Can Amazon ship a removal order straight to China?

Plan on a domestic address. A removal order ships to an address you name, and in practice that address has to be in the country where the stock sits. You need a receiving warehouse there. We provide one, inspect the units, and send on the ones worth shipping.

My goods left China more than six months ago. What now?

The cross-border e-commerce exemption no longer applies. China’s Tariff Law still waives import duty on exported goods that return in original state within one year for reasons of quality or specification. Past that, the goods can enter a bonded zone for repair and re-export without being imported, or they can be imported and taxed as ordinary cargo.

Does the exemption cover goods a customer used?

Returned goods should be unused. The announcement makes two exceptions: goods with a fault that only shows in use, and goods you can prove a customer tried and then returned. Unpacking, inspection, installation and testing do not count as use.

No. The announcement excludes food.

How to Return Amazon FBA Inventory to China

Amazon gives you three choices

A unit comes back to an Amazon fulfillment center and Amazon grades it unsellable. You can pay a disposal fee and Amazon destroys it. You can hand it to Amazon’s liquidation program for a small share of its value. Or you can create a removal order and take the stock back.

Removal is the only choice that keeps the product in your hands. It is also the only one that needs logistics outside Amazon, which is why many sellers never use it.

Step 1: Get the stock out of Amazon

Create a removal order in Seller Central and enter a delivery address. In practice the address has to be in the same country as the fulfillment center, so you need a warehouse there to receive the cartons.

Removal shipments arrive in mixed cartons over days or weeks. The receiving warehouse counts each carton against the removal order and reports what arrived.

Step 2: Sort before you ship

Freight to China costs money per kilogram. Sort the units first:

Resell where they are. Units that need a new box or label can go back on sale in the same market.
Send home. Units that need a factory repair, or stock you want back in China.
Scrap. Units not worth either.

Only the second group travels.

Step 3: Find your export record

China’s tax treatment of a returning product depends on how it left. Ask your freight forwarder or customs broker for the export declaration of the original shipment and look at the customs supervision code:

9610, 9710, 9810 or 1210 are the cross-border e-commerce codes. Code 9810 is the one for exports to overseas warehouses, FBA included.
0110 is general trade.

Keep the declaration. Customs will ask for it when the goods come back.

Step 4: Check which rule covers you

Two rules give relief on goods that return to China.

Tax relief for exported goods returning to China
	Cross-border e-commerce exports	Other exports
Legal basis	Announcement 2026 No. 16 of the Ministry of Finance, customs and tax authorities	Tariff Law, Article 39
Export code	9610, 9710, 9810 or 1210	Any
Time limit	Six months from the export date	One year from the export date
Reason	The goods did not sell, or the buyer returned them	Quality, specification or force majeure
Relief	No import duty, import VAT or consumption tax. Export duty paid is refunded.	No import duty
Excluded	Food	None stated
In force	Exports from January 1, 2026 to December 31, 2027	Since December 1, 2024

For goods exported under code 1210, the six months run from the day the goods left the bonded zone or bonded logistics center.

Both rules require the goods to come back in original state.

What “original state” means

The 2026 announcement defines it. The product must be in the same basic form as when it left China. Nobody has added parts, processed it or modified it.

Customs still treats goods as being in original state after someone has unpacked, inspected, installed or tested them. The goods should be unused, with two exceptions: a fault that only shows in use, and a product you can prove a customer tried and sent back.

Step 5: Prepare the documents

For the cross-border e-commerce exemption, customs asks for:

The export declaration list or export customs declaration for the original shipment.
A statement of the reason for the return.
For buyer returns: return records, which can be the return or refusal records from the marketplace, or a return agreement.
For unsold stock: your own signed declaration that the goods did not sell.

You are responsible in law for the truth of what you submit.

If you claimed an export tax rebate, repay it first. Your tax office issues a certificate showing the rebate was repaid or never claimed, and customs uses that certificate to grant the exemption. On low-value stock, the repayment can cost more than the goods are worth to you. Run the numbers before you book freight.

Step 6: Ship, clear and deliver

Consolidated returns travel to Shenzhen or Hong Kong by air or sea. A customs broker in China files the entry as returned exports and attaches the documents from step 5. After release, the goods go to your factory.

There is a second destination. Returns can enter a comprehensive bonded zone, be repaired there, and leave China again without being imported. China manages bonded repair by a list of 276 product categories, and measures issued in 2026 allow China-made exports to return for repair outside that list.

What drives the cost

Four things: handling at the overseas warehouse, the freight leg, the customs entry in China, and any export rebate you repay. Freight is the largest for bulky goods. Weigh the total against the factory cost of a new unit.

Checklist

Removal order created, with a domestic delivery address.
Units sorted into resell, send home and scrap.
Export declaration found, and the customs code checked.
Export date checked against the six-month and one-year limits.
Return records or unsold-stock declaration ready.
Export rebate status confirmed with your tax office.

How to return Amazon FBA inventory to China