Ebay Suspends Assessment of Hong Kong Direct Mail Logistics Policy

On April 25, 2025, eBay announced that it will temporarily stop assessing the direct mail transaction logistics service policy sent from Hong Kong, China due to the suspension of Hong Kong Post's acceptance of surface mail and air mail to the United States. This change may have a series of impacts on B2B companies and cross-border e-commerce sellers, especially logistics efficiency and order fulfillment rate issues. As a professional third-party logistics fulfillment service provider, we will deeply analyze the impact of the policy on sellers from the following perspectives and propose solutions.

Policy background and core impact analysis

Core policy changes

Hong Kong Postal Service Interruption: Surface mail (economy) US service will be suspended from April 16, 2025, and air mail (standard) US service will be fully suspended from April 27, resulting in the obstruction of Hong Kong's direct mail logistics channel.

eBay assessment suspension: To ease the pressure on sellers, eBay has suspended the assessment of Hong Kong direct mail logistics services (restart time to be determined), but sellers still need to solve logistics fulfillment issues to maintain customer experience.

Continuation of historical policies: Affected transactions between February 1 and February 21, 2025 have been exempted from assessment and enjoy account protection (such as removal of delayed delivery rate, dispute records, etc.).

Core impact on sellers

Rising logistics costs: After the Hong Kong Postal channel is interrupted, sellers need to turn to commercial express delivery (such as DHL, FedEx, UPS) or third-party dedicated logistics, and the cost of a single ticket may increase by 30%-50%.

Risk of time fluctuation: Although commercial express delivery is fast (3-5 days), it is easily affected by customs clearance policies; dedicated logistics has a longer time limit (7-15 days), and it is necessary to balance costs and buyer experience.

Inventory management pressure: With increased logistics uncertainty, it is necessary to optimize inventory layout (such as pre-positioning to overseas warehouses) to reduce the risk of out-of-stock.

Buyer experience challenges: Problems such as delayed logistics information updates and delivery delays may cause disputes or bad reviews, affecting store ratings.

Hong Kong Post has suspended surface/airmail services to the United States, causing sellers who rely on this channel to face difficulties in fulfilling their contracts, which may lead to order cancellations, increased refund rates and negative customer reviews. Although eBay has suspended logistics assessments, sellers still need to ensure basic fulfillment capabilities, otherwise it may affect the long-term reputation of the account. Sellers need to re-evaluate the declared value and tax costs to avoid customs clearance delays or fines due to inconsistent declarations. At the same time, alternative logistics channels (such as commercial express delivery) are more expensive and may squeeze profit margins.

The suspension of the assessment policy allows sellers to not worry about the account assessment risks caused by logistics problems in the short term, and they can have more time to adjust their logistics strategies.

eBay has provided automatic account protection, including removing delayed delivery rate records, etc., to reduce sellers' account risks caused by logistics problems, but this policy is only for transactions in a specific time period and does not protect transactions after April 27.

Third-party logistics service provider solutions

As a professional third-party logistics service provider, we recommend that sellers respond to policy changes and optimize logistics fulfillment capabilities through the following strategies:

1. Alternative logistics channel recommendations

Switch the place of shipment

It is recommended to ship directly from mainland China to the United States, integrate commercial express resources such as DHL, FedEx, UPS, or cooperate with dedicated logistics providers (such as Chinadivision, etc.) to balance timeliness and cost.

Provide a multi-regional logistics network: circumvent Hong Kong Post restrictions through Southeast Asia (such as Singapore, Malaysia) or European transit warehouses.

Flexible logistics combination

Economical solution: For low-value goods, use China Mainland Post ePacket or China-US dedicated line parcels (7-15 days).

Time-sensitive solution: High-priced goods give priority to commercial express delivery (35 days) to meet customers' urgent needs.

Batch delivery optimization: merge small packages into large goods by sea/air to reduce single-piece logistics costs (suitable for medium and large items).

2. Customs clearance and tariff optimization

Pre-declaration and compliance support

Provide US customs data pre-examination services to ensure that the declared information (such as HS Code, value of goods) complies with the new tariff policy.

Prepaid tariff service

Pay tariffs on behalf of sellers (DDP terms) to avoid buyers' rejection due to additional fees and improve the signing rate.

3. Inventory and warehousing strategy adjustment

Multi-location warehouse preparation

Transfer inventory to bonded warehouses in mainland China or overseas warehouses in the United States (such as Amazon FBA, third-party overseas warehouses) to shorten the terminal delivery time.

It is recommended to use the virtual warehouse mode: display the shipment from the United States, but actually ship directly from China to enhance the trust of buyers.

Dynamic inventory management

Real-time monitoring of inventory levels through the ERP system, automatically triggering replenishment instructions to avoid out-of-stock risks. Chinadivision service providers can provide WMS system support to achieve real-time synchronization of multi-warehouse inventory to avoid overselling.

4. Operation and risk management

Logistics data monitoring and early warning

Provide a full-link logistics tracking dashboard, real-time early warning of abnormal packages (such as customs clearance delays, transportation timeouts), and proactive intervention and processing.

Provide API interface to synchronize logistics track to eBay backend in real time, buyers can query independently, and reduce "not received goods" disputes.

Customer Service Support

Send logistics delay notification email/text message to appease buyers.

Provide return label (Return Label) and local return address (US) to reduce return costs.

5. Technical Integration Support

API seamless connection

Connect the logistics system with the eBay seller backend to automatically capture orders, allocate logistics channels, and return waybill numbers.

Intelligent routing selection: Automatically match the optimal logistics plan according to product attributes, destination, and timeliness requirements.

Long-term strategy for coping with policy changes

This policy change reminds sellers to plan transportation strategies more proactively in cross-border logistics. The following are recommended long-term directions:

Flexible supply chain design: Disperse logistics channel risks and avoid over-reliance on a single service.

Establish a cooperative relationship with reliable logistics service providers: Choose professional fulfillment service providers to cope with complex international logistics challenges.

Strengthen customer experience management: Win customer trust by optimizing after-sales service and logistics transparency.

By working with professional third-party logistics (3PL) delivery service providers like ChinaDivision, sellers can quickly adapt to new situations, maintain service quality, and continue to grow in uncertain times.

Although eBay's suspension of the assessment of Hong Kong's direct mail logistics policy is a short-term transitional measure, sellers need to build long-term competitiveness through diversified logistics layout, inventory optimization and dispute prevention. Through the resource integration capabilities of third-party logistics service providers, sellers can quickly switch logistics channels, optimize cost structures, and use technical tools to achieve refined operations.