The EU’s new customs duty on low-value parcels is already changing cross-border ecommerce behaviour.
Before July 1, many low-value ecommerce parcels entered the EU without customs duty if their value did not exceed €150. Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382 removed that threshold-based relief and introduced a temporary €3 duty from July 1, 2026 until July 1, 2028.
The duty is not calculated per individual unit in the everyday sense. It is applied per item category, based on tariff classification. The European Commission’s example is simple: five T-shirts in one parcel attract one €3 duty because they fall under the same tariff classification; a parcel containing T-shirts and a watch would attract €6 because it contains two classifications.
That detail matters. A flat charge by category creates an incentive to consolidate orders, reduce impulse purchases, or favour items already stored within the EU. For very low-cost goods, a €3 charge can be large enough to change the checkout decision.
The duty is also only one part of the EU’s customs changes. On September 3, 2026, the Council of the EU gave final approval to a wider customs reform that makes non-EU ecommerce platforms responsible for customs formalities and duty payments when selling into the EU. The same reform introduces a separate EU-wide handling fee on small parcels by November 1, 2026, with the Commission still responsible for setting the level of that fee.
Parcel volumes and platform demand are already moving
French customs figures cited by the economy ministry and reported by Euronews and Le Monde suggest that small-parcel imports into the EU fell by about 30% to 40% after the €3 duty took effect. That figure should be read as an early indicator, not a complete EU-wide market measurement, but it shows that customs policy is already affecting flows.
France also offers one of the clearest early views into consumer behaviour. AFP reported on September 21, citing the Institut français de la mode, that Shein, Temu and AliExpress represented 29% of online apparel purchases by volume in France over the first seven months of 2026, compared with 19% in 2025. Yet in July alone, after the EU duty took effect, the trio’s share fell to 25%.
Audience data point in the same direction. Fevad and Médiamétrie data reported by AFP and Le Monde showed July year-over-year traffic declines of 36.4% for Temu, 42.3% for Shein and 10.4% for AliExpress in France. Le Monde also reported that the platforms still had large July audiences, with 15.4 million unique visitors for Temu, 10.7 million for Shein and 13.8 million for AliExpress.
That combination is important for interpreting the market. The new duty appears to be slowing some activity, but it has not removed demand for low-cost ecommerce platforms. The change so far looks less like a collapse and more like a shift in how often people order, how much they put in each basket, and which fulfilment routes platforms prioritize.
Basket sizes are rising as shoppers consolidate orders
German buyer data from General Evidence adds another piece to the picture. Its analysis, based on email-confirmed purchases from verified German buyers between January and August 2026, found that average basket sizes for Shein and Temu combined rose 38% to €56.83 after the July customs change. Order frequency fell 24% over the same comparison period.
The sample covered 12,466 purchases and compared Shein and Temu against H&M and Zara as an EU-based control group. General Evidence said the H&M and Zara control group did not show a comparable change.
The finding is limited to Germany and to the panel’s own purchase data, so it should not be treated as proof of the entire EU market. Still, it fits the incentives created by the rule. A fixed per-category duty makes small, frequent orders less attractive and makes larger baskets more rational for shoppers who still want to buy from non-EU platforms.
Platforms are pushing harder toward local fulfilment
The duty also changes the logistics equation. Reuters reported on July 1 that Shein had been expanding warehouse space in Wroclaw, Poland, and shipping more products into the EU in bulk. Le Monde later reported that Fevad’s Marc Lolivier pointed to Shein’s Polish warehouse as one example of how platforms may adapt.
That move does not make customs obligations disappear. Goods imported into the EU in bulk still face the relevant import rules. But it changes the structure of the transaction. A product already stored in an EU warehouse is not the same as a direct low-value parcel shipped from outside the bloc to a consumer’s door.
Other platforms are also changing how costs are shown. Reuters reported that AliExpress said applicable listings would show a “Price includes duties and VAT” label, while other items would display import charges before checkout. Amazon told Reuters that 97% of its EU shipments in the previous year were fulfilled from warehouses inside the bloc, and that import charges would be shown for products shipped from outside the EU.
For large marketplaces, this turns customs handling into a pricing, conversion and fulfilment problem. The winner is not simply the seller with the cheapest item. It may be the seller that can show the full landed cost clearly, reduce surprise charges, and ship from inventory close enough to the customer to protect delivery speed.
The pressure extends beyond the largest platforms
The rule was designed with low-value ecommerce imports in mind, and major names such as Shein, Temu and AliExpress dominate the public discussion. But the effects reach beyond those platforms.
Any merchant selling low-cost goods into the EU from outside the bloc now has to account for a more visible landed cost. That can affect paid advertising economics, average order value targets, return rates, checkout abandonment and inventory planning.
For Canadian ecommerce operators, the EU’s shift is also a sign of how quickly cross-border assumptions can change. Direct-to-consumer international shipping has often depended on small-parcel thresholds, simplified customs handling and cheap fulfilment routes. As governments tighten low-value import rules, ecommerce models built around duty-light micro-shipments become more fragile.
The practical response is likely to vary by seller size. Larger platforms can absorb some costs, negotiate with suppliers, alter category mixes, localize inventory or push basket consolidation. Smaller sellers may have fewer options and may need to make pricing, duty collection and delivery expectations clearer before checkout.
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