The Whole Truth About Temu & Shein

You could buy a phone case for $1.20 and a dress for $5 — shipped free from the other side of the planet. It felt impossible. It mostly was. For years, Temu and Shein flooded the US with ultra-cheap goods using two hidden engines. First: a long-standing US tariff rule called "de minimis," which let parcels under $800 enter the country duty-free. Second: billions in investor money quietly covering a loss on almost every single order. Then, in 2025, both engines were switched off. In this episode we follow the money — where your $5 order actually went, how much Temu was losing to win you as a customer, who profited while prices stayed artificially low, and what changed the day the loophole finally closed. This is Episode 2 of "Who Actually Gets Your Money" — a series on the hidden economics of the everyday things you buy. 🔔 Subscribe so you don't miss the next one. ——————————————— 📚 SOURCES End of de minimis (global, Aug 29 2025) — CNBC: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/29/retai... De minimis ended for China imports (May 2 2025) — NBC News: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/de... Impact on shoppers & prices — Fortune: https://fortune.com/2025/08/30/de-min... Parcel volume fell 54% after abolition — Marketplace: https://www.marketplace.org/story/202... How Temu makes money / PDD subsidizing losses — The Motley Fool: https://www.fool.com/investing/how-to... Temu's ~$30 loss per order — The Information: https://www.theinformation.com/briefi... PDD revenue hit by the trade war — Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl... ——————————————— ⚠️ NOTE ON FIGURES Temu does not report its own financials — its parent, PDD Holdings, reports everything together. So the ~$30-loss-per-order figure and the $588M–$954M annual loss range are external analyst estimates, not official company numbers. Charts and price examples in this video are illustrative. #Temu #Shein #HiddenEconomics