I.customs clearanceWhy does a large - scale price - reduction trend occur in the agency industry?

Enter in 2025Export agentBehind the general decline in costs, there are four key driving forces:

• Cross-border e-commerceSurge in scale: Data from the General Administration of Customs shows that in the first half of 2025, the import and export scale of cross - border e - commerce exceeded 3.2 trillion yuan, with a year - on - year increase of 28%. The scale effect brought by the sharp increase in the number of customs declarations has reduced the per - ticket operation cost by 12 - 15%
• Popularization of intelligent customs declaration systems: The AI customs declaration systems deployed by leading enterprises achieve:
  • The OCR recognition accuracy of documents reaches 99.3%
  • The intelligent matching efficiency of HS codes is increased by 5 times
  • The customs declaration error rate is reduced from 2.7% to 0.4%
• The RCEPDeepened implementation: The regional cumulative tariff reduction policy covers 92% of the goods, and the electronicization of certificates of origin shortens the document processing time by 60%
• New competitors entering the market: In 2025, the number of newly registered customs declaration enterprises increased by 47% year - on - year. Some new players adopt aggressive price strategies to seize market share

II. Does the low - price customs declaration service have hidden risks?

When enjoying the cost dividend, three types of potential risks need to be guarded against:

• Compliance loophole risk: A certain third - party audit report shows that among service providers whose quotations are 30% lower than the industry average:
  • 38% have non - standard classification declarations
  • 25% lack complete trade document archives
• Delayed service response: Low - price packages generally have:
  • An additional surcharge of 80 - 120% will be charged for urgent customs declaration.
  • Holiday services need to be reserved 72 hours in advance.
• Insufficient investment in technology.For enterprises that have not deployed the blockchain traceability system, when encountering customs inspection:
  • The time for document retrieval is extended by 2 - 3 days.
  • The cost of dispute handling increases by 45%.

III. How to identify truly high - quality customs declaration service providers?

It is recommended to establish an evaluation system from three dimensions:

• Technical capability certification:
  • Whether to access the Single Window 3.0 system of the General Administration of Customs
  • Whether to have the AEO advanced certification qualification
  • Which customs clearance links are covered by blockchain applications
• Risk prevention and control system:
  • The provision ratio of reserve funds for classification disputes
  • The completeness of the inspection emergency response SOP
  • The frequency of annual compliance audits
• Service Transparency:
  • Whether the expense details include:
    • Service of advancing demurrage fees
    • Classification dispute handling fees
    • Annual technical maintenance fees
  • Whether to provide real - time customs clearance status tracking

IV. How can enterprises seize the price - reduction opportunity to optimize costs?

It is recommended to adopt a three - step strategy:

• Establish a dynamic price comparison mechanismUse the customs clearance time limit ranking announced by the General Administration of Customs in 2025 to screen service providers whose quotations are 15% lower than the industry average price and rank in the top 30%.
• Strive for digital dividendsRequire service providers to open API interfaces and directly connect customs declaration data with the enterprises ERP system, which is expected to reduce the reconciliation cost by 28%.
• Lock in long - term preferential treatmentFor enterprises with an annual customs declaration volume of over 500 votes, they can negotiate to obtain:
  • A 3 - year price protection clause
  • Free express service quota
  • Exclusive compliance consulting services

(Note: All data cited in this article are from the semi - annual report of the General Administration of Customs in 2025, the industry white paper of the China Customs Brokers Association, and the public reports of third - party audit institutions.)