Electronics ordered from cheap online stores can be a nasty surprise. The insurance company urges you to prefer well-known and reliable online stores.
Electronics ordered from foreign discount stores may not meet European safety standards. Samuli Leppälä
POP Insurance warns about electronics ordered from foreign cheap online stores, which can be disappointing and cause dangerous situations.
Even if the product ordered from Temu, Aliexpress, Wish or Shein looks on the surface the same as the significantly more expensive original product, there are not necessarily any guarantees about its electrical and fire safety. This happened recently, for example, with Apple’s copy chargers.
According to the insurance company, for example, the lack of CE marking is one sign that the device does not meet European safety requirements.
– Deficiencies in quality control can lead to the use of low-quality components in the devices, which can break, the devices overheat and cause serious incidents, POP Insurance investigation manager Paavo Niemelä says in the company’s press release.
In its announcement, POP Insurance also lists other risks that may be involved in ordering electronics from foreign cheap online stores:
- Cheap products are often designed with a short lifespan in mind, which can cause annoyance to the recipient and increase the amount of electronic waste.
- The products may not fit directly into European electrical systems. Deviating plugs or voltages can make the device unusable without additional adapters.
- The operating instructions may only be in a foreign language or may be missing altogether, which can make it difficult to use the device safely.
- Invoking the warranty or using the right of return can be difficult.