Guangzhou readies for one-stop handling of cross-border e-commerce retail imports

Customs agents carry out inspections. [Photo/China News Service]

The General Administration of Customs has announced that the operation model for return center warehouses for cross-border e-commerce shall be promoted in an all-round way after preliminary experiments, officials from Guangzhou Customs said on Oct 27.

Return center warehouse models allow the domestic agents or the entrusted storage enterprises within areas under special customs supervision of cross-border e-commerce companies to set up a designated area for cross-border e-commerce retail import returns. 

In recent years, China's cross-border e-commerce retail import business has developed rapidly. It is very common for consumers to be dissatisfied with the imported goods purchased by cross-border e-commerce retailers and ask for a return. However, the problem of "difficult return handling" of imported goods has been plaguing e-commerce enterprises.

This mode further straightened out the cross-border e-commerce online bonded retail import business process and it will further promote the sound development of the cross-border e-commerce retail import business. The comprehensive promotion of "cross-border e-commerce retail import return Center warehouse mode" will attract more enterprises to participate.

The return center warehouse in the Nansha Comprehensive Bonded Zone handled a total of 21,881 return orders of imported products in the first nine months of this year and the value of imported returned goods in the cross-border e-commerce retail import business reached 7.64 million yuan ($1.19 million).