France announce a levy on SHEIN, TEMU and similar imports. AIBU to want the UK to do the same?

[AsMuchIn]

AIBU to want the UK to do the same as France, who are imposing a levy on products bought from SHEIN, TEMU, etc.

The impact on our high street (or now lack of) is massive, shops gone or as people choose cheap, poor quality, sometimes dangerous products. Less jobs in retail, empty shops, units filled with nail bars and vape shops.

The impact on the environment is also detrimental.

We are not making good choices ourselves, so bring in a levy.

France targets Shein and Temu with fast fashion fees https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm2792pendro

Because people will just stop buying the stuff rather than buying locally

We are not making good choices ourselves

You could say that about anything.

People are not making good choices when they overeat and end up overweight.

People are not making good choices when they are drinking alcohol, or smoking, or vaping.

People are not making good choices when they work full time and have young kids in full time childcare.

People are not making good choices when they don’t even try to breastfeed and just go straight to bottle feeding.

People are not making good choices if they are forward facing a child before the age of 4, using sleep nests or cot bumpers.

A “good choice” is subjective. But we have the freedom to make those choices whether you like it or not.

So where would we buy goods if there were less online ‘bargains’?

My local high street would thrive. Some small independents even now, selling quality clothing. We just need more.

Happy to buy second hand too, so much waste.

💯 but I personally think it should be banned. Nothing CE tested, dangerous items, cheap landfill shit. The argument about Primark is void - you have some comeback if there is something wrong with the product so they have a duty to make sure it’s safe.

Lots of taxes already apply - we pay them - but a fast-fashion-direct-to-customer cash charge should be imposed quickly.

The stuff’s shit for us and the planet.

I would like to see a return to quality products on our high street shops. Why would I pay £18 for a basic top in a high street shop when it is the same see through, thin, plastic feeling crap that is on Shein for £5?

I don't mind spending for high quality clothes that fit nicely and last. I do mind spending money on something that last 3 washes and goes baggy/ bobbly. Feels like plastic. I can get something pretty much identical for 1/5 of the price.

The high street shops need to stop the race to the bottom on quality. Instead offer something people want - nice decent quality basics. I for one have hunted for eternity on the high street for a nice basic cotton t-shirt that covers my stomach and sits at a nice length, has actual sleeves (that rest mid bicep/ upper elbow), is not a tent and is cotton not some strange synthetic static material.

Maybe you should blame the landlords for the extortionate rent and the councils for the business rates and parking charges which all goes against any high street.

Whenever I’m out and about in France, Spain, Germany and Italy, the high streets are hardly better. The big affluent towns (usually university towns) are doing well, and the smaller towns on their arses.

Do you have any concept of how retail works? It’s a complicated chain of available retail space, affordable rents and business rates, retailers who have something to offer who can source/make goods at a price people can afford, availability of staff etc. Businesses wont spring up magically just because SHEIN pays more tax.

Online shopping is a lifesaver for so many people .We really shouldn’t have to point this out to you.

But there are laws governing most of these areas - you can't just produce/sell/buy whatever you want or put whatever you want into your own body, and there are restrictions on where you can smoke or what kinds of car seats you should use. The lines are drawn in different places, but we absolutely don't have the freedom, as producers or consumers, to make whatever choices we want.

The race to the bottom is the ‘SHEIN’ factor though. Many people look at price first rather than fabric labels or how well something is made.

If it is cheaper they will buy, no matter the quality. Prices stay low through flooding our markets with ‘tat’, it is very difficult to compete.

I accept that the levy alone will not revitalise the high street, it needs to be part of a range of measures. But so many people are outraged by the state of our high street (no decent shops, many nail bars, barbers, vape shops) that something needs to be done.

Our high streets are very different to those in various places in Europe that I have visited. Thriving, quality, social.

A lot of Shein Temu is exactly the same goods as in the shops.

Don’t forget the Cost of Living crisis, and the amount of people on benefits.
There isn’t the money washing around to support boutique shops in every town.

This 100 %

I only partially agree. These companies are filling a gap, not creating the issue.

The issue with high streets, IMO, is that in the 90s/early 00s, lots of new shopping centres popped up, on the edge of the city centre in lots of small towns. Usually containing a big Debenhams, and a handful of smaller shops. These shopping centres killed off the main shopping street. Then Debenhams went bust, and the shopping centre died off too.

I don't disagree with a tax on online sales made abroad, e.g. Shein. There are already import fees for lots of things, and i actually thought they were going to start applying them to Shein parcels?

But not for online sales which are posted within the UK. A lot of the time, people are buying online because it is the only option. Or the cheapest - why would I wait for the weekend, drive 40 miles to the nearest Next, pay £10 to park, to find that they don't have what I want in store in my size? When I could pay £5 delivery and get it tomorrow.

That is not true, so many more safety laws especially around fabrics and materials, when sold in the UK via a shop.

If you think so.

Have to agree when the norm is now both adults working full time then you go to high street they expect you to pay for parking in a pothole unmaintained carpark then you get to shop and they haven’t got what you want anyway. I choose to order online whilst at work on lunch break etc better use of time and inevitably cheaper

I don’t want to go into the high street. Ours is disgusting, full of gangs of teenagers and people on drugs. We don’t all live in chocolate box villages full of lovely old ladies.

Not everyone can pop into town and easily browse around shops for a few hours. People with mobility problems/disabilities have come to rely on online shopping as its the option that works for them. I think its important to support the high street, but we need to remember that accessibility matters too. Online shopping isn't always about being lazy or taking the cheapest option, but it may be for some, the only option.

Not really.

The real shop is legally responsible to sell only things that are safe - so it can look the same, but one went through safety certification and the other can be toxic

In the end of day you can find a lot of goods sold on Temu Shein sold to + 200% in the high streets shops. The same crap.

I’m very much with you, OP. Anything to reduce the amount of plastic tat in this world.

That being said, charity shops have become extortionate. I swear, I’ve seen SHEIN clothes being listed at higher prices in charity shops, than what they were likely paid for on SHEIN in the first place.

Yeah we do. People can smoke and vape. They can eat what they want. They can jeopardise their own child’s life by forward facing them at the age of 2.

Don't fool yourselves too much.

It would help against the eshops pretending they are local, won't it?
If their stuff would be more expensive with the extra levy, and the levy would be visible, peple would notice something is off.