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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
Purplecatshopaholic · 27/11/2025 13:15

I think this is generally a good idea. Anything that encourages second hand buying/repairing clothing, and disincentivises fast fashion is ok with me. However I don’t shop at Shein or Temu, those that do will no doubt have a view too..

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?

HermioneWeasley · 27/11/2025 13:18

UK retailers create jobs and pay tax (including rates on shops) and these places do not. Anything which levels the playing field is a good thing. Also discouraging purchases which shortly end up in landfill

smallglassbottle · 27/11/2025 13:21

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?

Their governments are responsible for employment and economic opportunities in those countries, not us. It's high time the landfill tat stopped, including throwaway clothing.

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."

ShesTheAlbatross · 27/11/2025 13:25

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?

If people want to buy cheap tat and not give a shit about the various issues with it then fine. But don’t pretend to do it for the benefit of the forced labour and people in sweatshops. “I have to buy cheap shit, or the forced labourer in a sweatshop who made it won’t get their scrap of a salary”.

smallglassbottle · 27/11/2025 14:17

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."

You can often buy perfectly reasonable good quality clothing and footwear on ebay. This is what I do if I want a better quality thing. As long as it's not worn to death or dirty. I often do this and have found some nice things. Vinted is also an option. I've never bought from the cheap tatty Chinese sites or Primark etc.

MrsTerryPratchett · 27/11/2025 14:22

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?

Maybe they’d go to school, being as some of them are children.

Notmycircusnotmyotter · 27/11/2025 14:33

I would really support this. Anything that stops people buying masses of unethical shit. Fast fashion is such a hideous industry and it says a lot about people who engage with SHEIN / Temu if they don't care.

BettysRoasties · 27/11/2025 14:38

Hmmm I duno. The things I buy on Temu I wouldn’t buy in the local shop because they are stupidly priced for the same thing so paying more just means I won’t buy it or if I actually need it I’ll buy it on Amazon where it’s still cheaper then Maybe b&q or the garden centre or wherever.

I don’t buy clothes on temu though so maybe that’s the difference. I do sometimes use vinted

eurochick · 27/11/2025 14:41

Good. They are terrible for human rights and terrible for the environment.

SheinIsShite · 27/11/2025 14:55

It's not the job of the UK taxpayer to solve the world's social problems. It is the responsibility of the Chinese government to support or take care of its citizens, all the UK can do is raise concerns about condemn them for poor practice.

These tat-merchants are not about supplying you with one item, cheaply. They are about encouraging you to buy plastic tat in volume, to hit a minimum basket spend, get a discount, get a freebie. Buy, buy buy. A lot of what is sold is not life's essentials. Just opened up the Temu home page and they are offering me a pack of 10 huge plastic christmas gift bags, a plaque saying "i fix stuff", various different kinds of drones, a christmas themed door mat, a ripped off Wicked hoodie, a "beware of the Cockappoo" sign (no extra charge for the spelling error) and a selection of cheap shitty clothes with cheap shitty AI "artwork". All of life's essentials right there.

It's less about that Shein/Temu are selling things cheaply to people who have no budget to buy elsewhere. It's that they are selling utter rubbish which nobody needs in the first place.

OP posts:
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.

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.

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:
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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 🤔

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.

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