Will My Temu Order Arrive With All of the Trump-China Tariff Speak about?

• Donald Trump’s govt orders may cease low-cost provide for e-commerce orders direct from China.
• Which can be dangerous information for Temu and Shein.
• An necessary query: What is going on to occur to the $2.74 mousepad I ordered from Temu closing week?!

Just a few days beforehand, I seen I wanted a mannequin new mousepad. The material masking was beginning to peel away from the rubber. So I went to Temu — additional on that in a minute.

Mousepads are only a few of these factors that — in idea — you should in no way purchase; they solely come into your life, like low-cost umbrellas or Mason jars.

Nonetheless resulting from a really very long time of repetitive movement from typing, my weary wrists want the sort of mousepad with the ergonomic padded blob on the top, not the plain flat ones you accumulate without charge.

So, spend my very private cash I’ve to.

Now, I’ve conflicted emotions about looking for on Temu, nonetheless a mousepad is sort of a very good Temu merchandise: High quality would not actually matter, and a $3 one is comparable as a $10 one — at the least to the human eye. As a price-sensitive shopper, I went for it.

I discovered a plain grey mousepad with a wrist leisure on Temu for $2.74 and ordered it.

Appropriately, it wasn’t fairly that simple — Temu requires a $15 minimal for an order to ship, so I threw in just a few fully completely different objects: a squishy elbow leisure, a mannequin new telephone case, some hair scrunchies.

Then catastrophe struck. Shortly after I positioned my order, President Donald Trump declared an finish to the “de minimis” exemption. There’s nonetheless some dialogue as to precisely what his govt order will point out, nonetheless de minimis permits orders beneath $800 to ship immediately from China to US prospects with out encountering duties and taxes. It is a big a part of how Temu and Shein have operated contained in the US so successfully.

Then factors went apocalyptic for my mousepad: On Tuesday night, the US Postal Service stopped taking inbound parcels from China. By Wednesday morning, the USPS had reversed that call, resuming service.

What all of this means for Temu and related sellers like Shein won’t be precisely clear, nonetheless let’s merely assume it is not good. (Temu did not reply to a request for remark.)

Nonetheless, each e-commerce platforms have superior earlier provide solely immediately from mainland China, and now numerous their sellers have warehouses contained in the US to ship orders domestically.

On Temu’s homepage, the perfect promoted half was for “native warehouse retailers” — sellers provide from warehouses contained in the US.

Shein’s internet web page had a lots a lot much less distinguished tab for “QuickShip” objects that ship from the US, which wasn’t seen in the slightest degree on its cell app.

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Whereas relations with one in every of our largest commerce companions are up contained in the air, I’ve good particulars about my mousepad (which I am constructive you have gotten been fearful about).

My Temu order seems to be nonetheless shifting alongside in processing to be shipped.