Gen Z love fast-fashion giant Shein — but despite its popularity, it has also attracted its fair share of controversy. Although Shein offers the latest trends at pocket-friendly prices, it’s also often criticized for its dubious business practices and poor product quality. Read on to learn more about how safe, legitimate, and trustworthy Shein is and what you should bear in mind before buying. Also discover how to strengthen your security when shopping online with Avira Secure Browser.
What is Shein and how does its business model work?
Shein (pronounced She-in) is one of the world’s largest fast-fashion retailers, known for its wide selection of cheap fashion, jewelry, cosmetics, and accessories from China. In recent years, Shein has evolved from a pure fashion retailer into a comprehensive online marketplace, and has significantly expanded its product range. Products from third-party providers are now also sold on the platform, including in the categories of tools and home improvement, living and kitchen accessories, and electronics. Shein currently distributes its products through regional subsidiaries and licensees in over 160 countries, and sales continue to boom. Between January and July 2025 alone, the Shein app was downloaded globally over 85 million times, and Shein had achieved revenues in the first quarter of 2025 of almost $10 billion.
Chris Xu founded the company in China in 2008 under the name ZZKKO. It was later renamed SheInside and then ultimately became Shein in 2025. Although the headquarters of today’s parent company Roadget Business Pte. Ltd. were relocated to Singapore in 2022, its suppliers’ production facilities are still largely located in China, especially in the province of Guangdong. In one district of Guangzhou, there are so many textile factories that it’s also known as Shein Village.
The low wages and running costs in the area contribute significantly to Shein being able to offer its clothing at such rock-bottom prices. Other reasons include its digitalized, flexible supply chain, digital direct sales, highly automated processes, and on-demand manufacturing based on real-time data. This allows Shein to quickly adjust production volume to match demand, minimizing overproduction and warehousing costs. And to ensure it’s always on-trend, the company only ever develops designs that are likely to be well-received by consumers thanks to AI-based trend analysis.
Community and customer loyalty
With its low prices, Shein is a favorite among young consumers with limited budgets but an endless appetite for new trends. That’s why Shein focuses on advertising its products where its target audience mainly spends its time: On social media platforms. Shein is very active on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, using challenges, sweepstakes, live events, and hashtag campaigns like #SHEINhaul to get users to interact with the brand. Collaborations with influencers and celebrities also play a major role in Shein’s marketing strategy. Besides the SHEIN affiliate program for regular influencers, there are even dedicated brand-ambassador programs for micro- and nano-influencers (SHEINSIDER) and in some markets even for students (SHEIN CAMPUS Ambassador).
On top of that, Shein constantly lures customers with flash sales and other limited-time promotions as well as opaque discount vouchers and coupon packages, which you get flooded with especially in the app. However, these are usually subject to numerous conditions and are not valid for long. In addition, the company uses a confusingly large number of customer-retention schemes. This includes a multi-pronged loyalty program (SHEIN VIP) and a bonus points system where you earn points for purchases, product reviews, and activities in the app — such as for checking in daily and entering surveys.
Through mini-games like Puppy Keep, referrals (SHEIN Earning Program), and inviting friends via promotional links (Share and Earn), you can earn further awards in the app. However, in some cases earning rewards really feels like an impossible task. To qualify for the $200 Credit Back offer, which is initially presented as a gift or prize, you’ll need to complete a long list of tasks within 9 days: Buy something worth at least $1 from a list of products, log in to the Program Page 7 times a day, and place 7 orders following the official rules set out there.
In addition, there is a paid membership (SHEIN CLUB), a paid discount voucher program (SHEIN SAVER), and a Free Trial program where you get to try out new clothes for free in exchange for reviews. The app also includes SHEIN Exchange, a second-hand platform where customers can buy used Shein products from others and sell their own.
How safe is it to buy from Shein?
As controversial as the company might be, Shein isn’t a scam shop. It’s a reputable and legitimate ecommerce platform that uses the latest security technology. It’s relatively safe to order from Shein, especially since orders are also subject to European consumer protection regulations as well as laws in other countries.
Secure payment methods: The platform supports trusted payment methods such as PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay — plus it accepts credit cards such as Visa and Mastercard.
Encrypted online transactions: Shein uses industry standard TLS/SSL encryption to protect data during transfer.
Security standards Shein aligns with global security practices like NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) and PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard). It is also ISO 27001:2022 certified — the most widely recognized international standard for information security.
Multi-factor authentication (MFA): With optional two-factor authentication (2FA) turned on, Shein users can add a further layer of security to their user accounts.
How does Shein handle data privacy?
Shein’s Privacy Notice explains what data is collected, how it is processed, and who it is shared with and for what purpose. Shein also states that it complies with applicable local data protection laws and does not sell personal data. However, the global corporate website states that personal data may be processed or transferred outside the country of residence, where different or less strict data protection laws may apply. Shein’s European websites state that order and shipping information needs to be provided to the warehouse for the order to be fulfilled. As many SHEIN products are shipped from China, this necessitates the transfer of this data to China, although it says that this type of data transfer is permitted under the EU’s GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). Otherwise, the data will be stored within the EU (and/or UK if you’re a UK user) and “largely” processed there.
How trustworthy and dependable is Shein?
Despite Shein’s popularity and success, customer experiences and reviews are mixed. Many love the huge selection of affordable clothing and are happy with the ordering process, the quality of the products, and the value for money they offer. Others complain about long delivery times, misleading product and size information, varying or poor product quality, and difficult returns processes. Customer service ratings also differ, with some saying they receive help quickly whereas others say it takes ages to get an answer — or when they do, it’s unclear. On the whole, the ratings reflect the usual pros and cons of buying from cheap international online shops and marketplaces — but on Trustpilot at least, the positive ratings far outnumber the negative ones.
That said, experiences with the mini-game Puppy Keep, where you need to feed and entertain an apparently insatiable dog, seem to be on the negative side. Many frustrated users even wonder if it’s a scam, as progress slows down significantly the closer you get to completing it. Even though some claim to have reached their goal after several weeks or months and received a reward, it seems the effort isn’t worth the energy you have to pour into earning food and toys.
What is Shein criticized for?
People all over the world are criticizing Shein because of the way it runs its business. Critics include various national authorities as well as consumer, environmental protection, and human rights organizations. The company is trying to counter the negative reporting and perception by highlighting its efforts in terms of social and environment responsibility on its corporate website. However, it remains questionable to what extent the announced measures will really be implemented and the goals actually achieved.
Criticism of Shein mainly centers around the following:
Poor working conditions: Shein is often heavily criticized for its long working hours, low wages, and precarious employment conditions at its supplier factories.
Environmental impact: Critics argue that the brand, with its fast-fashion production model and long transport routes, contributes significantly to environmental pollution, high resource consumption, and carbon emissions. Furthermore, the low prices and poor quality promote overconsumption and a throwaway culture, leading to more textile waste.
Intellectual property (IP) theft: The company has repeatedly been accused of knocking-off other fashion labels’ designs, leading to Shin being sued several times.
Product safety: Investigations have revealed that some Shein products contain toxic chemicals and are of poor quality.
Lack of transparency: Critics say Shein provides insufficient information about its supply chains, production conditions, and sustainability measures. The company is also sometimes accused of greenwashing.
Manipulative designs: Critics also point to the use of manipulative techniques designed to push consumers into buying. These include countdowns for expiring coupons and flash sales that create a false sense of time pressure, the gamification of elements to increase app engagement and use, reward systems that keep customers coming back, and misleading discounts to misrepresent the actual value of items.
What scams are associated with Shein?
It’s sad to say that cybercriminals also exploit the company’s popularity for their own purposes, using trending Shein products as a bait to lure fans and customers into scams. The following scams involving fake prizes or rewards are really widespread.
Mystery Box scam
Shein’s Mystery Boxes contain surprise products from a specific category — such as makeup or accessories. With the Mystery Box scam, cybercriminals send phishing emails telling the unsuspecting recipients that they’ve won a Mystery Box. However, the link in the email takes the curious winners to a fake website that aims to steal the Shein customer’s log-in details.
Gift card scam
Here, the scammers use Shein gift cards as bait to get their hands on their victims’ money or personal information. This type of scam is really prevalent on social media platforms. There, scammers comment on a person’s posts or tag them in a post, claiming the person has won a Shein gift card. Either that or they claim in videos that you’ll receive a gift card in exchange for testing products or entering a survey. They then ask you to follow a link and enter personal data or pay a small fee (to cover shipping costs or similar) to receive the gift card.
In the UK, Canada, and the US, there are also reward programs from providers — like UpLevel Rewards — where you have to complete various deals with partner companies to receive a Shein gift card (often worth $750). However, in some cases the promised reward is never paid out due to issues with the verification or recording of completed tasks or for other reasons. Even if they aren’t technically scams, these programs are at least suspicious owing to their combination of prohibitive requirements, hidden costs, and opaque conditions.
Tips for safe shopping on Shine
- Use a payment method like PayPal. Your payment details won’t be shared with Shein and you’ll benefit from Buyer Protection.
- Keep in mind that the products may not match the description or photos, and don’t expect amazing quality at rock-bottom prices.
- Before placing your order with Shein, check out other buyers’ reviews. However, if these reviews are always positive and have 5 stars, be cautious. Even though Shein claims to neither allow nor encourage fake reviews and doesn’t remove negative reviews, forums often report otherwise.
- If you receive suspicious emails, check the sender’s email address — especially if you get one saying you’ve supposedly won Shein products.
- When shopping on Shein, make sure you’re not on a fake version of the Shein website. Never click on any links in emails from people you don’t know; instead, visit the website directly.
Top tip: When shopping online, use a browser with integrated security and privacy features like Avira Secure Browser. You’ll then be able to block phishing sites and fake shops, and also benefit from many other features to strengthen your online security and privacy.
