In recent years, Asian e-commerce has found a goldmine in the European market thanks to a series of tax and customs advantages that allowed it to sell products at very low prices. Platforms like Temu, Shein, and AliExpress have established a strong presence in Spain by taking advantage of a system that, in practice, functioned almost as a legal loophole.
That scenario is about to change significantly. The European Union has decided to put a stop to this model with a new European tax of €3 per shipment and product category , which will affect all packages from outside the EU, no matter how cheap they are. The measure aims to level the playing field for local businesses and recover a significant portion of tax revenue that was being lost.
The origin of the problem: low-value packages and a void in the system
Until now, shipments arriving in the European Union with a declared value of less than €150 entered virtually duty-free, only subject to VAT . This threshold allowed large online sales platforms to manipulate prices and offer products at figures that were very difficult for European stores to match.
To further complicate matters, when an order exceeded €150, it was relatively common for it to be divided into several smaller packages , ensuring that none of them surpassed the established limit . This mechanism allowed companies to keep a large portion of their shipments entering the European market without paying the corresponding tariffs.
For years, retailers across the European Union had been pointing to this situation as a significant distortion of competition against local businesses . This pressure from the business sector was compounded by the concerns of national governments, who saw billions in tax revenue slipping away from public coffers.
The volume illustrates the scale of the phenomenon: in 2024 alone, more than 4.600 billion packages considered low-value arrived in the European Union , and over 90% of them came directly from China. With these figures in mind, Brussels has decided to intervene and redesign the system.
How the European €3 shipping fee works
The key change will come on July 1, 2026, when all shipments entering the European Union from third countries will be subject to a fixed fee of €3 per product category . This will apply even if the purchase value is very low.
The important thing to note is that the fee is not calculated per complete package, but rather per type of item. In other words, if a single order contains a mix of products from different categories, the fee will be charged cumulatively, adding €3 for each distinct category included in the shipment.
A practical example helps to understand this better: if someone buys a pen, a notepad, a phone case, and hair accessories in a single order, and each of those products belongs to a different category, the surcharge will not be €3, but €12 in total for all four categories . This cost will be added to the price already paid for the product and the corresponding VAT.
Furthermore, the fee will not be paid upon receiving the package at customs, as was the case with other surcharges. Instead, the platforms themselves will be responsible for incorporating this amount into the final price and collecting it upfront . In practice, this means that the user will see the additional cost reflected directly at the time of payment on the website or in the app.
The regulations stipulate that this measure will initially be applied for a period of two years, while the new European Union Customs Data Centre is being fully implemented . However, if this centralized system is not ready in time, the European institutions are considering extending the current regime for as long as necessary.
More costs on the horizon: additional surcharge for customs management
The €3 European fee per shipment won't be the only change. From November 1, 2026, an additional handling and processing surcharge will be added to this fixed amount , and will apply to the same low-value shipments from outside the EU.
This additional surcharge will be collected, depending on the case, either by the customs authorities themselves or by the transport and logistics companies handling the packages. The official justification is to cover the costs associated with digitizing processes, increasing staff, and modernizing the control system.
In practice, this new layer of expenses will cause many of those small orders that were previously so inexpensive to end up being significantly more expensive for the end consumer . The additional cost will come not only from the €3 fee per category, but also from this handling fee associated with each shipment.
All of this will particularly affect low-value purchases, which were precisely what had fueled the popularity of platforms like Temu, Shein, and AliExpress in Spain and the rest of the European Union. This combination of very inexpensive products and seemingly free shipping will be much less common once the new regulations are fully implemented.
Impact on Temu, Shein, AliExpress and other Asian platforms
One of the biggest unknowns is how the e-commerce platforms that benefited most from this model will react. Temu, Shein, AliExpress, and other similar websites have built their success in Europe on very aggressive pricing and logistics adapted to the regulatory gaps that existed in the system.
Although it's still too early to know exactly what strategies they'll deploy, everything suggests that a large part of their catalog will become less attractive in terms of price. Purchases of less than 10 or 15 euros per item will likely lose much of their appeal once the 3 euro per category fee plus the handling charge is added.
Possible solutions include implementing minimum order amounts for shipping , so the fixed shipping fee is spread across more products. It wouldn't be surprising to see minimum order values around €30 or even higher, especially on platforms with very tight margins.
Another option would be to try to group items currently classified separately under the same product category, with the aim of reducing the number of categories per shipment and, therefore, the total fees . However, this type of practice will be closely monitored by customs authorities, who will have more data and tools to control the flow of packages.
In any case, the impulse-buy model of one or two extremely cheap products shipped from Asia, which had become so common among many Spanish consumers, will foreseeably be greatly limited. The focus could shift towards more concentrated, higher-value orders , or even towards alternatives with logistics and stock within the European Union itself.
Implications for consumers in Spain and Europe
For Spanish and European users, the change will be directly reflected in the final bill. Purchases that previously seemed almost symbolic, with prices of just a few euros and relatively affordable shipping, will now be subject to a fixed surcharge that will weigh much more heavily on small amounts than on large purchases.
This could lead to a readjustment of habits: many people will stop placing those individual orders for low-value products and will consider accumulating several items in a single purchase or looking for alternatives in stores with warehouses in the European Union, where the 3 euro shipping fee will not apply in the same way.
Another likely consequence is that some consumption will return to large marketplaces with a logistics presence in Europe, such as Amazon or other local operators, where the combination of fast delivery, lower customs charges and simpler return policies can compensate for a price difference that will no longer be so large compared to Asian platforms.
At the same time, traditional shops and European SMEs may find themselves somewhat less pressured by competition based almost exclusively on price. The new tax aims to help local retailers compete on a more level playing field , although this alone does not guarantee they will regain market share if they do not also offer good service, product range, and a positive shopping experience.
In general terms, consumers will have to get used to looking more closely at the breakdown of costs before finalizing an international purchase, as customs-related surcharges will no longer be exceptional and will become part of the everyday experience of online shopping outside the Union.
The scenario that opens up with the application of the European tax of 3 euros per shipment points to a somewhat less impulsive and more rationalized cross-border e-commerce, in which Asian platforms will have to adjust their strategy and Spanish consumers will have to better assess when it really pays to buy outside the EU and when it is more cost-effective to resort to options with European logistics or local commerce, while the Community institutions try to square the circle between tax collection, fair competition and access to affordable products.
