Temu: Shop Like a Billionaire 4+

This is a very different experience from its main competitor. Many of the products offered are fantastic and more appropriately priced in a time when intentional hyperinflation is destroying society. For that I value Temu, which has provided me many solutions to little longtime niggling issues for half to a quarter of the price as the same product on other online retailers; Temu aggregates many useful products that may infringe on patents, but if they are at competitive prices to the genuine articles then it is ultimately good for me as a consumer. The huge caveat with Temu is the issue of legal and moral violations of addictive gambling practices and literal fraud. Even with notifications off, I have allowed myself to spend probably twice as much than I would usually due to aggressive advertisements. While many offers are legitimate, ultimately Temu will make redeeming offers almost impossible without more large purchases or social influence granted with voluntary promotion. The fishland game is literally an impossible scam, farmland requires literally several hundred dollars in orders and a hundred hours of your time for “free” products worth less than ten dollars, and many “exclusive” deals are artifice as displayed on the screen. In the end, Temu is asking to be targeted by the FTC and DOJ.

It’s great for the price tags but the user interface is poor, with random pop-ups that you can’t skip over. The instructions for deleting an account were inaccurate and it took forever to even find the button to do so. Customer service was hard to communicate with and I’m fairly certain the “person” I chatted with was AI; I was met with repeated questions and statements in the exact same manner and it was a long and difficult process to get a refund on an item that I never received. The big sales like Black Friday are more often than not scams; they entice you by claiming to offer free gifts of your choosing but afterward make you invite new users to the app or perform other tasks to get the rewards. Even after inviting new users, the “points” per person dwindles with each accepted invitation to the point where no matter how many people accept your link, you still can’t claim the gifts you chose; they use you to get new customers and more traffic while giving you nothing in return. Plus, the obscured data collection and hidden features that you often unknowingly “consent” to by simply pressing a seemingly harmless button makes for a very sketchy platform. That’s not even to mention the poor packaging and shipment; everything gets thrown into a bag that is haphazardly taped up. My advice is use at your own risk and don’t partake in deals that seem too good to be true— most often, they are.

If you have high values about high quality and personal cashflow, maybe skip this one. Because if you’re looking for cheap deals, this place is addictive. The prices are great and the quality is decent and if you can sweat through the shipping time, there are some steals here! And, the classic saying “you get what you pay for” applies here, as it does everywhere. Be smart. If you want high quality clothes, don’t buy them here. If you want beginner art supplies to try stuff out, or stamps, or trinkets or tools or hair stuff - and can wait 10-14 days - give it a whirl. Think online dollar store quality stuff. Know what you’re getting yourself into. Just made my first larger priced purchase, so I’m interested to see how if the quality increases as the prices increase.

I’ve been surprised at how well things arrive given the distance and wrapping - which is basically just a heavy plastic bag - but even glass things have come intact so far. And they’ve arrived within the guaranteed delivery window every time. I’m also a fan of the price adjustment option, which gives you store credit if prices go down within a window after purchase. Overall, I’m pretty pleased and am way too tempted by these deals.