Starting today, shopping on Shein and Temu is going from dirt cheap to slightly less dirt cheap.
In updates to U.S. customers last week, the rival retailers shared similar announcements that their pricing would go up beginning on April 25, citing rising operating expenses from global trade rules and tariffs. The retailers even encouraged shoppers to get one last order in before it was too late: Until April 25, prices will stay the same, so you can shop now at todays rates, Temu wrote in its announcement. Weve stocked up and stand ready to make sure your orders arrive smoothly during this time.
By this morning, that shopping window had passed. Heres what we know so far about the price hikes, and how they might impact your favorite TikTok influencers next haul:
Why is this happening now?
This update from Shein and Temu doesnt exactly come as a surprise. Since early February, President Trumps new tariff policies made it clear that neither companys business model could survive unchanged for long.
Both Shein and Temu operate by using labor in Chinese factories to manufacture ultracheap goods and ship them abroad. But unlike other companies with a similar manufacturing strategylike Gap or H&MShein and Temu cut the middleman of stocking in U.S. warehouses by shipping goods directly from China to shoppers doors. This strategy has historically allowed them to take advantage of a tax code loophole called de minimis, which allows all packages under $800 to ship into the U.S. duty-free.
In early April, Trump signed an executive order thats set to end the de minimis loophole starting on May 2. That means that Shein and Temus packagespart of a total of four million low-value packages that arrive in the U.S. every daywill no longer be exempt from duties. For companies relying on Chinese-made goods, that’s an especially heavy financial burden, given that Trump also recently slapped a 145% tariff on most products made in China.
As experts predicted back in February, Shein and Temu are unable to absorb the major costs associated with Trump nixing the de minimis loophole. Now, theyve been forced to forfeit some of their competitive advantage by offloading costs onto consumers.
How will this affect pricing?
So far, its not entirely clear what those added consumer costs will look like. Neither Shein nor Temu provided specific price hike rates or an idea of how shipping might be affected, and its not immediately evident whether markups are the same across the board or variable based on items.
Pricing on Shein and Temu is difficult to navigate at the best of times, given that both sites rely on a nightmarish UX of constant promotions, markdowns, and discount codes to obscure the actual cost of individual items and make them appear even cheaper than they already are. To get some sense of how costs have increased, Fast Company took a look through TikToks that track Shein orders from earlier this week (when customers were flocking to place their last orders) and compared them to prices on the sites today.
On Tuesday, creator Chiara Aceto made a video showing followers what to add to your Shein cart before you place that order on April 25th. In the TikTok, she recommends a $21.59 yellow two-piece set, a $17.86 pair of heels, and an $8.79 sparkly tank top, among other items. Those pieces are now $44.71, $22.90, and $17.69, respectively, with both the set and the tank top nearly doubling in price. Other pieces, like a relatively pricey ($63.80) knockoff Miu Miu handbag only went up by about $1, while still others, like a Stanley cup dupe, have gone down slightly in price.
Aceto followed up with another video on Wednesday sharing her favorite bags on the site. Most of the bags are hovering around the same prices today, while a few have shot up considerably, like one Prada dupe that was $36.85 and is now $56.20. Overall, nearly all of the items mentioned by Aceto in the two TikToks are at least slightly more expensive today than they were earlier in the weekthough, given that Sheins prices are known to fluctuate on a regular basis, its difficult to tell how much of the change can be attributed to tariff price hikes, and how much is just par for the course.
Nvertheless, customers appear to be noticing a difference today. In a video posted on Wednesday, creator @lifeoqhi0js, who is a Shein ambassador, also warned followers to get their orders in before April 25. Several commenters under the video reported seeing prices go up this morning, including one user who wrote that their cart had increased by $60 overnight, and another who asked, why did a $3 shirt go up to $11?
Shein and Temus futures are currently looking relatively bleak, given that their business models revolve almost entirely around offering the lowest possible prices compared to competitors. To be clear, both retailers prices are still unbelievably cheap. But for consumers, the difference between a $3 T-shirt and an $11 T-shirt might be enough to abandon a $700 Shein haul in favor of investing in fewer pieces that will last a bit longer.
