I've been very annoyed with the new VAT/duty prepayment on iHerb. Previously, they used to include a "local post plus" service which gave the recipient the responsibility of paying their tax. However, during the past 10 years I was never taxed on a single package. So in practice, the tax pre-payment is now just a direct extra cost on top making ordering from iHerb a lot more expensive than what it was before.
The "free shipping" is also a total gimmick. When you get free shipping, a similar amount is just added as "tax & duties" instead. On top of this, Flash Express doesn't accept certain products like Melatonin, so ordering them is no longer an option, and they have low maximum quantity/weight limits.
I have found that for some items (not all though), shopping on Lazada/Shopee is actually cheaper these days.