Shipping Policy

Effective date: 21 August 2026

Mirror glass is heavy, fragile and awkward to load, and most of what goes wrong in this trade goes wrong between the factory floor and the site. This page sets out how we schedule, pack, load, document and track a shipment, and who carries which risk at which point. It forms part of our Terms of Service.

1. Lead time

Range	Production lead time
Standard bathroom, shaped and floor mirrors	25–30 days
Decorative, cabinet, clock and specialty ranges	30–35 days
Custom shapes and custom LED profiles	30–40 days
Pre-production sample, standard model	7 days
Pre-production sample, new profile or new LED layout	10–12 days

The clock starts at deposit receipt or at pre-production sample approval, whichever is later. On project work we schedule backwards from your required site date and tell you the latest release point — the date after which the site date can no longer be met. Ask for it at quotation stage; it is more useful than a lead time in isolation.

Peak season (the run-up to Chinese New Year, and the pre-Christmas sailing schedule) tightens both factory capacity and space on the water. If your delivery lands in either window, book earlier rather than compressing production.

2. Incoterms and where risk passes

We quote on Incoterms 2020. The commonly used terms and what they mean in practice:

Term	We arrange	You arrange	Risk passes
EXW	Goods packed and ready at the works	Everything from collection onward, including export clearance	On collection at the works
FOB	Inland haulage, export clearance, loading on board	Ocean freight, insurance, import clearance, delivery	When the goods are on board
CFR	The above plus ocean freight to the named port	Insurance, import clearance, delivery	When the goods are on board
CIF	The above plus marine cargo insurance	Import clearance, delivery	When the goods are on board
DDP	Everything to the named delivery point, including import duty and clearance	Unloading at the delivery point	On arrival at the named delivery point

Note the point that catches buyers out: on FOB, CFR and CIF, risk passes to you when the goods are loaded on board, not when they arrive. Damage discovered at destination on those terms is a cargo insurance and carrier claim, not a supplier claim — which is why section 6 matters and why the Returns Policy asks you to note damage on the delivery receipt.

3. Modes and consolidation

• Sea freight FCL is the standard mode. Mixed orders across models are loaded to a single container plan, and we will give you the loading plan and freight cost per unit before you commit.
• Sea freight LCL for volumes below a container. Note that LCL handling — multiple loading and unloading events at consolidation warehouses — is where most transit damage on mirror glass happens. Where the volume is close to a 20 ft load, filling the container is usually cheaper per unit and materially safer.
• Air freight for samples and urgent replacement parts.
• Consolidation with your other suppliers is possible at a nominated forwarder's warehouse; tell us at order stage so packing and marking match their requirements.

4. Packing standard

• Standard products: EPE corner protection, honeycomb board and a five-layer carton, tested against the ISTA 3A profile.
• Large panels and mirror walls: a vertical timber crate with interleaved separators. Timber is heat-treated and marked to ISPM 15 for export.
• Shaped and panel mirrors: additional rigid inserts at the points where the profile is unsupported.
• Packaging for marketplace and parcel-network programmes is additionally engineered to the ISTA 6-Amazon.com-SIOC sequence, which our packaging has been run to on customer projects. Those test reports belong to the customers who commissioned them and cannot be circulated; where you need a report in your own name we arrange testing for your SKU — at an Amazon APASS lab where the SIOC or Frustration-Free Packaging badge is required.
• Every order includes a 3% free spare-parts kit covering the components most likely to be needed — drivers, touch switches, demister pads, bulbs and fixings.

Our measured damage rate on full-container shipments is under 1% on standard flat products and under 1.5% on shaped and panel products. We publish those figures because they are the honest ones; a supplier claiming zero damage on mirror glass is not measuring. The 3% spare-parts allowance is sized against that gap, and on project work we build a small transparent over-order into the quotation rather than discovering the shortfall on site.

5. Labelling and e-commerce fulfilment

We apply carton marking, retail labelling, barcodes and pallet configuration to your specification. For Amazon and other fulfilment centres we apply FNSKU labelling, carton labelling and the required pallet build, and can book the delivery appointment where the Incoterm makes that our responsibility. Tell us the destination centre and its current requirements at order stage — these rules change, and the version in force at the time of shipment is the one that applies.

6. Documents

Unless the order says otherwise, a shipment travels with: commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading (or air waybill), the supplier material declarations and test reports for the product families concerned, and the fumigation or heat-treatment statement where timber packaging is used. A certificate of origin, and a preferential-origin certificate such as Form E or an RCEP certificate where your import qualifies, is issued on request — ask for it at order stage, not after sailing, as some certificates cannot be issued retrospectively without cost and delay.

Tell us at order stage if your customs regime requires specific invoice wording, HS codes agreed in advance, an importer of record different from the consignee, or pre-shipment inspection by a nominated body.

7. Insurance

On CIF we insure at 110% of invoice value on institute cargo clauses, as convention requires. On FOB, CFR and EXW there is no cover from us — arrange your own. For mirror glass this is not a formality; a container that shifts in heavy weather is a total-loss scenario, and it is the single most common uninsured exposure we see in this trade.

8. Tracking and updates

You receive the booking confirmation with vessel and ETD, the loading photographs, the bill of lading copy when it is issued, and the ETA. Any change to the sailing is passed on as we receive it. If you have appointed your own forwarder, we hand over to them and copy you on the handover.

9. Delays

Port congestion, blank sailings, customs holds, equipment shortage and weather routing are outside our control and outside the carrier's guarantee. We tell you as soon as we know, with a revised ETA. Lead times are estimates given in good faith and are not of the essence unless a delivery date has been agreed in writing as a condition of the order — see the Terms of Service, sections 8 and 14.

10. Duties, clearance and destination charges

Except on DDP terms, import duty, VAT or GST, clearance charges, port and destination handling, and any inspection fee imposed at destination are the buyer's cost. Demurrage, detention and storage incurred at the destination port are the buyer's cost, except where they were caused by our late or incorrect documentation.

11. Damage, shortage and wrong items

Handled under the Returns Policy. In short: photograph the carton before opening, note the damage on the delivery receipt, and tell us within 7 days of arrival. Those three steps are what make a claim work, on our side and with the carrier.

12. Contact

Shipping questions, document requests and forwarder handovers: sales@mirrorwright.com. We answer enquiries within 24 hours on working days.