> international shipping, taxes/tariffs

If I can get an ePacket from AliExpress for a $0.50 item without paying shipping (and presumably where the shipper didn’t eat it either, the cost not being worth it to make at most $0.50), presumably there’s a way around both of these things.

Also, don’t forget that there are major markets besides North America. And there are plenty of such markets that can be served overland or with not-so-powerful ships from developing-country suppliers. Africa can sell to itself, and to Europe, and the Middle East. Many South American nations can sell into Brazil. Obviously, you can drive a truck of t-shirts from Thailand or Vietnam straight to China. The Philippines can ship pretty cheaply to Japan and Taiwan. Etc.

I'm pretty sure ePacket is subsidized by China Post and/or USPS and that's why it's so cheap.

I remember there was drama[1][2] around it during Trump's administration.

It might not be so ridiculously cheap once 2025 comes around and they've finished phasing in price increases.

[1] https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/10/trump...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Postal_Union#2019_Ex...

A few years ago in Spain, AliExpress orders always came via Correos (national postal operator), at least once it arrived in Spain. Nowadays, it seems everything is private, at least in the major city I live in. Based on how they will combine orders in China, it seems like the seller ships to an AliExpress operated warehouse in China, orders are combined and packaged together, flown to Madrid, then from there private companies fly it to where it’s going (in my case Valencia) and then it’s dispatched out to delivery driver, usually on a bike or scooter. Usually the employee is wearing a UberEats or Just Eat backpack, so I assume either the delivery companies are in the last mile game, or the delivery drivers themselves are picking up packages when it makes sense. Maybe there’s a gig-economy app for package delivery I’m not aware of?

Anyways, long story to say that anecdotally prices haven’t really gone up at all. At one point they started charging VAT on orders (21%), but the switch to private delivery hasn’t seemed to increase prices.

AliExpress shipping to the US is heavily subsidized by USPS.

If you've never seen the costs for bulk ship shipping, they're effectively infinitesimal. The downsides are high latency, but not cost or throughput unless a disaster strikes.