What changed
Combined German sales of Temu, Shein and AliExpress fell 35.5% year on year to 566 million euros; share of online goods sales fell from 5.3% to 3.1%
When
Q3 2026 (July to September), published by BEVH on October 8, 2026; the EU 3 euro duty started July 1, the 2 euro handling fee November 1
Who it affects
BEVH, the German E-Commerce and Distance Selling Trade Association, from a year-round survey of 40,000 residents aged 14 and over
What to do
Reprice EU-bound listings by customs category and basket, and move fast movers into EU stock before Q4 peak

Key takeaways

  • Temu, Shein and AliExpress sold 566 million euros in Germany in Q3 2026, down 35.5% year on year, and their share fell from 5.3% to 3.1%.
  • The lost sales did not go to German online shops, which fell 0.8%; marketplaces grew 5% and the whole market 2.9%.
  • The 3 euro duty plus the 2 euro November fee is 56% of a 9 euro item, so EU-stocked sellers can now hold a price premium on fast movers.

How the EU parcel duty rolled out

  1. EU drops 150 euro exemption, 3 euro duty per category

  2. Dutch e-commerce declarations fall 46%

  3. BEVH: Temu, Shein, AliExpress down 35.5% in Germany

  4. 2 euro handling fee per consignment starts

  5. BEVH Q4 data shows the fee's first full effect

What BEVH measured and what it did not

BEVH tracks German online spending through a consumer panel of 40,000 residents aged 14 and over, surveyed across the whole year. For July to September 2026 it put the three Chinese platforms' combined German sales at 566 million euros, down 35.5% from the same quarter of 2025. The share figure uses a different clock: 5.3% of online goods sales in the second quarter of 2026, 3.1% in the third, so it compares one quarter with the one before, not with last year.

Two limits matter. BEVH reports the three platforms as one number, so there is no separate Temu, Shein or AliExpress figure, and a survey cannot prove the duty caused every euro of the fall. BEVH itself named weaker consumer confidence and higher energy costs as extra pressure on spending. The association's chief executive, Alien Mulyk, also said domestic retailers did not benefit from the Asian platforms' weakness.

The wider German market grew while the platforms shrank

German online goods sales reached 18.47 billion euros in the quarter, up 2.9% nominally, including VAT and before inflation. The growth sat with marketplaces, which rose 5.0%, and multichannel retailers at 2.5%, while pure online shops fell 0.8%. By category, online medicines rose 15.4%, drugstore goods 14.3%, groceries 9.1%, shoes 6.4% and clothing 4.9%, while electronics fell 4.6% and furniture and lighting 5.2%.

So the lost sales did not flow to German pure-play shops, which shrank. Marketplaces, taken together, are the closest thing in the data to a winner. For a brand selling on Amazon.de with stock inside the EU that is the lane to watch, and the sell on Amazon Europe guide covers the setup.

German online sales growth, Q3 2026 vs Q3 2025

  • Online medicines15.4%
  • Drugstore goods14.3%
  • Groceries9.1%
  • Shoes6.4%
  • Clothing4.9%
  • Marketplaces (all)5.0%
  • Whole market2.9%
Source: BEVH Q3 2026 via MarketMaze, October 2026

The duty, the fee and the parcel counts

Since July 1, 2026 the EU charges a temporary 3 euro customs duty per tariff category on e-commerce consignments worth up to 150 euros that enter from outside the bloc. Five identical T-shirts in one parcel pay 3 euros once; a T-shirt and a watch pay 6 euros, because they fall into two classifications. A separate 2 euro handling fee per consignment to fund customs checks began on November 1, 2026, after the quarter BEVH measured, so none of the 35.5% reflects it yet.

Customs data across the bloc points the same way. European Commission officials said declared low-value imports fell by more than 60% after the duty took effect, Italy's low-value parcel imports fell 39% in July and August against May and June, and Belgium's July declarations were 53% below a year earlier. The periods and counting methods differ, so treat them as direction, not one dataset.

Dutch Customs adds the most useful detail for sellers: e-commerce declarations fell 46% in July and August against the first-half average, while standard commercial declarations rose 20%. Retailers are importing in bulk and holding goods in EU warehouses before dispatch, which is exactly the fulfilment shift a marketplace seller can copy.

So what: the money for an EU-bound seller

The duty is a fixed charge, so it hurts cheap items most. A 9 euro item shipped direct from China now carries 3 euros of duty plus, from November, 2 euros of handling: 5 euros on 9, or 56% of the price before VAT. A 45 euro item carries the same 5 euros, or 11%. That is why the share loss is concentrated in the low-ticket, direct-ship model the three platforms built on, and why the squeeze will be worse in Q4 once the handling fee is in the numbers.

For a brand with EU stock the math flips. Goods imported in bulk clear customs once, in commercial volumes, and the per-order duty disappears. The cost that replaces it is storage and the risk of slow stock, which is why the next section insists on moving fast movers only. If you are deciding between Temu and Amazon as an EU channel, the how to sell on Temu explainer sets out the local-warehouse option Temu now pushes.

Worked example with illustrative numbers

These figures are invented to show the method. A German shopper compares a phone case at 8.99 euros shipped direct from China with the same case at 14.99 euros from an Amazon.de seller holding FBA stock in Poland. Before July the gap was 6 euros. After the duty and handling fee the direct parcel costs 13.99 euros, and the shopper waits ten days instead of one. The gap is now 1 euro for a slower delivery.

If the China-direct seller raises price to 12 euros to protect margin, the EU-stocked seller at 14.99 euros holds a 3 euro premium for Prime delivery. The EU seller's extra cost is roughly 0.60 to 0.90 euros a unit in storage and inbound freight on a fast mover, and far more if the case sits for six months. Run the same arithmetic on your own top 20 ASINs before deciding which to localise.

Price an EU listing against a China-direct rival

  1. 1Landed cost

    Rival price plus 3 euro duty per category plus 2 euro fee

  2. 2Your gap

    Your EU-stock price minus that total

  3. 3Delivery

    Count days: one for Prime, around ten direct

  4. 4Decide

    Hold a premium up to 3 euros on fast movers

What sellers and brands should do before Q4 peak

  • Finance lead: model duty by customs category and basket for every EU-bound SKU, not as a flat 3 euros per order, using the EU TARIC code for each item. Metric: landed cost per order for the top 20 SKUs, before and after July 1.
  • Supply chain lead: move the 10 to 20 fastest EU sellers into FBA Pan-European or a 3PL inside the EU before mid-November. Metric: share of EU orders shipped from EU stock, target above 80% by December.
  • Brand manager: in Seller Central Europe, raise prices on direct-ship items whose duty now exceeds 15% of price, and hold prices on EU-stocked items to win the comparison. Metric: Amazon.de conversion rate and Buy Box share by SKU week over week.
  • Marketplace lead: add Germany and the Netherlands to the international expansion plan now that direct-ship rivals are retreating; marketplaces grew 5% in the quarter. Metric: Amazon.de sessions and ordered units versus Q3 baseline.
  • Owner: check EU VAT registration and the new handling fee on customs invoices from November 1, ask the free Amazon audit team to review EU listings and fees, and follow the ecommerce marketplace news channel for BEVH's Q4 numbers. Metric: zero unexpected customs charges on sampled November orders.

When this does not apply

The data is German only, and BEVH gives one combined number, so a seller cannot conclude that Temu or Shein alone fell by a third. If you ship to the EU from inside the EU already, the duty never touched you and your gain shows up only if German shoppers switch to marketplaces, which grew 5%, not to shops, which shrank. Electronics and furniture fell across the whole German market, so a decline there is category, not duty. And the share figure compares Q3 with Q2, a period that includes summer seasonality.

Sources

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