China's cross-border e-commerce bids farewell to 'tax-free' age

Higher prices

Yu Jianmin, CEO of Shanghai supply chain management company Xinshiyang, said the new policy will mainly affect low-price products, such as baby products and food, and luxury products priced above 2,000 yuan.

Not all goods will see a growth in taxes, some products including cosmetics and clothes within certain price range will have their taxes dropped under the new policy, said Mo Daiqing with China e-commerce research center.

Zhang Siwen, mother of a two years old baby from Heilongjiang province, has been stocking up some foreign baby formula these days. "I heard that prices for baby products could grow by over 10 percent," she said.

Zhang Jingxue, staff of Tsinghua University and also a young mother, believes that the price growth for baby formula will have limited influence. "Milk powder is a daily necessity, and I think a 10 percent price rise will not change the consumption habit for most people," she said.

"As for the 2,000 yuan transaction cap, buyers of luxury goods will be affected," she said, "the 20,000 yuan personal consumption restriction will not have too much impact on individual buyers, since we can use other family members' quota to buy."

Experts suggest tax levied on products on online platforms is still lower than that of traditional imports. Moreover, the tax rise for certain goods will not necessarily pass on to consumers.

Liu Peng, general manager of Tmall International, cross-border e-commerce platform under Alibaba, said many sellers on the platform will keep the prices unchanged by squeezing their own profit.

Qiu Huang, director of cross-border platform under e-commerce platform JD.com, said that though the new policy may deter some consumers' desire to buy, it will benefit the whole industry in the long run.