Budget-conscious buyers hunting for rock-bottom prices at Temu may be getting more than they bargained for, a recent U.K. news program has found.
In “The Truth About Temu: Dispatches,” Channel 4 reporter Ellie Flynn found dangerous levels of toxic heavy metals in items from a $4 “silver effect” necklace to a $14 children’s jacket.
Operated by PDD Holding under the auspices of WhaleCo, the Chinese-founded marketplace has gained a massive following over the past two years, with one-quarter of the British population downloading the app and some half a million users worldwide.
Temu’s explosive rise has everything to do with the impossibly cheap prices it offers on everything from swimsuits to electric scooters, which can cost 10-40 percent less than on Shein, even for identical goods. That and the gamification of commerce—think discount roulette wheels and countdown timers—that once led GlobalData Retail analyst Neil Saunders to describe it as “addictive as sugar.”
I don’t get it, how is Temu a scam and AliExpress isn’t? They seem like the same thing, just an online marketplace for cheap shit with campy wild advertising. I actually prefer the shitty exaggerated product descriptions. It’s easier to gauge what I’ll be actually getting. It’s harder with better produced advertising coughRayconcough
I didn’t say Ali wasn’t - Im just saying, I know what to expect on Ali. I expect shit. Temu markets itself as an amazing market place. Ali is the wild west of drop shipping.
Ah, I see. I haven’t paid much attention to Temu ads, my perception of it from the website was just AliExpress with fewer options but faster shipping.