More details about Pandabuy raid have been revealed(They’ve been preparing for this raid for six months!!）

Cantoop, a Chinese IPR protection service company, is the partner of this raid on pandabuy, their article today discloses some details of the raid:

1. The whole preparation took 6 months, since last October, 16 brands asked Cantoop to investigate pandabuy.

2. Sixty people from the Shanghai police spent 6 months investigating pandabuy and its suppliers thoroughly.

3. The raid is spread over 5 cities in China, involving more than 2,200 people and warehouse area of 100,000 square meters, equivalent to nearly 20 soccer fields.

4. On April 11, 2024, more than 200 Shanghai police officers, assisted by local police, raided the Pandabuy offices and warehouses as planned, and more than 30 key suspects were held under criminal coercion.

5. While inspecting Pandabuy’s warehouse, the police found millions of parcels ready to ship. These parcels contained more than 200 products from different brands. More than 1,700 Pandabuy employees were working at the time of the raid.

6. As of today, hundreds of investigators per day have spent more than two weeks inspecting the seized parcels, and it is expected to take several months before all the parcels in the warehouse are inspected and moved to government warehouses for further action.

My view is that it is almost impossible for pandabuy and his affiliated sites to be alive. Their leaders have been detained by the police, which pretty much means they are going to jail. And, as I read on social media , pandabuy has already started to massively firing their employees now.

Frankly, pandabuy’s website and services are excellent, and their marketing is very well done, but they chose to get into the business of replicas and knockoffs, which has led to their end.

Alipay, WeChat have raised the single transaction limit for foreigners from US$1,000 to US$5,000

This year, many foreigners have started to visit China, and they have reported difficulties in making payments in China, and these problems have attracted the attention of the officials, so they have taken some optimization measures:

1️⃣ Alipay and WeChat have raised transaction limits for foreigners using mobile payments. You can now make single transactions up to US$5,000 (previously $1,000) and enjoy an annual limit of US$50,000 (previously $10,000).

2️⃣ Alipay is piloting an exciting new rule specifically designed for foreign users. You will now have a certain amount of authentication-free payments available to you. This means that you can conveniently make payments without needing to verify your identity, as long as you stay within the specified limit.

3️⃣  They’re taking steps to ensure that more foreigners can enjoy seamless shopping experiences on Chinese platforms. Both Alipay and WeChat are optimizing the bank cards they support, making it possible for you to use your cards on a wider range of Chinese shopping sites.

We’ll see more policies that make it easier for foreigners to pay in China this year.

1688.com website supports Hong Kong and Taiwan

Some people have asked me about the 1688 English website and app, and here’s the latest news so far:.

1. They have now opened the world.1688.com website, and it supports Hong Kong and Taiwan, and international bank cards.

I guess in the end the main countries they support will be in Asia, similar to Taobao International now.

It is unlikely to get a new website and direct competition with alibaba.com.

2. There is news that 1688 will open a few stores in Taobao, this is a new way to purchase from1688. as a foreigner, purchasing from Taobao is much easier than from 1688, .

3. 1688 will have very big changes in the new year, these changes are good for foreigners, they are still in testing now, I will keep updating their new policy.

Pandabuy and Wegobuy were raided by the police for selling and shipping fake and replicas

Last Thursday, Pandabuy and Wegobuy were raided by the police for selling and shipping fake and replicas.

Prior to that, Pandabuy user databases were also hacked.

All signs show that pandabuy and wegobuy, including superbuy, are no longer safe.

Don’t use them if you are now using them to purchase products on Taobao or 1688, they are no longer safe!

If you still have replica or fake products in their warehouse, they will probably be confiscated.

If your products are legal, you can ship them to another Taobao agent.

I always don’t recommend people to do the business of importing replica from China, I know it’s very profitable, I’ve been there before.But this business is too risky, too unstable, many things you can’t control.

China produces so many good and cheap products, you can absolutely make huge money by selling them just like any other sellers.