Entering 2026, the cross-border e-commerce industry is undergoing accelerated reshuffling under strong regulation and cost pressures. Compliance, refinement, and localization have become core keywords for all platforms and sellers. Coupang is mired in a data breach crisis, Amazon continues to optimize its ecosystem through fee and rule adjustments, Temu builds a moat with a two-pronged strategy of “localization” and “security deposit,” and TikTok Shop achieves rapid expansion through a global growth plan and tightened rules. Regarding regulatory intervention, the Korea Personal Data Protection Commission (KPC) on January 14th demanded that Coupang remove the independent investigation results regarding the data breach from its website, arguing that these unverified “unverified information” could cause public confusion. Previously, the chairman of the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) publicly stated that it was considering issuing a suspension order against Coupang. The ongoing investigation and potential severe penalties will significantly increase the uncertainty of the platform’s operations. For cross-border sellers, it is crucial to closely monitor subsequent policy changes on the Coupang platform and assess potential short-term risks. Amazon: FBA Fees and Rules Adjusted Simultaneously; Refined Operations Become the Only Way Out. In early 2026, a series of key Amazon policies concerning costs and compliance officially came into effect, placing higher demands on sellers’ supply chain management capabilities. Regarding structural adjustments to fees, since January 15th, fee policies across major global marketplaces have diverged. Amazon’s FBA fulfillment fees on the US marketplace saw a slight increase of $0.08 per item, but its European marketplace experienced one of its largest fee reductions ever, with an average decrease of £0.15 per item and significant reductions in commissions for categories such as apparel. This indicates that Amazon is guiding sellers to optimize their regional market layout through differentiated policies. FBA pre-processing services will be completely terminated. Starting in 2026, Amazon will completely terminate free pre-processing and labeling services for FBA products. This means that all compliance responsibilities before goods enter the warehouse (such as labeling and packaging) will be completely transferred to the seller, and non-compliant goods will face the risk of rejection or hefty fines. Inventory management is being strengthened. Amazon has officially increased its overage inventory surcharge mechanism, implementing tiered charges for inventory stored for more than 6 months, with surcharges for inventory stored for more than 15 months potentially reaching 13 times the monthly storage fee. Temu: A dual-track approach, using “localization” expansion and “high security deposits” to screen sellers. Facing global tariffs and compliance pressures, Temu is reshaping its platform ecosystem through localization expansion and raising entry barriers. In terms of accelerating its localization strategy, Temu recently launched the “Local Seller Program” in the UAE, allowing local businesses with local inventory to join the platform, aiming to improve delivery efficiency and enrich product supply. This program is part of its “local-to-local” model, which has expanded to over 30 markets, including the US, Europe, and Japan. Security deposits have been significantly increased. At the end of 2025, the platform quietly launched new “Security Deposit Rules,” significantly raising security deposits for multiple categories. Among them, the maximum security deposit for high-risk categories such as children’s toys, power banks and batteries, and memory cards has been increased to 30,000 RMB per store, with the maximum security deposit for all categories reaching 100,000 RMB. This move aims to filter out non-compliant sellers and transfer compliance risks and costs to the upstream of the supply chain. TikTok Shop: Global Growth Plans and Tighter Rules Go Hand in Hand to Strengthen Platform Control. While promoting brand globalization, TikTok Shop strengthens its control over fulfillment processes and ecosystem quality through rule upgrades. Regarding its global growth blueprint, on January 13th, TikTok held the “TikTok Shop CEO Circle 2026” event in Seoul, sharing its global growth strategy with Korean brands and explicitly stating its support for Korean brands to expand into markets such as the US and Southeast Asia through the cross-border TikTok Shop project. Fulfillment timelines have been significantly tightened. The platform updated its fulfillment rules, requiring regular orders to have their status updated to “shipping” within two business days, effective January 26th. This move aims to improve the consumer experience and eliminate sellers with insufficient fulfillment capabilities. EU commissions have also increased. From January 8th, 2026, TikTok Shop’s platform commission in the five EU countries, including Germany and France, will increase from 5% to 9% (with some categories potentially reduced to 7%). This signals the platform’s pursuit of higher monetization rates in mature markets.
Global Policies and Industry Trends
New Eurasian Economic Union Regulations: The Eurasian Economic Commission has approved new regulations that, starting July 1, 2026, will set a €200 duty-free threshold for imported e-commerce parcels. Amounts exceeding this will be subject to a 5% tariff and VAT. This will directly impact the cost of cross-border parcels shipped to member states such as Russia. Mexico has significantly increased tariffs. Starting January 1, 2026, Mexico will impose tariffs of 10% to 50% on certain imported products from countries such as China, covering 1463 categories including automobiles, textiles, home appliances, and toys. Coupled with the policy of platforms withholding and paying income tax on behalf of consumers, the cost and compliance risks of establishing a presence in the Mexican market have increased dramatically.
Logistics costs are rising across the board. The United States Postal Service (USPS) will raise several shipping fees starting January 18th, with Ground Advantage seeing an average increase of 7.8%. Logistics providers such as FedEx have also announced increases in their base rates in January. The continued rise in global logistics costs is further squeezing sellers’ profit margins. Summary and Action Recommendations The industry dynamics at the start of 2026 clearly reveal three core trends: internalization of compliance costs, prioritizing operational efficiency, and market differentiation. Platforms are transferring risks and responsibilities to sellers through rules, while guiding resource allocation through differentiated policies. Action recommendations for sellers are as follows: Conduct a comprehensive cost reassessment, immediately calculating the true profit under the combined effects of new tariffs, logistics price increases, and platform fee adjustments, and re-evaluating the feasibility of business in markets with policy changes such as Mexico and the EU. Prioritize supply chain compliance. In response to new regulations such as the termination of Amazon FBA services and the Temu category deposit, compliance work such as labeling, packaging, and product certification must be brought forward to the production or procurement stage. Establish an internal quality inspection system to avoid high penalties later. Assess localization opportunities, actively research Temu’s “Local Seller Program,” TikTok Shop’s global expansion path, and consider using overseas warehouses or local supply chain models to address tariff barriers and improve the consumer experience. Optimize inventory and cash flow, strictly implement inventory clearance plans, and avoid high overdue storage fees. Simultaneously, to cope with the deposit policies of platforms like Temu, sufficient cash flow needs to be reserved, and consideration should be given to streamlining stores and focusing on core product categories.
