How deep is the water in cross-border sales of masks?

Should we make masks or not? This should be the most troublesome issue for cross-border sellers recently.

I won’t do it. I see things like “There is a shortage of more than 200 million medical masks in the United States,” “The mask products I just uploaded receive 500 orders a day,” and “Masks that were purchased at a price of a dozen yuan can be sold for dozens of dollars.” Amid the overwhelming myths of getting rich, I always feel that if I don’t catch this train, I’ll miss a great opportunity to make a fortune.

Go ahead, but the supply and logistics are both problems. Moreover, so many sellers are eager to enter the mask category. Even the service provider interface mask category review can receive hundreds of orders a day. Will it be your turn to get the soup? Sellers who have no confidence in themselves have backed off after seeing this situation.

Taking advantage of the significant improvement in the national epidemic situation, I would like to tell you about some of the things we have seen after exploring the upstream and downstream of mask sales in the past two days. Perhaps it can help you decide whether to enter this pit.

The current situation of cross-border e-commerce mask industry

1. Source of goods

Most sellers who want to try out the mask industry may often see people selling masks in their friend circles or WeChat groups, and some of them offer very attractive prices. It makes people wonder, are masks so easy to buy now? If you grab this cheap source of goods and resell it, you can make dozens of times more on Amazon.

In fact, I seriously remind everyone that if you are looking for sources of masks now, you must be careful of some middlemen of unknown origin. If they claim to be in stock, you must verify it through video.

There are many cash-only deals among mask dealers now. They will sell you a thousand masks for 5 yuan each, collect the money first and claim that they will ship the masks in x days (in fact, the dealers don’t have any masks at this time, and the photos are all from the Internet). Then they will delay shipping until the mask production capacity increases/the epidemic situation improves, causing the market price of masks to drop to 4 yuan or even 3 yuan. The dealers will directly buy a thousand masks from somewhere else and send them to you, making a profit of several thousand yuan in the resale price difference.

Now is the time when the production capacity of masks is rapidly increasing, and the prices will fluctuate significantly. If you want to get in at this time, you must not stock up, but test the waters with a small batch first.

2. Logistics

There are relatively fewer problems in the logistics sector. The logistics industry is now resuming work in a better situation, and is even facing the situation of having no goods to ship. Many logistics prices have been reduced to a certain extent.

However, recent news has caused panic among sellers who are planning to or already making masks. I have seen this picture several times in my circle of friends.

The ban on all exports sounds like a rumor, but I still checked it for everyone. The customs official website did not have any notification, and customs officials also said that as long as the export products are legal and compliant, the customs will not detain them.

There are many freight forwarders that can transport masks, but there is still a chance of inspection. It is recommended to coordinate this part with the freight forwarder. At present, logistics can be said to be the least worrying part of the entire mask chain.

3. Stores and Products

The mask category on Amazon requires classification review, which is also the most common business received by service providers recently. However, classification review is only the first step in sales compliance. There is also the risk of Amazon checking the product inspection certificate (if it is FBA, it will almost certainly happen). For example, the US site will require a certification certificate issued by NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health).

N95 is the standard set by NIOSH.

If the source of goods cannot provide the inspection certificate required by the importing country, then it is basically a farewell to FBA. However, this does not prevent sellers from self-delivery and small package delivery. This is why a lot of the top-ranked mask products are now self-delivered.

However, self-delivery of small packages is not foolproof. Recently, Amazon has been very strict in reviewing epidemic prevention materials such as masks. Even if they have passed the category review, the products may be removed from the shelves due to pricing or product issues.

There are already some sellers like this in the forum

There are considerable risks in investing in mask products during this period. It is strongly recommended that you do not use a large account. Even if you try with a small account, you must be prepared for the account to crash at any time.

Combining the above factors, and knowing that some student sellers who received hundreds of orders a day last week have seen a lot fewer orders recently, I think the time to make a quick buck by selling masks on Amazon has passed.

There is indeed a huge shortage of masks overseas at present, and it will continue to expand as the epidemic worsens. Moreover, because of the epidemic, consumers' consumption habits and tendencies will change significantly. Even if we do not make masks, we still have new product selection opportunities.