Daigou shipping: sending Australian products to China

Daigou — 代购, literally "buying on behalf of" — describes people in Australia who purchase Australian goods for buyers in China. It has been a significant channel for Australian brands for over a decade, built on genuine demand: Chinese consumers value Australian-origin infant formula, vitamins, skincare and health products, partly for manufacturing standards and partly as a hedge against counterfeits in domestic retail. This guide covers the logistics and the rules. It is general information about shipping, not legal, tax or customs advice — anyone operating at commercial scale should take proper advice in both countries.

What actually moves

The categories have been consistent for years:

• Infant formula. Historically the anchor product and the most tightly regulated at the Chinese end.
• Vitamins and supplements. The largest category by parcel volume.
• Skincare and cosmetics. Both mainstream Australian brands and natural or indigenous-botanical ranges.
• Health foods. Manuka and Australian honey, propolis, marine and collagen products.
• Wool and sheepskin goods. UGG-style boots and bedding, strongly seasonal.

Two different channels, two different rule sets

This is the distinction that determines everything, and conflating the two is the most common mistake:

Small personal parcels sent direct from Australia fall under the first column. The postal de minimis is low enough that duty-free treatment is rarely available, though in practice modest parcels are often assessed at a flat consolidated rate rather than being formally processed. Our de minimis thresholds reference has the figures for both channels.

How the regulatory tightening changed things

The daigou trade of the mid-2010s operated in a grey zone that has narrowed considerably. China's e-commerce law brought individual sellers on social platforms into a registration and tax framework, formalising activity that had been informal. In parallel, the CBEC regime was built out as a legitimate, taxed channel with defined limits, and infant formula in particular now faces registration requirements for products sold through formal channels.

The effect has been consolidation rather than disappearance. Casual suitcase-scale daigou has declined; organised operations running through proper CBEC channels, and brands selling direct into China, have taken the volume. If you are starting now, the informal model is the one carrying regulatory risk, and it is worth understanding which channel you are actually operating in before you scale.

Logistics from the Australian side

The Australian half is comparatively simple, and the same rules apply as to any export:

1. Buy at Australian retail, delivered to an Australian address. Note that some retailers cap purchase quantities on infant formula, and those limits are theirs to set.
2. Consolidate. Combining orders cuts freight and dimensional weight, though it raises consignment value — which matters here because of the low personal-parcel threshold.
3. Declare accurately. Specific descriptions, true values, correct HS codes. Under-declaring to reduce Chinese import tax is an offence at both ends, and a reputable forwarder will not do it.
4. Choose the service. Postal is cheaper and slower; express clears more predictably. See our AusPost versus DHL Express comparison and the international rate table.

Restrictions apply on the Australian and carrier side independently of Chinese rules — aerosols, some cosmetics, lithium batteries and anything pressurised. Our prohibited and restricted items reference covers those, and the CN22 and CN23 guide covers the declaration itself.

Where a mail and parcel service fits

Daigou operators need two things beyond the shipping itself. The first is a stable Australian receiving address that consolidates orders from many retailers into one place — most Australian retailers ship domestically only, so this is the enabling piece. The second is handling of the correspondence that comes with running a business: ABN and ATO mail, supplier accounts, banking. Our guide to Australian business addresses for international sellers covers that side, and digital mail for business tax records covers the record-keeping obligations that come with trading.

Things to get right before scaling

• Know which channel you are in. Personal parcels and CBEC have different limits, taxes and product scopes.
• Watch the CBEC annual per-person cap. CNY 26,000 per buyer per year is a real constraint on repeat customers.
• Check the positive list. CBEC only covers listed goods; anything outside it must use another channel.
• Treat infant formula as its own problem. It carries the most regulation and the most scrutiny.
• Keep records. If you are trading, Australian tax obligations apply regardless of where the customer is.
• Declare honestly. The trade's reputational problems came from under-declaration. It is also the fastest route to seizure.

Daigou remains a legitimate and substantial channel for Australian goods, but it is a regulated one now rather than an informal one. The operators still doing well are those treating it as a business with proper declarations, a stable supply address and clean records. For general export guidance see our guide to sending Australian products overseas, and for the consumer-facing version of this route, shopping in Australia and forwarding to China.