E-commerce Morning Briefing for September 29: Russia Proposes 22% VAT on Cross-Border E-Commerce; Taobao Flash Buy Clarifies Four-Tier Invoice Compensation

Item 1: Taobao Flash Buy Clarifies Four-Tier Invoice Compensation Standards for Retail Merchants, with Maximum Payout Equal to Full Order Amount.

Ebrun has learned that Taobao Flash Buy recently issued an announcement, adding the 'Taobao Flash Buy Retail Merchant Invoice Service Specification,' which clarifies that merchants must issue invoices in accordance with the law, must not refuse to issue invoices for unjustified reasons, and must not attach additional conditions; the invoicing entity must be consistent with the actual operating entity. The rules also define four tiers of compensation standards: failure to provide or send the invoice within the agreed time results in compensation of 10% of the order settlement amount, with a minimum of 5 yuan and a maximum of 200 yuan per transaction; refusal to issue an invoice results in compensation capped at 30% of the order settlement amount, not exceeding 200 yuan per transaction; if the invoice amount is incorrect and cannot be reissued, compensation is the difference between the invoice amount and the actual payment amount, not exceeding 200 yuan per transaction; if a fraudulent invoice is received and cannot be reissued, compensation is 100% of the order settlement amount, with a maximum of 200 yuan per transaction.

Item 2: Alibaba's Fuyuan Xirang Large Language Model Tops CyberGym, Becoming the First Chinese Champion Model.

Alibaba's Fuyuan Xirang large language model (XekRung-27B) has topped the CyberGym leaderboard with a success rate of 88.9%, becoming the first champion model from China in the history of this benchmark. While achieving the highest success rate, Fuyuan Xirang also achieved a breakthrough of being 'both small and strong,' with its 27B parameter count being only 1/27 to 1/370 of other listed models, significantly reducing the computational cost of intelligent vulnerability scanning.

Item 3: JD Logistics Opens Two New Full-Cargo Aircraft Routes for Hairy Crabs, with Single-Flight Payload of 18.5 Tons.

JD Logistics has recently officially opened two new hairy crab routes, Wuxi-Beijing and Wuxi-Changchun, deploying Boeing 738 full-cargo aircraft with a single-flight payload of 18.5 tons. This marks JD Logistics' further expansion of air cargo capacity during the peak hairy crab shipping season, opening up an air corridor directly connecting Jiangsu's production areas to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the Northeast market.

Item 4: During the Mid-Autumn Festival Holiday, Hainan's Outlying Island Duty-Free Shopping Reached 231 Million Yuan, with 38,600 Shoppers.

According to statistics from Haikou Customs, from September 25 to September 27, the customs supervised outlying island duty-free shopping amounting to 231 million yuan, with 38,600 shoppers and 179,000 items purchased. During this year's Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, Hainan's outlying island duty-free shopping market experienced a new round of consumption peak, with family trips and gatherings of friends and relatives becoming the main consumer forces, and categories such as high-end skincare and premium luggage being particularly favored by consumers.

Item 5: Doubao Mobile Assistant Responds to the 'Honor of Kings' Forced Kicking Issue and Apologizes.

Recently, anomalies have appeared on Nubia devices equipped with the Doubao mobile assistant: players reported that when logging into 'Honor of Kings' or engaging in matchmaking battles, they would be prompted about abnormal device environments and forcibly kicked offline. Doubao Mobile Assistant responded in the official community, stating that after confirmation, it did not perform any operations on Tencent's gaming system throughout the process, and the AI did not engage in any non-compliant clicks, cheats, or simulated actions. The team is still in communication with Tencent-related parties, and as of the response time, had not received a clear reply from the other party, for which it expressed deep apologies.

Item 6: YTO's Ningxia Supply Chain Smart Innovation Park to Start Production in October, with Daily Processing Capacity Rising to 1.5 Million Packages.

The construction of YTO's Ningxia Supply Chain Smart Innovation Park project has entered its final stage and is expected to officially start production and operations in October. The project has a total investment of 350 million yuan and incorporates digital equipment such as automated unmanned sorting and intelligent scheduling. Once completed, it will become YTO's core transit hub in Ningxia and the surrounding northwest region, increasing daily package processing capacity from 800,000 to 1.5 million packages, significantly reducing regional logistics transit times.

Item 7: Russian Finance Ministry Proposes 22% VAT on Cross-Border E-Commerce Goods.

The Russian Ministry of Finance has submitted a bill to the government proposing a 22% VAT on goods purchased through electronic cross-border trade, with e-commerce platforms responsible for payment obligations, aiming to create a fairer competitive environment and promote the 'whitening' of the economy. The bill also suggests imposing a customs fee of 100 rubles on personal parcels valued at no more than 200 euros, and including passive income such as dividends, deposit interest, securities trading, property sales, and gifts in the personal income tax base, uniformly applying tax rates from 13% to 22%.

Item 8: Amazon Upgrades Seller AI Assistant, Opens External Plugins, and Launches Free Subscription.

On September 25, Amazon officially launched the iterated Seller Assistant AI assistant for sellers and simultaneously released connection plugins compatible with external AI tools. The fully upgraded tool is built on Amazon Bedrock and positioned as a 24/7 AI operations partner, capable of automatically replenishing inventory, tracking competitor pricing, and adjusting prices around the clock; sellers can review and retain security audit logs before operations. The tool has accumulated hundreds of thousands of active users, with an operations suggestion adoption rate of 90%; before the end of 2026, primary account holders on the global platform can claim a 12-month free Quick Plus subscription.

Item 9: All 50 Districts in Bangkok Affected by Floods; Shopee and Other Thailand Sites Extend Delivery Deadlines.

The Thai floods are severely impacting the fulfillment chains of sellers on Thailand sites. On the morning of September 26, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration announced that affected areas had expanded to all 50 districts, with road flooding, paralyzed traffic, severe waterlogging at warehouse park entrances, hindered port container pickup, and disrupted last-mile delivery in many areas. Shopee, TikTok Shop, and Lazada's Thailand local sites have temporarily extended delivery times for all orders; for example, with Shopee, orders placed after noon on September 26 can be delivered by September 29, and related delays will not be counted as late deliveries or failed orders. Data from Thailand's Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation shows that as of the 26th, 21 provinces nationwide remained flooded, affecting approximately 84,000 people.

Item 10: Roborock's First-Half Revenue Surpasses 10 Billion Yuan; Files Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against Ecovacs in Europe.

Roborock's latest semi-annual report shows that in the first half of the year, it achieved operating revenue of 10.084 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 27.60%, marking its first time crossing the 10 billion yuan threshold since listing; among this, domestic revenue was 4.012 billion yuan, a slight year-on-year increase of only 1.47%. IDC data for the same period shows that Roborock ranked first in the global robot vacuum market with a 21% shipment share and a 28% sales value share. The Munich local division of the Unified Patent Court in Europe has disclosed that Roborock has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Ecovacs and several other companies concerning European patent EP4011266, marking its first patent claim against Ecovacs at the Unified Patent Court in Europe.

Item 11: Coupang Tests 'Try Before You Pay' in South Korea, Allowing Up to 6 Items for 0 Won.

South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang has begun offering a 'try before you pay' service to some WOW members. Consumers do not need to pay when placing an order; they can order up to 6 items for 0 Korean won to be delivered home and decide whether to return them within 7 days; if the items are not returned within the specified time, the system will automatically complete the payment. The service is currently only available to some users as a test, covering categories such as infant and toddler clothing, men's clothing, and women's clothing, and includes brands like Nike.

Item 12: Heytea Opens Its First Overseas Lab 2.0 Store in Thailand, with Overseas Store Count Exceeding 120.

On September 25, Heytea's first store in Thailand officially opened at the Central World shopping mall in Bangkok, marking also its first overseas lab 2.0 store. Currently, Heytea's overseas stores have exceeded 120, with the number of stores growing 6-fold over the past year, including more than 40 stores in the U.S. market.

That concludes today's morning briefing. For more e-commerce knowledge content, stay tuned to Ebrun audio news.

This article was first published on the official website of Ebrun.