How Temu Ruined Online Shopping

TEMU has changed the online shopping world with their low quality products, insanely cheap prices, and lack of transparency. Because of the TEMU-ification of online shopping, we're seeing even sites like Etsy changing for the worse.

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Script: Hanna Petersen
Editor: Sam Askew
Project Manager: Lurana McClure Rodríguez
Host: Levi Hildebrand

[thebunsenburner]

Getting a Temu ad is icing on the cake for this.

[skartimusprime]

Etsy used to be awesome. I got so many cool handmade things there back in the day. Now it is a sea of dogshit

[kantigua]

unfortunately even farmers markets n local fairs are full of mass produced items disguised as handcrafted these days.... thanks for this video. i'm an etsy seller n the struggle is real out here

[racheldykes]

One thing I think needs to be hammered home more is that a lot of people want something handmade without being willing to pay the fair price for the handmade item. About a decade ago I was into making handmade blank books as a hobby to be used for drawing, journals, etc. It takes several hours to do. The hourly price for my labor, plus the materials weren't cheap, is just too much when your product is placed next to other books in the search results.

[spencercool]

I still use Etsy, but shopping on there now feels more like "sifting through shit to find the gold" rather than what it used to be, which was "mostly gold with some fools gold mixed in"

Edit: I got an ad for fucking temu on this video. Save me from this hell world, Levi

[gidramom]

What I dislike about Etsy is that they put "Handmade" labels on products that are obviously made in mass-manufacturing factories in China.
I don't like being lied to. I rather buy them from Amazon. It's not like I approve their business but at least I know what I'm getting from them.

[EnbyGaemer]

The sad part is, even if I go to my local craft fair. There's someone selling drop shipped items. Mostly cheap jewelry or kid's fidget toys.

I always avoid their table. I am familiar with my local artisans and buy exclusively from them.

[reaven]

I went to a local town fair recently. 90% of booths were MLM booths, or dropshipped garbage from China, including several booths selling the same exact products under their own fake brand.

I'm not even sure what to do at this point. Handmade means nothing, local means nothing. Local fairs aren't even safe. I have no guarantee someone is making a product themselves unless I literally can see them doing it.

There's still local businesses and local craftsmen, but faith in the marketplace in general is an all-time low, and it's becoming impossible to buy anything without a substantial amount of investigation if you want a cute local gift.

[allielabr]

etsy feels exactly like amazon now, any sense that you were virtually recreating the experience of walking through a crafts fair is completely gone.
anyway, support local businesses!!

[MollyMiller-uhjh]

I joined Etsy last year before really knowing any of this to sell hand crocheted bags made from recycling grocery bags (plarn -plastic yarn). I put a ton of research into opening the shop, what to set the prices at, biodegradable mailers, etc. Everything I make takes a good amount of time but it’s very hard to price it to what I think it’s worth when someone else can sell another version made of straw by slave labor in China. On top of that, the Etsy fees are just ridiculous, sometimes up to a third of a cost of one bag. I’m genuinely just trying to keep bags out of the ocean and Etsy would rather sell crap that’s just gonna end up in the ocean anyway 🤷‍♀️

[fabiolobo]

Not to mention it's FULL of cheap AI art. Surely these shouldn't be allowed in there by those standards...

[FreeHugsForYuuh]

I only buy from artists who have their own e-commerce websites. And if they post their processs on their social media. I love watching them do their craft and see the hard work go into it. It helps my mind justify the cost of handmade goods and avoid being tricked by fake products passed off as handmade.

I’m even starting to dislike craft shows because the booths are being filled with resellers, or people who sell art of licensed characters without having altered the look in their own style.

[MarkFaldborg]

Ways to avoid drop-shippers online:
1. Reverse image search all of their product photos
2. Search the internet for their copy, put some of it in quotes
3. Look at their social media, usually drop-shippers do not have it or are just promoting the thing they are selling, no progress pictures or regular posts. You should also make sure they link to the place you are looking to buy from

These can help, but it does not gurantee that you are not getting garbage, sadly.

[kisielthest]

Temu is just a part of a larger problem. Every single service that I have been using in the past 20 years have become fucking shit. I used to make fun of people who paid extra to buy their stuff at physical stores. I have now become one of them. I seriously underappreciated being able to see, touch, feel and try out whatever Im spending money on.

[zeanibanks]

I’m so over online shopping. You just don’t know what you’re getting anymore. And now it’s to the point you can’t find anything inside the stores. It’s so frustrating. Instead of being able to find it in person. Now you have to spend hours researching the best product and it could still be a scam😢

[CritterSauce]

I also assumed Etsy was kinda safe. I got a handmade silver ring from there that I love and wear every day. Tried to get my bf a ring and it was clearly dropshipped garbage. I got so mad. Got my money back when I threatened them, and reported them anyway.

[echo_soldier]

Sites like Temu also often steal designs from artists. They'll rip people's fan art without permission, knock off designs, etc. It makes it even harder to figure out "Is this person dropshipping, or was their design stolen?" I can't imagine how much it would hurt to see your hard work only being valued at a few bucks

[laplaces-demon]

My experience with craft fairs is that it's still the same junk from AliExpress. That's why all the fairs sell the same things.

[MarcellJjr]

Thank you for shedding light on this. I know some people that buy so much junk from this website because it's so cheap not understanding its is cheap for a reason. There is the most useless things on there. This is worse than the dollar store/dollar tree products.

[carbjr.]

I'm a USPS carrier and I know all the addresses on the top of my head who have a bad problem ordering from Temu CONSTANTLY. How can someone buy so much actual garbage???? Like 2 to 3 big bags a week!

Also, I Fing hate their marketing slogans. "Shop like a billionaire"? This stuff is barely batter than the stuff at Dollar Tree