What are overseas visitors buying most in Shanghai?

Overseas visitors are most often buying clothing, footwear, bags, accessories, and souvenirs.

In the first eight months of this year, Shanghai customs verified 96,600 tax refund applications from overseas visitors, covering goods worth 2.07 billion yuan ($290.96 million). This represents a year-on-year increase of 168 percent in applications and 83 percent in total value. Both figures have already surpassed the totals for the entire previous year. On average, each refund application, which may include multiple items, covered purchases worth 21,428 yuan.

Terminals at Pudong Airport, including T1, T2, and S1, have dedicated tax refund service counters equipped with multiple bilingual self-service verification machines. To further streamline the process, Shanghai customs has introduced new measures for instant verification.

- Packaging and coding: Participating tax refund stores can pre-pack goods and attach QR codes to the tax refund forms, allowing customs to verify applications quickly.

- Self-service verification: Overseas visitors can use self-service machines to submit documents. By combining remote verification with on-site inspection, a single application can now be processed in as little as 10 seconds.