5 Important Things You Need To Know Before Shopping On TEMU
Temu is well-known for offering shockingly low prices across a wide variety of products. The app has taken the e-commerce world by storm since its launch in September 2022 and quickly became the most downloaded app in the U.S. Not all users are happy, though, with several mixed reviews putting the site in a tricky position.
The shopping supergiant isn't the only Chinese e-commerce app to dominate the U.S. market. Its main competitor, Shein, has seen similar success selling cheap Chinese goods to the public. The rivaling app has made claims against Temu for copying thousands of images from its website. This hasn't stopped Temu from maintaining its no.1 position across the iOS and Android app stores and surpassing Amazon's marketplace app in global downloads in early 2024.
Despite its success, several public complaints are circulating online about the legitimacy of its products, poor customer service, and delayed refunds, drawing many away from the site. Here are five important things to know before shopping with Temu.
Expect poor quality
If you're new to Temu, it only takes a quick browse through the site to realize the prices are marked ridiculously lower than other e-commerce sites. Often, this can lead to the equation: cheap prices equals cheap materials. While this may not be a concern for some items, it does present some caution when buying cheap tech gadgets.
Safety is a top priority when buying tech, especially given the safety risks associated with Li-ion batteries. So, to keep safe, buying from trustworthy manufacturers is important.
For Temu, the number of verified large tech manufacturers is, unfortunately, very small. You might receive items that look similar to their brand-name counterparts, but don't be put off by these disguises. They're often built with cheaper materials and are easier to break, as highlighted by several user reviews. Safety is more relevant for electrical items than any other item, so it's important to remain cautious when shopping for tech items on Temu.
Expect limited customer service and refunds
Temu promises free standard shipping on all orders to US customers and claims to have a 90-day refund policy. However, as many customer reviews have highlighted, these promises are not always kept.
Temu has a poor rating of 2.49 stars out of five on Better Business Bureau as of January 2024, collected from over 1,300 customer reviews. While many reviews point toward the low quality of items they've received (which is to be expected), a significant proportion of reviews comment on missing or damaged items and delayed shipping times.
The e-commerce platform also has its fair share of negative reviews on Trustpilot, which closely monitors fake reviews to ensure all reviews are genuine. Among its 34% 1-star reviews, buyers have commented on a lack of communication with Temu regarding updates on orders or refunds. People have also criticized Temu's Live Chat feature, a real-time chatbot designed to connect people with customer service quickly.
Beware of scams
Despite its negative customer reviews, Temu is a legitimate site, which is one of the reasons it has over 100 million downloads on the Google Play store. But there are some scams to watch out for if you're buying from Temu.
One Temu scam involves TikTok users promoting fake celebrity photo leaks to get other users to enter their referral codes (via BleepingComputer). Of course, the photos are fictitious, and the scammer gets all the award points in return.
Another thing to be aware of is fake reviews. Unlike Amazon, Temu doesn't showcase user badges to indicate verified purchases. Instead, the site claims all its reviews site-wide are from verified buyers. To be on the safe side, however, it's worth checking trusted sources for product reviews, especially when buying electronics. There are many ways to spot fake reviews so you know whether to trust a product or not.
Be aware of knock-off brands
As with many large e-commerce sites, Temu is certainly not free from knock-off brands. Most of the time, you can identify knock-off brands by a lack of brand names from the product images. Another way to tell is by assessing the price to see if it's absurdly low. But it's not always obvious. Many user reviews from Trustpilot have reported receiving fake products or ones that are not as described by sellers. So, inspecting a product carefully before making a purchase is important.
With limited sold products by original manufacturers, it's hard to know which products have undergone safety tests. Official brands on Temu are specified by a blue check mark. But you won't find this symbol appearing much for technology brands. In fact, A HP representative reported that they could not identify whether the HP products described by Temu were genuine (via ZDNET).
Knock-off brands are one of the reasons Temu's prices are so low and are hard to avoid on the site. Especially with technology brands, buying non-genuine items can carry a risk factor. Quality isn't guaranteed, either. For example, if you're buying a USB drive, it's safe to assume you won't get the fastest speeds. With cheap materials from an unknown manufacturer, you might also encounter a malfunctioning device, putting your important files at risk of corruption.
Be aware of data collection practices
Temu hasn't had the best history of data collection practices, drawing many away from the platform. One large concern is that its sister company, Pinduoduo, was suspended from the Google Play store after experts found malware littered in the app's code (via WIRED).
During an inspection of Pinduoduo, experts found code that exploited operating systems to access much more data than an e-commerce app should. While there is no evidence that any data was given to the Chinese government, it does suggest an element of risk for users of its sister app, Temu. Based on findings from CNN, many of the workers responsible for the exploits were directly transferred to Temu.
As with other apps, it's a good security practice to check what permissions are being requested before installing an app. If there are permissions that look unrelated to the app's functionality, it may be time to look for another app.
Temu may offer a glamorous range of products, but the truth is looking less glamorous. With poor-quality items, problems with shipment, and delayed refunds, Temu's inviting appeal may be too good to be true.