Cross-border Search | Amazon’s Halloween Product Return Rate Surges 30%

Amazon’s Halloween product return rate surges by 30%.

Following Halloween, Amazon experienced a massive wave of returns. One seller reported that over 1,700 of their Halloween products were returned after 5,600 sales, a return rate exceeding 30%, far surpassing the previous average of 7%-8%. Photos from Amazon’s returns counters show large numbers of consumers queuing with Halloween costumes and props to return items. Seasonal products, once past their season, are almost impossible to resell, leading to high warehousing costs.

High return rates for seasonal products have become a persistent problem in the industry, and this trend is intensifying, severely impacting sellers’ profits.

Walmart’s Black Friday online sale will be launched in three phases.

Walmart has confirmed the dates for its 2025 Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday promotions, which will run from November 14 to December 1 and will be divided into three phases.

The first phase of the Walmart Black Friday Deals will be held from November 14-16, the second phase of the core Black Friday event will be from November 25-30, and the third phase of the CYBER MONDAY Deals will only be held on December 1.

Currently, popular warehouses such as LAX2T and DFW2n are experiencing severe overbooking, with reservations requiring a two-week wait. MCI1N and ALT2/ALT3 also require a 10-day wait before reservations can be fulfilled.

TikTok expands its AI-powered content creation tools, launching features such as text-to-video conversion.

Recently, TikTok officially launched three generative AI tools on its app’s content creation platform, supporting still image to animation conversion, text to video generation, and AI transitions. Previously, it also launched “Smart Split,” an AI-powered feature for splitting long videos, and a virtual live streamer. These features first appeared on advertiser Symphony’s platform in June and are now available to all users.

TikTok has already deployed several AI tools, including translation and AI stickers, and Douyin’s script-to-video conversion feature may be released in the future. This move is expected to improve content creation efficiency, but there are concerns that low-quality AI content may negatively impact user experience.

Shopee launches resale service due to return issues.

Shopee Thailand announced that starting November 12, 2025, it will launch a resale service for sellers using Shopee Logistics (SLS) and meeting certain conditions, aiming to reduce sellers’ losses caused by international returns and lower the return threshold.

This service will assist the platform in reselling goods for a certain number of days if delivery fails and certain conditions are met. The service includes unpacking and inspection, restocking and warehousing, etc., and there are currently no service fees.

Shopee Philippines has updated its live streaming guidelines, and a penalty scoring system will be implemented for violations.

Shopee Philippines has issued a notice stating that the platform is updating its live streaming guidelines, requiring all streamers to comply with content standards. Violations will be dealt with according to the penalty scoring system, and accumulated points may result in temporary or permanent bans from using Shopee Live privileges.

Sellers must ensure that their account has at least one valid product and that the account is in good standing in order to obtain live streaming permission. Affiliate users need to verify their ShopeePay account information. For PC live streaming, sellers must also meet the conditions of having at least 10,000 followers and active permissions on mobile devices.

Etsy launches US-only pricing feature to help non-US sellers flexibly manage tariffs.

Etsy recently announced the launch of a US-only pricing feature, allowing non-US sellers to set independent prices for their products to US buyers, addressing pricing challenges arising from tariff changes. Sellers can set prices separately for their home country, the US, and other regions through the platform, and can calculate tariff costs in advance by using the DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) service.

This feature is only supported in Etsy.com settings and is not currently compatible with third-party applications. If not set, global pricing will be displayed by default, helping sellers stabilize profits and improve cross-border sales efficiency.

Wildberries announces a six-month freeze on seller commission rates.

Russian e-commerce platform Wildberries announced a six-month freeze on commission rates across all sales models to provide sellers with stable and predictable operating conditions in the current market environment. The platform stated on its official Telegram channel that this move is intended to address sellers’ need for operational certainty. Commission rates will remain within the existing range of 3% to 25% depending on the product category, while sellers will still need to pay additional logistics, warehousing, and order processing fees.

Deutsche Post faces a multi-million euro fine due to a surge in complaints about delivery issues.

The German Federal Network Agency recently issued its first warning to Deutsche Post, potentially fining it up to €10 million due to numerous complaints about the quality of its delivery services.

Data shows that as of August, the number of complaints had reached 38,760, an increase of one-third compared to the same period last year, with July alone exceeding 9,000 complaints. Deutsche Post attributed the problem to a shortage of staff, after announcing in March that it would lay off 8,000 employees.

A raid in the Philippines seized counterfeit goods worth 344 million pesos.

The Philippine National Bureau of Investigation’s Intellectual Property Division recently conducted a series of raids in Pasay City, Manila City, and Pasig City, successfully seizing counterfeit luxury goods and pirated software worth approximately 344 million pesos. Enforcement officers seized a large quantity of counterfeit Louis Vuitton products from multiple shopping mall stalls in the Baclaran area of ​​Pasay City, and confiscated computer equipment containing pirated engineering software in Pasig City.

The impact of Trump’s tariffs on US inflation will become apparent during the holiday season.

The tariffs implemented by Trump since April have not yet had a significant impact on US inflation, but are expected to be reflected in consumer prices during the holiday shopping season.

This year, the US CPI has hovered between 2.5% and 3%. Economists believe that tariffs will not cause inflation to surge, but they will prevent it from falling during periods when it should. Bank of America economists have explicitly stated that tariffs have already pushed up consumer prices, and their impact cannot be ignored.