Latest summary丨Cross-border e-commerce platforms have introduced policies in response to the epidemic and shipping companies have issued the latest resumption of work notices

In the face of the epidemic, major cross-border e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, eBay, Wish, AliExpress, Lazada, Shopee, etc. have introduced relevant policies to support merchants' store operations during this special period.

In this article, the editor summarizes the epidemic policies of various platforms and the resumption of work of shipping companies for everyone, so that everyone can grasp the business dynamics during the epidemic at the first time.

Amazon (updated as of February 6)

At the same time, Amazon Global Logistics Service (AGL) announced that it will resume online booking services from February 3, and Amazon logistics will resume full operations from February 10.

Store Operation

Adjust the store operation model in a timely manner, cancel orders that cannot be delivered on time, maintain communication with buyers, and avoid receiving negative reviews or affecting performance indicators due to delivery delays.

Pay close attention to customs quarantine policies on imported and exported products.

Amazon Japan's FBA storage restrictions

Starting from April 1, 2020, Amazon Japan will adjust its storage restriction policy and use the Inventory Performance Index (IPI) score to measure the inventory health of FBA sellers.

eBay (updated as of February 10)

Adjust the order processing time and extend the logistics by 5-10 working days.

eBay-related protection is implemented by uniformly adjusting the order processing deadline (Handle By Time) and the estimated latest delivery time (Max EDD) in the background.

The public holiday calculation is extended to February 9/February 2. In addition, the estimated delivery time for each economy logistics option/SpeedPAK logistics option/ePacket logistics option is also extended by 5-10 working days.

The estimated delivery time visible to the buyer cannot be changed, but the CBT assessment model/non-receipt disputes and Global Seller Rating will be calculated and adjusted accordingly based on the protection principles mentioned above.

The estimated delivery time visible to buyers will be automatically calculated based on the extended public holidays and the extended delivery time of the logistics options.

Shipping Mandate and SpeedPAK Shipping Option Misuse Transactions that require shipment during the affected period (January 24 to February 9 for Chinese New Year's Eve and February 2 for Hong Kong) where the buyer selects and the seller correctly uses this logistics plan policy will be suspended.

Sellers who violate the item location description (fake overseas warehouse) should immediately modify the item listing and fill in the real item location. Bad transactions caused by violations of the item location description will not be protected, and eBay will continue to take punitive measures against sellers who are found to have such violations according to previously issued policies.

It is recommended to carefully evaluate the store's operating capabilities and logistics processing capabilities, and in serious cases, you can choose to take a vacation.

Negative reviews caused by the epidemic can be removed in batches.

Merchants need to contact customers in a timely manner. Secondly, in the case where the seller requests to cancel the transaction and refund, for items that have not yet been shipped, eBay recommends that the seller agree to cancel the transaction and refund.

As there may be an explosion in supply and demand in the early stage of resumption of work, eBay recommends that sellers contact suppliers to prepay the goods as soon as possible, negotiate the price and rush to order the goods. At the same time, due to unstable factors such as rising overseas logistics freight, sellers can also replenish their stocks in batches to avoid high freight during peak periods and reduce the possibility of the entire batch being detained due to inspection and seizure.

Shopee (updated to February 3)

Logistics time exemption : During the Spring Festival, the logistics time exemption is extended to February 9, that is, from January 24 to February 9, there is a 17-day logistics time exemption. The logistics time exemption only applies to the seller's estimated stocking time.

Seller scoring exemption : Orders generated between January 20, 2020 and February 9, 2020 will not be included in the scoring assessment of late shipment rate and uncompleted order rate.

Exemption from the quantity limit for pre-sale goods : During the 2020 Spring Festival period from January 20 to February 2, if the proportion and quantity of pre-sale goods exceed the limit, there will be no penalty. The quantity limit for pre-sale goods will be restored from February 3, so sellers are requested to adjust the proportion and quantity of pre-sale goods in a timely manner.

Wish (updated as of February 11)

1. For existing orders that have not yet been marked as "shipped", new orders released to merchants shipping from mainland China before 0:00 on March 1, 2020, if merchants mark such orders as "shipped" within 30 natural days after the release time, they will not be subject to automatic refunds, $50 compensation for automatic refund orders , and delisting penalties.

2. For orders released to Chinese merchants between 00:00 on January 16 and 00:00 on March 1 , the delayed confirmation and fulfillment compensation will be exempted (i.e. 20% of the order amount or 1 US dollar, whichever is higher)

3. Due to the high refund rate and/or low order fulfillment rate caused by the epidemic , the store account will not be deactivated and the products will not be removed from the shelves. This policy support is automatically completed by the system and no additional operation is required by the merchant.

4. For orders released to Chinese merchants between 8:00 a.m. on January 15 and 0:00 on March 1 , if the fulfillment is confirmed within 35 natural days after the order release time , the Chinese merchants will not be responsible for any logistics-related order refunds.

5. For orders released to Chinese merchants between 8:00 a.m. on January 15 and 0:00 on March 1 , if the order is confirmed to be delivered within (X+30) natural days after the order is released, the Chinese merchants will not be responsible for any logistics-related order refunds.

6. For EPC, EPC Blue, and A+ logistics plan orders released to merchants between 00:00 on January 16 and 00:00 on March 1, if the corresponding waybill arrives at the corresponding warehouse late, the warehouse overtime fee (i.e. an additional 50% freight) will be waived.

7. If you cancel or refund an order before it is confirmed to be fulfilled between 00:00 on January 29 and 00:00 on March 1, you will be exempted from the compensation of US$2 per order.

The above policy adjustments 1, 2, 4, and 5 do not apply to Wish Express, FBW, and FBS orders.

Lazada (updated as of February 11)

Adjust orders and other arrangements. All orders before February 9 will be considered as Spring Festival orders.

The warehouse entry time is adjusted as follows: Orders generated between 00:00:00 on January 20 and 23:59:59 on February 9 are considered Spring Festival orders; Spring Festival orders can be scanned and entered into the warehouse before 23:59:59 on February 14 (the indicator of order ready to ship (RTS) set in the system will not be assessed for the time being).

The local Lazada logistics team will also give priority to delivering parcels from cross-border merchants. In addition, logistics costs will also be reduced in the near future.

Lazada plans to launch a proactive compensation function for merchant claims in mid-February, which will quickly and proactively make compensation for lost or damaged orders to protect the interests of merchants.

Lazada launched a green channel for merchant services on February 3. In addition, it has also launched an exclusive business consultant project. At the same time, the platform will also work with external media to launch merchant-side epidemic training to cover more cross-border export merchants.

The latest policy on timeliness is as follows: Orders generated between 00:00:00 on January 20 and 23:59:59 on February 9 are considered Spring Festival orders; Spring Festival orders can be scanned and entered into the warehouse before 23:59:59 on February 14 (the indicator of ready to ship (RTS) set in the system is not evaluated for the time being)

The backend SOT score has dropped recently due to the extended delivery time during the Spring Festival. Lazada will make a unified repair in the near future.

Adjust product inventory to 0 or inactive in the background in time, set store announcements or enable holiday mode on the store homepage banner, etc. If the products cannot be shipped normally after 23:59:59 on February 9, please remove them from the shelves in time, and you can negotiate with the buyer in a friendly manner; if the products cannot be scanned into the warehouse before February 14, it is recommended to set the store to holiday mode (holiday mode), which needs to be set separately for each country.

AliExpress (updated to February 9)

The stocking deadline for orders paid before 23:59:59 on February 19 will be uniformly extended to 23:59:59 on February 29. The platform will simultaneously activate the quick refund function after the buyer initiates cancellation only for orders that have not been shipped before 23:59:59 on February 19.

The extended lead time does not include orders from sellers registered in Russia, Spain, France, Italy, and Türkiye.

For merchants using the worry-free standard for shipment from February 1 to March 31, the platform will work with Cainiao to provide comprehensive protection against customs returns or destruction caused by the epidemic.

For orders (domestic merchants) that were successfully paid before 23:59:59 on February 10 and are currently in the waiting-for-delivery state, the platform will exempt them from liability (i.e., not included in the assessment) due to delivery issues, online delivery NR dispute rate, and DSR score-related penalties. If order-related disputes require third-party evidence, the time for providing evidence will be extended to February 12. Merchants who signed up for marketing activities before the holiday but are unable to fulfill their contracts at this stage are allowed to withdraw and be exempted from liability.

The worry-free free return guarantee plan will reduce the service fee from the original preferential rate of 1.3% to 0.8% (the fee will be deducted after shipment) for the eight countries covered (Russia, the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Spain) from February 10 to March 10, Pacific Time.

For merchants that have been admitted and signed contracts before February 3, the platform and MyBank will provide early loan services. For merchants that have been admitted and newly applied for MyBank loans between February 3 and February 29, MyBank will provide a 10% discount on loan interest.

Direct Express will provide merchants with up to 30% promotional expenses subsidies from February 3 to 16, Pacific Time. The alliance plan will jointly speak out through the world's top channels to improve the correct understanding of overseas buyers. From February 6 to March 31, Pacific Time, the 10 million subsidy will occupy the mainstream entrance for overseas buyers.

The platform IM tool (buyer conversation) has been urgently expanded to allow more merchants to use messages to reach products in batches. It is expected that the self-service card function will be urgently launched around February 5 to improve the automatic reply capability and open it to all merchants.

Alibaba International Station (updated to February 9)

Express delivery resumption schedule: All express delivery carriers and service routes are expected to resume services on February 10.

Sea, land and air transport work schedule: Local governments have successively issued policies requiring some companies to resume work no earlier than February 9; sea, land and air transport capacity is affected by this. For logistics orders before February 10, please communicate with the carrier to confirm whether they can be accepted. It is expected that the capacity will gradually return to normal starting from February 10.

1. For direct orders , the order time range will be extended by 2 days during the Spring Festival, and the latest delivery time will be extended by 3 days;

4. Open the special topic of warm care for the epidemic . The viewing path of this topic is: MA system (home page, export workbench, order management page, fund management page) Banner-epidemic special page. Merchants can use this special topic to grasp the business dynamics during the epidemic at the first time. At the same time, merchants can also enjoy preferential rights including service fees, logistics fees, and fee reductions.

The above are the response policies made by major cross-border e-commerce platforms to the epidemic. It is not ruled out that some platforms will make some policy changes in the future. I hope everyone will always pay attention to the relevant policy information of each platform and grasp the business dynamics during the epidemic as soon as possible.

In addition to the epidemic policies of the above cross-border e-commerce platforms, sellers should also understand the resumption of work of major shipping companies. The editor has attached below a summary of the notifications of major shipping companies and the latest policies and business adjustment notifications related to responding to the epidemic.

Shanghai Port Shipowner (Customer Service + Documents)

Shanghai Port Shipowner (Customer Service + Documents)

Tianjin Port

Shanghai Port Shipowner (Customer Service + Documents)

Ningbo Port

Dalian Port

South China Ports

Nanjing Port

Chongqing Port