What is 1210 cross-border e-commerce bonded import?
1210 is the Chinese customs code for cross-border e-commerce bonded import. Stock waits in a bonded warehouse and ships one consumer order at a time. The tariff is 0%, and import VAT and consumption tax are 70% of the normal amount, within RMB 5,000 per order and 26,000 a year. It skips first-import registration but sells only to consumers.
The number is a customs supervision code, and it is how the route is named in China: 网购保税进口, online-shopping bonded import. Its sibling, 9610, is direct purchase, with each order shipped from abroad. Both are regulated the same way. 1210 is the one that puts your stock inside China before anyone has ordered it.
How it works
- Stock is shipped in bulk into a bonded warehouse inside a special customs area. It is not taxed on arrival.
- A consumer in China orders through a cross-border platform connected to customs.
- The order, the payment and the logistics record are matched electronically, and that single order is declared and released from the zone.
- Tax is calculated on that order. The consumer is the taxpayer; the e-commerce company, the platform or the logistics company collects it.
The rules
| Rule | What it says |
|---|---|
| Tax | 0% tariff. Import VAT and consumption tax at 70% of the amount otherwise due — for a good at the standard 13% VAT rate with no consumption tax, 9.1% |
| Limits | RMB 5,000 per order and RMB 26,000 per person per year |
| Over the order limit | A single-item order above RMB 5,000 but inside the annual limit can still use the channel, at full general-trade tax |
| Registration | Regulated as goods for personal use, so first-import licences, registrations and filings do not apply — except for goods from epidemic areas or with major safety risks |
| Which goods | Only those on the Cross-border E-commerce Retail Import Commodity List, last adjusted from 1 March 2022 |
| Labels | Goods may carry no Chinese label; the platform displays a Chinese electronic label |
| Your party in China | A company registered in China, appointed by you, which registers with customs, is responsible for truthful declaration and bears joint civil liability |
What it cannot do
- Supply a business. Goods bought through it are the consumer’s final goods for personal use and may not enter the domestic market for resale. A distributor or retailer needs general trade.
- Sell off a shelf outside the zone. “Bonded plus offline pick-up” is not, in principle, permitted outside a special customs area.
- Carry goods that are not on the list. Anything off the positive list goes through general trade, with the registration that route requires.
- Turn into general-trade stock when a countermeasure applies. Goods subject to trade-remedy measures, retaliatory tariffs, tariff quotas or suspended concessions cannot be moved from cross-border e-commerce accounts into ordinary ones (Announcement No. 83 of 2025, in force 10 June 2025).
The route removes Chinese product registration. It does not remove the platform’s own onboarding: the overseas corporate records, trademark and production evidence a platform asks of a foreign brand are a separate hurdle, with their own grounds for refusal.
How this route compares with general trade, and with bonded storage that is not e-commerce, is set out in selling into China through a bonded zone.
Want this done rather than explained?
Everything the platforms now ask a foreign brand for — from US$1,200, 3–6 weeks.
Sources
- MOF, GACC and STA — cross-border e-commerce retail import tax policy (财关税〔2016〕18号): 0% tariff, VAT and consumption tax at 70%, consumer as taxpayer; in force 8 April 2016
- MOF, GACC and STA — limits raised to RMB 5,000 per order and 26,000 per year, and the single-item rule (财关税〔2018〕49号); in force 1 January 2019
- MOFCOM and five departments — cross-border e-commerce retail import supervision (商财发〔2018〕486号): personal-use regulation, domestic agent, labels, no resale; in force 1 January 2019
- MOF and seven departments — adjustment of the Cross-border E-commerce Retail Import Commodity List, in force 1 March 2022
- GACC, NDRC, MOF, MARA, MOFCOM and STA Announcement No. 83 of 2025 — quota, trade-remedy and retaliatory-tariff goods in bonded areas and e-commerce accounts
All sources checked 13 September 2026. This page is general information, not legal, tax or customs advice. Requirements vary by product, market and circumstance — confirm your own position before acting.
