Shenzhen's largest freight forwarder went bankrupt and had tens of millions of yuan in goods left. Sellers put up banners to protect their rights

Another freight forwarder went bankrupt and withheld goods worth tens of millions of yuan. More than 200 sellers were harmed. In order to protect their own rights, some sellers went to the freight forwarder and held banners to defend their rights.

The freight forwarder issued a notice to its customers, claiming that the partner detained the container and refused to deliver the goods in the name of back tax payment, taking tens of millions of RMB from the company, causing the company to suffer serious losses. However, according to insiders, the freight forwarder refused to pay the back tax and transferred the money, regardless of where the seller's goods went. The right and wrong in this matter once again exposed the chaos and hidden dangers in the cross-border logistics industry.

Shenzhen's benchmark freight forwarder went bankrupt, and sellers put up banners to protect their rights

Recently, OKS, a freight forwarding company in Tianan Cloud Valley , collapsed, attracting attention from the cross-border e-commerce industry.

According to feedback from industry sellers, this company is a major dealer in Japan. More than 200 sellers were harmed in this crash, and the value of the goods withheld by the freight forwarder reached tens of millions. Logistics companies in the industry said that the boss of the company that went bankrupt has fled, involving goods worth more than 100 million yuan and tens of millions of freight.

These victimized sellers set up a group to collectively defend their rights. They reported the value of their oppressed goods in the group, ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands. Another victimized seller said that his goods were seized by hundreds of thousands.

The seller Xiaolong told Ennet that he had cooperated with OKS. This company used to be one of the three largest dealers in Hyuga. He had never had any problems with the cooperation. Most of the sellers on the Japanese site should have shipped goods from them. The company has a good reputation in the industry, with stable delivery and reasonable prices.

Xiaolong's statement is consistent with that of other logistics companies, who also say that this company is a large freight forwarding company in Bantian, Shenzhen, and a benchmark in the dedicated line industry.

In Xiaolong's opinion, OKS had no problems before, and there must be some reasons for the sudden crash. As for the more than 200 sellers affected, judging from the number of their customers, the number may be far more than this. Fortunately, his goods were not detained, but his friend was. Such a big banker's crash is too big for Japanese sellers!

The sellers whose goods were detained took collective action on Friday afternoon to defend their rights. They went to Tianan Cloud Valley in Bantian Street, Longgang District, where OKS is located, and held banners, claiming to protest against the boss of OKS. The sellers also claimed that it was because of internal shareholder disputes that OKS detained goods from hundreds of small and medium-sized sellers in Japan and did not deliver them.

A seller whose goods were seized said that he had called the relevant department last week but had not yet reported the matter. He was thinking of giving the freight forwarder a chance, hoping that the issue could be resolved amicably. If that didn’t work, he would take action.

While the sellers were fighting for their rights, the freight forwarder OKS issued an emergency notice to its customers, explaining the reasons for the crash and the solution. However, it is worth noting that this notice was not stamped with the official seal.

The freight forwarder involved has suffered serious losses, so let the seller solve the problem on his own

OKS mentioned in the announcement that the company is currently experiencing operational difficulties and if the seller cannot cooperate to resolve the issue, the seller will have to handle it on their own.

According to the announcement, OKS said that the reason why the sellers' goods were piled up in the Japanese warehouse was that the original Japanese partner recently refused to fulfill the obligation to distribute the goods on the grounds of paying back taxes. In addition, the Japanese partner also threatened to detain the containers and refuse to deliver the goods in the name of paying back taxes, and took away tens of millions of RMB in total, causing the company to have operating difficulties and serious losses.

The company has commissioned Chinese and Japanese lawyers to intervene in the case, but no substantial progress has been made so far.

Now that the problem has arisen, OKS said that the company will also take legal measures to sue the Japanese partner for breach of contract and illegal acts. At the same time, in order to solve the problem of customer cargo backlog, the company will also do its best to actively communicate and coordinate.

However, it is worth noting that OKS mentioned that if the problem cannot be solved, it asks customers for understanding and the company is willing to actively cooperate to reduce losses. If the problem cannot be solved, how can the sellers' losses be reduced? What should the sellers do with the goods that have been seized?

OKS will also provide the victimized sellers with the specific warehouse address, contact person and contact information of the Japanese partner, so that the sellers can take measures such as self-collection, reporting the case to the police in Japan, etc. according to the situation of the goods, and directly contact the Japanese partner to retrieve the goods as much as possible and reduce losses .

Why should the sellers take the blame for the freight forwarding company's own fault? Moreover, the sellers whose goods were detained were the victims. This announcement clearly disregarded the interests of the victimized sellers! The reasons for the crash mentioned by OKS in the announcement were somewhat different from those said by the sellers and former OKS employees.

OKS's collapse serves as a wake-up call to freight forwarding peers

According to an anonymous former OKS employee , the Japanese National Tax Agency conducted a tax audit and asked the customs clearance company to pay the tariffs on previous goods. OKS refused to pay, so the customs clearance company seized the goods. OKS transferred all the company's money and is now basically bankrupt . This is basically consistent with what Xiaolong learned.

Logistics expert Li Yun said that generally speaking, accidents in the Japanese direction are most likely related to package reverse calculation.

The so-called reverse calculation policy is a reverse calculation policy introduced by the Japanese government for e-commerce goods in April 2020. The self-declared value of goods will not be used as the standard for taxation. The tax to be paid must be calculated based on the sales price, and a sales link must be provided. As a result, the tax cost that sellers need to pay is relatively high, so freight forwarders have introduced a reverse calculation transportation method, which can reduce the overall transportation and tax costs.

The specific operation of reverse transport varies . According to speculation, if something goes wrong, the most likely operation is to register a customs clearance header in Japan and use this header for customs clearance, but there is tax evasion, because if not, the freight forwarder may not make a profit, and the price of full compliance is too high, so the goods cannot be received in the market. It's another loophole that causes trouble!

It is understood that OKS was established in 2014 and focuses on the Japanese market. Relying on excellent shipping resources and strong customs clearance capabilities, it is committed to creating a closed-loop service system for logistics transportation, import customs clearance, overseas warehousing, consignment distribution, and returns. It has multiple self-built overseas warehouses in Japan . In 2021 , it was also awarded the AAA enterprise for quality, service, and integrity , and one of the top ten famous and outstanding enterprises in the national cross-border e-commerce logistics industry .

As a former big banker, the collapse of OKS has sounded the alarm for freight forwarding peers. A logistics company issued an internal warning letter, which roughly said: March and April will be a turbulent period for the logistics industry. Everyone must keep their eyes open and not extend the payment period at will. Transportation repayments must be received in time. If there are any abnormal repayments, you must immediately negotiate and communicate on site. In extraordinary times, remember not to extend the payment period for developing new customers at will. The company's legal department and financial department will strictly control the payment period and repayment period. Please be sure to control the risks!

The collapse of this freight forwarder, which was regarded as a benchmark by sellers, has caused great harm to a group of sellers who were overwhelmed with goods and have no way to protect their rights. The cross-border logistics industry has a low entry threshold, frequent bankruptcies, and the chaos in the industry needs to be rectified urgently.

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