Share Story
AMMAN — The online shopping website Jollychic has announced that it will be shutting down its operations in Jordan, according to a statement issued on its website.
Jollychic, a Chinese website categorised as one of the “most used” applications by both the Android and Apple stores, operates in almost all of the Middle East.
“After the changes in Jordan’s import and online shopping policies, we are afraid we can no longer deliver or operate in Jordan. We are sorry for the inconvenience,” read the statement.
The Jordanian government announced last month that a JD5 to JD50 tax will be imposed on all online shopping items, as well as setting a JD500 limit on online orders.
Authorities took the new steps in order to organise e-commerce in a way that protects local products and internal trade from online shopping, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported at the time.
The decision received much backlash at the time, with many saying that it is “unfair” and “unreasonable”.
“Now that Jollychic, which is extensively used by Jordanians as an alternative to the low-quality and extremely expensive items here, has been shut down, we can already see the effects of this unjust law,” said Jordanian citizen Bassam Faisal on Twitter.
Others such as Mustafa Khader joined in with the hashtag “#stop the law” and pointed out that “the law does not only take away the citizens’ comfort and freewill but also their jobs, as these companies hire customer support staff. When they close, we lose jobs too!”
Jollychic said in its statement that “it hopes to continue offering services soon”.
