On April 1, 2026, the General Administration of Customs Announcement No. 24 of 2026 was officially implemented, and a key new policy for the cross-border e-commerce industry was fully launched: when goods for cross-border e-commerce retail exports (9610 model) are returned overseas, they are no longer required to be returned to the original export customs. You can flexibly choose any qualified customs port across the country to handle the return and entry procedures.
This move is of great significance to hundreds of thousands of small and medium-sized sellers and foreign trade practitioners in cross-border e-commerce across the country, and directly solves the “big worry” that the industry has had for many years.
Before the implementation of the New Deal, there were many problems with the return of cross-border e-commerce retail exports.
In the past, no matter which customs port the goods were exported from, returns had to be returned to the corresponding regulatory warehouse at that port.
Take a small and medium-sized cross-border seller in Hangzhou as an example. It uses the 9610 direct mail model to export goods from Ningbo Port to Europe and the United States.
If a German customer returns the goods, the goods must first be shipped back to Ningbo from Germany, and then shipped back to the Hangzhou warehouse from Ningbo. This journey brings a lot of costs.
Logistics costs have doubled, timeliness has been greatly lengthened, operating procedures are cumbersome, and warehousing pressure has increased sharply.
Because return shipping costs are too high, many sellers simply give up on returns and let the goods be destroyed overseas, causing huge losses.
According to preliminary pilot data from the General Administration of Customs, the return rate of cross-border e-commerce retail exports before the New Deal remained at 8% – 12%. More than 40% of returns were abandoned due to high logistics costs and cumbersome procedures, causing industry losses of billions of yuan every year and severely dampening the enthusiasm of small and medium-sized sellers to go overseas.
The core of Announcement No. 24 issued by the General Administration of Customs this time is to comprehensively promote the return of cross-border e-commerce retail export (9610 model) goods across customs areas.
After the implementation of the new policy, the most intuitive change is that the “original port binding” has been broken. Sellers can independently choose customs ports across the country that have cross-border e-commerce retail export supervision operations to handle return and entry procedures.
To apply this policy, you need to remember “one code, one place”, that is, it only applies to the cross-border e-commerce retail export (direct mail) model with the customs supervision code “9610”, and the returned goods are only allowed to be returned to the customs supervision operation site that conducts cross-border e-commerce retail export business.
Enterprises carrying out cross-customs return business must meet requirements such as standardized operations. At the same time, the new policy also continues the preferential tax policy for cross-border e-commerce returns. From 2026 to 2027, cross-border e-commerce retail export goods returned to the country in their original condition will be exempt from import duties, import value-added tax, and consumption tax.
The actual benefits brought by the new policy can be calculated through a real case of small and medium-sized sellers.
Assume that a small and medium-sized cross-border seller in Hangzhou specializes in clothing products and uses the 9610 direct mail model to export to Europe from Ningbo Port. The average monthly export orders are 5,000 orders, the return rate is 10%, the average monthly returns are 500 orders, and the return value of a single ticket is about 200 yuan.
Under the old policy, the average monthly return cost reached 54,500 yuan, and the annual cost was about 654,000 yuan; under the new policy, the average monthly return cost was about 32,100 yuan, and the annual cost was about 385,200 yuan.
It can directly reduce return costs by about 268,800 yuan per year, not counting the additional benefits brought by tax incentives and secondary sales efficiency improvements.
In addition, the new policy also brings hidden benefits such as improved secondary sales efficiency, improved logistics flexibility, improved customer experience, and accelerated industry standardization.
To successfully handle returns across customs areas, sellers must make preparations in advance, including confirming their qualifications, selecting cooperative ports, optimizing internal processes, and retaining complete vouchers.
The specific operating procedures include initiating overseas returns, advance declaration and filing, port customs clearance and entry, pickup and transfer processing, and data synchronization verification.
At the same time, sellers also need to pay attention to common issues. For example, this policy only applies to the 9610 retail export model, and returned goods must be returned in their original condition to enjoy tax benefits.
Behind the comprehensive promotion of the cross-customs return policy is the country’s strong support for the cross-border e-commerce industry, which has brought new opportunities to the development of the industry.
The logistics industry can expand new business growth points, improve the competitiveness of small and medium-sized sellers, improve the industry ecology, and further enhance confidence in going global.
This new policy was launched by the General Administration of Customs based on the success of the previous pilot. The pilot experience will be replicated nationwide, allowing all sellers to enjoy the policy dividends.
The new cross-border e-commerce return policy that came into effect on April 1 has injected a “boost” into the entire cross-border e-commerce industry and paved the way for high-quality development of the industry.
Sellers should seize the opportunity, improve their operation and management capabilities, adapt to the changes brought about by the New Deal, and allow more Chinese brands and Chinese products to go global through cross-border e-commerce.
