What are your tried & tested Temu purchases?

[JMSA]

I downloaded the app tonight. I'm not sure what to make of it. It's very 'busy' with loads of choice. The reviews seem great for absolutely everything, which is at odds with the price Considering a pair of yoga pants for my daughter, but not sure what the quality will be like.
Has anyone bought anything off Temu and what do you make of it?

Temu is rubbish. I was 'influenced' to buy from them and it was all crap.

Shien is 'better' (marginally!). But for cheap bulk stuff (so for parties/styling etc) I still quite like Alli Express. Although it's a bit of a bun fight and I'm sure they do the whole data harvesting thing as well.

The basic problem is one of perceived vs actual need and gratuitous consumption.

The word 'browse' was used by a PP. How do we make our consumer choices? Do they originate from identifying a lack ‐"I need to buy a new funnel, I left this one on the cooker and it melted." or from generating a desire ‐"Oh, I'll just browse Temu and see what they've got."

Most of the items we actually need to buy can be purchased second hand in excellent condition. I'm always grateful to people who make their used items available for sale as it means I don't have to contribute to the extraction of finite resources, the burning of fossil fuels for the purpose of manufacturing and perpetuate dangerous and unfair working conditions.

I wish there was a way to exclude these 'shops' from Google. I also wish they had to state where items are from.

I've found a raven Poe t shirt I love but refuse to buy it unless I can find one made here.

But you went ahead and downloaded it anyway, giving them access to all your data, turning a blind eye to the slavery and myriad of other issues, because their tat is cheap?

More fool you.

Temu are currently making a massive loss on shipping to the US and Europe. Estimated at $30 per order. Why?

Because they are desperate to keep the West addicted to cheap, unethical, unsustainable, slave-produced tat (and to get hold of your data).

When the identical item is listed everywhere, itwasmade by exploited children/slaves in China, however much I'll pay for it and whether it's being sold by a respected UK retailer. So I buy it from Temu.

Shocking.

Actively condoning buying stuff made by slave labour. Here's a thought.... how about JUST NOT BUYING IT?? I know. Mind blown. 🙄

The issue with fast fashion isn't just the slave labour (I'm not dismissing this btw) but also the sheer amount of new lines added to their app and website daily and therefore the massive over consumption it encourages. Then the carbon footprint of all that production and shipping is huge.
The algorithms on their app are designed to keep you clicking by chucking carefully times discount pop ups at you.

The volume absolutely dwarves that associated with somewhere like Primark.

So yes the likes of Shein and Temu are much worse.

Oh and so much of their clothing ends up in charity shops who them struggle to sell on as they can't price it cheaply enough compared to a shopper buying it new. So it ends up either in landfill of being shipped and dumped on a beach in a third world country.

But it's fine because we all need new "stuff". Every week.

Totally. Tat, tat and more tat. People obsessively buying "bits" for their children or themselves, to be flown half way round the world.

It's so depressing.

And yes @tellmewhenthespaceshiplandscoz - I am a charity shop volunteer and anything from SHein, Temu, Pretty little thing, Missguided and the rest is straight in the rag bag unless new with tags as it's too poor quality to sell.

There was something on radio 4 the other day about the app not actually being an app. Something to do with using far more of your data than a standard app would. (I've never touched it).

Stroopwaffels, this makes me so sad.

No.

I heard this too - I'm not totally clear on the details, but essentially once you install it, it then downloads something else onto your phone. The original app can be listed on Play and App Stores and passes their checks, but then it's downloading something else, and the expert wasn't totally sure what that was.

It's dodgy as anything. That plus the fact that they're clearly losing money on each order - it's not unusual for companies to operate at a loss initially, but this is on a whole other level.

The products are totally untested - I wouldn't give them to my kids for that reason alone.

The designs are mostly copied from other companies to look the same, but made with crappier materials.

And if that's not enough to make you avoid it like the plague, then the slave labour and cost of all this tat being shipped round the world should.

I also hate the laziness of the "every high street store is the same" argument.

Most high street retailers based in the UK try not to buy from slave labour. You can google ethical retailer rankings and see how they stack up. If they are found to be using sweatshops, or materials which aren't safe or tested properly then they get called out on that, or prosecuted if found to be selling something dangerous.

Buying from any high street retailer or UK based online retailer does carry a risk that you are inadvertently buying something which is made by slave labour or has dangerous levels of chemicals in it. But you're not to know that. Buying from Shein, Temu and the rest pretty much guarantees that you are buying something made unethically, potentially dangerously. But again, people are prepared to shove that all to one side in their desire for cheap shit.

Regards Shein I'd recommend watching videos by Justine Leconte on YouTube. She is a French seamstress and designer and knows the industry well.

I dont care what people say and they can judge me has much as they like.
But i shop on temu all the time.
I got my fluffy fleece coat yesterday and its perfect for £13 amazon wanted £26 plus £10 for delivery for the same coat.
Ive got some sliders and slippers perfume that smells wonderful.
I have had all sorts from temu.
One of my best buys was a washing machine that i can put on the table to do the little bits in cost £18.( i call it the bucket machine )
With the cost of living i cant afford other websites.
So judge away.

No, you’re quite right, there’s no proof.

I mean, there is proof that their sister company (Pinduoduo aka PDD Holdings) did exactly this. Their app was removed from the Google store when it was revealed exactly how much data they were harvesting from Android devices and they sacked their IT people. Their IT people were then immediately hired by Temu. But I’m quite sure that those IT people have learned their lesson and would never do anything like that again. I’m also quite sure that the people running Temu are entirely separate from those people under the same umbrella who instructed their IT people to mine data from their customers devices and that they would never do anything so sneaky. I expect the class action lawsuit filed against them for doing exactly this is completely litigious and they will be vindicated as soon as they have their day in court.

https://www.snopes.com/news/2023/06/05/temu-shopping-app-scam-china-spyware/

@Stroopwaffels

*But you went ahead and downloaded it anyway, giving them access to all your data, turning a blind eye to the slavery and myriad of other issues, because their tat is cheap?

More fool you.*

I actually deleted the app within about 10 minutes of installing it. So you can take your sneery attitude elsewhere.

Isn't Temu just a Chinese version of eBay with different sellers selling the same thing rather than the there being big Temu factories and distribution centres somewhere. This product appears multiple times on the site and is exactly the same as the ones I got from eBay years ago.

I personally wouldn't buy from Temu and I won't buy direct from Chinese sellers on eBay, but I'm not sure that all the criticism of Temu is exactly fair.

Deleting the app is a very good idea, it's not only dodgy from a child labour POV but it's highly likely they're mining data.

I agree with this. So much of what we buy is produced centrally and then branded differently. People who think the workers have better conditions just because they spend £12 on a product which is sold elsewhere for £3 are naive. the profit is not going to the workers. Their conditions are not improved. The only way to ensure you are buying ethically is to limit your purchases to ethical companies.

Aliexpress has been good for me over the years whereas most the Temu items have been poor quality.
I have some amazing real leather dm copies . Super comfy , really well made and cost £37 from aliexpress . Plus you don't get all those ridiculously confusing constant pop ups that you seem be flooded with on Temu

Yes, ethics aside, I couldn't be doing with the ridiculousness of it all.

Yes, I'm not missing it