Amid the tariff shock, a seller who has been doing business overseas for 10 years starts to think about a new way out.

On May 12th, when Zhuang Ming saw the message about TEMU buyers in the group, she didn't rush to participate in the discussion. The message was simple: "The new Y2 model has been launched. Do you want to give it a try?" However, for this veteran cross - border e - commerce seller with ten years of experience, this was not an easy decision.

What sellers call Y2 is a new model recently launched by TEMU. It allows sellers to directly ship goods from China to the United States in a nearly fully - managed operation mode. Meanwhile, the shipping time limit has been extended from the previous 2 working days to 9 working days, and the overall logistics time limit has been extended to 14 working days. Among sellers, Y2 is regarded as an "adaptation plan" for fully - managed merchants who can't accept the semi - managed mode for the time being.

Under the repeated fluctuations of tariffs, each platform explores merchants' self - operation

Since 2015, Zhuang Ming has embarked on her cross - border e - commerce journey. Compared with other novice sellers in the group, Zhuang Ming, who has been in the overseas market for more than a decade, is an old hand in cross - border business.

Over the years, Zhuang Ming has witnessed almost every major event in the cross - border e - commerce circle: the VAT storm, the account - blocking wave, the Russia - Ukraine conflict... Currently, Zhuang Ming operates on multiple platforms such as Amazon, AliExpress, and TEMU. Her business in the United States accounts for about 20% of her total business volume. In Zhuang Ming's words, the Sino - US tariff game has an impact, but it is acceptable.

Since the United States terminated the tax - exemption policy for small postal parcels worth up to $800 in May 2025, TEMU and SHEIN, which rely on the "direct small - parcel shipping" model, have been the first to be affected. Data from Bloomberg Second Measure shows that from April 25th to May 1st, SHEIN's sales in the United States decreased by 23% month - on - month, and TEMU's sales decreased by 17% during the same period. TEMU has gone through the process of canceling and then about to resume the fully - managed mode in the US market. TEMU stopped the fully - managed mode in the US market at the end of April. On May 3rd, TEMU announced externally that it would stop directly selling goods imported from China to US customers.

Although after May 12th, some sellers posted screenshots of TEMU buyers claiming that the fully - managed mode in the US market would resume in May and calling on sellers to replenish the warehouse, some sellers said that even if it is relaunched, the fully - managed mode can't return to what it was before the tariff war.

In the past, the fully - managed mode was a key strategy for the rapid expansion of cross - border e - commerce platforms. Merchants only needed to supply goods and send them to the domestic platform warehouse. The subsequent logistics, shipping and other links were handled uniformly by the platform. This mode enabled many factories and sellers without foreign trade experience to quickly enter the overseas market. And since 2023, it has been gradually promoted by the "Four Rising Stars in Going Global".

Especially with the support of the T86 policy, the advantage of combined orders in TEMU's fully - managed mode was brought into full play. Coupled with the extreme compression of the supply - side price, the fully - managed goods had a very high cost - performance ratio, that is, the price advantage was very obvious compared with platforms such as Amazon. After losing the T86 policy, the current fully - managed mode is no longer the "king of the version" in the current cross - border circle.

In March this year, TEMU required sellers to migrate all the best - selling fully - managed products to the semi - managed mode before April, and increased support and traffic tilt for semi - managed stores. However, many fully - managed merchants still said that they were not suitable for the semi - managed mode.

Facing the tariff impact, TEMU and SHEIN have respectively launched the Y2 mode and the US POP mode, trying to shift from "fully - managed" to "merchants' self - operation (POP mode)" to stabilize the market. Among them, the Y2 mode launched by TEMU is an "intermediate" option for these fully - managed merchants to move towards the semi - managed mode.

In addition to the semi - managed mode with overseas warehouses, on April 27th, TEMU derived the Y2 mode that supports "direct shipping from China", which is part of the semi - managed mode. Sellers' goods can still be directly mailed from China to the United States, provided that they find their own logistics companies. On the sales page, such goods will still show "local warehouse" and "no import fees", but there will be an additional line saying "Pre - sale delivery: 11 to 14 working days".

Facing the repeated tariffs and continuous adjustments of the platforms, sellers on various platforms can only actively seek their own ways out.

In Zhuang Ming's opinion, the invitation to TEMU's POP mode - Y2 needs to be observed first. "Currently, we don't know the platform's main direction in the future. There are new changes every day." Moreover, she believes that under the time - limit requirements of Y2 (9 days to ship to the overseas warehouse + 5 days for the last - mile delivery), the logistics and customs - clearance risks are completely borne by the sellers. If the freight forwarder is unreliable, there may be many fines. "Moreover, consumers think the goods are shipped from the overseas warehouse, but the waiting time is extended from 5 days to 14 days or even longer. The refund rate may be very high."

In contrast, the US POP mode launched by SHEIN at the end of April is more "user - friendly". SHEIN launched the US POP (merchants' self - operation) mode, which also supports sellers to ship from China. However, the logistics of SHEIN POP is still completed by the service providers designated by SHEIN throughout the whole process. Sellers don't need to find their own logistics, and the inventory also adopts the fully - managed inventory. The SHEIN POP mode claims that sellers can set prices independently, but they need to pass the platform's recommended - price assessment.

Centering on the pricing power, merchants look for the "full - strength POP"

Why did each platform actively start to explore the POP mode in 2025?

In fact, the POP mode (Platform Operated Platform, that is, the merchants' self - operation mode) is not something new. It has existed since the early days of cross - border e - commerce. Initially, it was designed to meet the needs of sellers who wanted to retain more control and flexibility. As time passed, the POP mode was once considered a mature and stable choice. It allowed sellers to set prices completely independently and flexibly adjust inventory and promotion strategies according to market demand.

However, due to the difficulty in adapting to the "low - price competition" strategy in the industry in recent years, the influence of the POP mode has declined in the past two years. It has given way more to the fully - managed mode, which is more suitable for the strategy of capturing the market with low prices. Currently, among the "Four Rising Stars in Going Global", only AliExpress has relied on the POP mode for development since its establishment in 2010. And it has managed to maintain a relatively high proportion of POP - mode merchants in the industry trend dominated by the "fully - managed" mode. AliExpress POP merchants also have complete independent pricing power.

The environment in 2025 has brought a turning point for the POP mode. The frequent changes in tariff policies have exposed the shortcomings of the fully - managed mode. The fully - managed mode highly depends on the support and policy stability of the platform. Once encountering unforeseen changes, such as tariff increases or logistics disruptions, the goods will lose their price advantage, and sellers will be in a passive position.

The POP mode gives sellers more autonomy, enabling them to better cope with challenges in the complex market environment. Zhuang Ming said that after doing business on AliExpress for so many years, its POP mode retains the platform's logistics options, reducing the sellers' logistics costs and risks. It doesn't push all merchants onto the path of shipping through 3PL (merchants contact third - party logistics and freight forwarders by themselves). In addition, compared with the current situation on various platforms where "refund only" is common, AliExpress has also reduced the financial pressure on merchants in terms of the after - sales responsibility division for the US market this year.

In the evening, in the TEMU sellers' group where Zhuang Ming is, more merchants began to hotly discuss the information about the relaunch of the fully - managed mode in the US market. Although there is no T86 tax exemption, everyone knows that the fully - managed mode can't return to what it was before. However, some optimistic merchants still said that it would still be cheaper than Amazon. But this topic was soon interrupted: Then how can we make money?

However, more veteran cross - border merchants like Zhuang Ming are already thinking about what the future will be after the fully - managed mode. In Zhuang Ming's opinion, although each platform has recently launched a mode similar to "POP", and even SHEIN and TEMU, which rely on the fully - managed mode, have strengthened their POP modes this year. This shows that it has become a brand - new track.

Finally, Zhuang Ming plans to focus on the familiar Amazon and AliExpress first and try platforms with pricing power first. At the end of the interview, she gave the reason: "After all, merchants have already taken on so much in the POP mode. They hope to have pricing power."

This article is from the WeChat official account "Post - wave Small Class", author: Post - wave Small Class.