How is the new policy expected to affect people's buying habits? And what repercussions will it have for online retailers?

According to the new tax rules, prices of some imported goods on trans border e-commerce platforms will see a rise.

For example, the price of this can of baby formula will be 12% higher, meanwhile some other expensive products will see lower prices. Like this electric cooker, it’ll cost you 10% less.

In addition, cosmetics and some big-ticket items like luxurious watches will also be cheaper. Some customers have already rushed to stock up on the products.

"I bought some baby formula before it’s getting more expensive, my husband and I bought 6 cans and that’s the maximum limit per day," one said.

Online retailers say the new rules will phase out the less competitive ones from the playing field. What they should do is to become stronger.

"We are working harder on the promotion of our platform, to make sure more consumers get to know about us, and this will bring in more orders and businesses," said Fang Jiasong, COO, Funsens Overseas Products, Purchase & Experience Center.

"We’ll do some research on the selection of our products, as well as improve our services to attract customers," said Luo Mingzheng, 8Wanzu Online Retailer.

Experts believe the policy is good news to the trans-border e-commerce sector. Potential investors used to hesitate in pumping money into the industry, fearing for losing the preferential policies they currently enjoy. But now the market has been normalized.

"Chinese government need to restructure the whole sector and make it sure to the public that the sector is under normal regulation, just as same as shopping centers and supermarkets. This is a very clear signal," said Lin Jiang, head, Dep't of Public Finance & Taxation, Sun Yat-Sen University.