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United States

US Takes Aim At Shein and Temu With New Import Rule Proposal (theverge.com) 63

The Biden administration is proposing new rules to limit the "de minimis" exemption, which some Chinese e-commerce companies like Shein and Temu use to ship low-cost goods under $800 to U.S. customers without tariffs. The changes would subject certain shipments to closer inspection and tariffs, aiming to protect American consumers and businesses by ensuring a level playing field against Chinese platforms that have exploited this loophole. The Verge reports: Under the proposed rules, the US will prevent companies from claiming the de minimis exemption if their goods are covered by Section 301, Section 232, and Section 201 tariffs, which apply to products from China, steel, and aluminum, as well as washing machines and solar panels. In addition to slapping these shipments with tariffs, the rule change would subject them to closer inspection by US Customs and Border Protection.

The Biden administration said the proposal would help "protect consumers from goods that do not meet regulatory health and safety standards." Even though Shein is headquartered in Singapore, it's known for cheap fast fashion that's mainly manufactured in China. The China-based Temu sells clothes, household items, electronics, and a variety of other goods made in the country as well.

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US Takes Aim At Shein and Temu With New Import Rule Proposal

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  • Seriously

    • by znrt ( 2424692 )

      nerds vote too.

    • And transformers crap is all over Temu? Not to mention all the cosplay gear people buy.

      I get it we are mostly comprised of old farts who don't have a lot of money having blown it raising a kid or two, because ironically nerds have kids too and kids are stupidly expensive...

      But for a lot of rank and file nerds Temu is chalk full of stuff they buy on a regular basis.
      • TBH, most of what I've seen on Temu is just no-name crap that isn't actually all that cheaper than buying from some drop shipper on Amazon or eBay. Temu certainly spends a lot of money on social media advertising to give the impression that they're giving stuff away, but that's just the modern take on as-seen-on-TV ads, where if you convince people your overpriced mediocre products are actually a fantastic deal, you'll almost always find enough suckers to earn a decent profit.

        I've personally seen quite a f

        • It kind of varies. You can get some really cool transformers stuff especially some weird transformers stuff on there. Like things where they mix molds into weird creations. Really unique stuff you can't get anywhere else unless you're basically buying it on Amazon from somebody who is shipping it from Temu after buying it in bulk and even then a lot of the funkier and weirder stuff doesn't show up on Amazon.

          You can also get some extremely elaborate stuff there that's not cheap but is a pretty high qualit
          • by Powercntrl ( 458442 ) on Friday September 13, 2024 @11:54PM (#64786943) Homepage

            I've only made the mistake of checking out the products Temu tends to advertise. Which at least from the ads I've gotten, was consumer goods like drones, electric yard tools, and the sort of hardware store stuff that Harbor Freight carries. I didn't really see anything that caught my eye as a particularly good deal, and the app itself played some obnoxious games with bogus discounts.

            I'm sure there's probably some hidden gems on there for niche buyers, such as collectables as you've mentioned (although I'd have to wonder if things like Funko Pops were truly genuine), but I only approached it from the perspective of "do they have any deals that beat Walmart / eBay / Amazon for the same stuff?" and the answer to that ended up being a resounding nope.

            Even when I end up tinkering with electronics and need to order some parts, Amazon is almost always my go-to since they ship quickly. It's nice to have the parts for whatever I'm working on arrive before I lose interest and move on to something else, which is usually the case with ordering direct from China. Big ass bag of diodes shows up in the mail several months later and I'm like "Now what were these for again?"

            • by Mitreya ( 579078 )

              "do they have any deals that beat Walmart / eBay / Amazon for the same stuff?" ... resounding nope

              Really? I have not gotten around to it, but my dad uses Temu and from my understanding they offer cheaper things compared to Walmart or Amazon (e.g., sneakers for something like $6 which were perfectly serviceable). And if it is bad, you don't even have to return it like you would with Walmart, because Temu does not want it shipped back (convenient for consumer but bad for environment).
              My impression is that Temu is doing something unnatural price-wise and the "de mimimus" tax sounds like one of the explan

            • and the app itself played some obnoxious games with bogus discounts.

              My favourite are for listings for anything that is ever so slightly dirty. Like one of the items that came up when I explored Temu's site was a "Soccer themed desktop statue ornament". It was a glass buttplug.

              That said I'm not sure where you're looking. I'm see all sorts of things for ludicrously cheap compared to the standard Walmart / Amazon stuff, but not cheaper than comparable ebay or Aliexpress Chinese junk. A meat thermometer for $1? Never seen that at Walmart. Will it work? Probably not, but the poi

    • Because I was so going to buy one of Temu's $5 border gateway routers.

  • So, this means a US business just buys the stuff from Shein and Temu, slaps their label on it, triples the price, and sells it on Amazon or other retail outlets?

    Great for businesses, but for the end user, it does nothing for them. They still get the same crap, except have to pay a middleman money for it.

    • by bkc ( 443098 )

      > So, this means a US business just buys the stuff from Shein and Temu, slaps their label on it, triples the price, and sells it on Amazon or other retail outlets?

      the "de minimus" tax waiver applies to purchases of less than $800. Its unlikely that a US business would purchase inventory from China $800 USD worth at a time.

      US businesses purchasing more than $800 of goods at a time already pay the full duty rate (the "de minimus" waiver does not apply to these purchases).

      I think a better example of what ac

    • Alibaba exist so you can FIND AND NEGOTIATE DIRECTLY with a Chinese factory. 10.000 ekickbikes with some modifications? Sure. Copies of decrapted Swedish mining drills from the 1970s out of production? Sure. Copies of various larger construction equipment? Yupp
      Shein, Temu, Aliexpress and others exist so you can buy cheap consumer goods almost directly from the first or second redistributor warehouse near manufacture. The entire point of it is that your local home improvement + automotive store Biltema or Ha

  • A lot of small businesses and startups rely on those tarif exceptions especially on sites like on Ebay, Alibaba, Newegg, Amazon etc will be decimated. Right or wrong, a lot of things just got a lot more expensive so either these companies are going to find a way around China to skip the import ban or they are they are history.
  • by Fly Swatter ( 30498 ) on Friday September 13, 2024 @09:41PM (#64786825) Homepage
    For years anyone in China could sell you a gizmo for $1 and not even have to charge you shipping to be profitable. Just make them pay actual shipping costs including US Postage like we citizens pay.

    And we blame things like Amazon and Walmart killing local merchants, this is worse and our own government enables it.
    • Can't.

      The international postage discount is set by a UN treaty (which the US signed and ratified) in an effort to provide a break to "developing nations". The fix is to stop classifying China as a developing nation and admit that they are equally advanced.

  • (makes note to lay in a good supply of aluminum round stock, rectangular stock, and structural extrusions)

    I understand how this protects American businesses, but fail to see why making things more expensive "protects consumers".

    • I understand how this protects American businesses, but fail to see why making things more expensive "protects consumers".

      What's wrong comrade, why don't you believe the news that a four-alarm fire in Downtown Moscow clears way for a glorious new tractor factory? [imdb.com]

    • The rationale stems from the fact that every consumer is actually (working for) a producer as well. So unless your work is competitive enough, you will be out of work and so won't be able to consume at all.

      So when products are available at substantially different prices - not due to some kind of technical efficiency like a better manufacturing process but due to what I'll call social differences, some of the lower-price sales will displace the higher-price sales. This puts pressure on the higher-priced pro

  • by jonwil ( 467024 ) on Friday September 13, 2024 @10:24PM (#64786873)

    It's time the stop the BS "developing country" exemption that China gets under the Universal Postal Union rules that allow Chinese online sellers to ship stuff to the US all the way from China for less than it would cost someone in the US so ship to he same thing yo the next state over.

    • by labnet ( 457441 )

      Yep Exactly the same in Australia.
      They ship a bag airfreight from China for $2, yet it costs me $10 to ship that bag one suburb away.
      Imagine the transport energy being wasted.
      Ending the developing country rubbish would put a big brake on trivial trinkets being shipped halfway around the world.

  • by quonset ( 4839537 ) on Friday September 13, 2024 @11:31PM (#64786921)

    I'm not able to find the article, but this one [npr.org] is close enough. In short, not only do Shein and Temu ship directly to people using this loophole, but so do fentanyl and other drug distributors. They mark the package as something else, have the value declared less than the $800 limit, then ship through the U.S. postal service.

    Since it's shipped directly, Customs doesn't get involved. Whether or not this new import rule will have any effect is anyone's guess.

  • These are the wrong targets. They are not selling strategically important goods. They are selling low tech stuff. Targeting these companies is just adding to inflation of everyday goods.

  • by gnasher719 ( 869701 ) on Sunday September 15, 2024 @04:03PM (#64789233)
    1. Treat stores like Temu, Shein, Amazon etc. as one entity fully responsible for everything on their store. If they sell on from other sellers, they are still fully responsible. Customers only need to interact with the store for complaints, warranty and so on.

    2. Imports under $800 stay tariff free - but one complete shipment counts. For example all Temu goods on the same airplane or ship. >br>
    3. Prices are displayed as by local stores. Important taxes in the price. In Europe, VAT included.

    4. Temu etc are legally responsible for delivering the goods offered as described. Not just money back if misdescribed but actually delivery of the promised item for the price offered.

    Especially the last rule would make sure that it is in Temu's best interest to throw out fraudulent sellers. If a fraudster sells 8TB SSD drives for $30 then Temu should be responsible to deliver. These offers will disappear very quickly, which benefits both customers and honest sellers.

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