Customs cracks down on trade by private daigou

The desire for foreign goods purchased via the Internet is becoming so common in China it has spawned the term haiwai daigou, which roughly means overseas shopping representatives.

These representatives, who make a living by selling tax-free foreign goods to Chinese buyers over the Internet, are facing a dilemma as a new customs regulation requires all enterprises and individuals engaged in cross-border e-commerce to go through the process of customs declaration.

Analysts said that the new rule is good news to legitimate online daigou platforms, such as Tmall Global, but catastrophic to small companies and individuals, who have been practicing in the gray area of China's booming daigou market, which is estimated at 100 billion yuan ($16.23 billion) in 2014.