Amazon FBA Has Launched A Partial Refund Policy. TikTok Has Resumed Its Operating License in Indonesia
Amazon FBA has launched a "partial refund" policy. TikTok has resumed its operating license in Indonesia
Amazon has announced the 2025 peak season surcharge, which will be levied in three phases starting from October 26th
Amazon Delivery announced that it will implement peak season surcharges from October 26, 2025 to January 17, 2026, which will be collected in three phases: from October 26 to November 22, there will be a package surcharge of $0.4 per item, an additional processing fee of $8.25 per item, a large package fee of $90 per item, and an overweight package fee of $485 per item. From November 23rd to December 27th, the rates will be raised to $0.6 per package, an additional processing fee of $10.8 per package, a large package fee of $107 per package, and an overweight package fee of $540 per package. The rate will be restored to the first stage after December 28th. Amazon's surcharges are roughly on par with those of the three major US express delivery companies (USPS, UPS, and FedEx), but it maintains a slight price advantage at the highest rates.
Amazon has launched a cross-site Vine review feature
Amazon's cross-site Vine review feature has broken the limit of 30 reviews per site, allowing sellers to launch review programs simultaneously on multiple sites such as Europe, America, and Japan, thus forming a global review sharing network. Actual measurement data shows that home furnishing brands have successfully obtained 42 global reviews through the collaboration between Germany and Germany, driving a 20% increase in conversion rates. The electronic accessory brand adopted a strategy of "main site + high-review-rate site", and ultimately received 37 global reviews.
Amazon Brazil is offering a free warehousing and delivery service
Amazon has launched an aggressive expansion in the Brazilian market, announcing that it will waive the warehousing and delivery fees for Amazon Logistics (FBA) until December 3rd, directly competing with rivals Mercado and Shopee. This measure aims to address the issue of insufficient sellers and inventory on Amazon in Brazil. It requires sellers to allocate at least 3% of their sales to advertising, store 80% of their product categories in FBA, and increase the volume of products processed through this service by 5% by November.
Amazon will invest over 1 billion euros in Belgium
From 2025 to 2027, Amazon plans to invest over one billion euros in Belgium. This investment aims to promote local employment, infrastructure construction, and enhance cooperation with local partners such as Belgian Post. This move will support small and medium-sized enterprises in expanding domestic and international markets and enhancing their customer coverage capabilities. Investment will also boost Belgium's economic growth and help Amazon's local business develop. This is Amazon's largest investment commitment in Belgium to date.
Amazon FBA has launched a "partial refund" policy, covering six major country sites including the United States and Europe
Amazon has launched a new "partial refund" policy. This new policy allows sellers to offer a certain percentage of refund compensation when buyers apply for returns without having to return the goods. Currently, this function has been covered on the US site and five European countries (the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain) sites, and is applicable to non-dangerous goods, non-hygiene products and other returnable items. Whether to enable this function and the corresponding refund ratio for each ASIN are determined by the seller themselves.
"TikTok
TikTok's operating license in Indonesia has been restored
The Indonesian government has decided to lift the previous suspension of operating licenses for TikTok, after the platform submitted data to the government on "growth in live streaming usage traffic and monetization activities" from August 25 to 30. Alexander Sabar, the director general of Indonesia's Ministry of Communications and Digital Affairs, said that the license suspension was terminated because TikTok fulfilled its obligations as a private electronic system operator. The initial decision to suspend the license was based on TikTok's refusal to provide the government with complete user activity data. At that time, the platform only submitted part of the information and failed to meet the government's comprehensive requirements. As a result, the Ministry of Communications announced on the same day the suspension of its relevant licenses in Indonesia.
TikTok is testing the shopping feature "Trendy Beat" in the UK
TikTok is conducting a shopping feature test called "Trendy Beat" in the UK, aiming to directly sell goods on the platform that have gained attention due to short videos. These goods are different from the previous model that mainly relied on third-party sellers. Now they are purchased and sold independently by TikTok and labeled as "TikTok Shop Trendy Beat".
TikTok Shop has launched an AI automated advertising tool
According to the official news of TikTok Shop, as of September 1, 2025, its AI automated advertising tool GMV Max has been launched globally and officially become the only advertising product of Shop Ads. The official description of the improvement effect of the new advertising tool is from "manual transmission" to "autonomous driving".
Specifically, GMV Max takes "fully automatic placement" as its core. There is no need to manually set specific advertising parameters. Merchants only need to input the GMV target and daily placement budget, and the system can automatically create and pause advertising groups at the back end, achieving intelligent targeting. It is reported that, based on the initial tests, over 50% of advertisers have seen their GMV increase by more than 100%.
In addition, unlike traditional advertising products that only optimize paid advertising traffic, GMV Max integrates paid traffic and organic traffic, enabling unified regulation of both to jointly bring about an incremental effect.
【Temu】
The German antitrust authority has launched an investigation into Temu, involving issues of price control
According to foreign media reports, recently, the German antitrust agency, the Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt), has launched an antitrust investigation into Temu to review whether the platform restricts the pricing freedom of third-party sellers on its German site and other sales channels.
This survey was made public in October 2025, targeting Whaleco Technology Limited, the European operator of Temu based in Dublin (the company operates under the Temu brand in Germany). The investigation will assess the claim that the platform "sets or limits the final selling price of goods" - such behavior may have an impact on market competition and consumer prices.
"Alibaba
Lazada Vietnam has started to levy customs fees for cross-border parcels
Lazada's official announcement stated that according to the notice issued by the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam, all cross-border direct mail packages imported to Vietnam are required to pay customs fees. To ensure the compliance and smoothness of the customs clearance process, starting from October 16, 2025 (local time), the platform will add a fixed fee of 10,800 Vietnamese dong per order for orders generated. This fee is shown under the "Shipping (Customs Duties, Surcharges)" item in the background bill and is applicable to all categories and full amounts of cross-border small package direct mail orders. Order cancellations or returns before customs clearance are exempt from this fee. However, returns after customs clearance and split sub-orders still need to be paid. For orders generated before October 16th, the platform will bear the cost even if customs clearance is completed later.
Lazada has reached a cooperation with the South Korean e-commerce platform Gmarket to introduce a large number of South Korean products
Southeast Asian e-commerce platform Lazada announced that it has established a partnership with the South Korean online marketplace Gmarket and set up a "Gmarket flagship Store" within its brand mall LazMall, enabling consumers in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam to directly purchase products from South Korean sellers.
Thanks to this collaboration, over 20 million Korean products will flood Lazada, including well-known beauty and personal care brands such as Sulwhasoo, d 'Alba, Mediheal, COSRX, Skinfood, and Laneige. Lazada's official statement said that these orders will be fulfilled and delivered through Lazada's local logistics network, while after-sales support will be handled jointly by both platforms.
"Shopee
Shopee Indonesia and Vidio have officially launched the "Watch and Buy" feature
Shopee and the Indonesian streaming platform Vidio have recently officially launched the Vidio Shopping feature, aiming to integrate entertainment with convenient online shopping. Users can now purchase the items in the show directly while watching the program without having to switch applications. Combined with the picture-in-picture mode, it enables "watching + shopping" to proceed simultaneously.
"Other platforms
Ozon has collaborated with VK to launch a blogger promotion service
Ozon platform has officially launched an external media promotion tool in collaboration with VKontakte, promoting products for sellers through blogger content. This service features multiple advantages such as automatic matching of bloggers, self-created content, and payment based on confirmed orders. It supports both short video and image-text formats. Sellers can set a reward ratio for bloggers up to 50% of the product price, and the platform will cover 99% of the cost in the first month, only charging an actual rate of 1%.
Wildberries offers subsidies of up to 70% to local sellers
Before the peak season, the Russian e-commerce platform Wildberries offered subsidies of up to 30% to 70% to local sellers, causing a sharp drop in the order volume of cross-border sellers and putting them at a price disadvantage. Local sellers can achieve lower pricing and higher profits through subsidies. In some categories, the search results on the first five pages are almost monopolized by local stores.
OZON will resume its third-party logistics services and open its fulfillment system to external channels
Russian e-commerce platform Ozon recently announced the launch of the "Ozon Logistics "service, allowing third-party Internet stores (including platform sellers and independent station operators) to use its logistics infrastructure for order delivery. Online store consumers who access this service can choose Ozon's self-pickup points, express lockers or door-to-door delivery services. Ozon does not charge sales commissions for transactions made through these channels, but only charges according to the standard logistics rate. Currently, this service is being tested among a small group of sellers and will be opened to more partners in the future.
Mercadolibre has established a B2B business department and has launched it in five Latin American countries
Latin American e-commerce giant Mercado has officially launched a brand-new B2B (Business-to-business) business division - Mercado Livre Negocios. This initiative aims to simplify the business transaction process among enterprises, serving clients ranging from small entrepreneurs to large enterprises and government agencies. It offers competitive prices, a wide range of products, efficient logistics services, and highlights the various advantages of the platform's ecosystem.
# Merchant Circle #
SHOPLINE has received a principle approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore and is expected to obtain a major payment institution license
SHOPLINE, a global provider of cross-border e-commerce website building solutions, officially announced that its subsidiary, Instage Technology Pte Ltd, has received the Principle Approval (IPA) granted by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and is expected to obtain the Major Payment Institution (MPI) license. If ultimately approved, SHOPLINE will be able to offer five regulated payment services in Singapore, including account opening, local and cross-border remittances, merchant expansion, and electronic currency issuance.
OpenAI has entered the e-commerce field, and merchants on Etsy and Shopify can now sell goods on GPT
OpenAI announced the launch of an instant checkout feature based on Stripe on ChatGPT. In simple terms, users will be able to directly complete a series of operations such as searching, selecting products, placing orders and making payments within the GPT site in the future, completing a closed loop within the site. Moreover, GPT already supports users to directly search for and purchase products from the Etsy platform. More than one million Shopify merchants, represented by Glossier, SKIMS, Spanx and Vuori, are also about to connect to GPT.
Currently, this feature is first available to users and merchants in the United States, and its coverage will be further expanded in the future. Meanwhile, ChatGPT currently only supports the purchase of individual items, and the shopping cart function will be launched later.
Anker's first offline store in North America has opened in Times Square, New York
Anker has teamed up with the immersive experience platform Smartechwrld to open its first offline store in North America, "Anker Powers tm:rw", in Times Square, New York. It is reported that the "Anker Powers tm:rw" themed offline store has gathered two major series of products, namely Anker Prime and Anker Nano.
# Overseas Marketing #
WARC: Social media advertising spending will reach 386.9 billion US dollars this year
The latest report from the World Advertising Research Center (WARC) shows that social media advertising spending soared by 20.2% in the last quarter, twice the original forecast of 12.4%, creating an added value of 4.9 billion US dollars. Social media advertising spending is expected to increase by 14.9% this year, reaching 306.4 billion US dollars. By 2027, the global social advertising market size is expected to reach 386.9 billion US dollars, approximately 245.6 million RMB, accounting for 28.5% of total advertising expenditure. WARC also predicts that global advertising spending will increase by 7.4% year-on-year to 1.17 trillion US dollars in 2025, an increase of 1.2% from the forecast in June.
2 AppsFlyer: Vietnamese users are online for over 7 hours a day on average, with TikTok and Shopee taking the lead
According to the "State of App Marketing in Vietnam -2025 Edition" report released by AppsFlyer, Vietnam's app ecosystem is entering a mature stage, with 79.8 million online users and 127 million mobile connections nationwide. The average daily online time of users exceeds 7 hours, and TikTok, Shopee and Zalo have become the applications with the highest user engagement. The report indicates that digital advertising spending in Vietnam is expected to increase by 9.1% in 2025, and marketing strategies are shifting from customer acquisition to retention and monetization.
# Policy and Data #
The new tax system for e-commerce in Indonesia has been postponed to take effect in February 2026
Recently, the Ministry of Finance of Indonesia announced that the new tax mechanism for e-commerce sellers, originally scheduled to be implemented in 2025, has been postponed to February 2026, involving sellers on mainstream platforms such as Shopee and Tokopedia. The new mechanism, based on the "Finance Minister Regulations" announced on July 14th, imposes a 0.5% income tax on sellers with an annual turnover exceeding 500 million Indonesian rupiah. It is independent of value-added tax and will be withheld and paid by the platform. The aim is to enhance tax compliance and simplify the declaration process. To avoid affecting residents' purchasing power and reduce the burden on small and medium-sized sellers, the government has postponed its implementation.
Russia plans to impose a 20% value-added tax on cross-border e-commerce
The Russian Ministry of Finance recently disclosed a reform plan for value-added tax (VAT) on cross-border e-commerce. It is proposed to gradually impose VAT on goods sold to Russia through platforms such as Amazon and AliExpress starting from 2027. The VAT rate will be raised in phases from 5% in 2027 to 20% in 2030, aligning with the local VAT standard in Russia. The new policy requires platforms to act as "tax agents" to withhold and remit taxes, and simultaneously lowers the tax exemption threshold for cross-border parcels: from the current 200 euros to 100 euros in 2026, to 50 euros in 2027, and completely abolishes the tax exemption policy by 2030.
Adobe: Online shopping during the 2025 US holiday season increased by 5.3%
Adobe released a report predicting that online shopping sales during the US holiday season from November 1 to December 31, 2025, will reach 253.4 billion US dollars, representing a year-on-year growth of 5.3%. This prediction is based on over one trillion retail websites100 million SKUs and 18 categories of data. Mobile devices will contribute a record 56.1% of sales, up 8.5% year-on-year. It is estimated that the daily consumption over the next 10 days will exceed 5 billion US dollars, with the online weekly consumption accounting for 17.2%, reaching 43.7 billion US dollars. More than one-third of consumers use AI for shopping, and AI traffic is expected to increase by 520%. It is most widely applied in categories such as toys.
4 EHI & ECDB: The report shows that the German e-commerce market will resume growth in 2024
Recently, the EHI Retail Research Institute and ECDB jointly released a report showing that the German e-commerce market will resume growth in 2024, with the total sales of the 1,000 largest B2C platforms reaching 80.4 billion euros, an increase of 3.8%. The sales of the top ten e-commerce platforms increased by 8% year-on-year, and their market share reached 38.8%. In the GMV ranking, Amazon maintained its lead with 52 billion euros, while Temu's GMV reached 3.4 billion euros, surging by approximately 285% year-on-year and entering the top five for the first time. In the net sales ranking, Shein made its debut in the top ten with 1.1 billion euros.
Nigeria has introduced a new tax exemption threshold of 300 US dollars, which applies to cross-border e-commerce imported goods
The Committee of the General Administration of Customs of Nigeria has officially approved the implementation of a new policy on duty-free limits for imported goods, significantly raising the original duty-free threshold of 50,000 naira (approximately 242 yuan) to 300 US dollars. The aim is to promote the development of cross-border e-commerce, shorten customs clearance time, and further optimize the trade facilitation environment in Nigeria.
According to the new regulations, this tax exemption policy applies to low-value imported goods, e-commerce parcels and passenger luggage. To prevent the practice of splitting orders to evade taxes, the policy has set a limit on personal use, which is once per person per quarter for a total of four times a year.
At the same time, commercial imports still need to pay the corresponding taxes and fees as stipulated. The customs will adopt internationally recognized valuation methods to ensure tax fairness. Any false declaration will face severe penalties such as confiscation of goods and legal arrest.
