Wenzhou customs staffs inspect international parcels in July, 2014. (Photo/Wenzhou Evening News)
(ECNS) -- Shanghai customs has denied wide-spread rumors that it shuts out overseas purchasing agents, or "haiwai daigou," by detaining international parcels on a gigantic scale, a local newspaper said.
The clarification came after an online rumor claiming that customs nationwide have detained many international parcels, targeting agents who make a living by selling tax-free foreign goods to Chinese buyers over the Internet. And parcels detained by the custom means purchaser should pay tax to get them.
A netizen posted a photo of piled parcels, with a caption saying those are parcels detained by Shanghai Customs during a single day. Because of this, "their warehouse has been doubled in size."
The post was denied by the customs, who responded that "We don't have warehouses specially to store parcels."
"We supervise and impose tax according to relevant rules," it was added.
Shen, a part-time agent, said she felt the processing speed has become slow since September, while the customs said the speed will be slowed down during shopping season.
The customs also explained that international parcels should be inspected by customs staffs after being disinfected. And then those parcels will be re-wrapped which usually takes a day before they are put into transportation.
The exact number of those who are engaged in private daigou business is unknown. Statistics from the Hangzhou-based China E-commerce Research Center show the market for online daigou amounted to 74.4 billion yuan in 2013.
