While some users have criticized the EZ Way mobile app’s design and functionality, others describe a largely hassle-free experience in using the software. 

When it was introduced by Taiwan’s Customs Administration in 2018, before broader mandatory adoption, the stated purpose of the EZ WAY mobile app was to make real-name authentication for shipment clearance easier. It was also designed to facilitate power of attorney (POA) for customs brokers through a simple, one-click affidavit.

Many foreign residents in Taiwan say they had little trouble receiving packages before the app’s rollout. Since then, it has drawn steady criticism for its bargain-basement design and counterintuitive features.

“Unfortunately, I have to use it a lot, and I find it terrible,” says Carrie Kellenberger, a long-time resident of Taiwan and former chairwoman of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan. One of her main complaints is that registered users are automatically logged out after inactivity — a behavior not explained in any of the Customs Administration’s public documentation, whether on security or personal data protection.

“The app binds to your phone, so there is no need to keep kicking registered users out,” she says. “I guess it’s better than dealing with customs agents, but it’s still super annoying to have to constantly log in and update with the same docs over and over again.”

ID confusion

In October, Kellenberger spoke to Taiwan Business TOPICS about problems with uniform identification numbers (UINs) on Alien Resident Certificates (ARCs) — introduced in 2021 to align foreign residents’ ID numbers with those of Taiwanese citizens — which already cause steady, day-to-day frustrations for many foreign residents here. Unfortunately, several additional ID-related complaints have been tied to the EZ Way app, particularly with UINs.

EZ Way users who have needed to update the app with their new UIN have run into the headache of finding that the ID number is “not editable.” The app’s developers have instructed these users to log out of their account and register for a new one, though online discussions have suggested that the old account must first be deleted entirely. If a shipment was sent using the old number, developers advise users to contact a customs broker to obtain paper-based authorization.

Another ID-related issue is that some online retail platforms require shoppers to enter a Chinese name. The assumption is that EZ Way clearance requires one. But no public guidelines from customs or EZ Way confirm that requirement.

“Some sites, such as Shopee and logistics companies — SF Express springs to mind — think Chinese names are mandatory for EZ Way, but they’re not,” says Alan, a British national who has lived in Taiwan for nine years and does not have a Chinese name. Having contacted Shopee, which is Taiwan’s biggest online retailer, to find a workaround, he was told that foreigners who encounter this problem would need to contact the company in each instance, provide proof of their ARC and verification of the order on EZ Way, and then wait 20 to 30 working days for the system to be manually updated.

He notes, however, that the real problem lay with the platforms themselves, not with the customs app. “EZ Way has accepted non-Chinese names for years, and they were quite helpful when I reached out, as they’ve been every time I tried contacting them.”

For David Frazier, a journalist who has been based in Taiwan for more than 20 years, fruitless attempts to capture an image of his Alien Permanent Resident Certificate (APRC) and the improvised fixes he was offered proved particularly irksome. “I called, and they told me to get a new ID, which was absolutely infuriating!” he says. “This was despite the fact that my APRC still worked for literally everything else except their app.” 

Having leveraged some of his contacts in officialdom, who “made inquiries,” Frazier says EZ Way eventually made an exception, agreeing to manually upload a copy of his ID so that he could access the system. “The feeling I got at the time was that it was quite discriminatory,” he says. “I can’t imagine them asking a Taiwanese citizen to get a new ID.”

Duties and burdens

Frazier’s frustrations were soon compounded by problems with receiving shipments from iHerb, a California-headquartered e-commerce platform specializing in health and wellness products. The retailer is popular with foreign residents in Taiwan, but multiple complaints related to shipments began to surface around the time of EZ Way’s launch. No direct correlation has been confirmed.

“iHerb basically stopped delivering to Taiwan for a couple months because [EZ Way] was introduced so suddenly and haphazardly with no advance notice,” says Frazier, offering his own theory. “In the beginning, even the e-commerce platforms couldn’t figure out how it was supposed to work.” 

Around the same time, customs began counting shipping costs toward a product’s import value, and steep duties were imposed on many of these orders. “So, if your vitamins cost 10 dollars with 5-dollar shipping, they’d calculate a 15-dollar import value, then levy a 30% to 35% import tax,” says Frazier. “Now your 10-dollar vitamins cost 20 dollars.” For its part, iHerb partly addressed this by offering free shipping on orders over US$30, but it’s “still somewhat extortionate,” he says. 

Some of these mishaps could be related to regulations from Taiwan’s Food and Drug Administration, but to Frazier, the lack of clarity is confounding. “Taiwan customs has done an abysmal job of explaining any of this stuff to anyone,” he says. 

Under Taiwanese customs rules, parcels with a customs value of up to NT$2,000 are exempt from duties and taxes for up to six parcels per person every six months. Providing screenshots of several refunds he has received from iHerb, U.S.-born resident Shane Rendleman says that his experiences with iHerb and the EZ Way app have been largely hassle-free.

“They hit you with the duties then refund you after the package has been delivered,” says Rendleman, a teacher who has lived in Taiwan since 2011. Aside from being “another hoop to jump through,” Rendelman describes his experience in using the app as “a very smooth process.” 

Many comments on online English-language forums have supported this view, in some cases indicating that this is just a case of foreigners whining. Yet for others, the question is why this app was needed in the first place. “Seriously, why was there suddenly an electronic gatekeeper to receive mail?” says Frazier. 

One interviewee suggests that “all of this stuff was a protectionist move mainly against Taobao and Chinese e-commerce sites.” Privately, one customs official all but confirmed that fraud, tax evasion, and security considerations were behind the decision to launch the app, rather than efforts to streamline shipment handling and clearance.

In response to inquiries from TOPICS, a spokesperson for the Department of Customs Clearance Affairs under the Customs Administration suggested that the authority advised consumers to “read the purchasing rules carefully” when shopping online.

“Whether the prepaid duties are collected by the platform at checkout, or collected by the logistics provider upon delivery, depends on the agreement between the importer, the e-commerce platform, and the express customs broker,” wrote Chen Yi-ying in an emailed response. He added that the authority “would continue strengthening communication and coordination with customs brokers.”