After waiting for many days, the US election has finally come to an end: Biden defeated Trump and was successfully elected as the 46th President of the United States!

It is understood that Biden was able to win the election with an overwhelming advantage because Biden previously stated: I will remove the follow-selling from Amazon (just a joke, don’t take it seriously)

▲ Image source: Cross-border Navigation

Although major US media have announced Biden's victory, Trump said the election is far from over. Riots and shootings in the United States have only increased. At the same time, the rebound of the epidemic has caused some states and cities in the United States to restore some related restrictions.

Riots and epidemics have led some U.S. states to re-impose restrictions

Previously, people familiar with the matter predicted that there might be large-scale riots in the United States after the election, and the current situation seems to confirm this prediction.

It is reported that supporters of Biden and Trump have taken to the streets in recent days, celebrating on one side and protesting on the other.

The topic #Shooting occurred in Seattle, USA# also became a hot search.

At around 1 a.m. local time on the 8th, a man was shot in the Capitol Hill area of ​​Seattle, USA, and died after being sent to the hospital for emergency treatment.

▲ Screenshot from Weibo

When riots occur, what cross-border sellers worry about most is the safety of their goods. In previous riots, there were many cases where packages on logistics delivery vehicles were shot out.

As they don’t know when the riots in the United States will end, some drivers are worried about their own safety being threatened, and they are also afraid that the goods will be snatched, so they dare not deliver the goods, resulting in repeated postponements of the scheduled warehouse entry time. Some sellers whose goods have already arrived in Hong Kong also said that they can only reschedule the delivery time.

At the same time, the third wave of the epidemic in the United States is also intensifying. On November 7, local time, the number of newly confirmed cases in the United States reached 127,400 in a single day. The full rebound of the epidemic has caused some states and cities in the United States to restart restrictive measures just to avoid a full lockdown.

Among them, Illinois prohibits bars and restaurants from providing indoor services; Massachusetts and Maine require people to wear masks in public places; Hoboken, New Jersey imposes fines on people who hold overly chaotic and crowded indoor parties.

Senior officials in several states believe that if the epidemic situation continues to be severe, the possibility of a larger-scale lockdown cannot be ruled out.

All of the above situations can be described as mixed blessings and worries for cross-border sellers. The worry is that logistics prices have increased and storage fees have doubled before the epidemic, and the challenges faced by sellers have increased again; the good news is that the demand for epidemic prevention materials in the United States will explode again, and sellers have hope of a surge in orders again!

Logistics prices rise again, storage fees double

As the overseas epidemic intensifies and the peak season arrives in the United States, logistics costs have also risen.

Recently, the Express Department of the Guangdong Province Postal and Delivery Division issued a "Notice on Adjusting the Rate Policy for International e-Mail Special Mail Services to the United States", the content of the notice is as follows:

▲ Image source: seller communication group

In addition to e-mail, UPS also issued a price increase notice stating that due to the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the UPS peak season surcharge will be adjusted as follows from the export date of November 8:

US route temporarily increased to: Red Order (Saver/Express/Express Plus) 23.4RMB/KG, Blue Order Expedited 22.7RMB/KG

Temporary increase of European route to: Red Order Saver 16.2RMB/KG, Blue Order Expedited 15.5RMB/KG

▲ Image source: seller communication group

Faced with the situation where everything is rising except the order volume, many sellers can only complain: It’s so annoying, and then accept it helplessly. After all, if they don’t ship now, the subsequent logistics prices may be another world.

▲ Image source: seller communication group

In addition to the increase in shipping costs, sellers are also being dominated by huge storage fees. In the past two days, European and American sites have begun to charge peak season storage fees. Some sellers even said that the storage fees are five times higher than last month!

▲ Screenshot from Weibo

A seller in the seller communication group posted his storage fee, which is not much, about $2,622.

▲ Image source: seller communication group

In response to this, the seller said hysterically: The peak season storage fees have arrived, but the peak season has not even arrived!

Weibo blogger @Amazon五爷 also joked about this: during the peak season, storage fees have risen sharply, sales are not good, and the exchange rate has also fallen, but don’t forget that there are a lot of unsaleable stocks. You can comfort yourself by saying that spot goods are king!!!

▲ Screenshot from blogger @Amazon五爷

Although sellers need to face challenges brought by logistics price increases and storage fees during peak seasons, there are still many opportunities for sellers in today's situation.

These products will be hot again

After being elected, Biden delivered a national speech: "Our top priority is to control the new coronavirus pandemic. This is the top priority. I will spare no effort to reverse the spread of this pandemic." Biden said that he will appoint scientists to the presidential transition team on Monday to lead the anti-epidemic work.

In general, Biden supports active anti-epidemic measures. This undoubtedly brings more opportunities to sellers of epidemic prevention materials. A cross-border seller made a bold prediction: the order volume of epidemic prevention materials will rise sharply!

▲ Screenshot from Amazon, USA

Of course, some sellers also said that the threshold for selling epidemic prevention supplies on the Amazon platform is too high, and they have completely given up on selecting products in this regard. In fact, in the article "These products are selling like hot cakes under the blockade of 12 European countries!" we also mentioned that in addition to epidemic prevention supplies, household items and small kitchen appliances have also become the new normal hot items on Amazon.

At the same time, a big seller said: Sellers can currently pay attention to indoor sports training supplies.

▲ Indoor bicycle exercise equipment

At the same time, regarding the riots, our previous article "As riots in the United States continue to escalate, these Amazon products are surprisingly popular!" also mentioned that during the riots, self-defense and rights protection became the top concerns of Americans, and products such as pepper spray, stun guns, and concealed belts became Amazon's best-sellers. Sellers are making reference again based on the current situation.

▲ Screenshot from Amazon, USA

In general, under the double impact of the epidemic and riots in the United States, although sellers are facing severe challenges such as rising logistics prices, falling exchange rates, and doubling of warehousing costs, at the same time, there are also many opportunities. A number of hot products such as epidemic prevention supplies, furniture supplies, indoor fitness equipment, etc. are also waiting for sellers to enter the market to make money.

As I said before, I hope that sellers can seize the opportunities in this crisis, choose good products, pay close attention to the epidemic situation and the country's response measures, and adjust their operating strategies in time according to market trends to welcome the peak season.

Finally, sellers are welcome to share their insights on recent operations in the comment area, and make progress together through sharing and communication~