What is TEMU, is it safe to buy from them?

TEMU is a company best avoided. I attended a talk about sustainable fashion given by Patrick Grant and he didn’t have a good word to say about them! I ordered some storage baskets which looked lovely in the pictures but were ugly and flimsy when they arrived. My husband was looking for a comfortable but fashionable knitted cardigan and showed me a picture of one he found on TEMU. When it arrived, I fell about laughing at how different it looked from the picture! It was appallingly poor quality and looked two sizes too small!

I do buy a lot online online but havnt bought anything from Temu myself. Their ads are slick and glossy as the Chinese ads tend to be. My nephew has had a few cheap things for the house and they came quickly. China Post is fast and reliable.

As other posters have noted upthread returning stuff can be expensive so probably best to stick with small cheap(ish) items that you can decide to write off if they are not up to spec.

This is the choice you make when buying international.

I was just thinking if all goods from China were boycotted we’d be left with two fifths of bugger all. They make just about everything now, cars, clothes,electrical goods. Even food in some cases (check out where the garlic comes from) Too late for all those scruples and personally I would rather a person have a job than be unemployed and starving to death.

I cannot emphasise too strongly how much risk you are at using Temu ! The prices are ridiculously low - but why is that? Of course the reviews will be good, because at the moment this Chinese firm just want YOUR BANK DETAILS!! So they are giving away thousands in the certain knowledge that when the time is right and they have secured the bank data of most of the UK population, they will pounce and drain every account. It is modern day, digital warfare. For heavens sake, if you have given your details to this company, change your bank, move your money and keep away from them in the future.

I've just been reading the 'which' review of Temu, and the concerns are around the safety of products, the supply chain, and being careful around giving away data, as well as the need to be careful around it's addictive use.

It says that if your priority is price, first and foremost, then Temu is for you.

The point here is that a lot of the other companies recommended here are using the same kind of supply chain., but nobody wants to discuss that, it seems.

Hi ExDancer’. I think the bigger picture is that they are being investigated for their business methods, particularly around forced labour of a specific group. How else could they achieve such cheap prices I wonder. These links are from last year, I haven’t the time to look for later ones just now. There was also ‘rumour’ that once you download their app the company can access your info, but that’s probably scaremongering. I don’t know. I wouldn’t touch them with somebody else’s barge pole.

Temu being investigated.

committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/118846/html/

committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/118846/html/

Agree with all the negative comments but would add that it's very difficult to avoid Chinese goods whether you buy in person or on-line

Yes it's fine had loads of stuff I always use my credit card though not my debit card. Can take up to 3 weeks to come Had no problems. If clothes order 1 size larger

PattyFingers

I wouldn't use them, but when I have wanted to buy larger sizes I have found Big Dude very good. They do sizes up to 10XL www.bigdudeclothing.co.uk/

Big dude clothing is made in India. I wonder what conditions they work under.🤔

ExDancer

Adverts for temu keep intruding everywhere but I've been told its a Chinese firm, and advised not to use them.
I'm currently searching for a size 5x (!) sweater for a family member, it has to have a Vee neck, and I just can't find one anywhere unless I'm going to pay £100+ for it (and he's not THAT close a family member).
Every time I post a request for vee necked sweaters - up pops Temu!

ExDancer- try Jacamo for your relative’s jumper. There’s not a huge choice of V necks but they do go up to 5XL, otherwise there’s Bad Rhino, the menswear equivalent of Yours.
Apologies if others have already suggested these.

I always pay via PayPal
They are easy to deal with & get refunds if goods are faulty whether from Temu or elsewhere

Marthjolly1

Definitely a no-no from me. I have bought from them clothes and shoes. Not impressed with the quality, or the customer service. I bought a great looking pair of shoes, measured my feet for sizing but they were about 2 sizes to small and very narrow. They refused to take them back so a total waste of money. They were put in tge charity shop. And then I read up on them and agree with everything Bluebelle has said. Never again.

I have never had a problem returning anything to Temu. Often, they refund and tell you to not to return, but to give the item to charity. They don't quibble about it, just immediately send you the barcode to show at the post office or return store.

A lot of times you don't have to return items.
Just give the reason why, keep the item, and get a refund.

Elegran

It operates rather like Amazon - selling stuff on behalf of the same kind of firms who sell stuff on Amazon, and getting commission from the sellers - but it is based in China and so are most of the sellers and the goods are even more likely to have been made in Asia than the ones on Amazon.

As you can't tell what the quality is, or the size could be more suitable for a tiny Asian beauty than a bigger Western woman, you could want to return it. Returning stuff can be difficult if the seller is in China, and you are often expected to pay the carriage yourself to return goods.

Check up on return and complaint policies and customer service, and whether they have an office in your country, before you buy.

The sizes are stated in UK sizing. Returns are free and very easy to do, they send you a choice of a return label to print, or just a barcode which you show at the shop or post office. There is no quibbling, if you want to return, it's accepted immediately and if you want the refund into your Temu account, it goes in immediately that you hand the parcel over. The tracking on the site is second to none.

And they are an ethical company, too

If the 5XL is for a male try Jacamo. They have men’s clothes up to an 8XL I think.

For women try YOURS - they have plus sizes up to a 34 on some items

Don't buy anything then, basically.
Because they probably all originate from sweat shops

MissInterpreted

mokryna

And then towns have boarded up shop and are empty of people. Use it or you lose it.

What if your local town doesn't have shops selling the things you want?

That is true, many years of web shopping has been the death of the high street completely, however, keep an eye on where the product is made, don’t encourage Asian products.

I wouldn't use them, but when I have wanted to buy larger sizes I have found Big Dude very good. They do sizes up to 10XL www.bigdudeclothing.co.uk/

It’s my understanding that they are selling at a loss with the intention of putting Western manufacturers out of business. There is a great concern about their ethics too. Nothing good about them at all, avoid at all costs!

Temu now has bases in UK, just like Amazon hence very quick delivery for some items. Suppose they use UK workers in their warehouses.

I agree with what everyone is saying about the ethics of this company. But no one seems to have mentioned the further dodgy ethics of one of the other ways they make big money selling very cheap items. The article I read said that to make the company successful extremely quickly, they sold as much of their customers private details as they could, for big bucks.
The article explained it all in quite a lot of detail, but I don't remember all the details now - I just know I'd never ever use them!

I ordered from Jacamo last year too. They are an online only company and specialise in large sizes. I checked them out before ordering and had no problems.

I bought a small wheelie suitcase from Temu and was sent a scarf with horses on it …. So no I wouldn’t buy from them again, which is a shame as they ‘appear’ to sell some nice stuff …

I would never buy anything from Temu for ethical reasons and I'm sick of their adverts popping up.