Temu, Amazon, Shein — and Algeria’s Customs Problem

Temu has an Algerian storefront. You can browse it at temu.com/dz-en, filter by category, add to cart, and reach the checkout screen. Then the friction begins. Your CIB interbank card does not work. Your Edahabia postal card does not work. The platform has no local payment integration, no Algerian warehouse, and no local customer service. You are legally prohibited from completing the purchase. And yet, millions of Algerians have found ways to buy from Temu, Amazon, and Shein anyway.

This is Algeria’s cross-border e-commerce paradox: enormous consumer demand, a legal prohibition on foreign online purchases, and a payment infrastructure that makes compliance with that prohibition nearly automatic for most of the population. The market that exists in this gap — the grey market of resellers, forwarding services, and creative workarounds — is substantial, growing, and entirely invisible to tax authorities.

The Scale of Cross-Border Shopping in Algeria

No official Algerian statistic tracks cross-border e-commerce purchases, partly because the activity is formally prohibited and partly because most transactions route through informal channels that leave no administrative trail. What we can observe are indirect signals.

Temu’s Algerian storefront exists and is indexed on Google. Shein ranks among the top e-commerce searches from Algerian IP addresses. AliExpress, which has longer history in North Africa, consistently appears in Algeria’s top-visited e-commerce sites alongside Ouedkniss. The Chinese platforms are not in Algeria officially, but they are clearly trying to capture Algerian demand: the Temu.com/dz-en storefront is explicitly localized, with product categories and price displays calibrated for the Algerian market.

Post-Jumia’s February 2026 exit from Algeria, the pressure toward cross-border shopping intensifies. Jumia had served as an organized domestic channel for many product categories — its departure removes an intermediary and pushes demand either toward local alternatives (Batolis, Ouedkniss, Linstashop) or outward toward international platforms, however accessed.

How Algerians Actually Pay

The core barrier to legitimate cross-border e-commerce in Algeria is payment infrastructure. Understanding this barrier requires understanding Algeria’s three-tier payment reality.

The CIB card (interbank card, issued by all Algerian banks through the SATIM network) is Algeria’s standard electronic payment card for domestic transactions. It works at ATMs, domestic payment terminals, and Algerian e-commerce sites. It does not work on international platforms. Temu, Amazon, and Shein do not accept it.

The Edahabia card (issued by Algerie Post) is a digital wallet and payment card for postal bank account holders. Like the CIB, it is designed for domestic use. International acceptance is not standard.

Visa and Mastercard are theoretically available in Algeria — the Banque de Développement Local (BDL) offers both a Visa and a Mastercard linked to currency accounts, accepted at 32 million merchants in 200+ countries. But their penetration remains very low. Most Algerians do not hold these cards. Algeria Invest reported that Algeria was in the process of “authorizing the use of Visa and Mastercard cards” — a formulation suggesting incomplete rollout as recently as 2025.

For the majority of Algerians who want to buy from an international platform, the practical payment options are: (1) a physical Visa or Mastercard obtained through a major bank (limited availability), (2) cryptocurrency (illegal in Algeria since 2018, but used), (3) asking a family member or friend abroad to purchase and ship, or (4) buying through a Facebook reseller who has access to international payment methods.

Algeria’s Customs Rules

Algeria’s import duty structure is layered and non-trivial. Tariffs range across five bands: 0%, 5%, 15%, 30%, or 60% depending on product category, calculated on the CIF price — meaning customs duty applies to the cost of the goods plus shipping and insurance combined. VAT of 19% standard rate is then applied on top of the combined CIF + duty value.

Algeria has no meaningful de minimis threshold — in 2025, authorities tightened scrutiny on e-commerce parcels, requiring full Harmonized System (HS) code declarations even for low-value shipments. This stands in contrast to policies in some peer markets: the EU historically had a €22 de minimis (eliminated in 2021), while other African countries maintain various personal import allowances.

Travelers returning to Algeria benefit from a personal allowance of approximately $200 USD in goods — clothing, cosmetics, sports equipment, foodstuffs — without duty. This creates one informal channel: returning diaspora members or travelers bring goods purchased abroad for personal use or resale, which is technically prohibited but practically difficult to enforce at scale.

The categories that generate the most friction at customs: electronics (subject to specific certification and HS sub-heading requirements tightened in 2025), mobile phones (subject to import controls), and fashion (requiring precise HS codes under Chapter 61/62 classifications). Algeria also prohibits all used equipment imports — which means refurbished electronics purchased from Amazon Warehouse Deals or similar cannot be legally imported.

The Grey Market Ecosystem

Algeria’s grey market for cross-border goods operates on three main tracks.

Facebook reseller networks are the largest and most visible layer. Thousands of Facebook pages and groups in Algeria operate as informal import brokers: they source goods from international platforms using personal Visa cards or diaspora connections, handle shipping and customs clearance, and sell to end customers at a markup, typically with cash-on-delivery as the payment method. The selection mirrors whatever is popular on Temu, Shein, and AliExpress — phone accessories, clothing, cosmetics, kitchen gadgets. The reseller handles all complexity; the consumer sees a Facebook post, places an order by WhatsApp, and pays cash on delivery.

Package forwarding services form the second track, primarily used by Algerians with international payment access. Services in France — where Algeria’s diaspora of approximately 1.5 million is concentrated — receive packages on behalf of Algerian customers and either hold them for pickup by travelers or reship to Algerian addresses via international courier. This approach can work for small, low-value packages but becomes economically unviable for bulky or expensive goods when customs duties are assessed at the border.

Diaspora purchases form the third track. Family members abroad are a routinely used logistical channel. A student in France, a worker in Canada, or a sibling in Germany buys goods on behalf of Algerian relatives, ships via DHL or postal services, or brings them on the next trip home. This is illegal under Algerian customs law at commercial scale but is effectively unpoliceable at the personal, family-to-family level.

Chinese Platforms’ Strategy

Temu and Shein are in Algeria in one meaningful sense — they have demand and they know it. They are not in Algeria in any other meaningful sense — no warehouses, no local payment partnerships, no Algerian customer service, no compliance with Algeria’s 2018 e-commerce law. Their Algerian storefronts represent aspirational market positioning rather than operational presence.

The question is whether this changes. Across Africa, Temu has been moving aggressively: Nigeria got a full local launch in November 2024 with adapted payment integrations. Morocco, with its more open payment infrastructure, sees more normalized Chinese platform usage. If Temu were to partner with Chargily Pay (Algeria’s emerging domestic payment gateway) or negotiate with Algerian banks for CIB integration, the grey market would collapse into a formal one almost overnight. No such partnership has been announced.

Shein follows a similar pattern — significant organic demand in Algeria, evidenced by social media content, reseller networks, and search data, but no local operational infrastructure.

The Post-Jumia Context

Jumia’s exit from Algeria in February 2026 accelerates the cross-border demand dynamic in a specific way. Jumia had served as an organized import channel for many product categories: it handled international sourcing, customs clearance, and domestic delivery under one roof. Merchants on Jumia — many of whom sourced products from China for domestic resale — lose that infrastructure. Some will migrate to Batolis or Ouedkniss. Others will turn to AliExpress or Temu for direct sourcing, increasing the grey-market import volume flowing through Facebook reseller networks.

The post-Jumia period is, in this sense, a stress test for Algeria’s cross-border regulatory framework. Higher import demand through informal channels will either prompt regulatory modernization or accelerate the normalization of a grey market that Algeria’s government officially does not acknowledge.

What a Legal Framework Could Look Like

Morocco and Egypt provide instructive precedents. Egypt eliminated its de minimis threshold — all imports are taxed, full stop — but operates a single-window customs system that speeds compliant clearance. Morocco has consumer protection frameworks for e-commerce and applies clear exchange regulations, even if they constrain the market. Both countries are further along the regulatory maturity curve than Algeria on cross-border e-commerce.

A realistic Algerian framework might include: a defined personal import allowance (e.g., DZD 30,000 / approximately $220 USD per person per year) for consumer cross-border purchases, a simplified customs declaration process for low-value e-commerce parcels, and an authorized reseller model that allows platforms like Temu or Shein to appoint local licensed importers who handle duties, VAT, and consumer protection compliance.

Such a framework would formalize what currently happens informally, bring customs revenue into state accounts, and protect consumers who currently have no recourse when a Facebook reseller delivers the wrong product or disappears with their cash.

Sources & Further Reading

• Algeria — eCommerce — US International Trade Administration
• Algeria — Customs Regulations — US International Trade Administration
• Algeria — Import Tariffs — US International Trade Administration
• Jumia Exits Algeria as Temu and Shein Expand in Africa — Kohan Textile Journal
• Temu and Shein Are Reshaping Africa’s Biggest Online Retailer — Semafor
• BDL Launches International Payments via Mastercard — Algeria Invest
• Shipping to Algeria: Customs and Regulations — Global Shopaholics
• Exploring Local Payment Methods in Algeria — Transfi
• Cross-Border E-Commerce Guide: Egypt — Zonos
• Jumia Adds Chinese Merchants to Outcompete Temu and Shein in Africa — Rest of World