Tmall Global
中国
Why China Fulfillment Is a Different Game
China is the world's largest e-commerce market — more than a billion online shoppers who treat next-day delivery as the baseline and same-day delivery as unremarkable. For a cross-border brand, the practical entry route is not general trade import but the CBEC (cross-border e-commerce) regime: customs models 9610 and 1210 let you sell to Chinese consumers without a full import licence for every SKU, provided your fulfillment chain is built around a bonded warehouse. This guide walks through the operational chain we run from our Shenzhen (Qianhai) and Shanghai (Waigaoqiao) bonded warehouses — from the 9610-vs-1210 decision to carrier selection, returns, e-Fapiao and the real cost lines in CNY.
Why China Fulfillment Is a Different Game
In Europe you can run a marketplace business from a single 3PL and a VAT number. In China three extra layers sit on top: a customs regime that clears goods per order rather than per shipment, a delivery expectation set by SF Express and JD Logistics that makes 48-hour delivery feel slow, and a tax system — Golden Tax Phase IV — that digitally cross-checks every invoice you issue. A fulfillment setup that ignores any one of these three fails within a quarter.
9610 vs 1210: The CBEC Decision Guide
Every cross-border seller in China faces one structural decision first: ship each order individually from abroad (model 9610, "direct mail"), or pre-position bulk stock in a Chinese bonded zone and clear customs per order after sale (model 1210, "bonded stock"). The table below is the comparison we run with every new client at onboarding.
| Criterion | 9610 Direct Mail | 1210 Bonded Stock |
|---|---|---|
| Stock location | Remains abroad | Bulk in bonded zone (Qianhai / Waigaoqiao) |
| Customs timing | Per parcel at entry | Per order, after the sale |
| Delivery to consumer | 7-15 days international | Next-day in tier-1 cities |
| Best for | Testing, many SKUs, low volume | Stable movers, predictable demand |
| Unit logistics cost | High per parcel | Low at volume |
| Working capital | Minimal | Stock investment required |
The rule of thumb that survives contact with reality: test on 9610, then move every SKU that sells consistently to 1210. Most of our clients run both models in parallel — the long tail on direct mail, the top 20% of SKUs on bonded stock, where next-day delivery lifts conversion and repeat rates enough to pay for the inventory.
Inside the Bonded Warehouse: Qianhai and Waigaoqiao
Under 1210, your goods arrive in bulk at our Shenzhen Qianhai bonded warehouse (or Shanghai Waigaoqiao for East-China-weighted demand) under a zone-entry declaration. Container unloading, depalletising, counting and the declaration itself are part of the inbound service, closed off with a photo-documented inbound report. The stock then sits in the zone uncustomed — no duty, no VAT, no consumption tax has been paid yet.
When a consumer orders, three data streams — the order, the payment record and the logistics waybill — are pushed to customs and must match (the "three-document check"). Only then does that single unit clear the zone and enter the domestic parcel network. Done properly this is fully automated and adds minutes, not days. Qianhai covers South China and cross-border export flows; Waigaoqiao puts the Yangtze Delta — Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Nanjing — within next-day reach.
The Carrier Network: Who Delivers What, Where
China's domestic parcel market is the largest and cheapest per-parcel network on earth, but the carriers are not interchangeable. Our routing engine picks per destination and service level from six contracted carriers.
- SF Express — premium, own air fleet; same-day in-city, next-day in tier-1 cities
- JD Logistics — dense warehouse network, strong in the North/East; next-day tier-1/2
- Cainiao — Alibaba ecosystem, economical; 1-3 days nationwide
- YTO / ZTO Express — economy volume carriers with dense rural reach; 2-3 days
- China Post — remote provinces at the lowest cost; 3-5 days
The 16:00 Cut-off and Same-Day Mechanics
Every order that lands in the system before 16:00 is picked, packed, cleared and handed to SF Express or JD Logistics the same day. Within Shenzhen or Shanghai that can mean delivery the same evening; for the tier-1 belt — Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou — next-day is the standard outcome, and tier-2/3 cities land at one to two days. Orders after the cut-off ship the next working day.
Multi-Platform Order Routing: Tmall Global, JD, Douyin, Pinduoduo
Chinese demand is fragmented by design. Tmall Global is the credibility channel for imported brands; JD.com (and JD Worldwide) owns electronics and the quality-conscious North; Douyin Shop converts livestream attention into impulse orders; Pinduoduo wins on price-driven volume; Taobao, Xiaohongshu and Kaola fill in the niches. Running one warehouse per platform is how sellers end up with five stock pools and daily oversells.
Our panel connects all of these stores by API to a single bonded stock pool. Orders auto-route to picking the moment they are placed, tracking numbers flow back to each platform automatically, and a unit sold on Tmall Global is instantly deducted from the stock shown on JD, Douyin and Pinduoduo. A new platform is typically connected within a day.
Returns Management in a Bonded Context
Return rates in China are real — livestream and apparel categories routinely exceed 30%, and platform rules side with the consumer. Every returned parcel is opened and inspected within 24 hours of arrival. Undamaged units are restocked and the synced inventory across all platforms updates immediately; damaged units are photo-documented and held for your decision — write-off or discounted resale.
The bonded twist: a unit that already cleared customs on its way out needs a re-entry declaration to come back into the zone. We file it as part of the ¥5-per-return processing fee, so returned bonded stock becomes sellable inventory again instead of dead weight in a domestic gray zone.
Tax and Fapiao Flow: VAT, e-Fapiao, Golden Tax Phase IV
China's standard VAT rate is 13% (with reduced rates of 9% and 6% for specific categories), and since Golden Tax Phase IV every invoice is a fully digital e-Fapiao pushed straight into the recipient's digital tax account — the tax authority cross-checks invoice, payment and logistics data automatically. Paper-era improvisation does not survive this system.
Operationally it is simple on our side: all fulfillment service fees are consolidated into one monthly e-Fapiao issued to your registered invoicing details. Customs zone entry/exit declaration fees under 9610 and 1210 are passed through at actual cost, no markup. If you need consumer-facing invoices per order, we batch-issue them from order data as an add-on. Special categories — food, cosmetics (filing required), battery-powered goods — get an individual compliance assessment before inbound.
Cost Line Items: What You Will Actually Pay
The pricing model is monthly fixed storage plus per-order processing, billed in CNY, VAT 13% on top, bonded and general storage priced identically. These are the reference lines:
- Storage: small box ¥15 · medium ¥30 · large ¥55 · standard pallet ¥140 per month
- Pick & pack ¥8/order · + ¥2.5 per extra item · large items (> 25 cm or > 5 kg) ¥20/order
- Returns processing (inspection, restock, re-entry filing) ¥5/return
- Labelling ¥1/item · QC ¥1.5/item · gift wrap ¥8/order · special handling ¥100/hour
What is not in the table: shipping (billed at negotiated carrier rates — we broker our key-account discount if you have no contract), packaging materials (passed through at cost price, itemised, no markup), and stock insurance, which is free up to ¥8,000 of stock value. Minimum contract term is three months, monthly thereafter.
Onboarding: From Contract to First Dispatch in One Week
The standard timeline runs seven days. Day 0: product list, volume estimate, platform confirmation and the 9610-vs-1210 recommendation, then contract. Days 1-3: your factory ships stock to Qianhai (or Waigaoqiao), we handle unloading, counting and the zone-entry declaration. Days 3-5: API connection to your Tmall Global, JD, Douyin and Pinduoduo stores, Chinese labels and traceability codes applied. Days 5-7: you place two or three test orders and we tune packaging and speed from your feedback. From then on: 16:00 cut-off dispatch daily, and a consolidated report plus one e-Fapiao on the first of every month.
- Product list (Excel/CSV): SKU, name, dimensions, weight, unit cost
- Estimated monthly volume, split by platform
- Store credentials: Tmall merchant ID, JD vendor code, Douyin Shop ID
- CBEC model choice — or let us recommend one
- Business licence + invoicing details; product filing documents for bonded stock