Why Temu is a NIGHTMARE

Temu has quickly become a trend online with influencers and youtubers using the platform to buy and promote ridiculous products selling for ridiculous prices. This is the latest peak in unbridled consumerism but its meteoric rise has much bigger implications than just another cheap knockoff website.

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Script: Caroline Eaton Pickard
Editor: Kirsten Stanley
Project Manager: Lurana McClure Rodríguez
Host: Levi Hildebrand

[theredkitteh]

As a tailor, I couldn't tell you how many people bring clothes to us and are shocked by our (reasonable for the labour involved) prices, and say "that's more than I payed for x item to begin with" like I'm supposed somehow magically get the work done in half the time so the price is half as much so the client can keep their bottom line at exploitative levels. Henny, these pants are so cheep bc they came from a sweatshop. My studio is not a sweatshop, and I nor my colleagues will work for sweatshop prices, please understand the difference

[kookykiddo]

Temu to me is so strange because…did people forget Shein? We were basically at the point of fast fashion=bad and starting to move forward from Shein and then…boom, popular asf.

[nikzel]

I think my adblock and algorithms are on point. It's 2023 and I'm on the internet on a daily basis. This is the first I've heard of Temu.

[jinhongzeng]

I am a Chinese student who saw this video because of my homework.The things said in the video had already happened in China 10 years ago, now we are facing more and more designed deceit and the customers are getting more cautious.Still, it is the best choice for the low-income people in China, especially the ad is eye-catching and easy to understand.I feel sad about it.I wish our people can have the best deal and live a actual decent life, but the fact is people are tired after the heavy work and never have the chance to think over the choices they are making.

[munkyenima]

I click the "Why Temu is a nightmare" video, and immediately get a Temu ad. 😂

[Orneldan]

As someone who works in a warehouse with packages, my biggest annoyance is looking at how many Temu and Shien packages come in, they make up at least 1/3 of all packages I see its the worst.

[littlelyndseylou]

If I see an influencer promoting temu, it's an immediate unfollow and block.

[kqkocwg]

Temu: Cheap Chinese Products
Amazon: Not cheap Chinese products

[CherokeeBear]

I was once told, that if something is abnormally cheap for how much time, skill, and effort it takes to make it, someone else is paying the price.

[savannah]

I hate that Temu has been so aggressively marketing through influencers. It’s been so disappointing to see how many of my favorite creators have been taking brand deals by them. Creators who I thought cared about human rights, the environment, or even just the quality of the products they’re advertising to their audience. Frankly, it makes me sick to see new products being sold so cheaply bc I know how shady it must be

[katattack]

When I first saw ads for Temu, I thought that their shady business model and cheap crap were so transparently terrible that no one would actually shop there. Sigh.

[YelizKaplan]

Amazon charges 10 times more for the same item on TEMU... But Americans paying more for the same product because the cheaper price is on a "Chinese" website... 90 percent of Amazon and Walmart products are from China.. Even Apple computers are made in China....

[theshoppingexpert]

They once offered me an absurd amount of $$$ to promote their stuff. Even though the way the brand operates goes against my own product philosophy and shopping ethos, the offer was so disproportionately high that I often find myself regretting saying no because it honestly would have been incredibly helpful haha. But hearing some of the things you said in this video were timely reminders that the right choice was made. Glad you made this video.

[thirdpedalnirvana]

Going onto Temu's website feels akin to walking into a casino. It feels designed to overwhelm your senses. You can palpably feel changes to how your synapses are firing in your brain. You know you aren't finding anything good, but the products are arranged so randomly that you just want to scroll one more time to see what comes up next.

[sailorvenus]

Inflation has a lot to do with it, everything is expensive. So when people see that Temu is giving away free things or low prices items, of course they’re gonna wanna go buy their things there
But they don’t realize that they’re just wasting more money than saving

[frtzkng]

Also, we must keep in mind that this Temu pre enshittification. Once Temu reaches market saturation, expect those suspiciously low prices to be a thing of the past. Their garbage will be as expensive as locally bought stuff but with no rise in quality of manufacturer compensation.

[jannettb]

I used to sell jewelry and other art at small local markets. I got so fed up and frustrated with "I can get this only better on Amazon for a fraction of that price!" I quit selling. It's depressing.

[brandonsakelarides]

You DEFINITELY need to make the Amazon video. The amount of people who just let it be "out of sight, out of mind" could use a refresher.

[andrewj]

I am woodworker, selling product online here in indonesia, this is simply predatory pricing, losing money in purpose, tiktok shop did that last year, then the gov ban them, just to return searching some loophole, with merging etc. I am a producer, and its hard to keep competitive, imagine the resellers and dropshippers. The "destroy" the market price and people expectations of absurd prices

[xbibwmu]

my options are: I shop cheap at amazon, target, Walmart, etc. who are all shit and treat people like shit, or I shop even cheaper at Temu who is doing the same thing and is just as bad. what tf am I supposed to do I do not understand where tf im supposed to shop, second hand things are just as expensive as new, anything that is quality is way too expensive for me as a student, so where do I buy things that I need? like I do not understand how I am supposed to afford college, rent, and even basic shit for my life, its a struggle even with cheap shit from amazon and other places but I have no idea how im supposed to afford buying *high quality things that are all perfectly ethical and green*. makes no sense, I can barely afford the cheap shit let alone the "good" stuff....