Just stop buying from Temu. It is that easy. Temu does not sell legitimate merchandise and rips off small creators constantly. If you support small businesses don't buy on Temu.
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And half the stuff will probably kill you, as far as I know. Cheap products aren't made from high quality materials OR construction. It'd be pretty embarrassing to die like that imo.
China is the biggest textiles and clothes manufacturer in the world, cheap to luxury brands. I assume you haven't been killed by your clothes yet because they're probably Chinese.
There's stuff on Temu I can literally pick up in local stores, coming from the exact same place.
Not getting killed by your clothes isn't a great reason to still use it or support Chinese businesses. You know why those textiles are so cheap? Because it's children working on them. And when it isn't, it's still as awful, you can look into conditions of factory workers yourself.
Essentially the only business you should be giving to China is to individuals selling their handmade wares, artists, etc. When you're buying mass-produced items for the market out of china like through TEMU and WISH, you are supporting monsters.
I've never used the temu app. I know I don't buy the same merch from other stores because I spend my money in as small biz as possible, mostly local makers.
This might be as good time as any to remind people that knock off merchandise can cause serious health risks due to the use of unsafe, cheap materials.
I'm flabbergasted people genuinely buy things there like it's a real store. The only thing I know about Temu is that the prices are suspiciously low for products that are surprisingly bad. You paid $4 for an ugly ill-fitting tshirt made of plastic that spells like poison. Cool!!!!!
It was super simple for them to get a foothold in the US market. All they had to do was saturate social media with ads featuring their shiny crap at unrealistically low prices to garnish huge numbers.
Ali & Aliexpress are different b/c while they do have the knockoff & stolen design niches, they're an essential small-to-medium scale business/user direct sale avenue for electronic components, bulk abrasives, machine parts, etc. which are primarily or sometimes *entirely* made in Chinese factories.
If you want the full Temu story, stand in a post office and watch folks try to return items. That 2 dollar bathing suit the size of a chihuahua will cost you 90 to return.
That makes no sense. If you “return“ something on Temu they literally just tell you to throw it away and give you your money back. They do not ask for it to be shipped back.
Just to be clear. This was half a joke (2 for 90). I have seen the nightmare of people returning at the post office who did not follow the very, very strict rules. I watched the postal employee kindly give the folks options in lieu of returning. He said he sees it all the time.
Can we also talk about the Etsy sellers selling "homemade" items that are clearly from Temu? I'm not talking about original designs stolen *by* Temu sellers, I'm talking about the same earrings/keychain/whatever that is available in apparently identical "homemade" form from multiple Etsy sellers.
Honestly, I never bought from Temu. Always seemed sketchy like wish rebranded (also never purchased from). I also never bought from shein for similar reasons. And it's so tiring to see everyone at work be like wanna see my temp haul? Not really cause it's probably stolen/poor quality or unnecessary
TEMU uses exploited workers who work under HORRENDOUS conditions. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to understand it costs more than $1.99 to produce an article of clothing if you are paying livable wages...
Temu doesn't employe anyone directly. You might say that they provide a marketplace for unscrupulous manufacturers but that's slightly different. I'd be curious to know whether manufacturers whose goods are sold on Amazon or in bricks and mortar stores got much more.
Yeah. They're China's version of Amazon. But they are FULLY aware of the working conditions of their merchants. (China has no OSHA, EEOC, Dept g Labor..etc. to protect workers)
I agree. And most the stuff in Wal-Mart, Target or some of the higher-end clothing stores come from similar sources.even many tools and equipment once made here. It's a challenge. Will Trump's tariffs have any positive impact?
All these platforms want to destabilize local markets by flooding them with cheap crap. People dont do their research and end up paying to have things shipped to them that are nothing like the picture on the website, is made with slave labor and will give you cancer if you use it long enough.
I ordered one time from Temu and sent it all back. Even for as cheap as it all was, it was garbage and not worth the little bit I paid for it. I will never bother ordering crap from them again.
It’s actually neither. Temu is just a marketplace with many vendors - a lot of which are here in the United States. I have bought many things from them including security cameras which have been working perfectly for almost 3 yrs now.
Is there a difference between buying from Temu and buying from unknown Chinese companies on Amazon (before the boycott)? SHEIN? An honest question because I myself have ordered and know many who continue to order from all of these companies.
Like anywhere else, its buyer beware. I use both Amazon & TEMU regularly & been burned by both.
Amazon: bottle of Heinz Aioli sauce, $15.95 Cdn PLUS $20 shipping. Retail cost at Walmart, approx $5.
TEMU: avoid clothing & shoes!
Use good sense.
I had two this time. I could not afford to absorb the cost of this in my small business. I’ve absorbed higher shipping costs, higher fabric costs, higher packaging costs, I can’t afford to absorb it all. I bought the one on the left a few months ago. Now it’s the one on the right. Temu was $4.47
I've been trying to speak speak SPEAK for average citizens to stop buying from them.
But all I hear back is "you're IDIOT if you DON'T buy from them, the same items are sold in every store but with 5x price! 😂 you're letting yourself be ripped off lol"
It feels hopeless and tiring.
I start asking questions like, how many times do you think you can wash that before it falls apart? What will you do with it once it does fall apart? Is it made out of cotton or synthetic material?
Helps them think about the impact more and if there is actual value to the item 🤷♀️
And I wish it was as simple as "I don't buy from Temu -> I don't use Temu" but it's not. How can I know if random item in a second hand store or flea market is originally from Temu or not? It's maddening.
Temu is just simply a marketplace - almost like Amazon. There are many businesses that are local and sell products on temu. I buy from them a lot - but always make sure that I get from local sellers. Helps cut down shipping times too.
im under the opinion that if its in a second hand store its up for grabs. the temu item was already shipped here, someone already made that leather, the gas has already been released into the atmosphere. items that at a thrift have a high likelihood of ending up in a landfill again
You're right! I'm mostly worried for the unsafety of those items. If they contain poisonous chemicals for example, they'll contain those in my (or my child's) use as well.
Word. One of the reasons we are being fucked by oligarchs is bc folks can't make the merest sacrifice to stave this shit off. The road to this hell is paved with a fetish for consumerism and convenience.
Yes, this! I hear people argue that they're poor so they must buy cheap from Temu.
But I'm also poor, and I don't feel the need to buy from them?
Also "need" and "want" are very different things and world would be a better place if more people learned to be better with their "wants".
My MIL was addicted to TEMU for about 6 months. For my sister-in-laws birthday she just bought the first 20 things that popped up when she typed in PINK, for me Wonder Woman, it was a nightmare.
She would get literal crates of cheep junk that would break in 2 uses. It was terrible.
Temp sells crap..all of it is cheap crap. What the hell do people think they're going to get when they get two 500 piece tool sets thrown in for free if you but a pair of 'designers pants for $1.99
That was obvious from the beginning. I have never bought anything from temu, I bought 1 item at amazon this year. Killing that as well. Don't need movies anymore, I'm back on books and real shopping
Saw that @ the Southern Xmas Show. A seller had taken a multi pack of ponytail holders from Amazon, divided each card into sections, put her logo on each card, & was selling 1/12th of the original pkg for the cost of the orig. pkg. At that point I assumed her earrings were from Temu & we moved on.
Temu has had clothing with ridiculously high levels of lead in them. They are also under investigation for banking fraud and forced labor. Why people continue to buy bootleg unsafe crap is beyond me.
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There's stuff on Temu I can literally pick up in local stores, coming from the exact same place.
There will always be temptation, it’s about falling for it. Consumers are their own worst enemy.
It uses gambling mechanics to hook users into thinking they're winning deals.
The UI/UX is intentionally ambiguous to trick people into buying things they did not intend.
Amazon: bottle of Heinz Aioli sauce, $15.95 Cdn PLUS $20 shipping. Retail cost at Walmart, approx $5.
TEMU: avoid clothing & shoes!
Use good sense.
But all I hear back is "you're IDIOT if you DON'T buy from them, the same items are sold in every store but with 5x price! 😂 you're letting yourself be ripped off lol"
It feels hopeless and tiring.
Helps them think about the impact more and if there is actual value to the item 🤷♀️
But I'm also poor, and I don't feel the need to buy from them?
Also "need" and "want" are very different things and world would be a better place if more people learned to be better with their "wants".
She would get literal crates of cheep junk that would break in 2 uses. It was terrible.
But many small businesses are buying temu & selling that junk for much higher prices in their little boutiques....you have been warned.