this post was submitted on 15 Nov 2024
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207
Chinese immigrants in the U.S. are running Temu shipping centers out of their homes (restofworld.org)
submitted 7 hours ago by [email protected] to c/technology
42 comments fedilink hide all child comments
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[–] [email protected] 33 points 4 hours ago (4 children)

Temu is insanely popular. Don't underestimate this. Yes, it's pure crap, but people buy it. They earn bucks.

Meaning, it's not a valid argument to say it's crap, and then it's not a problem. Temu is a problem.

But then we have to start another discussion about the free market, because then Temu is valid.

Then what? Legit question, I don't have the answer to.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago

Do they sell Adderall?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 hours ago

The thing is that it's not PURE crap.

It's kind of like going to a flea market. Most of it is crap and you can still find some decent and good stuff that's way cheaper than it should be.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

I got some temu stuff. A 7$ bag heat sealer. Works perfectly fine.

However, I do not abide surveillance pricing. I can defeat the surveillance pricing but the procedure annoys me, so I've gone back to aliexpress which is easier to defeat.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 41 minutes ago (1 children)

What is surveillance pricing? Are they like using cookies to subtley raise the price on thing you're searching for?

[–] Passerby6497 1 points 31 minutes ago

I took would like to know as well.

[–] Creeoyfred 6 points 2 hours ago

Any tips on defeating aliexpress pricing? I stopped buying because everything was up so much.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 hours ago

Where there was once Tupperware, and makeup, there is now temu

[–] CosmoNova 8 points 4 hours ago

It should be added this was discovered to the surprise of absolutely no one.

[–] carl_dungeon 63 points 6 hours ago (8 children)

Who is buying that shit? I’ve never once heard someone say “look at this great thing I got on temu!”. I’ve literally only seen wish-fail stuff. It seems like a company that extracts pennies from putting shit directly into the landfill.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (2 children)

My coworker is obsessed with Temu. He buys like 10 things, typically 8 of them are garbage and he returns them and 2 are fine which he keeps.

I've never heard him talk about great things he gets, but he's constantly talking to me about "Look how little I paid for this thing!"

[–] slaacaa 1 points 41 minutes ago

My 60+ mother was like that, until I convinced her to stop. Once she ordered a hat, didn’t like it, so tried to send it back. Temu just gave back her money, and told her to keep it. I bet it’s a quality product

[–] carl_dungeon 5 points 3 hours ago

It’s like the hot pocket of stores- take from package, place directly in toilet.

[–] [email protected] 54 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (4 children)

I haven't bought from temu, but I've bought loads of stuff for various things on similar sites like aliexpress. If I have the time to wait for the shipping, it's the exact same components as I buy in electronics supply stores here, but at a fraction of the price. I prefer to not pay a 300-400% markup for no real reason.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

It's the exact same components I would have bought at a local store if there were any.

The last one closed almost 20 years ago. (Long before Temu, aliexpress and banggood)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 40 minutes ago

I'd always thought there was a better use for the name Banggood than an electronic component store

[–] Valmond 26 points 5 hours ago

AliExpress (if you are not the person thiking you can get a 4TB SSD for 20€) is great.

It started off as a "for people" Alibaba.com and I have bought lots of quality stuff there including a phone, circuits, tools (not the best but they will probably outlive me), 3D printer stuff etc etc.

Temu is like wish, just crap.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Temu is more on par with wish. It's really scanmy and disingenuous. Descriptions will claim one thing but send you some junk product instead.

AliExpress is a lot more legit. They're still cheap products, but at least you know what you're getting.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

Anything you can find on Temu you could get from Ali, and usually even a bit cheaper, Temu just adds a predatory interface and false marketing on top of it, and people who have no experience with what Chinese manufacturing actually costs think it's miraculous.

It isn't, I've been buying this same stuff for almost two decades from sites like DealExpess, BangGood, Gearbest and then just straight from AliExpress. Temu is just the first to properly break through with the advertising. Because it's mostly just bullshit.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

I would say you should be free to make the decision to forego the advantages working though a middle man affords you, if you would prefer the savings. That said, there’s consumer protection, quality certification (important for insurance purposes), returns, after sales care and I’m sure I’m forgetting stuff. Nothing to do with differences in the product itself, more so the guarantee of a product that does what it says on the tin.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

I use AliExpress for all the little items in my life that can fail without any real problem.

I need a comb and get 2/$1 to my door. $3/4/5 each in a physical store for the same. I don't think you're appreciating how often these are literally the same products.

The retail sector has long ago entered enshittification. I'm not blind to the real people working in the field, but paying more for a product does not increase the chance of any positive environmental or social outcome. Feeding the beast, feeds their investors.

There is no ethical consumption.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 hours ago

There is no ethical consumption.

"What, me worry?"

[–] bassomitron 16 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Tons of people. My wife bought a $7 digital camera off of there for one of our kids and 2 years later, both of our kids still love playing with it and it works perfectly fine. We've bought a couple of other toys off of there without issue. But yeah, the majority of the products on there are typically garbage.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

Only thing I worry about with toys is if the plastic they use is non-toxic. Most cheap toys sold online aren’t tested for plastic toxicity.

[–] bassomitron 1 points 4 hours ago

True enough, but toxic toys aren't super common in the US. It certainly happens, but they eventually get detected and recalled. That being said, with Trump's plans for gutting regulatory bodies even further, I'll be much less inclined to order cheap toys from online.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

If your kid tries to eat their camera you have bigger issues to worry about.

[–] carl_dungeon 24 points 5 hours ago

Heavy metals and volatile chemicals can leech through skin. Some have cumulative effects.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

If you think toxic means harmful only if you eat it, I've got a glow in the dark watch to sell you.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 hours ago

That will match my authentic late 1800s green wallpaper perfectly.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (1 children)

Not the best example, the health risks from radium dials were mostly to the people that painted them, because they licked their brushes to point them.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 hours ago

mostly is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence. Would you like to buy my glow in the dark watch, then?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

As a counterpoint, I've bought loads of really good cycling accessories from AliExpress. It's not impossible to buy high-quality things from China - this is after all where a large part of everything is manufactured these days - you just have to be careful not to fall for the offers that are just obviously too good to be true.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago

AliExpress is great if you're running like a small Etsy shop or something with stuff you make and you need like 250 metal clasps for $20. Or 3000 electromechanical relays to build a relay CPU. They have some of the most random shit in bulk.

[–] ZeroTwo 2 points 4 hours ago

I got some really nice plexiglass display stands from there for my display case for really cheap. But other than that, I won't buy anything that's obviously crap. Oh yeah I got some string lights too, like 50 for 2 bucks and they work really well.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

Same people who would buy the same dropshipped product at Amazon but at 1/3 of the price.

[–] chakan2 0 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

I've met people that have gotten decent stuff off there. Their clothes seem nice and the electronics are hit and miss.

It's about the same rate of crap to quality as EBay these days, and Amazon is only marginally better.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

eBay is completely different though, since they have a lot of consumer protections, as well as a variety of services and used products. I got my phone on eBay used, which was about half the cost of buying new, and the phones was <6 months old. I also got a smart watch on eBay refurbished, again about half the price and there's zero indication on the watch that it's used or refurbished. I buy used Switch games (w/ case) on eBay as well, which aren't as good of a deal, but I still routinely get them $30-40 when they'd normally retail for $50-60.

You can buy utter crap on eBay, but you can also buy high quality used products. On Amazon, those same used products tend to be about 10% more expensive (my experience), and Temu just doesn't have anything similar.

If you're after cheap everyday items, shop at your local dollar store or buy on AliExpress. If you're after new electronics, wait until one of the regular sales (usually holiday season and tax season), or shortly after the next version launches, and then shop online (lots of retailers). If you're after used electronics, check your local classifieds, and fall back to eBay.

At no point is Temu on my list of options.

[–] chakan2 1 points 43 minutes ago (1 children)

You've clearly never lost a dispute on eBay. It's possibly the worst customer experience I've had.

I needed a glass part for a projector, it showed up broken. Tried to send it back and the seller offered like a 10% refund. eBay...after waiting a week (mandatory dispute resolution time) showed up, spent another week trying to meditate, the just said fuck it, the seller is right, eat a dick and your broken color wheel.

eBay gives you the illusion of consumer protection until you actually need it.

But no, based on some of the car parts and things I've gotten off eBay...the quality is objectively not better than what I've seen off Temu.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 38 minutes ago (1 children)

That's really too bad. I have never had to file a dispute since everything I've ordered has so far been as expected. Then again, I haven't had any problems in my area with shipping companies mishandling packages either, so YMMV in your area if that's a common issue.

[–] chakan2 2 points 27 minutes ago (1 children)

My favorite thing I've got off eBay so far was a catalytic converter. It was empty.

My state doesn't do emissions, and I kind of knew what I was getting...but wow...I can't believe a company would allow that in the first place.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 23 minutes ago

Wow, that's ridiculous...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 hours ago

Not temu, but I buy loads of stuff from aliexpress, from dice to entire 3d printers.