The online marketplace Temu has rapidly gained notoriety and seems to be blossoming into the leading player in the cheap segment. But the consumer center warns against too much euphoria. Instead, there are a few things you should definitely consider before ordering from Temu.
Temu’s first impression is overwhelming: Everything is colorful, exuberant, incredibly cheap – also thanks to the inflationary discount codes. Temu is doing everything possible to make its own advertising slogan “Shop like a billionaire” possible. But are billionaires really buying banana-shaped lunch boxes and sleep masks with built-in headphones? In any case, it seems that on Temu there is pretty much everything that you can (not) use in the kitchen, children’s room, wardrobe or for various hobbies. And all this at absurdly low prices. What sounds almost too good to be true should be viewed critically. The Consumer Center warns against careless consumption. TECHBOOK knows what you need to know when shopping on Temu.
A marketplace for everything and everyone
Unlike Amazon, Temu is purely an online marketplace, but does not act as a seller itself. When you buy a product, you enter into a contract with an external dealer. This massively reduces the costs on the seller’s side, since there are no longer any middlemen. The products come directly from the factory before the seller sends them out. The cheap shopping platform Wish worked with the same concept. However, the idea of selling as much as possible at the lowest possible price did not work out for Wish for long. After a spike during the 2020 pandemic year, Wish has been struggling with massive revenue slumps and losses.
How Temu develops remains to be seen. But “Temu is perfectly tailored to the way young people shop today,” says WDR-Digital expert Jörg Schieb. Temu lures with little effort, low prices and an almost endless supply – but there are also serious risks.
With price ranges between 20 euros and a few cents, nobody should be surprised not to discover any branded products on Temu. And if it does, then it’s better to be suspicious. While no-name products aren’t necessarily bad, Temu customers often report defective goods, noticeably poor quality, and substandard packaging that failed to adequately protect the products during shipping. Therefore, it is even more important here than usual to carefully check products and customer reviews before buying.
Since Temu does not sell itself, the return process can sometimes be difficult in the event of a damaged product. Therefore, avoid paying in advance if possible, but only pay when you have received the goods in good condition. If you receive pre-payment requests, report to online customer service and explain that you have not yet received the item. This way you can at least secure yourself financially.
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Beware of devices without a CE mark
If the shipping and communication with the seller or customer service are not smooth, it is undoubtedly annoying. However, products that do not meet European safety standards can become really dangerous. This includes, for example, that certain products must be accompanied by operating instructions in German. However, this is often missing from the bargain items.
Even more problematic is the CE mark, which many goods are missing. CE stands for Conformité Européenne and is mandatory in the EU for toys and electronic devices, among other things. The CE mark in itself is not a seal of quality, but with the marking the manufacturer assures that its products comply with the European guidelines and assumes responsibility for this. Conversely, this can mean that non-labelled products do not meet these safety standards, which can have drastic consequences.
At the end of 2021, France had temporarily removed the US platform Wish from the app stores because 95 percent of the toys offered there did not meet the minimum legal requirements. And initial studies at Temu also show that there are fundamental deficits. “If you take a closer look at the product range, you realize that they do not meet the product safety requirements,” emphasizes e-commerce expert Mark Steier to Golem, “Like Wish, you can find products that are actually forbidden to sell here in Germany. “
A team from WDR researching Temu even came across counterfeit CE marks, a car door opener that uses a banned military frequency, and a smartwatch with a data protection concept as holey as a fishing net. The best way to protect yourself from such things is to carefully check the item descriptions and customer reviews and, if necessary, decide on a branded product in another shop.
The liability conditions are also uncomfortably permeable. If you order directly from China, this eliminates the manufacturer’s liability. The WDR illustrates this with the following example: “Anyone who lends a vacuum cleaner bought from Temu to the neighbors can be sued if the battery catches fire there and causes a fire.”
Surprise costs at the national border
Even if Temu lures with dirt cheap prices, you should always find out about the applicable customs and tax regulations when ordering from outside the EU. Customs only apply at a material value of 150 euros, which you can only achieve with Temu by placing a large order. However, import sales tax and consumer tax can already arise from a goods value of 5.26 euros. However, since Temu moved its headquarters from Shanghai to Ireland, this shouldn’t be a problem for Temu customers.
DHL writes: “If the goods were ordered on an online marketplace that is registered in the EU and pays the applicable VAT in an EU country, no taxes are due, since the recipient pays the due taxes directly when making the purchase or online -Order paid. This system is known as Import One Stop Shop (IOSS). If the mail-order company registers with this, the tax is already included in the invoice amount when the purchase is made.” What is good for the individual customer can, however, become a burden for society, since customs, value added tax and similar taxes either do not apply or do not end up in Germany. The consequence of this is the progressive desertification of the inner cities, since local shops cannot compete with Temu (or Amazon). Jobs and consumer protection are also the losers in this battle for low prices.
Not sustainable at any level
If you buy cheap, you buy twice. This assessment could come true even faster with Temu products than with other cheap goods. After all, how high quality can the materials used for a 17-euro pair of jeans be? Or for a smartwatch for the same price? You can also be sure that wages and production conditions do not promote either social or environmental sustainability. On the contrary.
Added to this are the long transport routes from China. The comparison with Amazon’s absurdly short delivery times cannot be a benchmark, because this company also relies on highly questionable working conditions. But local shops and retailers could possibly deliver faster and more sustainably. Because toxic chemicals and Co2 are not only produced during the comparatively weakly regulated production in China and shipping to Germany, but also when the return is returned. It is at best unlikely that a T-shirt that is sold for a few euros has been sent halfway around the world and back again and then not simply ended up in the garbage.
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Intrusive advertising
If you install the Temu app, you should also pay attention to some settings. If you agree to the advertising approach, you have to reckon with an excessive number of advertising messages that encourage you to buy with special offers and playful elements. If you open the app, you can win a discount with a virtual wheel of fortune immediately after starting it. In the worst case, you let yourself be influenced and buy more than you actually wanted. In the most harmless case, all the advertising is just annoying.
Push notifications can be switched off in the app or in the smartphone settings, and you can also unsubscribe from the e-mail newsletter using a link in the footer. But you should also protect your personal data, as Temu wants to use it aggressively for commercial purposes. Therefore, make sure in the smartphone settings that location tracking is switched off and you deny the app access to contacts, advertising ID, photos and microphone. Although Temu is basically a reputable company, one should deal critically and attentively with its offers. And some particularly sensitive products should perhaps simply be ordered elsewhere.