“Where’s that new football shirt from? I don’t remember buying it. It looks very cheap…” I probe my 14-year-old son, Charlie. China, he tells me. Further investigation reveals he pooled his pocket money to buy the kit from a site I’ve never heard of; Temu (pronounced tee-mo.) This must be why he has been asking every day after school if a parcel has arrived for him.
“How much did it cost?” I ask. Less than £10, including postage. I’m shocked. How can anything be that cheap to make and then ship around the globe? It makes Sports Direct look like Harrods by comparison.
But, within a few weeks, the fake Arsenal logo has almost rubbed off the top and the elastic on the shorts has started to fray. I tell Charlie that this has to be the last thing that he buys from Temu. But, he says, one of his friends has been badgering him to sign up because he will get £100 credit if 10 people click on a link he’s sent. “£100?” I say, “Are you sure?” I tell him if something looks (and sounds) too good to be true, it probably is.
Temu is an online bargain basem*nt marketplace where you can buy everything from air fryers to magnets to bubble tea to gym gear. It’s China’s answer to Amazon and prices start at just 28p for kids’ clothes and 38p, yes, you read that right, for women’s shoes. There’s also a whole section dedicated to items which are £1 or less. It’s a cash-strapped teenage consumer’s dream (and, at a time when lots of people across Britain are feeling the pinch, an alluring prospect for many more).
After Charlie’s purchase, I decided to take a look for myself. Some of the so-called “best sellers” include fake transparent pantyhose (£2.98), a cobblestone pattern bath rug (£3.28) and a portable car air compressor (£22.57.)
At first glance I notice that Temu seems to use the sort of marketing favoured by the likes of TK Maxx, where they put both the RRP and the current price on the label, showing the extent of the discount. I’m left wondering – unlike designer brands that have their own RRP before TK Maxx sets a price – where does Temu’s RRP come from?
It’s clear that whatever strategies they are using are working though. It’s a honeytrap for young people like my son. Temu is currently the most downloaded app in the UK and US and has had more than 100m downloads in the United States and Europe since January.
Since launching in the US in September 2022, Temu – owned by the Chinese internet giant PDD Holdings, now operates in 47 countries. Its business model is simple, hugely alluring discounts, credit for packages if they arrive late, and garish seasonal products you never knew you wanted.
Read Next
Lifestyle
Big ReadMy food bill hasn't gone up in 8 years: here’s how I save money (and eat well)Read More
Not to mention the aggressive marketing. I mean, really aggressive. Since my son stopped buying stuff from there, I’ve involuntarily found myself on the receiving end of more spam than I’ve ever encountered. Charlie claims he didn’t use my email addresses to register but I have had a deluge of emails on all my accounts (I have several). It’s like one of Medusa’s snakes. When I block them from one account, they target another. When I block it from my laptop, they somehow come up on my phone.
Too good to be true?
Aside from the low quality of the items Charlie bought, and the marketing that seems to never end, as a parent there are several other causes for concern.
First, there’s the fact that Temu does not have two-factor authentication. A recent report from global tech site ZDNET said it was a “major red flag for shoppers”. Given the high quantity of breach activity worldwide, the username and password mechanism for authentication is effectively worthless”.
There’s also concerns about the ethics of any business selling products so cheaply. Temu is not accredited by the US-based Better Business Bureau (a consumer protection firm) and has an average rating of 2.5 out of five stars from consumers.
Many recent complaints about Temu purchases on the BBB website say that items never arrived or, if they did, took weeks or even months to arrive. Temuinsists it is not responsible forthird-party sellersusing its platform.
Then there is the fact that the company has already got into trouble with the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for publishing inappropriate “sexual” imagery in several of its adverts. One of which appeared to feature a child in a bikini posing in an adult way, it was reported. Temu told The Guardian it is “drawing inspiration from established websites in the UK to enhance our product design, which will hopefully lead to a better experience for consumers.”
Oh, and did I mention it had also been criticised for selling items which could be classed as weapons, including knives and axes, without an age restriction? The UK consumer champion Which? said it discovered listings for batons and folding knives on the site that resembled items banned under UK law.
Researchers from Which? said they were able to buy age-restricted items, such as knives and axes, without checks being carried out on how old the purchaser was. Some of the products were also extremely cheap, starting from £4.48. The body called for Temu to improve its checking process, remove dangerous items and hold third-party sellers to account.
A Temu spokesperson said in response to the Which? findings: “After receiving a complaint of a person under 18 purchasing a bladed article, we immediately removed all related product listings. We also initiated a comprehensive investigation of our processes to further strengthen our safeguards and prevent similar cases… Temu is committed to complying fully with relevant rules and regulations in all of the markets that we operate in, and we take all reports of violations very seriously.”
Hmm, okay. As a parent, I can’t say I’m very reassured. So we have banned Temu in this house for all of the reasons outlined above. I think I can just about manage to live without that non-stick round egg mould, waterproof kitchen sink Sellotape and silicone stove gap cover.
Suffice to say, I’ve had milk that’s lasted longer than my son’s Temu football kit and won’t be buying anything from there again. My words of warning seem to have, thankfully, been taken on board too. He’s now set his sites on another online marketplace called Panda Buy, also from China. I wonder if they sell air fryer magnets too…
)
