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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

OP posts:
Coffeeishot · 27/11/2025 17:02

ContinuewithGoogle · 27/11/2025 16:54

I am not sure there's much difference with the £10 skirt you can buy in Next, or new look, or H&M... in term of product or ethic

Fair point but I still don't think buying shit from shien is the way forward in making sure that people are properly employed.

ContinuewithGoogle · 27/11/2025 16:54

Coffeeishot · 27/11/2025 16:47

You think temu and Shien are ethical employers when "you" are buying a £7 skirt or Whatever.

I am not sure there's much difference with the £10 skirt you can buy in Next, or new look, or H&M... in term of product or ethic

smallglassbottle · 27/11/2025 16:49

Theunamedcat · 27/11/2025 16:08

Shopping in charity shops is time consuming you cant always get your size your colour etc people who work cant take half a day or two to source appropriate clothing

That's what the internet is for. I never set foot in a charity shop. I just put my search criteria in on ebay and up pops an array of dozens, if not hundreds of things I could choose from. Most of them are buy now, so I don't even have to faff around bidding.

Coffeeishot · 27/11/2025 16:47

Orangepate · 27/11/2025 13:17

None of this stuff is simple though, the people making stuff use their wages to feed their families.. what happens to them if we stop buying tat?

You think temu and Shien are ethical employers when "you" are buying a £7 skirt or Whatever.

BarbieShrimp · 27/11/2025 16:45

Wfhftm · 27/11/2025 16:33

I’m fed up of that fucking Vimes boot story.

Whenever I see a thread about budget goods I make a little bet with myself to see how early it turns up. First page this time! I owe myself a mars bar.

Wfhftm · 27/11/2025 16:33

I’m fed up of that fucking Vimes boot story.

BarbieShrimp · 27/11/2025 16:31

The idea that SheIn is cheaper than all second hand offerings isn't true.

I buy almost entirely second hand, a habit I picked up when I was on an extremely low income. I never stopped, because it's a formula that still works. A sweater made 15 years ago will be made with nicer materials and better finishing than a modern high-end item, and can still be found for around a fiver.

That (nauseatingly twee) Pratchett quote about boots was written at a time when more expensive clothes could be counted on to be higher quality. Now even high end designer stuff is made of plastic.

I don't think that SheIn/Temu customer demographics support the idea that "it's there for poor people". For most customers, it's a bit of fancy-dress fun. When I was young and struggling with money, SheIn still would not have appealed to me - what's appealing about ordering things that take weeks to arrive, are likely not to fit (or look anything like the photo), are a hassle to return for a refund, and risk making me look even more hard-up than I actually am?

Middle Aged Women are Shein’s Average Customers, So Should We Stop Blaming Gen Z for the Fast Fashion Brands Success?

Kimura · 27/11/2025 16:28

Orangepate · 27/11/2025 13:17

None of this stuff is simple though, the people making stuff use their wages to feed their families.. what happens to them if we stop buying tat?

They find another job, just like I'd have to if I lost mine?

Balloonhearts · 27/11/2025 16:20

ContinuewithGoogle · 27/11/2025 15:49

I buy shein and temu, and frankly the quality is not worst (not better but certainly not worst) than high street items

I just don't buy it for the sake of wearing it once, so aside from the questionable ways it's produced, it's not producing more waste just becomes it comes from Shein.

Me too, you have to look at the tags that tell you what it's made of. Some of my favourite items are Shein clothes. One dress I've had 4 years, worn weekly through the summer and spring and still looks perfect. I get compliments on it often. It's just a cotton/polyester mix, much the same as you get in Asda. Cost me 7.99. If you actually check what you're buying, you can get nice stuff on there.

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 27/11/2025 16:18

‘Shein is cheaper than charity shops. It's also cheaper in both time and money than repairing your own clothes.‘

How is it cheaper in money? Needles and thread cost very little.

FuckRealityBringMeABook · 27/11/2025 16:12

Agix · 27/11/2025 13:24

Shein is cheaper than charity shops. It's also cheaper in both time and money than repairing your own clothes.

People are going to continue choosing Shein for as long as the cost of living remains high, and we're kept too busy just to afford the basics, without adding darning on top.

To be able to disregard shein and temu clothing as landfill tat is quite the privilege.

"The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.

But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness."

So stop buying clothes. Everyone has plenty. You can get bags full for free on FB.

Goldeh · 27/11/2025 16:09

smallglassbottle · 27/11/2025 15:59

Go online onto Vinted.
Choose item.
Pay for item.
Wait for said item to arrive.
Wear item.

Go onto Shein.
Choose item.
Pay for item.
Wait for said item to arrive.
Wear item.

I'm not seeing the sociological difference to be honest 🤔

This is all covered in my follow up post.

Theunamedcat · 27/11/2025 16:08

Shopping in charity shops is time consuming you cant always get your size your colour etc people who work cant take half a day or two to source appropriate clothing

smallglassbottle · 27/11/2025 16:01

ContinuewithGoogle · 27/11/2025 15:50

Vinted is full of Shein items

Reverse-search the items, they often come cheaper on Shein..

The good old days of Vinted used only to get rid of your unwanted are long gone.

Go onto ebay then. You can get higher quality items. I'm not buying tat from there.

smallglassbottle · 27/11/2025 15:59

Goldeh · 27/11/2025 15:31

These echo my thoughts.

Environmentalism is a privilege with definite social and cultural stratification at its heart.

Ending the sale of cheap clothing and pushing for more sustainable habits such as mending/repurposing relies on the people at the receiving end of these measures having a certain degree of financial stability, spare time, and capability.

There is social and economic inequality at all stages of the producer-seller-consumer process associated with these sites and that really ought to be addressed first.

Go online onto Vinted.
Choose item.
Pay for item.
Wait for said item to arrive.
Wear item.

Go onto Shein.
Choose item.
Pay for item.
Wait for said item to arrive.
Wear item.

I'm not seeing the sociological difference to be honest 🤔

ContinuewithGoogle · 27/11/2025 15:50

Vinted is full of Shein items

Reverse-search the items, they often come cheaper on Shein..

The good old days of Vinted used only to get rid of your unwanted are long gone.

ContinuewithGoogle · 27/11/2025 15:49

I buy shein and temu, and frankly the quality is not worst (not better but certainly not worst) than high street items

I just don't buy it for the sake of wearing it once, so aside from the questionable ways it's produced, it's not producing more waste just becomes it comes from Shein.

Goldeh · 27/11/2025 15:46

HerVagestyTheQueef · 27/11/2025 15:38

A second hand cotton t-shirt from eBay, Vinted or your local chazzer is a far better quick and cheap (and environmentally friendly) option - and can provide a much better quality, longer lasting item - than a literal plastic t-shirt from Temu and Shein.

You don't need lots of time and money not to shop at Temu and Sheit.

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.

MzGG · 27/11/2025 15:39

I’m for it. I don’t shop at Temu or Shein, though. I’d rather buy my clothes on Vinted.

HerVagestyTheQueef · 27/11/2025 15:38

Goldeh · 27/11/2025 15:31

These echo my thoughts.

Environmentalism is a privilege with definite social and cultural stratification at its heart.

Ending the sale of cheap clothing and pushing for more sustainable habits such as mending/repurposing relies on the people at the receiving end of these measures having a certain degree of financial stability, spare time, and capability.

There is social and economic inequality at all stages of the producer-seller-consumer process associated with these sites and that really ought to be addressed first.

A second hand cotton t-shirt from eBay, Vinted or your local chazzer is a far better quick and cheap (and environmentally friendly) option - and can provide a much better quality, longer lasting item - than a literal plastic t-shirt from Temu and Shein.

You don't need lots of time and money not to shop at Temu and Sheit.

Goldeh · 27/11/2025 15:31

Agix · 27/11/2025 13:24

Shein is cheaper than charity shops. It's also cheaper in both time and money than repairing your own clothes.

People are going to continue choosing Shein for as long as the cost of living remains high, and we're kept too busy just to afford the basics, without adding darning on top.

To be able to disregard shein and temu clothing as landfill tat is quite the privilege.

"The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.

But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness."

These echo my thoughts.

Environmentalism is a privilege with definite social and cultural stratification at its heart.

Ending the sale of cheap clothing and pushing for more sustainable habits such as mending/repurposing relies on the people at the receiving end of these measures having a certain degree of financial stability, spare time, and capability.

There is social and economic inequality at all stages of the producer-seller-consumer process associated with these sites and that really ought to be addressed first.

TheNinkyNonkyIsATardis · 27/11/2025 15:27

Orangepate · 27/11/2025 13:17

None of this stuff is simple though, the people making stuff use their wages to feed their families.. what happens to them if we stop buying tat?

It's worth remembering that creating pointless tat for which some people are employed at slave wages just so other people on not great wages can afford landfill tat is not a good idea, no?

As they say in the "Buy Now" documentary, you can't throw it away. There is no away.

SheinIsShite · 27/11/2025 15:25

Kleeneze · 27/11/2025 15:05

It’s great news. The only issue is that it’s not coming in for a few years (March 2029). It should start tomorrow.

Agree. 1 January 2026 at the latest.

OP posts:
Kleeneze · 27/11/2025 15:05

It’s great news. The only issue is that it’s not coming in for a few years (March 2029). It should start tomorrow.

WearyAuldWumman · 27/11/2025 14:59

Orangepate · 27/11/2025 13:17

None of this stuff is simple though, the people making stuff use their wages to feed their families.. what happens to them if we stop buying tat?

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.