EU’s €3 duty cuts Temu spending 32%

French spending on Temu fell 32% in value and 50% in volume between June and July, the first month under new EU customs rules for cheap parcels shipped from outside the bloc. Shein dropped less steeply: 16% in value, 15% in volume. The figures come from Joko, a purchase-tracking app monitoring 1.5 million French consumers (Le Figaro). Temu's decline had already started before the duty kicked in, making the charge an accelerant rather than the whole story (E-commerce Nation).

France shows what shoppers did. Customs data from at least six EU countries now shows how the rule changed behavior on both sides of the transaction.

What the charge actually does

Until 1 July, parcels worth up to €150 sent directly to EU buyers from outside the bloc entered without customs duty. That exemption is gone. Now the EU charges €3 for each product category inside a low-value parcel (Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382, HKTDC).

The charge is not per parcel. Five identical T-shirts from one seller count as one category: €3. A T-shirt, a phone case and a watch count as three categories: €9. This sits on top of the VAT (sales tax) that has applied to these imports since the EU closed a separate exemption in 2021 (Ship24, CEC Spain).

That design hits mixed-category baskets hardest, exactly the kind of impulse shopping Temu and AliExpress encourage. Shein, which sells mostly clothing, naturally produces orders with fewer categories. That likely explains why its sales held up better, though no source isolates the cause precisely.

Finland's customs data shows how quickly buyers and sellers adjusted. Chargeable item categories inside parcels dropped 66.5% month-on-month, but actual shipments fell only about 20% (Yrittäjät, Aamuset). People didn't stop ordering from China. They consolidated orders into fewer categories per parcel to minimize the per-category charge. The duty changed how people shop, not just how much.

From parcels to pallets at Liège

The logistics picture confirms the pattern from the supply side. At Belgium's Liège Airport, one of Europe's busiest e-commerce cargo hubs, parcel flows fell 41% from June and customs declarations dropped 67% (RTBF, Aviation Business News). Yet total cargo tonnage rose 4% year-on-year, and shipments valued above €150 grew 10% (Breakbulk News). The goods are still coming. They're arriving in larger consolidated shipments rather than as millions of individual parcels to doorsteps.

Platforms are adapting fast. AliExpress promotes bundle deals to reduce chargeable categories per order. Temu and Shein are steering shoppers toward "EU warehouse" options that bypass the charge entirely, since goods already inside the bloc face no import duty on resale (Business Insider Polska).

When sellers don't collect the duty at checkout, buyers get a surprise at the door: the €3-per-category charge plus a separate courier handling fee. That stacking of small costs has already drawn complaints in Ireland (Extra.ie).

Who gains, who pays, what's next

The immediate losers are price-sensitive consumers who relied on cheap mixed-category orders, and the platforms built on that model. European retailers gain as the old price advantage shrinks. Belgium reportedly collected €42.5 million in new customs revenue from the charge in July alone, though no official methodology was published (L'Avenir). Lithuanian customs offered the right caution: one month is too early to call this a lasting change (LRT).

The duty has made the direct small-parcel route visibly more expensive. The question now sits with European customs authorities: can they stop the same goods from re-entering through EU warehouses, or will the tariff barrier become a logistics detour?