Probably, like us until a few hours ago, you have also wondered what was really going to change with the new rate that the European Union began to apply from July 1 from 2026 to certain shipments of up to 150 euros coming from outside its borders. In recent days there has been a lot of talk about the measure, its objectives and its impact on different e-commerce platforms. However, there was a much simpler and, at the same time, much more important question: how much would we end up paying.
To find out, I went through exactly the same path that any user would follow, searching for products on Temu, AliExpress, Amazon and SHEIN that were most likely to arrive from outside the community market. Very soon I discovered that the first clue was not in the price or the cart, but in the labels of the platforms themselves. In Temu, for example, finding a product marked as “Sent from Spain” does not mean the same as another identified as “Local warehouse”, a difference that can determine what comes next.
Temu marks some products as “Local warehouse”, although that label does not necessarily guarantee that the shipment leaves from Spain.
The difference between both labels is much more important than it seems. When consulting the explanation offered by Temu herself, I verified that “Sent from Spain” means that, according to the platform’s historical data, that article has been sent exclusively from Spain during the previous three months. “Local warehouse”, however, does not guarantee that. Temu explains that these products are more likely to arrive sooner because they are sent from your country or region, or from nearby countries or regions, an important nuance because it leaves open the possibility that the order comes from another point in Europe and not necessarily from Spain.
Temu differentiates between “Local warehouse” and “Sent from Spain”: this second label does point to a recent history of shipments from Spain
The first warning appeared even before adding the product to the basket, directly on the item sheet, where the platform warns that “additional customs-related fees will apply.” However, it has not yet indicated how much they will cost. When accessing the cart, the amount remains the same and only invites you to consult the final payment. It is in the last step, just before clicking “Process order”, when the complete breakdown appears with a new line called “Customs clearance service fee”, which in my tests amounted to 3 euros plus the applicable VAT.
Temu already warns in the product sheet that additional fees may apply
The cost of the fee does not appear in the cart: Temu incorporates it in the step prior to processing the order, when it already shows the final total to pay
AliExpress also ended up adding an additional cost during my testing, but the way it was presented was different. Instead of incorporating a “Customs Clearance Service Fee”, the platform displayed a “Estimation of customs charges” for a total of 3.63 euros. When clicking on that concept, AliExpress explained that it was an estimate of taxes and duties calculated before completing the purchase, also adding that there would be no additional charges at the time of delivery. Although the amount matched exactly what it had seen on Temu, the information was presented in a different way.
On AliExpress, the charge appears within the final summary of the order: 3.63 euros under the concept of “Estimate taxes”
Amazon was the only case where my tests did not reproduce the same behavior I had seen on Temu and AliExpress. For several hours I tried to locate products shipped from outside the EU to see if the new charge also appeared during the purchase process, but I couldn’t find any examples that showed it. That experience, however, did not necessarily mean that the platform had chosen not to apply the new measure, so I decided to directly address the question to the company. A spokesperson responded with the following statement.
“The vast majority of customer orders in our stores within the European Union are shipped from the EU and are not affected by this new customs fee. For the small number of items that are shipped cross-border to the EU, the €3 import fee is a requirement set by European law and is submitted directly to customs authorities. It is not an Amazon fee. Customers will clearly see the import fee before completing their purchase.”
After what I saw in Temu and AliExpress I expected to find similar behavior in SHEIN, but the experience was different. I chose a product sold by SHENZHENJIAYU, a Chinese seller, and went through the exact same process until the last step before payment. On this occasion the amount remained unchanged from the item sheet to the checkout. In addition, the platform itself displayed a message indicating that the final price includes applicable import taxes, without incorporating an independent line that would break down any additional costs during the purchase.
At SHEIN, the total remained unchanged until the last step – a separate line for the new rate did not appear during the purchase process
At this point, it is worth pausing to understand the fine print of the rate. My colleague Javier Pastor already explained in detail how this new European rate works, but there are some important keys to read well what appears in the checkout. The measure affects certain low-value shipments, up to 150 euros, when the products are imported from outside the European Union. And it is not calculated simply by package or by number of units, but by type of item according to its customs classification. The European Commission summarizes it with a fairly clear example: five t-shirts pay a single fee of 3 euros, while a t-shirt and a watch pay two fees, that is, 6 euros.
Now, if we are talking about a rate of 3 euros, why did 3.63 euros appear in Temu and AliExpress? Because the corresponding VAT is applied to that amount. In Spain, with a general VAT of 21%, Those 3 euros become 3.63 euros in the final total of the order. This does not mean that the VAT is multiplied by each unit if we buy several identical products or of the same classification: in that case a single rate is applied and, therefore, the VAT on that rate is applied only once. On the other hand, if we add another item of a different customs classification to the same shipment, the rate is applied again and the VAT is also calculated on that new amount. That is why two different classifications would not be 3.63 euros, but 7.26 euros in Spain.
When the order combined products from two different classifications, the rate stopped being 3.63 euros and went to 7.26 euros with VAT included
At this point, the question was no longer which platform showed an additional charge and which did not, but who actually ends up bearing that new cost. The answer is not as simple as it seems. The regulations create a new right applicable to certain low-value shipments, but do not require that it is always the consumer who assumes it financially. From there, each company’s strategy comes into play. During my tests, Temu and AliExpress ended up increasing the amount I had to pay to complete the purchase, while at SHEIN I did not see that change. This does not mean that some platforms apply the measure and others do not, but rather that they may decide to transfer that cost in different ways or even integrate it into the final price.
When I carried out these tests, the new measure had only been in effect for just over a day. That means that This article reflects a very early photograph how some platforms had decided to adapt to it at the time of its publication. In addition to Amazon’s response that we saw a few lines above, I also contacted Temu, AliExpress and SHEIN to find out their official position, although none of the three companies had responded at the time of publishing this article. As with any regulatory change of this caliber, it cannot be ruled out that the platforms will introduce new modifications in the coming weeks.
Images | Screenshots
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