Policies are the biggest variable in the development of cross-border e-commerce imports. Intuitively, export is the main battlefield for China’s cross-border e-commerce after all. Only export is an area that the government and policies strongly protect and support. However, the market does not vote with its feet. Dunhuang.com has been working in the export field for 10 years, and its valuation However, it was easily overtaken by Miya, a one-year-old cross-border maternal and infant e-commerce company. Youkeshu, Cross-border Tong and other major cross-border export companies have entered the murky waters of cross-border import.
Of course, imports are equally important. The first is to benefit the country, build a mutually beneficial and convenient consumption channel, help market upgrades, promote the upgrading of domestic products, amplify demand, and tax sunshine. The second is to benefit the people and promote consumption. Cities below the second and third tiers have no opportunity to purchase imported goods, and there are few foreign brands in offline department stores and specialty stores. This opens up unlimited shopping channels for cross-border e-commerce to improve the quality of life and consumption power of domestic people.
The third is to benefit local areas, cross-border pilot cities and bonded stocking and other models, e-commerce, warehouses, packaging, logistics and park and other related services, driving a large number of employment opportunities. Local governments have responded one after another and launched various projects and preferential policies. The fourth is to benefit businesses. Overseas merchants can quickly test the Chinese market through cross-border e-commerce light models and low thresholds. In the past, when overseas merchants entered the Chinese market, the approval process was very complicated. It took almost one to two years for cosmetics to obtain pre-approval, which was very costly.
Many domestic e-commerce companies quickly launched international sections and global shopping services, reducing the cost of imported goods and giving consumers a better shopping experience. Foreign brands have increased their investment in the Chinese market, and market development and entrepreneurial opportunities have increased, promoting the development of domestic e-commerce.
In the past, Chinese consumers had more difficulties in cross-border shopping. They mainly had to ask someone to purchase from overseas, or purchase from overseas e-commerce websites and mail it back through an intermediary forwarder, or directly travel abroad with large and small packages. Buy a bunch of stuff and pack it back.
Trillions of yuan of consumption occur overseas every year. Entry and exit inspections and customs commodity inspections do not have the manpower and energy to inspect each one. A large number of imported international mails are declared as personal items and cannot be accurately verified. What should be levied You won’t get a penny back in taxes. Items enter the country in a gray manner, information is opaque, and the tendency of smuggling on the consumer side is finally unavoidable. The government is determined to establish a thorough path to sunshine, guide consumption and industrial upgrading, and adopt a multi-pronged approach to smoothly “recruit safety”.
The first is the legalization of channels. The General Administration of Customs issued Document No. 57 of 2014, adding two customs supervision codes, which are used for imports, namely “9610 direct purchase import” and “1210 bonded import”. Policy After the clarification, the past unilateral participation of consumers was changed, and a large number of cross-border e-commerce importers came on the scene, realizing policy guidance and market means to stimulate the upgrading of the industrial structure.
At this stage, cross-border e-commerce imports are actually supervised by items for postage instead of general trade supervision of goods, bypassing commodity inspection procedures and greatly enriching domestic consumers’ shopping options. For ordinary trade imports, during the commodity inspection process, goods must be labeled in Chinese before they can be sold domestically. However, in the cross-border e-commerce pilot, all foreign language labels can also be sold directly within the country.
The second is to reduce taxes. If there are legitimate channels, people will definitely not want to use them if the taxes are too high. We need to “let the water go to fish”. In principle, there are limits on the amount and quantity of personal online purchases, but the personal mail tax rate is exempted. The use of tax levy, reduction of import tariffs on some consumer goods, and the use of legal techniques such as splitting orders to avoid taxes will greatly stimulate both supply and demand. Tariffs on imported consumer goods have been adjusted several times in recent years. In June 2015, the import tariff rates on some daily consumer goods such as clothing, shoes, and diapers were reduced. In October 2016, the consumption tax on skin care products and cosmetics was significantly adjusted, with an average reduction of more than 50%.
The third is electronic customs clearance. “Sunshine” means that the entire operation is transparent to the government and customs, and the entire process of information is “visible, traceable, and controllable.” The electronic data of cross-border e-commerce It is easy to obtain. The customs cooperated with all logistics, postal and e-commerce platforms to establish a new set of data supervision channels. In 2015, 26 payment institutions including Alipay obtained cross-border licenses, which facilitated the supervision of cross-border foreign exchange payments.
The fourth step is to “correct deviations and strengthen corrections”. Cross-border bonded imports are prepared and shipped domestically, which greatly reduces logistics costs. Operation efficiency and customer experience have soared. The large-scale impact on domestic trade has begun to emerge. Taking imported thermos cups as an example, the tariff is 24%, the value-added tax is 17%, and the postal tax is only 10%. The intermediate tax gap is huge. The new model allows general trade to be transformed into cross-border e-commerce in disguise.
In April 2016, the Ministry of Finance, the General Administration of Customs, and the State Administration of Taxation jointly issued the “Notice on Tax Policies for Cross-Border E-Commerce Retail Imports”, and the General Administration of Customs Announcement No. 26 of 2016 “On Cross-Border E-Commerce Retail Import Tax Policies” “Announcement on Supervision Matters for E-commerce Retail Import and Export Commodities”, implements new cross-border import tax policies, increases the positive list of commodities, adjusts personal transaction limits, cancels tax exemptions, and simultaneously adjusts personal postal tax policies.
The New Deal has caused turmoil in imported e-commerce to a certain extent. Capital has cooled, unit volumes have declined, and platforms have closed down. The entire industry has been experiencing “unhappiness” in a short period of time. Regardless of whether the timing is right or whether it is overkill, standards will come sooner or later, and the process of exploring new things will inevitably go through twists and turns. The General Administration of Customs Announcement No. 75 of 2016 added a new supervision code of “1239, Bonded E-commerce A”, which means that non-pilot cities can operate cross-border e-commerce bonded imports as long as they meet the supervision conditions.