It is a science for cross-border e-commerce sellers to export products legally and compliantly to foreign countries and deliver them safely to foreign buyers. The following will solve the problems that e-commerce sellers often encounter in the export process from four aspects: the mainstream model of cross-border e-commerce export, the cross-border export process, the detailed explanation of export tax rebate, and the risk management of the export market.
14.1 Mainstream model of cross-border e-commerce export
There are two mainstream models of cross-border e-commerce export. One is the B2B model, whose representative platforms are Alibaba International Station and DHgate.com; the other is the B2C model, whose representative platforms are LightInTheBox and Cross-border Link.
14.1.1 B2B model: Alibaba International Station and DHgate.com
Alibaba International Station and DHgate.com are both well-known B2B model platforms. The following will analyze these two platforms in a comparative form so that e-commerce sellers can choose a platform that is more suitable for their own situation.
Alibaba International Station serves large and medium-sized sellers who can achieve large-scale wholesale, while DHgate.com serves small and medium-sized sellers. Alibaba’s buyers are mainly large-scale wholesalers, while DHgate’s buyers are generally terminal foreign buyers and small-scale wholesalers.
1. In terms of services
(1) Alibaba International Station is a platform that provides e-commerce information content display for cross-border e-commerce sellers. Compared with DHgate, Alibaba International Station is more focused on e-commerce information display, providing e-commerce information services for e-commerce activities to e-commerce sellers, and charging sellers for display fees.
(2) DHgate focuses on providing transaction services to facilitate sellers’ successful transactions. The platform’s profit model is to receive commissions from sellers after completing transactions. Only when sellers complete product transactions will DHgate charge a certain commission. For small and medium-sized sellers, this reduces investment costs and investment risks.
2. In terms of fees
Alibaba International Station has a platform threshold and will charge e-commerce sellers membership fees; DHgate does not have a platform threshold, does not charge e-commerce sellers membership fees, and supports the free sample photo upload function, but will charge a certain commission after the transaction is completed. The commission will be added to the product price, and the buyer will pay this part of the commission fee. The charging model of Alibaba International Station is more suitable for large sellers with strong financial strength, while the charging model of DHgate.com is more suitable for small and medium-sized sellers in the early stages of development.
14.1.2 B2C model: LightInTheBox, Cross-border E-commerce
LightInTheBox and Cross-border E-commerce are giant e-commerce platforms that adopt the B2C model. The two platforms have different footholds in the market.
LightInTheBox mainly gathers domestic cross-border e-commerce sellers as suppliers and provides a long-tail procurement model to other countries’ markets. It focuses on low-price strategy and uses price advantages to attract consumers. LightInTheBox mainly uses platform-produced content to attract consumers, and more often obtains user traffic through search engines, and is highly dependent on other search websites.
Compared to Lantingjixu, Cross-border Link focuses on the branding strategy of its products, attracting consumers with the low price and authenticity of its platform-branded products, and using the platform’s self-produced value to obtain user traffic. Cross-border Link also requires its cooperating cross-border e-commerce sellers to go through customs filing to ensure the authenticity of the brands of products displayed on the platform, avoiding the risk of buyers buying fakes, and providing service guarantees for products that have been sold.