The Hidden Cost of Cheap Shopping: Why Temu and Shein Are Under Fire

A recent report from Euroconsumers, a coalition representing consumer organisations across five European countries, raises serious questions about the safety of everyday products sold on ultra-low-cost e-commerce platforms like Temu and Shein. After independently testing a range of items, including toys, electronics, cosmetics, and household goods, Euroconsumers found that a significant number failed to meet basic EU safety standards.

The findings point to systemic problems rather than isolated defects. Some products contained hazardous chemicals above legal limits. Others posed physical risks, such as choking hazards in children's toys or electrical faults in chargers. In several cases, items lacked proper labeling, traceability, or manufacturer information, core requirements designed to protect consumers and enable recalls when things go wrong.

What makes the report particularly concerning is scale. Platforms like Temu and Shein ship millions of products directly to consumers each day, often bypassing traditional retail channels and the compliance checks that accompany them. This 'direct-to-door' model creates a gray zone in enforcement: products cross borders in small parcels, making systematic inspection difficult for regulators and customs authorities.

The result is a marketplace where price and speed dominate, and where safety can quietly become optional.

A Global Pattern, Not a One-Off

Euroconsumers' findings are not happening in a vacuum. Independent testing by Consumer NZ, New Zealand's leading consumer advocacy organisation, reached strikingly similar conclusions. In its investigation of children's toys and electronic accessories sold on Temu and Shein, Consumer NZ found a high failure rate in compliance with safety standards and issued a clear warning: parents should avoid purchasing children's toys from these platforms.

Consumer NZ cited risks ranging from unsafe small parts to materials that could pose chemical hazards. The organisation emphasised that many products lacked the documentation or certifications required to demonstrate they meet safety rules. In other words, consumers are often left to trust that a product is safe, without any meaningful way to verify that it is.

Taken together, the European and New Zealand studies reveal a pattern across continents: the same business model that makes ultra-cheap shopping possible also makes oversight harder, accountability weaker, and risk more likely to land on consumers.

The Regulatory Gap

Traditional retail relies on a clear chain of accountability: manufacturers, importers, distributors, and retailers all share responsibility for product safety. Ultra-low-cost marketplaces like Temu and Shein break that model. Sellers are often anonymous or overseas, products ship individually, and platforms present themselves as intermediaries rather than merchants, even while controlling discovery, pricing, and fulfillment.

This creates a system with no obvious owner of risk. When a toy fails safety tests or a charger overheats, responsibility is blurred. Euroconsumers warns that current regulations were not built for this model, leaving regulators to act only after harm occurs. Without reform, dangerous products will keep slipping into homes before anyone can stop them.

Why It Matters

For consumers, the appeal of these platforms is obvious: low prices, massive selection, and instant gratification. But the reports underscore a growing tradeoff between affordability and assurance. A $3 toy or $5 charger may seem like a bargain, until it fails in a way that risks injury.

For policymakers, it raises fundamental questions about how product safety laws apply in a world where global marketplaces operate at internet speed and ship directly into living rooms.

The Euroconsumers findings suggest that the current system places too much burden on individuals to assess risk in an environment designed for impulse and scale. As cross-border e-commerce continues to expand, regulators face a choice: adapt enforcement to the realities of digital retail, or allow safety standards to erode in practice even if they remain strong on paper.

Cheap should not mean unsafe. But without structural changes, that line is becoming harder to hold.