The Bloomberg Agency revealed that the Chinese “Timo” application for retail has started to download almost the full cost of the new customs duties imposed by US President Donald Trump, which led to the double prices of some products.
According to the report, the parcels of no more than $ 800 were previously exempt from the fees, but as of May 2, a tax of 120% of the product value or a postal fee of at least $ 100 will be imposed.
The Timo customers, affiliated with BDD Holdings, have been on these additional fees above the original price of the goods.
Tax exceeds the value of the product
An analysis conducted by Bloomberg for 14 products from the best -selling list in Timo showed that taxes often exceeded the value of the product itself. For example, a $ 19.49 electricity link was exposed to import fees worth $ 27.56, equivalent to 1.41 times from the product price.
However, additional fees were not imposed on pre -stored products within the United States’ warehouses, which helped temporarily stabilize the prices of this category.
Changes in shopping patterns
Among the best 80 recommended products on the application, Bloomberg data indicated that 66 products are currently shipping from local warehouses in the United States, in an attempt to avoid the impact of new fees.
Timo and its rival, “Xi”, had previously announced their intention to amend the prices a week before the start of the cancellation of the lower fees known as “De Minims”, as “XN” raised the prices of some of its products by more than 300%, according to another report to Bloomberg.
The effect of fees on e -commerce
Bloomberg notes that these large price increases reflect the impact of the new Trump customs duties, with the possibility that this policy of Americans’ shopping behavior changes and negatively affects the flow of shipments from platforms such as “Timo” and “Shi”.
This step aims to pressure China to push it to negotiate a trade agreement that reduces the US trade deficit with Beijing.
Bloomberg reported, quoting reports, that, since February, Timo asked Chinese factories to ship the goods in large quantities to American warehouses, which allowed the electronic market to manage only without the stock management completely.
However, with the decrease in the local inventory over time, prices may witness additional increases if the application of the 145% high fees continues to the Chinese imports.
