Heads up: Shein and Temu aren’t going to be as cheap starting April 25

The de minimis party is over on April 25.

Both Temu and Shein have separately announced sweeping plans to “adjust” the prices of items sold on their platforms starting then, citing “recent changes in global trade rules and tariffs.” To be sure, both the notices use identical language.

The China-linked e-commerce platforms also urged US shoppers to shop right away: “Until April 25, prices will stay the same, so you can shop now at today’s rates. We stand ready to make sure your orders arrive smoothly during this time.”

The rollback of de minimis—which allowed packages valued at up to $800 to enter the US without additional duties or tariffs—for all shipments from China and Hong Kong is set to come into effect on May 2. Reuters reported that de minimis accounts for more than 90% of US imports, and orders from Shein and Temu account for about 60% of these shipments.

“De minimis has been instrumental for Shein and Temu’s growth but we always knew it will end eventually,” Juozas Kaziukėnas, founder and CEO of Marketplace Pulse, shared in a message to Retail Brew. “Both of them have been preparing for this for more than a year by growing domestic supply of goods, adding local brands, and building manufacturing capacity outside of China (Shein has it in Brazil and Turkey).”

Temu has moved away from its direct-to-China supply model where it would originally handle everything to get Chinese products from factories to consumers in the US. Instead, the e-commerce retailer is switching to a more partially managed marketplace model that is focused on US-based fulfillment.

“But despite that work to diversify, a lot of the core offering is direct-from-China goods that will inevitably get more expensive now with de minimis going away and the full stack of tariffs hitting them—combined duties and tariffs on items like sweaters is nearly 170%.” Kaziukėnas said.

Temu launched in the US in September 2022, while Shein has been selling to US consumers since 2017.

The burning question is whether Shein and Temu will still be relevant after they lose a lot of their price advantage, Kaziukėnas said: “I believe they will, but we’ve already seen Temu start deprioritizing the US by reducing ad spend.”