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Shein/Temu tat-tax

113 replies

SheinIsShite · 27/11/2025 13:06

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c078j4kylz3o

Missed this in the budget yesterday with all the coverage of the changes to child caps and electric cars. But AIBU to think this is about time too? In fact, I'd argue it doesn't go far enough.

France is imposing a levy of 10 euros (capped at 50% of retail value) on these "fast fashion" items along with incentives to encourage buying second hand and repairing clothing. They are also banning advertising of these companies, and banning influencers from promoting their "Shein hauls" and similar.

https://esgnews.com/france-targets-ultra-fast-fashion-with-eco-tax-ad-ban-and-transparency-rules/

So it's a start.

A woman receiving parcels at her front door

Tax-free parcels rule used by Shein and Temu under review

Retailers argue that cheap foreign rivals are undercutting business using a tax-free status on small parcels.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c078j4kylz3o

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RedToothBrush · 30/11/2025 09:36

WearyAuldWumman · 27/11/2025 14:59

A lot of the Chinese tat is made by slave labour.

I visited relatives in Serbia this year and was told that there's a factory in the area entirely staffed by Chinese people who were given a choice between imprisonment in China or indentured labour in a Chinese owned factory in Serbia.

No, I can't find anything online to back that up. I do know that I stayed in a Chinese owned hotel in Serbia for a couple of days and all the front of house staff were Serbian; I glimpsed one Chinese woman working in an office one day and the men carrying the bins out the back were Chinese.

I've visited Serbia. Got into some interesting conversations. Loveliest most welcoming people I've ever met. And then you remember a bunch of other stuff in recent living memory and see the (actual proper) fascism openly on display and do of a bit of a double take in terms of cognitive dissonance.

Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest.

SheinIsShite · 30/11/2025 09:27

But it's cheap! And for many people that is all they care about.

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FuckRealityBringMeABook · 30/11/2025 07:30

I know someone whose house burned down that way.

Natsku · 30/11/2025 06:56

smallglassbottle · 29/11/2025 20:01

Their electrical products are often either a con or contain unsafe components as well. Dh follows a YouTube channel by an engineer who takes these things to bits and it's often shocking what he discovers.

Yeah electrical products from those sellers are a house fire waiting to happen. Hardly worth saving a few quid to risk losing everything.

Screamingabdabz · 29/11/2025 20:17

jeomeollibyeoldul · 29/11/2025 11:43

sorry but you are naive. chinese suppliers do not have to abide by UK trading laws and standards, they just have to pretend to. and UK firms just have to turn a blind eye. they're making billions in profit from human misery. and there are slaves in this country too.

Name and shame then. Let’s add those shitheads to the list of modern day slave traders.

smallglassbottle · 29/11/2025 20:01

Natsku · 29/11/2025 10:57

Tax isn't enough, imports from shein and suchlike shouldn't be allowed past customs on health and safety grounds considering all the chemicals that have been found in the clothing and safety issues with toys and other products. No one should be wearing clothes that can cause cancer, infertility, or mess with the growth of children, no matter how poor they are.

Their electrical products are often either a con or contain unsafe components as well. Dh follows a YouTube channel by an engineer who takes these things to bits and it's often shocking what he discovers.

AliceMaforethought · 29/11/2025 17:33

SpidersAreShitheads · 29/11/2025 16:59

No, that's not what I'm referring to at all. If a dopamine hit was the reason, then I'd be all for clamping down.

I agree with you about influencers though - I don't think they are a positive thing, in the vast majority of cases. I was a school governor for several years and so many of our young leavers had aspirations to be an "influencer" because they're sucked in by false appearances.

What do you think justifies it, then?

SpidersAreShitheads · 29/11/2025 16:59

smallglassbottle · 28/11/2025 05:47

Oh I understand it. It's called dopamine and shopping online can provide a hit. You get another hit when the parcel arrives. Still no excuse though. Those stupid 'influencers' with their so called 'hauls' are part of the problem.

No, that's not what I'm referring to at all. If a dopamine hit was the reason, then I'd be all for clamping down.

I agree with you about influencers though - I don't think they are a positive thing, in the vast majority of cases. I was a school governor for several years and so many of our young leavers had aspirations to be an "influencer" because they're sucked in by false appearances.

jeomeollibyeoldul · 29/11/2025 11:43

Screamingabdabz · 29/11/2025 11:32

Why are they able to produce stuff that cheap? Because they use enslaved labour. If you buy from these cheap Chinese sites you are literally funding human slavery.

UK firms may use Chinese suppliers but they have to abide by UK trading laws and standards.

Anyone knowingly funding human misery to get a cheap throwaway garment should be ashamed.

Edited

sorry but you are naive. chinese suppliers do not have to abide by UK trading laws and standards, they just have to pretend to. and UK firms just have to turn a blind eye. they're making billions in profit from human misery. and there are slaves in this country too.

Screamingabdabz · 29/11/2025 11:32

Why are they able to produce stuff that cheap? Because they use enslaved labour. If you buy from these cheap Chinese sites you are literally funding human slavery.

UK firms may use Chinese suppliers but they have to abide by UK trading laws and standards.

Anyone knowingly funding human misery to get a cheap throwaway garment should be ashamed.

justasking111 · 29/11/2025 11:29

These sites are causing issues with charity shops that are having to close down. One charity said that it's closing all it's shops.

Burnthroughthewitches · 29/11/2025 11:25

Never bought anything from shein or temu (yet). But I do buy some stuff from AliExpress. Not clothing/footwear, but mostly general household stuff and such.

Oh, so British retailers bristle, because people buy their 'tat' straight from China, cutting out the middle man? As opposed to letting said 'British retailers' to import the same 'tat' themselves and sell it for 3-5 times the price?

Bought a tablet cover from aliexpress just a week ago. For 5 quid. Came in a week, no issues, it's good looking, well made, fits the tablet. The exact same is on amazon for 15. So fuck that.

From now on I'll go out of my way to not shop with said british retailers, whatever tax they impose. Their wellbeing is not my concern, let them sink. They're shit anyway.

SheinIsShite · 29/11/2025 11:22

Totally agree about the design of the sites, they are very clever. Flash sales, money off, coupons, recommend a friend - all encouraged to get you to buy more of their tat.

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Bc87 · 29/11/2025 10:59

I really applaud this.

Shein, Temu and the likes are terrible for the planet and also encourage consumerism.

napody · 29/11/2025 10:58

The design of the websites/buying process is a great example of 'enshittification' and gamification too. I put something in my basket on either temu or shein once that I was struggling to find elsewhere. Ten minutes later in the seventh circle of hell of 'free gifts' trying to get me to spend more and more I abandoned the purchase! And felt pretty depressed about the insight that most of this tat isnt things people need or even want- theyre almost tricked into adding more and more. They must be taking tips from online gambling- this element needs investigation and possible regulation too.

Natsku · 29/11/2025 10:57

Tax isn't enough, imports from shein and suchlike shouldn't be allowed past customs on health and safety grounds considering all the chemicals that have been found in the clothing and safety issues with toys and other products. No one should be wearing clothes that can cause cancer, infertility, or mess with the growth of children, no matter how poor they are.

SheinIsShite · 29/11/2025 10:53

We are not landed gentry levels of affluence, far from it. My parents were not from prosperous backgrounds at all, both grew up in rural areas where people had very little. Both grannies knitted and made/altered/mended clothes. Ate simply, didn't have much "stuff" and what they did have was treasured and looked after and handed down the generations.

DH's family are from similar backgrounds but from a city environment in a different part of the UK. Mountains of presents at Christmas, they were horrified at us asking for things like tickets to the zoo or tickets to a theatre show for the kids because that was not "stuff". Their mindset around lots of cheap tat showing you are not poor is just so different from my own parents. They thought that getting educated and getting a decent job was the best way of showing you are not poor.

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SumUp · 29/11/2025 10:47

Goldeh · 27/11/2025 15:46

Shopping on Vinted, eBay, etc relies on the item(s) you need being available and of decent quality. It also relies on 100% payment upfront without the Klarna-type schemes available at Shein/Temu. For a lot of people there is also a social and/or cultural stigma around secondhand clothing vs new and a real aversion to what is viewed as other people's "cast-offs" which connects to ideas of pride, charity, agency, etc.

Again, it's a privilege to rule that these issues don't matter and people should simply buy second-hand. It does nothing to address the root causes of inequality.

Importing tat for people who cannot afford much is doing precisely nothing to tackle the root causes of inequality!

AliceMaforethought · 29/11/2025 10:42

SheinIsShite · 29/11/2025 10:38

Unfortunately some people do judge others on the amount of stuff they have, how often they change their living room decor, the different outfits for each night out.

My inlaws are like this, they are not in desperate straits but live in fear of being judged as poor. So they won't even donate to charity shops in case someone sees them going in. Niece has been known to take an item back to the shops for a refund if it has gone in the sale as god forbid someone should think she can't afford it full price. It is so absolutely alien to me.

Rich people do not behave like that. Ever. I'm not talking about the inaccurate stereotype of the Earl with his battered Volkswagen and holes in his tweed suit. That is the false visual representation of the truth that wealthy people do not live in constant fear of what the neighbours think.

SheinIsShite · 29/11/2025 10:38

Unfortunately some people do judge others on the amount of stuff they have, how often they change their living room decor, the different outfits for each night out.

My inlaws are like this, they are not in desperate straits but live in fear of being judged as poor. So they won't even donate to charity shops in case someone sees them going in. Niece has been known to take an item back to the shops for a refund if it has gone in the sale as god forbid someone should think she can't afford it full price. It is so absolutely alien to me.

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AliceMaforethought · 29/11/2025 10:32

Goldeh · 29/11/2025 09:04

No one said it's a human right. People have said that a lot of their customers shop there for more complex reasons than capitalist consumerism and it's not particularly fair to price them out without first addressing those complex reasons.

IDGAF that these people want to impress their equally destitute neighbours. Why should the planet suffer for their delusions? Do they really think that buying cheap tat new is going to make them not poor?

ShowOfHands · 29/11/2025 10:04

I wonder if TP is turning in his grave at Vimes' boot theory being used to justify buying "bits" on Shein and Temu.

Nobody needs to buy from them. I've been on the bones of my arse. We had a baby and were surviving on 11k. DH had value Weetabix with water for lunch and cycled 20 miles to work. My needs and values were the same then as they are now. I needed food, water and housing. Any clothes were easily sourced from FB, charity shops and eBay. I resent the implication that socioeconomically disadvantaged people don't have morals or can't make good choices. It has never been easier to be aware or to choose the better option. All the people I know who use these abhorrent sites are very well off and simply want lots of stuff.

SheinIsShite · 29/11/2025 09:46

This is the other tired argument - they're all as bad as each other so crack on and buy from who you like.

https://directory.goodonyou.eco/

It's SO easy to look at how independent experts have graded businesses. `1-5 scale from 1star - we void, 2 stars - not good enough, 3 stars - it's a start, 4 stars - good, 5 stars - great. Shein classed as "we avoid". Several paragraphs about why that grading was given with factors such as "There’s no evidence it’s taking meaningful action to reduce or eliminate hazardous chemicals in manufacturing."

Marks and Spencer is 3 stars or "it's a start". Zara and Next are 2 stars. Joanie - 4 stars. So obviously it is better buying from Zara or Next than from Shein or Temu.

Good On You Directory - Search Thousands of Fashion Brand Ratings

Search sustainability ratings for thousands of fashion brands. Learn their impact on people, planet and animals. Discover new ethical clothing labels.

https://directory.goodonyou.eco

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RedRiverShore5 · 29/11/2025 09:38

I was annoyed that it wasn't until 2029, why the delay.

Theunamedcat · 29/11/2025 09:31

Are we all boycotting these brands aswell as shien and temu?

Shein/Temu tat-tax