2013年7月开始，上海、重庆、杭州、宁波、郑州、广州、深圳等16个试点城市先后开展跨境电商进出口业务。如果按照一般贸易进口的税收政策，可能要缴纳30%至50%的税，但跨境电商试点后，就能降到10%。
以奶粉为例，如果是贸易商正常渠道进口，其关税约8%，增值税为17%，综合税率在25%左右，而跨境电商平台仅对消费者收取10%的行邮税，且行邮税在50元以下的免征（即订单单笔消费在500元以内的订单）。
目前，跨境电商主要采取自贸区的保税进口模式或海外直邮模式入境，而各家力推的是和保税区合作的模式。由于保税区只收取行邮税，解决了以往的价格痛点。
不过，跨境电商大跃进之时，也面临不少问题。
尽管跨境电商上都是母婴、奢侈品这些看上去利润高的品类，但在目前高度“杀价”的背景下，这仍然是一张没有利润的大饼。例如，纸尿裤在电商领域平均毛利只有3%，不少平台比3%还低。“在日本卖1300日元（折合人民币68元）的纸尿裤，在国内电商平台上卖138元到148元，但是毛利却只有3%，原因是经销关系层层加价。”蜜芽宝贝CEO刘楠说。
货源也是个问题。还是以纸尿裤为例，货到中国电商手里之前，要经过日本货源、日本出口商、中国进口商、批发商、中间商、零售商。日本货源主要有三种，一种是批发商社，日本很多品牌方不对贸易公司也不对零售商供货，必须经过批发商社；第二种是零售门店，很多中国电商卖的货，都是从日本最大婴童店阿卡佳扫出来的；第三种是扫货公司，前两个渠道货不够的时候，只要加价，就会有扫货公司在市面上帮你把货物扫过来，这在日本已经成为产业链。
另外，跨境电商也无法保证自己的货源真的是正品。据刘楠透露，平台性质的跨境电商主要吸引了中国的进口商、批发商和中间商入驻，但一个最麻烦的问题是，跨境电商并无法确定入驻的货源是否为正品，只能确定这批货来自哪家中国进口商、哪家日本出口商，而一旦售假，势必对跨境电商造成负面影响。（中国进出口网）
From July 2013, 16 pilot cities like Shanghai, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Zhengzhou, Guangzhou and Shenzhen has launched cross-border e-commerce business. According to the general trade import tax policy, the tax of the imported products may reach 30%-50%, but at the cross-border e-commerce pilots, the tax can be reduced to 10%.
Take baby formula for example, if the traders import baby formula through normal channels, they need to pay tariffs of about 8%, added value tax 17%, the combined tax rate 25%, while through the cross-border e-commerce platform, consumers only need to pay tax of 10%, moreover, if the amount of 10% tax is less than 50 yuan, (ie, single order consumption is less than 500 yuan), the tax won’t be paid.
Currently, cross-border e-commerce companies mainly adopt bonded import mode or overseas direct mail mode, and these companies prefer bonded import and the cooperation with FTZ, because at FTZ, the tax will be lower, thus the product price will be lower.
However, the cross-border e-commerce companies, are also facing a lot of problems.
Although the main product line at the cross-border e-commerce platform are the products for mother and baby and luxuries and other products that look highly profitable, in the current background of the "bargain", it is still a pie of no profit. For example, the average gross profit of diapers in the field of e-commerce is only 3%. "In Japan the diaper cost 1,300 yen, (equivalent to 68 yuan), while at China’s e-commerce platforms, the diaper sells at the price of 138 yuan to 148 yuan, the gross profit is only 3%, due to the too many distribution channels." The miyabaobei CEO Liu Nan said.
The source of goods is also a problem. Take the diapers for example, before it reaches the China’s e-commerce, it will go through the Japanese sources, Japanese exporters, Chinese importers, wholesalers, middlemen and retailers. There are three main sources, the first is the wholesales shosha, many Japanese brands SHALL NOT supply to trading companies or retailers, only supply to the wholesales shosha; the second is the retail stores, many of China's e-commerce companies buy from Japan’s Akachan Honpo; the third is the companies which helps to stock up with the products on the market, and now it becomes a new kind of industrial chain in Japan.
In addition, the cross-border e-commerce companies can not guarantee their products are really genuine. Liu Nan said, the cross-border e-commerce platforms mainly attract China's importers, wholesalers and middlemen, but one of the most troublesome problem is that the cross-border e-commerce platforms can not determine whether it is authentic source, what they only assure is from which Chinese importer or which Japanese exporter these goods come, once the goods are not genuine, there will be a negative impact on cross-border e-commerce platforms.
