Orders from Shein, Temu and AliExpress that arrive from countries outside the European Union will have a new customs cost starting Sunday, November 1. Brussels will begin charging a processing fee of two euros per category of items, which will be added to the three-euro tariff introduced in July for purchases of up to 150 euros. Both charges will raise to five euros the amount required for each category of goods included in the shipment, regardless of the number of units purchased.
The official date of entry into force is Sunday, although Monday, November 2 will be the first working day under the new rules. The surcharge will apply to online purchases from third countries, not only those made on Asian platforms. Nor will it depend on where the selling company is based, but on whether the products must pass through European customs before reaching the buyer.
The European Commission approved this fee within its customs reform to finance part of the costs arising from the inspection of imported goods. The obligation to pay generally falls to the seller or the operator responsible for the import, but the platforms may pass that expense on in their prices. The Organización de Consumidores y Usuarios (OCU) warned this Friday that the cheapest items, especially clothing, accessories and small electronic devices, could become proportionally more expensive.
How much will be paid for orders from Shein, Temu and AliExpress
Since last July 1, the European Union has charged a fixed tariff of three euros per tariff category on goods purchased online whose shipment does not exceed 150 euros. From November, those same orders will have to bear another two euros for customs procedures, reaching five euros per category, before counting taxes and possible handling fees from transport companies.
The Tax Agency clarifies that the calculation does not depend on the number of products or the number of packages, but on their tariff classification. Thus, five T-shirts of the same category would give rise to a single charge of five euros, while an order that includes a T-shirt and a watch of different categories would accumulate ten euros between the tariff and the new fee.
A buyer who gathers clothing, toys and electronic accessories in the same basket could therefore pay several surcharges, even if all the items arrive together. For low-value orders, that accumulation can considerably increase the cost of the purchase.
The limit of 150 euros determines which tariff must be paid, but it does not exempt from the processing fee. Orders that exceed that amount will continue to be subject to the ordinary import duties that correspond to each item and must also pay the two euros per category established by the new regulation.
Will the buyer have to pay when they receive the package?
European authorities assign the payment of customs duties to the operators who place the goods on the community market, usually the sellers, importers or their representatives. The platforms may assume the cost or incorporate it into the price they offer the consumer, so the entry into force of the fee does not mean that all recipients will receive a five-euro claim when the order is delivered to them.
OCU recommends checking, before completing the purchase, whether the advertised price includes import duties and the processing fee. When both items are already included in the amount paid, they should not be charged again during delivery.
The association also advises keeping the invoice and the order confirmation to claim if the carrier demands an additional outlay. In that case, the consumer can request a breakdown of the amounts claimed and check whether they correspond to taxes, customs duties or administrative costs of the transport service, which are different concepts.
Items that are already in free circulation within the European Union when the purchase is made will not have to go through a new import. For this reason, two products sold through the same platform may receive different customs treatment depending on their origin and situation.
The new fee also does not modify consumers' return rights or legal warranties. OCU recalls that, as a general rule, online purchases allow withdrawal from the contract during the 14 days after receipt of the product and that, when customs charges are included in the sale price, the refund must also include those amounts.
Why the European Union has approved the new surcharge
The growth of low-value imports has led Community institutions to review customs rules designed when e-commerce had a much smaller weight. According to the European Commission, in 2025 about 5.9 billion low-value items arrived in the EU, compared with a volume approximately four times lower in 2022.
Until June of this year, purchases of up to 150 euros enjoyed an exemption from import duties that Brussels decided to eliminate in the face of the increase in shipments and the differences in treatment compared with goods imported through traditional commercial channels. The fixed tariff of three euros began to be charged on July 1 and will remain in force, on a temporary basis, until July 2028.
The additional fee in November responds to the supervision costs of that volume of parcels. Customs authorities must examine the goods documentation, analyze possible risks and carry out checks to detect products that do not comply with European safety rules.
The Commission has also warned of the irregularities discovered in inspections of items marketed over the Internet. During checks carried out in 2025 on certain categories, such as toys, cosmetics and electronic products, more than 60% of the products examined failed to meet some European requirement, according to the results released by Brussels. That proportion corresponds to the inspected items, not to the total set of goods entering the Union.
New obligations to identify imported products
On November 1, it will also begin to be required that customs declarations for distance sales include specific product identifiers. Sellers and operators will have to provide information that allows the goods to be identified and linked to their manufacturers and traders.
The Tax Agency details that the declarations must include the trader identifier and the manufacturer identifier, with the particularities provided for products that lack a standardized code. With these data, the authorities will be able to better trace imported items and verify whether they comply with marketing requirements.
The two new features will arrive at the doors of the Black Friday sales campaign and the Christmas shopping season, when international platforms concentrate an important part of their promotions. Before completing an order, consumers should check which expenses are included in the price and which could be added during importation.