price How it works

Prices and delivery terms

Term	What it means
EXW, ex works	The factory price at the factory gate. You pay and arrange everything after that: trucking in China, export clearance, freight, insurance, import. Most quotes from Foshan are EXW.
FCA, free carrier	The factory delivers, export-cleared, to a carrier or place you name, often the forwarder's warehouse. Cleaner than EXW for consolidating.
FOB, free on board	The factory delivers the goods onto the ship at the named Chinese port and clears export. Risk passes to you once they are on board. You pay the ocean freight and insurance.
CFR, cost and freight	The factory pays freight to the Australian port, but risk passes to you when the goods are loaded in China. No insurance included.
CIF, cost, insurance and freight	Like CFR, plus the seller buys minimum marine insurance for you. Minimum cover is thin; insure the full landed value yourself.
DAP, delivered at place	The seller delivers to a named place in Australia, not unloaded and not import-cleared. You pay duty and GST.
DDP, delivered duty paid	The seller delivers to your named place with import duty and GST paid. Rare from factories, and hard to check what you paid for.
Incoterms	The International Chamber of Commerce rules (current edition 2020) that say who pays for and carries the risk of each leg. They do not cover payment or who owns the goods.
Landed price	Everything it costs to get the item to your door in Australia: factory price, freight, insurance, duty, port and biosecurity charges, brokerage, inspection, cartage and GST. The only number Elje publishes.

Paying and ordering

Term	What it means
PI, proforma invoice	The factory's formal quote and order document: items, prices, terms, bank details. You pay the deposit against it. Read every line.
T/T, telegraphic transfer	A bank wire. The usual way factories are paid: a deposit (often 30 to 50 percent) and the balance before shipment.
Deposit and balance	The split of payment. Elje's rule: 30 percent to start, 70 percent only after the inspection passes. With Elje Assured the 70 percent waits with a licensed escrow partner.
MOQ, minimum order quantity	The smallest order a factory will take for an item. Often per colour or per size.
Golden sample	The physical sample both sides sign before production. The inspection measures the order against it.
Shop drawings	The factory's detailed drawings of what it will make. You sign them; they become the contract.
Pre-shipment inspection	A third-party inspector checks the finished order against the drawings and the golden sample before the balance is paid.
AQL, acceptable quality limit	The sampling standard an inspector uses to decide how many units to check and how many defects are acceptable.

Shipping, customs and duty

Term	What it means
CBM, cubic metre	How freight is measured. A 20 ft container holds about 33 CBM, a 40 ft about 67, and a 40 ft high cube about 76. Heavy goods like tiles hit the weight limit first.
FCL, full container load	Your own container. Sealed at the factory or consolidator, opened at your end.
LCL, less than container load	A shared container. You pay for your CBM, plus more handling at both ends.
Consolidation	Gathering several factories' goods at one warehouse to load one container.
Freight forwarder	The company that books the ship, the trucks and the paperwork from factory to Australian port, and often to your door.
Customs broker	A licensed broker who lodges your import declaration, calculates duty and GST, and clears the goods.
Bill of lading	The shipping document that is the receipt for the goods and, often, the title to them. A telex release lets the goods be collected without the paper original.
HS code, tariff code	The international number for a type of product. It sets the duty rate and whether timber rules apply.
Duty	Tax on imports, set by tariff code. Many fit-out goods from China are duty-free with a valid certificate of origin.
ChAFTA	The China-Australia Free Trade Agreement, in force since 20 December 2015. It takes most duty on Chinese goods to zero if the goods qualify and the paperwork is right.
Certificate of origin	The document, issued by an authorised body in China, that proves the goods qualify for ChAFTA rates. One per shipment. Make it a condition of every order.
GST at the border	10 percent on the customs value plus freight, insurance and duty, paid when the goods are cleared. Claimable if you are registered for GST.

Biosecurity and timber

Term	What it means
DAFF	The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. Runs biosecurity at the border and the illegal logging rules.
ISPM 15	The international standard for treating timber packaging (pallets, crates) against pests. Stamped timber is accepted; unstamped or infested packaging is treated, exported or destroyed at your cost.
BICON	Australia's Biosecurity Import Conditions database. Says what each product needs to enter.
BMSB season	Brown marmorated stink bug measures on sea cargo shipped from 1 September to 30 April. China is an emerging risk country in 2026-27: more random inspections.
Illegal logging due diligence	Importers of regulated timber products (wood, board, furniture, paper) worth more than $1,000 a consignment must check and record that the timber was legally harvested.

Compliance

Term	What it means
WaterMark	Australia's certification for plumbing products. A plumber cannot legally install a listed product without it. Check the register.
Lead free	Plumbing products in contact with drinking water must now be lead free versions under WaterMark.
WELS	Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards: the star rating on taps, showers and toilets. Registration is required.
RCM	The Regulatory Compliance Mark for electrical products, backed by registration on the EESS database.
E0, E1	Formaldehyde emission classes for board products. E0 is lower. Ask for the test report for the board used.
AS 4586, P ratings	The slip resistance classification for floor surfaces, from P0 to P6.
AS 2047	The Australian Standard for windows and external glazed doors: wind, water, air and operating force.
AS 1288	The Australian Standard for glass in buildings, including where safety glass is required.
BAL, bushfire attack level	The bushfire rating of a block under AS 3959, from BAL-LOW to BAL-FZ. It sets what windows, decks and cladding must be.
Wind classification	N1 to N6 (non-cyclonic) or C1 to C4 (cyclonic) for houses, from AS 4055. Windows are tested to suit it.
WERS	The Window Energy Rating Scheme, which publishes whole-window U-values and SHGC.
U-value	How fast heat passes through a window. Lower is better.
SHGC	Solar heat gain coefficient: how much of the sun's heat a window lets in. In Brisbane, lower is usually better.
NCBP, non-conforming building product	A product that is unsafe, does not comply, or does not perform as represented. In Queensland the chain of responsibility (importer, supplier, builder, installer) carries the duty.
JAS-ANZ	The body that accredits product certifiers in Australia and New Zealand. A certificate from a JAS-ANZ accredited certifier is evidence an Australian certifier can accept.

Money and calendar

Term	What it means
Escrow	Money held by a licensed third party until conditions are met. With Elje Assured, the order balance sits with a licensed escrow partner until inspection passes. Elje never holds it.
Chinese New Year	The longest factory closure of the year. 6 February 2027; most factories stop from mid January to late February.
Canton Fair	China's biggest trade fair, in Guangzhou, in April and October. Building materials are in phase 2.

Sources