Four Customs Codes, One Business
Since cross-border e-commerce became a formal customs channel in China, four supervision codes have shaped how foreign brands move goods into the country and fulfil orders to Chinese consumers. The three most discussed are 1210, 9610 and 9710. The fourth, 9810, works in the opposite direction, and it is quietly becoming the most practical option for brands with real overseas stock.
The distinction matters more than most guides admit. 1210 applies to goods entering a bonded zone in China, where a domestic entity holds inventory and goods stay under customs supervision until sold. 9610 applies to a domestic seller sending parcels directly from China, with the transaction completed through the platform and the parcel cleared on the way out. 9710 is the B2B version of 9610, where the seller and buyer are two companies rather than a platform and a consumer.
9810 turns the model around. Goods are exported from China once, in bulk, and stored in an overseas warehouse. When a Chinese consumer places an order on the platform, the platform or the operator ships from that warehouse, and the parcel enters the destination country as a local shipment rather than a cross-border one. The Chinese export happens once and in volume; the delivery happens many times and locally.
Why 9810 Has Become the Default for Serious Sellers
Faster delivery for the consumer. Once inventory sits in the destination country, the parcel is a domestic shipment. Delivery times that ranged from seven to fifteen days in early cross-border programmes become two to five days. In categories where the purchase decision depends on urgency — skincare restocking, supplements, electronics accessories — this is often the difference between a conversion and an abandoned cart.
Lower return friction. Returns are the quiet cost killer in cross-border selling. A parcel that returns to a local warehouse travels a short distance and costs little to process; a parcel that returns to China travels back through customs and often ends up unsellable. 9810 makes returns a domestic logistics problem instead of an international one.
Better control of stock allocation. A brand with stock in two or three overseas warehouses can place inventory where demand actually is, rather than guessing from order data that arrives too late. Inventory becomes a regional decision, and stockouts become less frequent.
A cleaner compliance story. The export leg happens once, under a documented export transaction. Product restrictions, labelling and documentation obligations for the destination market are settled at the point of export rather than on every parcel. That is a materially easier compliance posture than solving the same question for every single shipment.
What It Costs and Where It Gets Difficult
9810 is not automatically cheaper. The costs are structured differently. The brand pays for outbound bulk freight, overseas warehousing, local pick-and-pack, local last-mile delivery, and the returns handling. It also carries inventory for longer, because stock sits in a warehouse instead of moving straight to a customer. For low-volume, high-value products, that idle inventory cost can outweigh the delivery-speed gain.
There is a volume threshold below which the model stops making sense, and it differs by category. A brand selling forty units of a high-value item per month is usually better off with a direct parcel model. A brand moving hundreds or thousands of units of a replenishable good is usually better off with 9810. The honest test is simple: compare the annual cost of storage and returns against the conversion and repeat-rate gain from faster delivery.
Volume forecasting is the operational discipline that decides success. Replenishment lead times to overseas warehouses are longer than to domestic customers, so a small forecasting error becomes a stockout that lasts weeks. Brands that succeed here run conservative safety stock, monitor sell-through by warehouse rather than by total, and reorder on a schedule rather than on a trigger.
How the Four Models Compare
A useful way to frame the choice is by asking where the inventory sits and who the counterparty is. Under 1210, goods sit inside a bonded zone in China and the seller is a domestic entity. Under 9610, goods leave China per order and the seller is a domestic entity selling to a consumer. Under 9710, goods leave China in bulk to a foreign business buyer. Under 9810, goods leave China in bulk and sit in the destination country until a consumer orders.
Many brands end up using more than one at the same time. That is not a contradiction. A common pattern is 1210 or 9610 for testing new products in China while 9810 carries the proven bestsellers, and 9710 serves distributors in markets where stock is held centrally. The practical requirement is that each route has its own documentation, its own reporting, and its own inventory accounting — not that everything runs through one code.
Practical Checklist Before You Move Volume
First, confirm the destination country allows the local-warehouse import route you intend to use, including any local labelling, language and product-safety requirements. Second, pick operators that can show you their actual warehouse locations and their local delivery performance data, not a network map. Third, model the full cost per order at realistic volumes, including storage, pick, pack, last mile and returns. Fourth, define what happens when a parcel is refused, damaged or lost, in writing. Fifth, set up reporting that separates the four models, so margin problems are visible instead of averaged away.
If the brand is still validating demand in a market, a direct parcel model is usually the right first step. If demand is proven and the product is replenishable, moving volume into an overseas warehouse is where the operational and customer-experience gains compound.
Compliance and Practical Boundaries
Customs supervision rules, tax treatment and platform requirements differ by destination country and by route, and they change. Any move into an overseas warehouse model should be checked against current requirements with a qualified adviser or the competent authority. This article is general information only. We do not guarantee approval, settlement, or refund outcomes.