I got my last shipment from Temu — with no extra fees. Am I going to have to pay more in the future?

Sure, the national hardship of price increases tied to tariffs is only getting started. But my personal journey of stressing about a recent Temu order? Phew, that’s done! Our nation can breathe a sigh of relief.

To catch you up on my harrowing personal drama: The night before “Liberation Day,” I placed a farewell order from Temu, the e-commerce marketplace that ships orders (mostly) directly from China.

Aside from enacting tariffs, Donald Trump has also said he would end the de minimis loophole that has allowed Temu, Shein, and others to ship orders with values under $800 directly from China to customers in the US without paying duty fees. That loophole has been the underpinning of Temu’s and Shein’s astonishingly low prices on clothing and knickknacks.

The details about closing the de minimis rule have been a little unclear at times — not unlike the back-and-forth with Trump’s tariffs. Initially, it was unclear when the yanking of the de minimis exception would go into effect, and I worried that when my order arrived, I might get slapped with a hefty $75 fee.

Now it seems that the de minimis loophole closes on May 2, which means that a few last shipments — including my own — have been able to sneak in under the wire.

I got three bubble machine/bubble wand items.

Temu and Shein have both put up statements on their websites addressing customers to warn them that price increases will hit soon.

What’s kind of odd is that both sites, which are owned by different parent companies, have the same message, worded nearly exactly the same — only the company names and a few other words are different. (Temu and Shein didn’t comment.)

Shein’s statement says:

So there we have it. I made out just fine. And if you order in the next few days, you might be fine, too. After that, well, you’re screwed — either higher prices or a big duty tax bill, or even both!

Will I enjoy my bubble machine knowing it may be the last sweet, sweet duty-free shipment of bargain-basement plastic junk? Yes, yes I will. But will I feel good about pulling off this last-minute near-heist? No, no I won’t. I don’t feel good about any of this.