How do you ship purchases from overseas second-hand auction sites to Taiwan? Official shipping policies, the Shenzhen warehouse route and the tax on used goods, all in one place

Duty rates and import regulations for common used items (every tariff line checked in our own tariff database)

Used goods are taxed exactly like new ones: customs duty runs from 0% to 10% depending on the tariff line, plus 5% business tax. The only difference is that the customs value is calculated from the second-hand price you actually paid.

The "import regulation" column shows the codes retrieved from our tariff database on the day of checking: C02 = some goods under this tariff line are commodities subject to compulsory import inspection by the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection; 602 = controlled telecommunications radio-frequency devices, requiring NCC import approval or a certificate of conformity; MP1 = goods of mainland China origin permitted for import subject to conditions. Column II preferential rates apply only where the rules of origin and certificate of origin conditions are met (the Column II list for interchangeable lenses and for watches under 9102.11, for example, includes CN). Classification is determined by Customs on the basis of the actual goods; click a tariff code to see the full record.

Official shipping policies of overseas platforms: Mercari, eBay, Yahoo! Auctions

The three platforms give three different answers: Mercari has an official route to Taiwan, eBay covers Taiwan through its own international shipping programme, and on Yahoo! Auctions it depends entirely on the seller — and none of these three routes passes through a consolidation warehouse.

• Mercari (Japan): official press releases state that it entered the Taiwan cross-border market in August 2024, launched Kokusai Mercari-bin (Mercari's international delivery service) with Sagawa Express on 7 March 2025 (Taiwan only at launch), and on 30 September 2025 released the Mercari Global App in Taiwan and Hong Kong, letting users browse and buy items from the Japanese site and from Mercari Shops, with "everything from inspection to delivery supported by Mercari". The official help centre states that recipients in Taiwan must complete EZ WAY real-name verification, that the customs broker gives notice by SMS or email, and that import duty is borne by the buyer and may be collected on delivery; food, drinks, batteries, power tools, medical supplies and oversized items cannot be sent. According to Mercari's annual securities report, GMV for FY2025 (ended 30 June 2025) was 1.1209 trillion yen, monthly active users exceeded 23 million, and cross-border GMV exceeded 90 billion yen.
• eBay (United States): eBay International Shipping is officially described as helping sellers "reach buyers around the world without having to handle international shipping, customs clearance or returns", and it is currently open only to eligible sellers in the United States and Canada. On the buyer side, the official wording is "you can choose to pay duties, import charges and taxes at checkout or when the item arrives", and it states expressly that "it is the buyer's responsibility to confirm and pay any applicable customs duties and import charges"; the import charges shown on a listing page are only confirmed at checkout. It is the older Global Shipping Program that always prepays, and both sets of rules still sit side by side on the official pages, so do not confuse them. According to eBay's official press release of February 2026, GMV for full-year 2025 was US$79.6 billion and active buyers numbered 134 million.
• Yahoo! Auctions (Japan): no official overseas delivery option and no official service for buyers outside Japan could be found. An official notice states expressly that "sending an item abroad by international courier is also an export", and under Japan's Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act some categories require prior permission from the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry. Whether an item can be sent overseas is decided by each individual seller.
• Mercari US: official delivery is limited to the 50 US states and the District of Columbia, and individual sellers cannot ship internationally. The "Internationally Shipped Items" section on the site is BEENOS selling Japanese goods into the United States, the reverse direction — not shipping from the United States to other countries.

For scale: the "FY Reiwa 6 (2024) Reuse Market Size Survey" by Japan's Ministry of the Environment estimates Japan's second-hand market excluding cars and motorcycles at about 1,281.3 billion yen in 2024, of which online auctions accounted for 24.4% and flea-market apps for 13.8%. Japan really is one of the most mature second-hand auction markets in the world, but what brings the goods to Taiwan is the platform's official route or the seller, not a consolidation warehouse. HowBridge has no warehouse in Japan or the United States, and does not bid or buy on your behalf.

Chinese second-hand platforms: Xianyu, Zhuanzhuan, Paipai, 95fen and judicial auctions

No official overseas direct-shipping option could be found on any Chinese second-hand platform, and sellers ship only to addresses inside mainland China — which makes "have the seller send it to the Shenzhen warehouse, then consolidate it to Taiwan" the only route that actually works for these platforms.

• Xianyu (goofish.com / Xianyu App): Alibaba's marketplace for personal second-hand items, described on the App Store as "a personal trading platform guaranteed by Alipay"; its terms of service require real-name verification as demanded by the platform and by Alipay, and whether a Taiwanese mobile number can be used to register is not stated anywhere in the official documents. No "overseas direct mail" option could be found, and the official international version, Goofish, is currently live only in Hong Kong. Xianyu offers a third-party inspection service, with the actual fees and the categories covered governed by the platform's announcements at the time. For how to write the Shenzhen warehouse address for Xianyu and the practical details, see our guide "Xianyu consolidated shipping: the complete walkthrough".
• Zhuanzhuan (zhuanzhuan.com): its device-checking service is called "official inspection", and the App Store description promises "every item individually inspected, professional quality control" and "3 major quality-control centres and a team of more than 2,000 human inspectors", with 7-day no-questions-asked returns after purchase. According to official announcements relayed by the media, the person-to-person "Free Market (C2C section)" was closed from September 2025, and the platform now runs a C2B2C model built around official inspection. No official statement on overseas shipping could be found.
• Paipai (JD second-hand): the ATRenew website positions it as a "B2C retail platform for quality second-hand goods" that has taken over all second-hand sales for JD.com, advertising a one-year warranty, 7-day no-questions-asked returns and a photo-based inspection report for every device. No official statement on overseas delivery could be found.
• 95fen: the App Store describes it as a "marketplace for authentic pre-owned items" whose selling point is "authentication before you buy", covering sneakers, streetwear, luxury bags, watches and electronics. The developer is listed as Shanghai Zhichao Technology; its relationship with Dewu appears only in media reports and could not be found in official sources. No overseas delivery could be found.
• Alibaba Auction and JD Auction: these are mainly judicial auctions and asset disposals (real estate, vehicles, land, machinery and equipment). JD Auction's published rules use an ascending auction with a reserve price, an automatic 5-minute extension whenever a bid is placed in the final 5 minutes, and registration with a deposit counting as acceptance of the lot in its current condition. Neither platform states officially whether people outside the mainland may take part. Auctioned property, vehicles and land cannot possibly be shipped by a consolidation service, and no official rules for second-hand luxury auctions could be found this time either, so please do not treat "judicial auctions" as a channel for buying second-hand luxury goods from abroad.

Policy background: on 11 December 2024 China's Ministry of Commerce and four other departments issued the "Notice on Organising Pilot Work for the Circulation of Second-hand Goods", focusing on used phones, clothing and furniture, with policy milestones running to 2027, but the document contains no market-size figures. The Xianyu monthly-active-user and GMV figures circulating online all come from third-party research relayed by the media, and the full text of Alibaba's FY2026 financial report does not mention Xianyu, so this page does not cite them.

Customs value and the duty-free threshold for used goods

There is no depreciation table for used goods: under Article 29 of the Customs Act, Customs values your shipment on the price you actually paid (a winning bid is the transaction value) plus international freight and insurance. A customs value of NT$2,000 or less is exempt; above that, the whole amount is taxed.

• Transaction value = the price paid or payable: paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 29 of the Customs Act provide that the customs value shall "be calculated on the basis of the transaction value of the imported goods", and that the transaction value means "the price paid or payable for the goods sold from the exporting country to the Republic of China". The article does not require a fixed-price sale, so on a plain reading a winning bid is the price paid (no interpretive ruling dealing specifically with winning bids could be found). Paragraph 3 further provides that the freight and insurance up to the port of import must be included, which means tax is calculated on the CIF value.
• Customs turns to another method only where it has "reasonable doubt": paragraph 5 of Article 29 provides that where Customs doubts the authenticity of the transaction documents and still has reasonable doubt after the taxpayer's explanation, the goods are treated as impossible to value on the transaction value, and the value is determined instead in the order of Article 31 (identical goods), Article 32 (similar goods), Article 33 (domestic selling price), Article 34 (computed value) and Article 35 (a reasonable method). Used goods have no list price and no official market reference, so they are the most likely to attract a request for explanation: keep the platform order page, the payment record and your chat with the seller.
• Customs may not set a minimum customs value or guess at a price: paragraph 2 of Article 19 of the Enforcement Rules of the Customs Act expressly lists seven methods that may not be used when the value is determined under Article 35, among them "a minimum customs value set by Customs" and "an arbitrary or fictitious value" — this is your legal basis if you dispute a valuation.
• Only used cars have a depreciation table: both the title and the text of the "Guidelines for Valuation of Imported Used Automobiles" are limited to imported used cars. Second-hand bags, second-hand phones and second-hand cameras have no depreciation table, and no valuation rules written specifically for ordinary second-hand goods could be found.
• NT$2,000 is a threshold, not an allowance: paragraph 2 of Article 49 of the Customs Act authorises the Ministry of Finance to announce the duty-free limit, and the announcement in force (Tai-Cai-Guan-Zi No. 1061018778, effective 1 January 2018) exempts goods imported in the same consignment with a customs value of NT$2,000 or less from customs duty, commodity tax and business tax, apart from tobacco, alcohol and agricultural products under tariff quotas; Article 7 of the Regulations Governing Customs Clearance of Import and Export Postal Parcels uses the same threshold. From a customs value of NT$2,001, the whole amount is taxed. Article 11 of the Regulations Governing Customs Clearance of Air Express Consignments divides imports into three tiers: low-value duty-free at 2,000 or less, low-value dutiable from 2,001 to 50,000, and high-value above 50,000.
• The "six times in half a year" rule comes from two different sources: for postal parcels, Article 12 of the Regulations Governing Customs Clearance of Import and Export Postal Parcels provides that once the same recipient has been granted duty-free release more than 6 times within a half-year period (January to June, July to December), the exemption no longer applies. For express consignments and ordinary imported goods the basis is the proviso on "frequent imports" in paragraph 2 of Article 49 of the Customs Act, with the criteria laid down by the Ministry of Finance under the authority of paragraph 3; the air and sea express clearance regulations themselves contain no provision on the number of times.
• EZ WAY real-name verification rests on the authorisation to declare: subparagraph 3, paragraph 1 of Article 17 of the Regulations Governing Customs Clearance of Air Express Consignments allows "case-by-case online authorisation through a real-name verification platform", and where that authorisation has not been completed and the fact is on record, Customs may refuse to accept the declaration. Both Mercari's official route and consolidated shipping from the Shenzhen warehouse to Taiwan require this step.

To work out the duty and landed cost of a second-hand bag or camera straight away, our page "How much tax do you pay on second-hand and vintage items shipped to Taiwan" has an interactive calculator and six worked examples. The rates and thresholds on this page were verified on 2026-09-05; the live figures on the Trade-Customs-Port Single Window prevail.

Import regulations that apply to used goods too: C02, 602, MW0 / MP1

Import regulations look at the tariff line, the intended use and the quantity; the provisions do not distinguish new goods from used ones. Being second-hand does not exempt you from inspection or from a permit, and no special exemption for used goods could be found.

• C02 (commodities subject to compulsory inspection by the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection): the tariff lines for digital cameras, laptops, model kits, games consoles and handbags with textile outer surfaces all carry C02 (some goods under this tariff line are subject to compulsory import inspection). Paragraph 1 of Article 5 of the Regulations Governing Exemption from Commodity Inspection: for goods for personal use and not for sale, where the total value of the same specification and model on one declaration is US$1,000 or less, or exceeds US$1,000 but the quantity is 2 pieces or fewer, the inspection authority may approve an exemption after review; for toys the limits are set separately at US$1,000 or less with 5 pieces or fewer, or more than US$1,000 with only 1 piece; for information equipment they are US$1,000 or less, or more than that with 5 pieces or fewer. Goods of the same specification and model on several declarations made on the same day must be counted together.
• 602 (controlled telecommunications radio-frequency devices, NCC): smartphones, cameras with Wi-Fi or Bluetooth and games consoles fall under this code; in the wording of the International Trade Administration code, an NCC import approval certificate is required, or clearance against a certificate of conformity. Paragraph 3 of Article 9 of the Regulations on the Manufacture, Import and Declaration of Controlled Telecommunications Radio-Frequency Devices: for wireless terminal equipment or low-power radio-frequency devices for personal use, at most 2 units at a time by post or any other means not carried in person, at most 5 units at a time when carried in person, and up to 10 units a year for the same natural person (who must be at least 18 years old), may be imported on a written undertaking without applying for an import approval certificate; 3 units or more by post still require the certificate. Sending goods back by consolidated shipping counts as "not carried in person", so the limit of 2 units applies.
• MW0 / MP1 (goods of mainland China origin): paragraph 1 of Article 7 of the Regulations Governing Permission for Trade Between the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area sets out a principle of prohibition with permitted exceptions, and in practice the test is whether the tariff line carries the code MW0 (import not permitted) or MP1 (permitted subject to conditions); where it carries neither, the goods can simply be declared. The worn clothing, watches, trading cards, model kits, games consoles, phones, laptops, cameras and handbags listed in the table above were each checked against the MW0 list (2,514 entries) and the MP1 list (865 entries) downloaded from the International Trade Administration on 2026-09-05, with no hits; the only exception is books under 4901, which carry MP1 together with the special regulation N02 changed to N01, requiring a letter of consent from the Ministry of Culture or verification on inspection — buying a second-hand book on Xianyu and shipping it to Taiwan therefore means one more hurdle at the Ministry of Culture than buying a second-hand book from Japan or the United States.
• For MW0 items, the small-quantity permit waiver clears only the permit hurdle: under the Ministry of Economic Affairs announcement "Rules Permitting the Import of Small Quantities of Mainland Goods Without an Import Permit", industrial products of mainland China origin that are not permitted for import (Chapters 25 to 97 of the tariff, except those excluded by the announcement) may be imported without a permit where the CIF value is within NT$32,000 and the quantity of a single product is 24 pieces or fewer (or within 40 kg where pieces cannot be counted); a "single product" is identified by model number and may not be split by size or colour. It does not mean exemption from duty, does not mean exemption from inspection, and cannot be used to get around NCC or Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection requirements; Chapters 1 to 24, the agricultural products and foodstuffs, are not covered.
• Worn clothing under 6309: "worn clothing and other worn textile articles" carries a Column I rate of 10%, and both our own database and the raw International Trade Administration file show no additional import regulation and no MW0 / MP1 listing. Whether vintage clothing falls under 6309 or is classified by material under Chapters 61 and 62 is decided by Customs on the objective condition of the goods as they arrive (the notes to Chapter 63 limit the scope of 6309), and does not change because the buyer says the items are for personal use; no classification guidance written specifically for "vintage clothing" could be found.

Where to check for yourself: the International Trade Administration's "Import and Export Regulations Search" for the codes on a tariff line, the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection's "Search for Commodities Subject to Inspection" to see whether inspection is required, and GC411 on the Trade-Customs-Port Single Window for live duty rates. Every tariff page on our site also lists the import regulation codes with their original wording.

Counterfeit goods, parallel imports of genuine goods and platform protection

Article 97 of the Trademark Act requires selling, or importing with intent to sell, but under Article 75 Customs must give notice where it finds goods that appear likely to infringe, and may withhold release; a platform's authentication report is not certification by Customs.

• Who the criminal provisions actually target: Article 97 of the Trademark Act punishes anyone who "sells, or possesses, displays, exports or imports with intent to sell" counterfeit goods (imprisonment of up to one year, detention, or a fine of up to NT$50,000, or both; the same applies where it is done online); paragraph 1 of Article 95 punishes the person who uses the trademark without consent. On the plain wording of the provisions, importing purely for personal use with no intent to sell falls outside the requirements of Article 97, but no official interpretive ruling or penalty guideline on "a small quantity of counterfeit goods for personal use" could be found, so this page does not conclude that personal use is always safe.
• The border procedure is what buyers really run into: Article 75 of the Trademark Act provides that where Customs, in the course of its duties, finds imported goods that appear likely to infringe a trademark, it must notify the trademark owner and the importer or exporter, setting a deadline for the owner to submit evidence of infringement and for the importer or exporter to submit proof of non-infringement; where the owner has provided evidence and the importer or exporter has not, Customs may withhold release of the goods. Article 72 further allows the trademark owner to apply for detention by lodging a bond equal to the customs value, and the person whose goods are detained may request revocation by lodging a bond of twice that amount. Since the 2021 amendment to the Regulations Governing Customs Measures for the Protection of Trademark Rights, trademark owners can determine online, on the Customs platform, whether goods infringe.
• Where counterfeits mainly come from, and in which categories: the OECD / EUIPO report "Mapping Global Trade in Fakes 2025" finds that 83% of the counterfeit footwear seized in 2020 and 2021 came from China, Türkiye and Hong Kong, that footwear accounted for 21.4% of global seizures by number of cases and clothing for 21.6%, and that watches came first at 23% of seizure value — second-hand luxury bags, watches and sneakers are exactly the categories Customs and trademark owners flag for protection.
• The copyright exception for parallel imports of genuine goods: subparagraph 4, paragraph 1 of Article 87 of the Copyright Act treats "importing the original of a work, or a lawful reproduction of it made abroad, without the consent of the economic rights holder" as an infringement of copyright, but subparagraph 3, paragraph 1 of Article 87-1 provides that this does not apply to "importing the original of a work, or a certain quantity of reproductions, for the importer's personal use and not for distribution, or as part of the baggage of a person entering the country", with the quantity announced by the competent authority. Second-hand books, vinyl records and game discs imported in small quantities for personal use are handled on this basis; resale falls outside the exception.
• Platform protection is your first remedy: under the official terms of the eBay Money Back Guarantee, a claim must be filed within 30 calendar days of the estimated or actual delivery date, and any transaction where "any part of the payment was made outside eBay" is excluded altogether; Xianyu does not publish the full text of its trading protection and refund deadlines on its website, so the in-app rules as announced at the time govern; Zhuanzhuan and Paipai state 7-day no-questions-asked returns in their official descriptions. Filming the unboxing the moment the parcel arrives is the common prerequisite for a claim on every platform.

Platform authentication (Xianyu inspection, Zhuanzhuan official inspection, 95fen authentication) is a trading-protection mechanism, and is not the same as a determination by Taiwan Customs or by the trademark owner. For the border detention procedure and case examples involving high-value luxury bags and watches, see our page "Will you be fined if a counterfeit luxury item bought online is shipped to Taiwan?".

What can go through the Shenzhen warehouse and what cannot

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