AliExpress loses its crown: Spain's 3€ fee kills the bargain

AliExpress no longer pays off: the 3€ per-item tariff sinks the bargain

Is it still worth buying on AliExpress? Judging by what long-time users of the platform are saying, the answer is increasingly no. The EU's infamous levy —that per-item tariff that in practice adds up to more than 3€ per unit— has turned buying cheap gadgets into an act of faith. Before, a twenty-euro order with several items was a great deal. Now, that same cart carries a surcharge that eats up the savings and leaves the deal on par with Amazon.

The diagnosis keeps repeating itself: prices have been inflated to compensate for the subsidized shipping that no longer exists, the deals are increasingly fake and the inventory is still anchored in China. The AliExpress Plaza promise —shipping from a European warehouse, no tariffs— only works for bestsellers. Everything else still crosses half the world with its corresponding customs bite.

The math is devastating for the small-scale buyer. A matching shorts-and-swimsuit set pays 3€ in tariffs; bought separately, 6€. The logic would suggest bundling everything together, but the platform doesn't do it. Meanwhile, the EU is preparing another 2€ fee for November, adding yet another layer of fixed cost to any small order.

The opposite effect of what Brussels intended

The stated aim was to protect European commerce and collect VAT. The result, according to buyers themselves, is neither. Low-value sales have fallen 95% in some segments, and the VAT that used to be collected on every package now simply doesn't exist because the package is never shipped. Flawless plan, consumers quip from the trenches.

Some argue that protectionism works and that the Chinese are hardly champions of free markets at home. The argument has merit: Beijing has spent years sealing its own market shut while flooding everyone else's. But the remedy applied in Europe hasn't created local factories; it has created middlemen. Big Chinese exporters now sell wholesale to European distributors who resell the same product with a 40% or 50% markup. The end consumer pays more, the Chinese manufacturer keeps selling, and the only loser is the individual who used to buy three euros cheaper.

Amazon rubs its hands

The silent winner in all this is Amazon. The US company already included import duties in the price of many products, and now watches its direct rival lose the only argument it had left: price. For items under fifteen euros, the fixed 3.63€ tariff turns a two-euro purchase into one of nearly six. For items of fifty euros or more, the surcharge is diluted and the gap with local commerce remains wide.

The problem is the mid-range segment. There, AliExpress isn't cheap and Amazon isn't fast. And discount brick-and-mortar stores —Action, Tedi, Pepco, Zeeman— have found an unexpected opening: they buy wholesale, warehouse in Europe and sell at prices that beat even the pandemic era. Some products end up cheaper than on the Chinese platform, with no waiting and no customs.

Spare parts, batteries and the end of cheap DIY

The most frequently cited collateral damage is spare parts. Screws, connectors, specific batteries, electronic components that can't be found in Spain or that are sold here at gold prices because they're aimed at certified professionals. Before, five odds and ends cost ten euros. Now they cost twenty-eight. The practical conclusion is that it's cheaper to throw the device away and buy a new one than to repair it — an ecological irony the EU doesn't seem to have calculated.

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The question isn't whether AliExpress is dead, but whether anyone has done the math on what it costs to keep it alive. For now, the bill is being paid by the usual suspect: the person who wanted a two-euro cable and now pays five.