Cross-border cheap goods are being tightened. Who will fill the void?

For the past few years, one of the toughest challenges for Vietnamese sellers has been competing with products priced so low that they are almost impossible to match.

A shirt costing a few tens of thousands of dong, accessories less than a hundred thousand, shipped from an overseas warehouse yet appearing right before customers on the same screen as products from domestic businesses.

Lowering prices means thinner profit margins. Not lowering them means losing sales.

But this game is starting to change.

Cross-border low-priced goods are no longer as easy to move as before

In Vietnam, policies regarding low-value imported goods via e-commerce are being scrutinized more closely.

In the draft customs management regulations for imported and exported goods via e-commerce, the Ministry of Finance proposes reducing the import duty exemption threshold from 2 million dong to 1 million dong per order, and simultaneously reducing the total annual exemption limit from 96 million to 48 million dong/person/year. baochinhphu.vn

View the Ministry of Finance's proposal on the Government's Electronic Information Portal

Notably, the Ministry of Industry and Trade subsequently proposed not to exempt import duties for small-value e-commerce orders from 1 million dong or less. According to the agency, many markets in the region are also tightening control over low-value goods to limit cheap, poor-quality products and reduce disadvantages for domestic production. vnexpress.net

View policy analysis on VnExpress

This does not mean that cross-border cheap goods will disappear.

But a part of the advantage that once helped this model compete strongly on price is gradually shrinking.

And Vietnam is not the only market moving in that direction.

In the US, following changes to the de minimis duty exemption mechanism, which is the policy of exempting duties for low-value imported shipments, the number of daily Temu users in the US in May 2025 decreased by 48% compared to March, according to Sensor Tower data cited by Reuters.

This is a valuable example for Vietnamese sellers to observe.

When tax advantages change, models that rely heavily on low prices must also adapt.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese buyers are also changing

Another movement perhaps even more important than tax policy: consumers are starting to pay more attention to who they are buying from.

Market research cited by VnExpress shows that Vietnamese e-commerce is shifting from competing primarily on price to competing on operational capabilities, experience, and reliability.

Half of the surveyed individuals shop online at least once a week. More notably, the proportion of genuine products increased from about 12% in 2020 to about 30% in 2025, and 90% of surveyed users prioritize official stores, and are willing to pay more for quality and reliability. vnexpress.net

View the article "E-commerce shifts competitive approach" on VnExpress

Platforms are also cleaning up their systems more vigorously.

In 2025 alone, over 13,700 violating stores were removed from online retail platforms due to issues related to counterfeit goods, banned goods, goods of unclear origin, or violations of consumer protection regulations, according to the Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy. vnexpress.net

View the data on 13,700 removed stores on VnExpress

Putting these three movements together reveals a clear picture:

Low-value imported goods are being more tightly managed. Buyers are more interested in genuine products. Platforms are also more aggressive with untransparent stores.

This is a better opportunity for legitimate domestic sellers.

But opportunity does not mean orders will automatically come.

Cheap goods leaving doesn't mean customers will buy from you

If a cheap product is no longer as attractive as before, customers will look for other options.

But among hundreds of shops selling similar products, they still have to decide who to buy from.

And in the online environment, trust is often built very quickly.

Origin must be clear.

Customers need to know where the product comes from, who is responsible for it, and what information proves what the shop is saying.

After a long time dealing with unverified goods, an ambiguous product page will hardly build trust.

Information must be consistent everywhere.

A price on the product page, a different one from the staff, and return policies located elsewhere are enough to make customers hesitate.

Price, stock, delivery, returns, and product information should be consistent from the store to the website and other consultation channels.

Customer care must continue after the sale.

Quick responses, clear returns, polite complaint handling, and managing reviews are not glamorous tasks.

But these very things determine whether customers buy once or return a second time.

These three tasks do not necessarily require a large budget.

The challenge lies in someone sitting down, looking at the entire customer journey, and fixing every imperfect point.

Market gaps do not last forever

If regulatory trends continue towards greater transparency, goods of unclear origin will increasingly struggle to compete solely on price.

In fact, the seller filtering process has already begun. According to YouNet ECI, the number of sellers with revenue on four platforms in 2025 decreased by 5.6%, to about 672,000 shops, while the average revenue per active seller increased by 33%. vnexpress.net

View the analysis "2025 - the year of seller purification" on VnExpress

Therefore, the market gap will not be evenly distributed among all Vietnamese sellers.

It will lean towards shops that make customers feel: buying here is clearer, more reassuring, and less risky.

And once customers find a few reliable addresses, attracting them to a new shop will be much harder and more expensive.

Therefore, this is the time for businesses to re-evaluate their stores before thinking about increasing advertising budgets.

Hallovis built the 72-Hour Quick Review package precisely for this problem.

The Hallovis team reviews stores, product information, policies, purchasing experience, consistency across channels, and points that might cause customers to lose trust. For relevant industries, we also consider policy and tax changes that might affect selling methods.

Only then do we determine which tasks need to be addressed first.

Not about redoing everything.

But about finding the exact points that are causing businesses to lose customers or competitive advantage and fixing them first.

Cross-border cheap goods may not disappear yet. But the advantage that once made it difficult for many domestic sellers to compete is gradually changing.

The crucial question now is:

When customers start looking for a more trustworthy place to buy, will they find you?

Contact Hallovis for a 72-hour store review.

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References: Draft by the Ministry of Finance on customs management for imported and exported goods via e-commerce and proposed import duty exemption threshold of 1 million dong/order, limit of 48 million dong/person/year (Government Electronic Information Portal, VnEconomy); proposal by the Ministry of Industry and Trade on low-value imported goods (VnExpress); impact of the US ending the de minimis mechanism on Temu (Reuters/Sensor Tower); consumer trend prioritizing genuine products and e-commerce shifting from price competition to operational capability (VnExpress); over 13,700 violating stores removed in 2025 according to the Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy (VnExpress).

Detailed sources: 

The Ministry of Industry and Trade subsequently proposed not to exempt import duties for small-value e-commerce orders.
Source: VnExpress

In the US, after the de minimis policy was tightened, the number of daily Temu users in the US in May 2025 sharply decreased compared to March. Source: Reuters via Investing.com

The Vietnamese market is also shifting from competing primarily on price to competing on operational capability, experience, and reliability.
Source: VnExpress - E-commerce shifts competitive approach

In 2025 alone, over 13,700 violating stores were removed from online retail platforms.
Source: VnExpress - Over 13,700 violating stores removed

'According to YouNet ECI, the number of sellers with revenue on four platforms in 2025 decreased by 5.6%, while the average revenue per active seller increased by 33%.
Source: VnExpress - 2025, the year of seller purification