Too wonder why people shop on temu Shein etc

[HappySunday1]

When we know how bad the environment is how much plastic and stuff ends up in land fill how poor the workers conditions are why are we supporting them. I see so many people doing big hauls of stuff. I know it’s cheap and maybe it’s all people can afford by you buy cheap you buy twice.

Isn't Temu just a Chinese version of eBay rather than there being a big Temu factory somewhere?

For example, you can buy these toothpaste squeezers from Temu. They are exactly the same as the ones I bought many years ago on eBay.

I get loads of adverts for Temu when I'm playing games, some stuff is questionable and/or laughable, most of it though is available on eBay at a higher cost, especially once you have filtered it down to UK only. (Not that that is any guarantee)

I haven't used Temu, but what I have done is seen something I think 'ooh that looks useful ' and got it from eBay instead.

I really don't like clothes shopping, I pretty much buy the same things, from the same places over and over again. Shein would involve too many choices.

I use Temu (art supplies, calendars, storage containers). It's brilliant! Exactly the same as what is being sold on Amazon but a fraction of the price.

You don't have to be comfortable to disagree with Shein, the hell? You think the people in Ghana sifting through piles of waste on their neighbourhood buy Shein?

It's a western privilege to even be able to consume that junk.

Because it’s cheap and not all of it is tat I have sown nice items from SHEIN especially summer dresses

and people like to treat themselves I love to receive a parcel, I work hard have very little money to treat myself and can pay in instalments

Mmm actually... I use Temu and Shein and care about the environment, I offset my use of those websites by not eating meat daily, never going on an aeroplane, nobody in my house driving. I take my balance where I can.

You'd rather have a piggy pencils sharpener amongst other things, than ever go on holiday? Really? I'm not sold with this, sorry.

If you had such strong principles, you'd just not buy from there.

Absolutely, and do feel free to appeal to the better nature of those who can afford better, but it's not for everyone. Some people need cĥeap clothes.

Most people are either unaware of any company's supply chains, just how cheap or not the goods and services are. No-one checks when visiting a nail bar or car wash that there is no modern slavery, no-one stops using McDonalds because some staff there have been abused or assaulted, for example.

I did try one of these sites for clothes about a year back. They were awful. Had to send them all back, it was the quality of material.

And I'm not fussy, I did a jumper shop in primark and always wear tu.

I'm not in the UK so can't use Vinted. However, I buy from eBay and the local, similar, auction site. When I look back over everything I've purchased over 20 or so years there are far, far, more things which haven't been suitable than those which have. If I buy from eBay, being on the other side of the world, I pay a fortune in postage. I rarely see anything I like in the local charity shops, especially in my size (and I'm not particularly large). It's not as easy as you seem to think.

I love Temu.

I buy Lego and stationary on there all the time. It’s really good quality and I’ve never had an issue.

Am I aware that they might not be totally legit? Yes, absolutely, but I’m also poor and can’t afford to spend £600 for a real Lego set or shop in Paperchase.

Shein is bad and ideally nobody would use it. Still, it's not alone - plenty of more expensive stores have exactly the same problem - and it comes in for more criticism than things considered better taste and more middle class but which are also destructive to the environment, like foreign holidays, expensive tech, big houses and so on.

Nobody ever changed their ways through high handed, self-righteous preaching. We all think we are doing our bit and have a lower carbon footprint than usual but the changing environment proves we can't all be right. Better to create and share alternatives and encourage people to make changes in a positive way.

This is exactly what I was going to say. I don't wear expensive clothes, almost everything I own is from Dunnes, but the stuff from Temu is laughable. Material so thin it's see through, bizarre sizing. the clothes don't look much like the website. Shein is better in that the clothes fit and look how they should, but it's still really cheap shiny material.

I usually buy all my 10year olds clothes from Next (for lots of reasons) She's had a few Shein orders, mainly Sweatshirts, hoodies and long sleeved tshirts, that have been as good a quality as Next. They've washed really well too. The price difference is huge, when you've got growing kids who aren't in their clothes for as long. Some things I still get from Next, but for people who really can't afford it, they could kit their kids out completely for the cost of a couple of outfits from Next.

You do realise that EVERYTHING, almost, is made in China now ?

Also Next clothes are not made in this country. Years ago MIL fixed clothes for Next made abroad.

I've never purchased anything from either Temu or Shein in my life, and have no intention of ever doing so.

HTH

I keep seeing comments “it’s exactly the same stuff in Etsy or Amazon but so much cheaper”. Yeah, because Temu/Shein/AliExpress steals the original photos and send out their own knock offs. It’s not the same product that gets sent out to you.

I have a long time Etsy shop, Ali Express has copied my photos of my original hand made items and sell “them” directly from their website. Trying to get them to stop is impossible, your complaints just end up in a black hole of doom.

Granted Etsy is full of chinese tat now, it’s true origins are long gone but if you see a quirky item, it’s most likely stolen photos from an independent artist/seller and what you’ll receive is a poor copy.

I love Shein...I buy so many of my summer dresses from it. Tbh I buy because their curve range is so good. I love the styles. Colours etc and it's cheap!

Please don't shop on there! They sell the most disturbing animal products and don't give a stuff that people are then keeping their animals in cages too small for their whole lives!!

And more....

Yes it's all wasteful poor quality junk. It shouldn't be available for sale. Environmental disaster and the products of exploitation.
We need to move away from everyone expecting to have new, trendy stuff for every occasion. Make do, second hand or save up ought to be the default.

Where does buying shit from Shein sit on Maslow's hierarchy of needs? 🤣

🙌🙌🙌

@Stroopwaffels 100% the majority of people buying on these sites just want to buy….nothing to do with affordability and need.
we need to go back to normalising not having all the stuff all the time!
Christmas drives me mad now….all the tat! It just wasn’t around when I was young.

This is a mumsnet fallacy: you can only question a person's environmental credentials if every single life choice you have made is carbon negative. It's lazy bullshit in my opinion and she doesn't have to be an offgrid vegan to question why people buy unnecessary tat from known polluters that are appalling for the climate.