Has anyone used Temu for online shopping?

andya700

Suspended / Banned
Messages
6,071
Name
Andy
Edit My Images
No
I am sure that there are other sites such as Temu, but has anyone used Temu? I have just seen a 1:250 card model of the USS Arizona for £12.50 and as I am retired, would like to have a bash at doing it.
 
Yes, I use it quite a lot. One very poor item received, immediate no-quibble refund. Some of their stuff is obvious junk, but it's easy to spot.
 
I have once.
I wanted some cheap joke socks for my kids, saw 3 pairs and paid something like £2.25 for all 3 including delivery, which took about 3 days.
Socks are still being worn so a proper bargain.
I've not used it again yet but expect I will when I need something cheap and possibly gimmicky, am slightly reluctant to go for anything expensive as I've since heard a few tales that may or may not be true..
 
My wife bought a leather bag at what might have been a good price if it hadn't turned out to be plastic - plus the lining disintegrated fairly quickly. I wouldn't buy anything that needed to be of good quality, and would assume that if there is the possibility of a cheap junk option, that is most likely what will arrive.
 
"Err indoors" buys a lot of stuff from Temu. She buys fabric (she sews a lot) so most times she's ordering I bung something on her order. Had a few brackets and filters, and tripod bits and bobs. Pretty much all of it's been ok and stupid cheap. EG black mist filter 82mm was I think £3 (not sure it's my thing, but it was cheap) Got a great keyring light for a £1, works fine as a video light.
 
I have used them a lot mainly for model making tools and micro electronics for the models all been good quality , a few clothing items for both of us and even shoes .. the sizes are spot on and quality on a par with what you buy here .. they even do some photo stuff . Never as yet had to return anything
 
Much like Shein, it's an environmental catastrophe. Nobody buys anything they need from Temu.

Also, remember the saying "if it looks too good to be true, it's probably because somebody is harvesting your information".
 
Much like Shein, it's an environmental catastrophe. Nobody buys anything they need from Temu.

Also, remember the saying "if it looks too good to be true, it's probably because somebody is harvesting your information".
I'mnot sure that I can agree with that.
one of the items I've bought is this Tripod accessory, which allows me to shoot square down on to my subject, among other things. As you can see, it has a length of 63cm, costs £9.44 and it can also take two cameras, perfect perhaps for running two videos cameras at the same time.
temu overhead pole.jpg
For comparison (and no doubt there are others too) here's something similar, but without the facility to mount 2 cameras, and half the length, for £35.99 https://www.kentfaith.co.uk/KF31.03...Yysrin2Opw_IDyKwBI-Cbqc4zd_UnDuBoC2qkQAvD_BwE

It may or may not be better, I have no way of knowing, but the one from Temu is both needed and works perfectly:)
 
Just my POV......

There was much justifiable criticism of 'fast fashion' and environmental damage it does, not least the waste disposal aspects.

Temu, when I saw the first adverts, I saw as trying to start/feed a global materialism demand for "buying stuff" (NB yes the 'demand' was, sadly, there but Temu has exacerbated the problems that such "fast consumerism" causes)

I have not and will not buy from them.

Edit following @Garry Edwards post
No doubt some products are well made and fit for purpose at the price point.
It strikes me that is a "wheat from the chaff" situation i.e. it seems from some of the commentary (here and elsewhere ?) that the chaff can predominate and that is effectively shifting garbage around the world disguised as consumer goods!

Over dramatic perhaps but selling the poorer products that are willingly refunded if they have an issue but telling the customer to dispose of them is not a wonderful situation to be in!
 
Last edited:
I've used Temu and also Aliexpress and I think the service I've had from both is actually better than what I've had from ebay and Amazon. Sending stuff back and getting refunds seems to be easier to the point of being painless whereas that's not always the case with ebay and Amazon.

Quality can be patchy and I have had poor quality and fake goods but the return process has been painless.

Just on the throw away products as mentioned above. Sorry but I don't think that's only a problem with the likes of Temu and Aliexpress, western brands and platforms are neck deep in this too. Ditto the treatment of workers and modern slavery. We all know that western platforms and even high street shops are involved in this too.

I don't have a problems buying something from Temu or Aliexpress which isn't disposable, I/we don't buy fast fashion, and which is the exact same item as sold by ebay or Amazon but at a higher price on those western platforms... assuming that the far eastern platforms pay their taxes.
 
I'mnot sure that I can agree with that.
one of the items I've bought is this Tripod accessory, which allows me to shoot square down on to my subject, among other things. As you can see, it has a length of 63cm, costs £9.44 and it can also take two cameras, perfect perhaps for running two videos cameras at the same time.
View attachment 461516
For comparison (and no doubt there are others too) here's something similar, but without the facility to mount 2 cameras, and half the length, for £35.99 https://www.kentfaith.co.uk/KF31.03...Yysrin2Opw_IDyKwBI-Cbqc4zd_UnDuBoC2qkQAvD_BwE

It may or may not be better, I have no way of knowing, but the one from Temu is both needed and works perfectly:)
Funnily enough "err indoors" has just ordered me one of those. She forgot we have a Benbo mk 2 which does something similar. Mind for under a tenner.....
 
I'm sorry but for me most of the stuff i buy is made in China
its not even made in the UK/EU so buying from AliExpress is just cutting out the middleman like Amazon and Ebay
I have just bought some 100pin connectors for my Altair S100 build I could have paid £9each from USA or 4x for £20 from China and I needed 11
what are you going to do? The carriage from the USA was going to be £24 and from China FOC.
 
Last edited:
I mean it sounds like you don't need it..... :)
I suppose I dont really. But then I didn't order it. My other half is into photography too. She often just buys things she thinks I'll like, then if I dont use it she will (she has her own kit, 3 bodies lens etc) so it'll get used at some point.
Yesterday I got a book on the Titan sub sinking, massive great thing with the official report. I'd shown an interest watching a Youtube video. Maybe I should start watching videos of Canon R 1 cameras.... ;)
 
Someone told me that a lot of the reputable make stuff is made in China anyway. Apparently what they do is fill an order for say 5.000 bags or whatever, then run off another 5.000 for themselves to sell online. It's got a name, I think it's something like container seling? They do a container for the customer and one for themself. Cant remember the name now.
 
Someone told me that a lot of the reputable make stuff is made in China anyway. Apparently what they do is fill an order for say 5.000 bags or whatever, then run off another 5.000 for themselves to sell online. It's got a name, I think it's something like container seling? They do a container for the customer and one for themself. Cant remember the name now.
If by "themselves" you mean the factory that make the products for the non Chinese company...........such action is fraud, more so if the item is not branded with the designer/clients branding........that will be copyright/trademarks infringements of some description. The latter arguably in the UK & EU could be described as counterfeit goods.

PS yes, one heck of a lot of products are 'designed in (name a country!) ' and manufactured in China. That aspect is what Trump is trying to kill, overnight, with his pen.
 
Last edited:
If by "themselves" you mean the factory that make the products for the non Chinese company...........such action is fraud, more so if the item is not branded with the designer/clients branding........that will be copyright/trademarks infringements of some description. The latter arguably in the UK & EU could be described as counterfeit goods.
The practice is nothing new sadly. A friend of mine worked as a line production manager for a major sportswear brand about 20 years ago. Her job was liaising between the designers in the U.K. and the manufacturing factories, who were mostly based in China. She’d go out a couple of times a year to discuss any manufacturing issues and rein in the design if it was too difficult or costly to achieve, she’d also negotiate with the factory owners to get the production costs as low as possible. The company also had local agents who kept an eye on quality and general practice within the factories (eg, no child labour used, healthy and decent working conditions for the workers etc). The agents would often find that the factories would use the original design patterns and moulds to do their own run of production once the British run was complete. The factory owners often didn’t see what the problem was…as far as they were concerned they’d fulfilled the contract and as long as they left the original branding off their own product run, or even modified it slightly, they weren’t doing anything illegal.

I remember Top Gear doing a similar piece where Chinese car companies were blatantly copying European designs but claiming they weren’t infringing copyright. Whatever, they simply weren’t bothered.

Going back to the original topic, I’ve never used Temu but have ordered clothing from SHEIN with no issues. The stuff is actual decent quality as long as you avoid the ridiculously cheap lines…. I tend to stick to the mid priced Manfinity range for things like shirts for instance. Sizing is slightly on the small side so I order one size up. If it doesn’t fit it’s easy to send things back via the post office or a courier. In some cases (trainers for instance) you can get exactly the same brand products as Amazon sell, but quite a bit cheaper
 
Last edited:
If by "themselves" you mean the factory that make the products for the non Chinese company...........such action is fraud, more so if the item is not branded with the designer/clients branding........that will be copyright/trademarks infringements of some description. The latter arguably in the UK & EU could be described as counterfeit goods.

PS yes, one heck of a lot of products are 'designed in (name a country!) ' and manufactured in China. That aspect is what Trump is trying to kill, overnight, with his pen.
I don't think they care much about our laws. As for Trump, they just add the increase to the customer, so Americans end up paying the tarriff.
 
Back
Top