A Shopee e-commerce customer complained that several imported products that were about to be purchased suddenly disappeared from the basket application. The type of product he bought was clothes purchased from stores in China.

"Yesterday, I opened the Shopee basket. All imported clothes were gone," wrote Aurelia V via her twitter account @senjatanuklir, Jakarta, Monday (10/5).

In the tweet, he said he immediately contacted the online store that sold the product. The confirmation results stated that the shop was closed due to the Indonesian government's policy on textile imports.

"Finally, a chat at one of the Chinese clothing shops, it turns out that he said there is a policy from the Indonesian government regarding textile imports. For those who have the news link, drop it below," he continued.

Responding to that, the Head of Public Policy, Shopee Indonesia, Radityo Triatmojo said Shopee Indonesia had indeed done the closing of shops selling textile products from abroad. However, the closure was not due to a policy issued by the government.

On the other hand, the policy originates purely from the company in order to create a comfortable buying and selling ecosystem for buyers and sellers on Shopee e-commerce.

"This policy is Shopee's policy, to create a better ecosystem and shopping experience," said Radityo.

Shopee Indonesia is currently reviewing the policies for products that can be sold in this online shopping platform. "Shopee is reviewing the product policy that can be sold at Shopee," he said.

Even so, products that buyers love can also be found on the Proudly Made Indonesia page. Products made by the nation's children also have free shipping promotions, discounts, and selected vouchers.

"Products that buyers like can also be found on the Bangga Made Indonesia page, with free shipping, discounts, and optional vouchers," he concluded.

Assistant Deputy for the Digital Economy of the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs Rizal Edwin Manangsang said the entry of imported goods still raises concerns for domestic businesses.

The development of the digital economy followed by an increase in cross-border transactions through e-commerce is said to be a direct challenge for local product producers, especially the small and medium scale ones.

"Indeed, due to the development of e-commerce and this pandemic, the activity of selling goods through e-commerce has increased and many foreign goods have entered Indonesia. However, the government has prepared regulations, for example to prevent the entry of goods from abroad with a new de minimis policy, "said Rizal.

Data from Bank Indonesia shows that e-commerce transactions throughout 2020 reached IDR 253 trillion and is estimated to reach IDR 337 trillion in 2021.