The €3-per-item duty that killed the Aliexpress bargain

The €3-per-item duty kills the Aliexpress bargain

Is it still worth buying on Aliexpress? With the European customs levy now in force, the answer is dangerously close to no. Every item in a basket adds its own surcharge, and the minimum exceeds €3 per product. Buying ten bits and pieces for €15 delivered to your door—the ritual that for years justified the patience of waiting three weeks for a parcel—no longer makes economic sense. The Chinese platform that sold at a third of Amazon's price no longer sells at a third of anything.

What is the duty that makes every purchase cost more?

The mechanism is as simple to describe as it is absurd to apply. Every product crossing the European border carries its own surcharge, not the whole shipment. A calculation circulating among regular buyers points to more than €3 per item, which turns any low-value basket into a ruinous affair. The promotion the platform itself launched to cushion the blow—a discount on the levy—amounted to just €3 applied to baskets over €20. It didn't pay off even with a calculator in hand.

Why does the same set cost €3 or €6 depending on how you buy it?

Because the surcharge is applied by customs category, not by transaction. A pair of cycling shorts and a jersey bought together are taxed as a single parcel; bought separately, they add up to two surcharges. Anyone who has tried it in their own basket describes the result as nonsense, and the diagnosis stands on its own: the platform has not reacted by grouping products into batches so the buyer can dodge the fee. If the system rewards the bundle and nobody creates the bundle, the problem isn't the rule. It's whoever suffers it without lifting a finger.

Shipping from Spain is the only route that holds up

Against the collapse of the transcontinental parcel, domestic delivery holds up. A Chinese-brand electric drill for €14, with no duty and free shipping, reached a village in two days. In major cities, sooner. The problem is coverage: most stock is still stored in China, and only fast-moving products or official catalogues ship from Spanish territory. One buyer estimates that 90% of his orders still cross half the world.

Amazon hides the duty; here it is charged separately

The difference in strategy is striking. The big US platform has chosen to spread import duties into the final price and label them as included, so the blow is felt less even though you pay the same. On the Chinese one, the surcharge appears itemised and hurts more. Checking any purchase from two years ago confirms a brutal increase in both cases. The conclusion that keeps coming up: everything is outrageously expensive, no matter where you buy.

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There remains the consolation of the refund. An €18 order with local delivery had been lost since 25 August and ended up refunded—though only after the claim went through a bot incapable of reading a photo. Before, uploading the image was enough. The parcel died; the bargain did too. The website is still open and prices keep rising, which is exactly what a business does when things are going well.