Customs conducted strict inspections and a large number of goods were detained!

Shenzhen , the export capital of cross-border e-commerce, has launched a new money distribution plan, with cross-border companies receiving up to 5 million yuan. The sad and happy thing is that the inspection rate of Shenzhen Customs has also increased recently, and there are even reports that the inspection rate of Shenzhen Customs has increased from 5% to 15%. In addition, with the peak season approaching, Amazon's inventory storage fees have doubled, coupled with the increasingly smaller storage capacity, a large number of sellers are saying that they are half dead, and the operation also helplessly said: "If you don't work hard under the pressure of life, the boss will never live the life he wants..."

Shenzhen Customs inspection rate increased from 5% to 15%?

Recently, there have been reports that customs inspections have been upgraded. Starting from November, Shenzhen Customs will increase the inspection rate from the original 5% to 15%. Currently, there are more than 800 people checking the latest rankings and more than 400 people checking by machines. It is estimated that it will take 4-7 days to queue up for inspection of cabinets entering the site.

Many freight forwarders have issued reminders: the customs declaration information must be accurate, especially the brand, model, material and other small issues that are easy to overlook. At the same time, the unit price of the document should not be too high, and the total price of a single cabinet should be controlled within 100,000 US dollars to avoid inspection and disposal. In particular, sellers of electronic products, lamps, and toys should pay more attention, as there are many certifications involved. It is recommended to prepare CPC certification, FCC certification, etc. in advance. If these documents cannot be provided, the goods may face the risk of destruction.

When the news came out, some people panicked and some pondered: Will the inspection rate really be raised to 15%? An industry insider said that if it is really raised to 15%, the workload of customs will be much greater...

A freight forwarder has made calculations. Based on the throughput of 1.05 million TEUs at Yantian Port in July, if the inspection rate is increased to 15%, then Yantian Port will have to inspect 157,500 TEUs in November, 5,250 TEUs per day, and 3,675 TEUs per person per day.

If we calculate in this way, after the inspection rate is increased to 15%, the customs inspection work will indeed increase a lot. However, there is no official confirmation yet that the inspection rate has been increased to 15%, so this news cannot be confirmed at present.

Regarding the increase in customs inspection rates, a freight forwarder said: "Whether the inspection rate will be raised to 15%, it will definitely rise as it is almost the end of the year ! "

Another freight forwarder said: "The recent inspection rate is indeed higher than before. All of our regular Meisen shifts were inspected . The goods we sent were tool boxes and the like. "

The editor also interviewed a freight forwarder, who said: " The inspection rate for products such as electronic products, toys, and lamps has always been very high, not just now. Toy products have always been strictly inspected, especially those related to children. Foreign countries have very strict inspections. Although toys are zero-tariff in the United States, the more zero-tariff products are, the more trouble they are when they are inspected. Foreign countries pay great attention to the protection of children . "

Here, the editor reminds all sellers that regardless of whether the inspection rate will increase, sellers must not conceal information when declaring exports. After all, customs has been inspecting and cracking down on export concealment and infringement in recent years.

It is understood that in the first three quarters of 2021, customs across the country seized 51,000 batches of suspected infringing goods and detained 51.06 million pieces of suspected infringing goods.

The General Administration of Customs has continuously strengthened intellectual property protection, organized and carried out special operations such as "Operation Longteng 2021" to comprehensively strengthen intellectual property protection, "Operation Blue Net 2021" to protect intellectual property rights in postal channels, and "Operation Clean Net 2021" to protect the intellectual property rights of export and transit goods, and solidly promoted various customs protection of intellectual property rights, and cracked down on import and export infringement and illegal activities with high pressure.

A few days ago, the customs released a recent update on customs inspections : Shekou Customs seized a batch of 3,478 chips in the cross-border e-commerce export channel , with a face value of about 175 million. At present, the case has been transferred to the disposal department for handling.

A Dongguan company declared a batch of exported clothing, washing machines and other goods to Shekou Customs. When the goods were checked by the machine, the customs inspectors found that the images were relatively regular and dense, and there was a suspicion of false reporting. After opening and checking, it was found that the actual exported goods were gambling chips, which were round and rectangular in shape, with a face value ranging from 50 yuan to 1 million yuan, with a total of 10 face values, each of which corresponded to a color, with a total face value of about 175 million yuan.

In addition, Xiamen Customs seized 2,000 infringing e-cigarettes for export on October 26, Zhuhai Zhongshan Port Customs seized 3,168 suspected infringing humidifiers on October 18, and Shenzhen Bao'an Airport Customs seized more than 9,000 pieces of infringing clothing, bags and other goods for export on October 30...

It is understood that "Operation Longteng 2021" is a long-term special operation of the General Administration of Customs to combat intellectual property infringement and illegal activities in the import and export fields. I believe that sellers have also discovered that in recent years, more and more infringing export goods have been investigated, and many companies have suffered heavy losses. Therefore, sellers should abandon the idea of ​​selling infringing products on cross-border e-commerce platforms and insist on selling genuine products!

The peak season storage excess fee is here. Are you being abused?

For many Amazon sellers, "peak season" is just two cold words, and losses are still the main theme. To make matters worse, the peak season is not yet prosperous, and the costs are rising again.

Recently, many Amazon sellers reported being tortured by the excess storage fees during the peak season:

A: After the ten-month storage fee is deducted, a week’s work is wasted. The deduction of the triple storage fee is really painful.

B: More than 1,000 U.S. dollars was deducted. What a sin!

C: Did you know that the storage fee has tripled during the peak season ? I am anxious about the storage fee collection today.

D: The storage fee in October was more than 4 times that of September, but the sales volume was lower than that of September. There has been no improvement in November, and the advertising fee has increased a lot. It has been a difficult two months.

E: Christmas orders didn’t explode, but the storage fees exploded first . The excess fee of 400 Euros for one site is really unbearable .

F: Warehouse fees seem to be much higher now. I wonder if it’s because there are more sellers and Amazon has expanded.

It is reported that Amazon generally charges monthly inventory storage fees for the previous month between the 7th and 15th of each month . The fees vary depending on the size of the product and the time of year. In the first nine months, the fee was "US$0.75 per cubic foot for standard size and US$0.48 per cubic foot for large items; from October to December, the fee was US$2.4 per cubic foot and US$1.2 per cubic foot for large items.

Although standard-size items are smaller than oversized items , they require more complex and costly racking, cabinetry, and boxing for storage. Fees are charged per cubic foot, so total storage fees for standard-size items may be lower than for oversized items (based on volume).

According to feedback, Amazon sellers’ peak season storage fees range from a few hundred to tens of thousands of US dollars. A low amount is not too bad, but if the excessive storage fees exceed the range too much, then the seller’s profits will be eaten up directly. After working hard for a whole year, the seller will end up losing money.

A seller has to collect 7,000 US dollars a month . He did not calculate the volume when he pulled the goods in from the overseas warehouse, which led to the current consequences. While losing money, the seller also felt that his confidence was severely hit and felt that the future was bleak...

Another operator only looked at the number of pieces when restocking large items, not the volume, which resulted in a 60,000 yuan Amazon storage excess fee. In desperation, he asked for help from his peers, and the sellers gave him some advice.

Most people answered that they would move the vehicle out and relabel it. "The overload fee is charged on a daily basis, $8,000 a month, and you will be charged for each day that passes, but it will be charged together, so there is no point in delaying, the sooner you move it out, the better."

"It only costs a few thousand yuan to remove the products and relabel them. It is better than the overcapacity fee anyway. Stop the loss in time." "Remove the excess parts. People who have experienced it will tell you that you should not think about reducing inventory by selling them suddenly. The daily overcapacity fee is several times higher than the profit from selling them."

Many people wonder if Amazon will stop charging storage fees after the removal order is created. To this end, an Amazon customer service representative replied: Usually, storage fees will be calculated only after the order is successfully sent out, and storage fees will still be charged when the warehouse processes it.

Many sellers are against this practice. " I say it three times!! Never move ! Never move! Never move! Just use the snake skin spiral method, low price with advertising discount to rush to the category pound, then gradually increase the price, calculate the loss, grasp the rhythm and it should be done. Of course, if you do this, you will inevitably be besieged, so you must be cautious to prevent malicious attacks. After rushing to the list with a low price, you must slowly increase the price to avoid spoofs from your peers. " A seller said.

As for how to save storage fees during the peak season at the end of the year, each seller may have different methods. Here, the editor still wants to remind the majority of sellers to adjust their current ordering and delivery plans in a timely manner to avoid selling at a loss.

The following are common questions about storage fees. New and old sellers can read them carefully again:

1. How to calculate the estimated monthly inventory storage excess fee

Amazon provides monthly inventory storage overage fee estimates by storage type using the following formula:

Estimated monthly overage fee = (current overage value x daily overage rate x remaining billing days in the month) + monthly overage fee incurred so far

Current excess value = current usage - current limit

Daily overage rate = $10/day in the month

The remaining charging days in a month = the number of days in the current month – the value of the current day + 1

2. How do I know if I need to pay inventory storage excess fees?

If you have a Professional selling account, you have inventory storage limits. If you exceed your current limit for a given storage type at the end of any day in a given month, you will be charged an overage fee. This fee applies even if your inventory levels are later reduced back to within your allocated storage limit for the month.

3. How do I determine which inventory currently occupies storage space of a certain storage type?

Current usage is a real-time figure derived from subtracting any pending removals from existing inventory. Manage Inventory Status provides a list of all Amazon Fulfillment products for sale, with the product's storage type (standard size, oversized, apparel, footwear, flammable or aerosol) and the volume of space occupied by the ASIN (number of units for sale x volume per unit = cubic feet).

While using Manage Inventory Status is a good way to estimate current usage, it may not match the current usage value shown on the Storage Monitor on the Inventory Performance Dashboard. Storage capacity on the Inventory Aging Report and Manage Inventory Status page equals Available Inventory. Current usage for a storage type shown on the Storage Status Monitor equals Available Inventory plus Unsellable and Reserved units, minus units awaiting removal or liquidation.

4. When will Amazon charge me for inventory storage overage fees?

If an inventory storage overage fee is incurred in a particular month, Amazon will charge the fee after the end of the month. For example, suppose you exceed your storage limit on July 1 and remove some inventory before July 5 to bring your inventory level back within your storage limit. On August 1, you will be charged storage overage fees for the four days in July when you were over the limit.

5. Do excess inventory storage fees apply to flammable substances and aerosols?

No, overage fees only apply to Standard Size, Oversized, Apparel and Shoes storage types.

Storage capacity drops suddenly, sellers: half of their lives are gone

Every time Amazon updates its storage capacity, sellers are happy and sad. The good news is that some people’s storage capacity has quietly increased, but the sad news is that some people’s storage capacity has quietly shrunk. For sellers who rely on Amazon FBA, if the storage capacity during the peak season is cut again, it is equivalent to cutting off half of their lives:

A: Amazon is shit! They really don’t want people to make money , but they limit the shipping quantity for me . What’s the point?

B: It’s so unbelievable , crying so hard, it turns out that everyone is just as miserable …

C: On one hand, there is a shortage of goods, on the other hand, the goods are stuck on the road , and on the other hand, the storage capacity is being cut .

D: My work is forced to stagnate. As long as I don’t work hard, my boss won’t be able to live the life he wants …

It is reported that many sellers are even more resentful under the continuous blow of the sudden drop in storage capacity and the doubling of storage fees during the peak season. An Amazon seller cursed, " XX Amazon, it's really annoying all day long. They take our money and detain our goods. When I ask the customer service, the answer I get is always that they are in normal transit. Normal transit can be transited for a month and it's still transiting? I doubt whether Amazon is going to collapse. They detain our goods just to justifiably deduct our excess storage fees. We can neither sell nor move our goods, but we have to pay such high storage fees. We are really unlucky."

Some sellers also said that due to the double blow of storage capacity and logistics, they had to raise prices slightly. Who knew that their rankings and sales would drop to the point where they were unrecognizable ? I don’t know if it was because they were tired or what, but now their mentality has become much calmer. They may have become like Buddhas .

Shenzhen issues subsidies again, service providers can receive up to 5 million

As a major cross-border e-commerce center, Shenzhen has always been particularly caring for cross-border e-commerce companies and has also issued many subsidy policies for cross-border e-commerce companies.

In an announcement released on September 23, the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Commerce mentioned that Shenzhen Tongtuo Technology Co., Ltd. and Aokee Technology Co., Ltd. were awarded the 2021 E-Commerce Innovation and Development Support Plan National Digital Commerce Enterprise Award Project Award Program. The two companies received a reward of 3 million yuan each.

In addition to subsidies for sellers, the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Commerce recently released another support plan for cross-border e-commerce service providers. This time the main subsidy recipients are cross-border e-commerce service providers!

Yien.com learned that the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Commerce issued a notice on its official website on November 8, 2021. The content of the notice is as follows↓

In accordance with the "Several Measures to Promote the Accelerated Development of E-commerce in Shenzhen", the "Implementation Rules of the 'Several Measures to Promote the Accelerated Development of E-commerce in Shenzhen'", and the "Management Measures for Special Funds for Business Development in Shenzhen", the application for the 2021 E-commerce Innovation and Development Support Plan Cross-border E-commerce Professional Service Incentive Project and the Cross-border E-commerce Customs Clearance Supervision Site Service Incentive Project is now launched . Units that meet the application conditions are requested to submit applications as required, and our bureau will organize the review in accordance with the prescribed procedures.

It is understood that the incentives for the cross-border e-commerce professional service incentive project and the cross-border e-commerce customs clearance supervision site service incentive project are still very strong, but not all service providers can participate in this application. The Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Commerce also stipulated the conditions required for participation in the application in the notice, as follows ↓

1. Cross-border e-commerce professional service reward project

( 1) Enterprises that provide professional services including software services, training and education, intellectual property, financial and tax support, marketing promotion, after-sales service, industry information, legal support, etc. to cross-border e-commerce enterprises (excluding logistics delivery, freight forwarding services, and overseas warehouse services).

( 2) Serving more than 50 cross-border e-commerce enterprises and having a cross-border e-commerce professional service business income of no less than RMB 10 million in 2020;

( 3) The annual growth rate of cross-border e-commerce professional service business revenue in 2019 and 2020 will be no less than 20%.

2. Cross-border e-commerce customs clearance supervision site service reward project

( 1) The cross-border e-commerce customs clearance supervision sites invested and constructed in Shenzhen shall comply with the "Interim Measures for the Administration of Customs Supervision Areas of the People's Republic of China" and the "Specifications for the Establishment of Customs Supervision Workplaces (Venues)", and obtain the "Registration Certificate for Enterprises Operating Customs Supervision Workplaces";

( 2) The venue is approved by the customs for conducting cross-border e-commerce import and export business.

Enterprises that meet the above conditions can prepare relevant materials in advance. For the required materials, enterprises can go to the official website of Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Commerce to download and view them (click to download the materials in the red box in the above picture).

In addition to the conditions, the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Commerce also mentioned the support content and support standards of this support plan in the notice, as follows ↓

1. Cross-border e-commerce professional service reward program

Support content: Promote the development of professional services for cross-border e-commerce, support the development of professional service companies such as software services, training and education, intellectual property, financial and tax support, marketing promotion, after-sales service, industry information, and legal support, and deepen the construction of cross-border e-commerce support service system.

Support standards: A reward of RMB 1 million will be given to qualified enterprises . The selection criteria for this project are based on expert review and scoring based on the revenue of the applicant enterprise, the service capacity and effectiveness of the application project, and the size of the team.

(II) Cross-border e-commerce customs clearance supervision site service reward project

Support content: Promote the improvement of our city’s cross-border e-commerce customs clearance nodes, support the optimization of services at customs clearance supervision sites, and enhance Shenzhen’s cross-border e-commerce import and export customs clearance service capabilities.

Support standards: Three cross-border e-commerce regulatory sites with better operations will be awarded RMB 5 million, RMB 3 million, and RMB 2 million respectively . The cumulative number of awards for a single site shall not exceed 3 times within 5 years.