Temu Discussion

[luvmytoolz]

My neighbor, an aliexpress customer before, recently told me he is now a big fan of temu. When asked why, he said their return/refund policy is second to none because the whole process is approved in literally seconds. I suppose AI is involved there because I like Amazon's refund/return process, but not everything can be resolved right away. I saw in the newspaper something about temu's ads in the Super Bowl, but I didn't bother to find out the details.

I would never trust using their app, but Temu is absolutely amazing to order from, insanely cheap prices and super fast postage. I buy 6mm and 25mm paint brushes by the hundreds as it's cheaper and more practical to use them for a number of projects and then toss, than to clean in turps all the time. I do a lot of resin work and their silicone molds are really great quality and cost barley anything. And the range of handles and rubber feet for charcuterie boards is superb.

I also use a browser plugin called "HoneyGold" which finds and tries loads of discounts codes, and also builds up cash back on many sites like Temu, which you then redeem as gift cards. I've redeemed around $400 in the last 2 years just from casual online shopping.

 

[ChuckM]

$400! Wow, you do know the trick of redeeming freebies.

App downloads
Amazon app 500m+
Aliexpress 500 m+
Temu 100m+

But temu has just been around for a couple (few?) years only. It must be doing something right.

 

[rmwarren]

I read an article to the effect that Temu is basically racing achieve to scale rapidly by offering low prices at the expense of profitability. Also there's a loophole in import tariffs and direct shipments from China under $800 are duty free. Amazon and other e-commerce company have to pay tariffs when they import goods at scale.
https://www.wired.com/story/temu-is-losing-millions-of-dollars-to-send-you-cheap-socks/

The conclusion is the deals will cease once they have reached a certain volume and need to pivot towards profitability.

RMW

 

[ChuckM]

snip.

The conclusion is the deals will cease once they have reached a certain volume and need to pivot towards profitability.

RMW

I don't know anything about this company's business model. But if it is selling mostly China-made goods at huge discounts, it surely is a big spender:
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/temu-sp...as-it-tries-to-win-back-us-shoppers-1.2033933

 

[squall_line]

snip.

The conclusion is the deals will cease once they have reached a certain volume and need to pivot towards profitability.

RMW

I don't know anything about this company's business model. But if it is selling mostly China-made goods at huge discounts, it surely is a big spender:
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/temu-sp...as-it-tries-to-win-back-us-shoppers-1.2033933

If Sunday was the first time a person had seen an ad for Temu, they either have really good ad blockers on all of their devices or they never go online.  Temu is a plague of epic proportions.

All that said, Sunday was the first time I learned that it's pronounced "teh-mu" and not "tee-mu", so I suppose the ad was worth something.

 

[ChuckM]

I believe its initial focus was on America, and so being in Canada not until last year did I notice that my screen was bombarded with its ads whenever I Googled or read a newspaper. But as you said, the coverage was epic, and for a short while, I thought the online seller was somehow associated with Google!!!

In recent weeks and months, it seemed to be better that ads were no longer all temued.

 

[Cheese]

Temu...(holding nose)

Well, you reap what you sow...TikTok today, Temu tomorrow. I'd personally rather spend my hard earned $$ elsewhere such as Woodpeckers, Starrett, Festool, Wera...anywhere else where it's not going to undermine the global economy.

Rather reminds me of the dumping lawsuits brought against the Japanese motorcycle manufacturers in the 80's & 90's. They were fined millions of dollars for dumping product into the US that was being sold for less than it cost to produce...in order for them to saturate the market and obtain market leadership.  Hmmm...same strategy just different players.

 

[Packard]

My secretary’s husband at my last job refused to buy anything that was on discount. He paid list price for everything.

His reasoning?  If it was discounted it meant something was wrong with it.

He would actually wait until a sale was over to buy something so that it was at the full list price.

If you bragged about getting a bargain, he would shake his head and think, “You fool”.

 

[ChuckM]

I don't understand his logic. If something is wrong when it is sold on discount, that something wrong remains the same item and...wrong after the discount period. Why would he still buy it instead of buying it somewhere else?

 

[Mortiser]

Temu...(holding nose)

Well, you reap what you sow...TikTok today, Temu tomorrow. I'd personally rather spend my hard earned $$ elsewhere such as Woodpeckers, Starrett, Festool, Wera...anywhere else where it's not going to undermine the global economy.

Rather reminds me of the dumping lawsuits brought against the Japanese motorcycle manufacturers in the 80's & 90's. They were fined millions of dollars for dumping product into the US that was being sold for less than it cost to produce...in order for them to saturate the market and obtain market leadership.  Hmmm...same strategy just different players.

My sentiments exactly.

 

[Packard]

I don't understand his logic. If something is wrong when it is sold on discount, that something wrong remains the same item and...wrong after the discount period. Why would he still buy it instead of buying it somewhere else?

I don’t think logic plays a hand in this.  I think this is an emotional response in the logic format of “If this it so, therefore that must be so.”  Confused logic at best.

Shady retailers might sell defective goods at a lower price to get rid of them.  Therefore anything sold at lower than normal pricing is defective.

 

[smorgasbord]

My neighbor, an aliexpress customer before, recently told me he is now a big fan of temu. When asked why, he said their return/refund policy is second to none because the whole process is approved in literally seconds. I suppose AI is involved there because I like Amazon's refund/return process, but not everything can be resolved right away. I saw in the newspaper something about the Superbowl temu ads, but I didn't bother to find out the details.

While I've bought from Banggood in the past, their return policy is really really bad. Heck, I'm still fighting them over replacing a set of metric 123 blocks that literally ripped out of their shipping bag. They now want a close up photo of the bar code on the box that somehow didn't fall out of the bag.

 

[ChuckM]

This discussion piqued my interest in teh-moo  [tongue], and so I ran over and talked to my neighbor.

Apparently, low prices, unbelievable refund policy and quick shipping were what drove him over to this online seller from aliexpress. He said most items got to him in 12 days or so. He mentioned about price adjustment refunds. but he had yet to enjoy them. If my understanding is correct, it's doing what only one vendor I know that has such practice: Lee Valley Tools, which would send you a check if something it sold to you had a big drop in its sales price.

I hope Amazon will sweeten its various policies in view of competitions as I have both business and personal accounts there.

 

[six-point socket II]

I'll just leave two pictures here that I took off Temu. They know exactly what they do & why they do it. Of course, they will argue it's the vendor who is responsible ...

This is not an "accident" let alone a "single incident".

[attachimg=1]

Source:https://www.temu.com/de/1pc-industr...-drahtzange-flachzange-g-601099536539145.html

[attachimg=2]

Source:https://www.temu.com/de/1pc-industr...-fabrikwartung-und-bau-g-601099535999972.html

I don't care, the Chinese want a bigger slice of the cake - that's all fine by me. But customer beware, you know exactly what you are buying and don't play dumb when it fires back and kicks your a**!

Kind regards,
Oliver

 

[ChuckM]

I think this review says it all. Not the real thing, but a Chinese brand made to look like one:

[attachimg=1]

The guy still gave 4 stars for the tool, so I suppose he knew what he would be getting when he placed his order.

Would we one day see a Festfool CT dust extractor listed for $50 US there?!! [tongue] [tongue] [tongue]

 

[woodbutcherbower]

They were fined millions of dollars for dumping product into the US that was being sold for less than it cost to produce...in order for them to saturate the market and obtain market leadership.

The concept of the so-called 'loss leader' is as old as the hills. The greatest experts are the food supermarkets - over here it's Tesco, ASDA, Sainsburys and others. I'm guessing Walmart etc. in NA. The 'canned food' aisle, for example,  starts with stacked-high beans at 47 cents a can (= sold at cost price or below) - with these 'pile 'em high' stacks set up at both ends of the aisle to cover all the bases for either entry route. Customer thinks "Wow - that's super-cheap" - and instantly psychologically assumes that everything else on the 'cans' aisle is also similarly cheap and similarly great value. Honest question - how many FOG guys reading this can instantly tell me how much a quart of 2% milk costs? Or a dozen eggs? Or a fancy loaf of sourdough bread? Or a six-pack of Bratwurst? Or six Washington Red apples? Or a box of cornflakes? Or a dozen bananas? Or those bottles of mustard and ketchup you just bought for tonight's burgers? Chances are that you have absolutely NO idea. No clue whatsoever.

Spoiler alert = this is how 'loss-leaders' work.

So now that I illustrated the principle (and back on topic) - the customer puts a few cans of cheap beans in their basket, delighted at the bargain they just scored - then moves along the aisle. They see nice-looking cans of chilli ($2.45, 500% profit margin), beautifully-labelled sweetcorn ($1.75, 600% profit margin), tempting-looking peaches ($2.25, 400% profit margin), and bluefin tuna ($3.95, 500% profit margin) and "Wow !!!!!! - 'half-price' chicken soup at only $2 a can !!!!" (250% profit margin)- and they put those in their basket, too. That person didn't actually go out shopping for beans, chilli, sweetcorn, peaches, tuna, or chicken soup. They bought them because their head said "This is too good a deal to miss".

Admit it or not = we're all being manipulated in one way or another by the clever marketing folks. But only if we're gullible enough to be.

Caveat Emptor.

Edit = the world is now DOMINATED by Japanese bikes. A few $$$$$million in fines by an over-zealous, right-on Government desparate for the next set of election votes? Money well spent IMO.

 

[MikeGE]

Chances are that you have absolutely NO idea. No clue whatsoever.

This is what I pay my butler and footman to know.

 

[six-point socket II]

I think this review says it all. Not the real thing, but a Chinese brand made to look like one:

[attachimg=1]

The guy gave 4 stars, so I suppose he knew he would be getting when he placed his order.

Would we one day see a Festfool CT dust extractor listed for $50 US there?!! [tongue] [tongue] [tongue]

Of course it is not the real thing, but the only reason they can sell them is because the real thing actually exists. No one would buy these otherwise. Want to guess why all the little woodworking gadgets they sell are red? Or why some are pictured next to/ or connected to Festool rails?

And someone giving 4 or more stars on any of those sites, means nothing to me.

However, and that's why I specifically also chose the VDE (insulated) variant - we know that VDE guidelines demand every single tool to be tested. Are we going to take bets on if the Chinese knock-offs are actually tested? Will they protect the user in case of an accident?

Router bits, cutter heads ... I'm not standing next to someone using them.

This will all find an end with the first major investigation & lawsuit because someone died of this shit. Or there is a major lawsuit because an employer thought it was a good idea to buy from Temu and something goes flying and kills or injures an employee.

Kind regards,
Oliver

 

[Packard]

Some manipulation is legal; others are not.

Clorox ran afoul of the law back in the 1950s or 1960s.

Apparently getting into the bleach business is a picture of simplicity. 

You buy some powdered sodium hypochlorite and some plastic bottles and some labels.

Add a little sodium hypochlorite and a bunch of water and pour it in the bottles.  Then slap on some labels. 

Transportation costs almost as much as the product, so local manufacturers always have an advantage.

Clorox was a national company.  They would come into an area that was served by a local bleach company.  Clorox would price their bleach just below the cost to manufacture—but  just in the region served by the local bleach company.  In 6 months the local company goes out of business.  And then Clorox raises the price back to the national level.

One by one Clorox mowed through their competition.  The Federal Government sued and made them stop the practice. 

That was an obvious case; some cases are less obvious.

My friend from my college years (Jay), worked in his family small appliance store.  They sold TVs, stereos, air conditioners, washers and dryers.  And record albums. 

A new record store opened across the street.  He was offering albums at discount.  My friend’s store matched his prices.  Their family was very upset about this.  The records carried a nice profit.

So I suggested that they put a sign in the window showing the price of the albums at his exact cost.  The bulk of their income was from the appliances and repair business.  The owner of the record album store came in angry.  One hundred percent of his income was based on the sales of the records.  If Jay’s store kept selling records at cost, the record-only store would be out of business in a couple of months.

By contrast, Jay’s family business could sustain that pricing indefinitely.

I did not realize how illegal all this was.  But I knew that when the two store owners agreed on a price structure that they both could live with, that the agreement was somehow wrong. 

It would be hard to prove though. 

So some market manipulation is legal and legitimate.  Some I legal and not legitimate.  And some is illegal and should never see the light of day.

The Clorox case became an important matter in business law.  It is some 55 years since I studied this, so some of the details may not be correct, but it is essentially correct.  (And I looked up the ingredient on google— sodium hypochlorite—so at least that part is 100% accurate.

 

[peter halle]

I hate the concept of Temu and the ripping off or blatant copying of intellectual and design property belonging to others.  Of course others will have different opinions.  I watch a lot of Youtube videos but now have started to boycott those who are constantly doing the Temu unboxing crud.  Ironically so many of those have an entire showroom of Woodpecker products on their walls and then they are praising the imitators.

Peter