this post was submitted on 15 Nov 2024
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[–] Etterra@lemmy.world 6 points 3 hours ago

Temu? More like Trashmu.

[–] evulhotdog@lemmy.world 3 points 4 hours ago

I’ve personally been messaged on a few different platforms saying that I can be a seller for marketplaces and make 2500+ USD a week. I assume that it’s these big companies that they’re talking around as to try and not spill the beans because I assume it’s below the line in some way.

For some people that may be pretty lucrative.

[–] phoneymouse@lemmy.world 13 points 8 hours ago

Temu is like NAFTA for American “business” people.

You cut out the factory worker first, then cut out the American importer.

[–] ComradeMiao@lemmy.world 9 points 12 hours ago

Good on them, I wish I could do it

[–] themurphy@lemmy.ml 58 points 17 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.

[–] nednobbins@lemm.ee 22 points 16 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.

[–] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 8 points 16 hours ago (3 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.

[–] bountygiver@lemmy.ml 0 points 3 hours ago

ya with how expensive plastic crap is nowadays in most stores, why not just buy from a place that sells the same thing that represents more closely to the price of manufacturing them? Of course I wouldn't buy any tech stuff from there, but a simple plastic container? Temu for sure!

[–] SplashJackson@lemmy.ca 13 points 13 hours ago (3 children)

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

[–] aeshna_cyanea@lemm.ee 10 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (1 children)

Things like using surveillance to figure out when your payday is and raising prices (just for you, and just on that day) because you psychologically are more willing to spend in that moment

[–] SplashJackson@lemmy.ca 3 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

That's fucked up. Why this legal?

[–] aeshna_cyanea@lemm.ee 3 points 3 hours ago

Because we live in a capitalist hellscape and the companies that implemented these tricks were the fastest growing segment of our economy for like 15 years (esp after the 2008 crash) so the government turned a blind eye. Now they control the world and are able to literally buy politicians

[–] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 3 points 4 hours ago

We let them and also you need quite a lot of skill to overcome it as it is a kind of a cat and mouse game. And there's a end game of "tell us who you are or else we don't tell you the price, or we tell you only the 'highest price that nobody pays' "

[–] gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 8 hours ago

Cookies and fingerprinting, yes

[–] Passerby6497@lemmy.world 4 points 13 hours ago

I took would like to know as well.

[–] Creeoyfred@lemmy.world 7 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

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

[–] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 3 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

It's a process for me, I open hundreds of tabs, save all URLs, strip trackers from URLs, remove duplicates, then I reload all tabs into a fresh, empty multiaccount container, then I use a scraper addon called gatherfromtabs to pickup all the prices, then I log and setup everything up to the last page of the sale, I tally up all the totals in excel, order by price, usually 100s of ads, find the absolute 3 cheapest ones, review the ads really thoroughly to avoid scams and then buy 10-20x of whatever this item was to make it worth my time.

This process will become more difficult over time.

[–] kalpol@lemmy.world 5 points 4 hours ago
[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee 7 points 16 hours ago

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

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[–] carl_dungeon@lemmy.world 89 points 19 hours ago (14 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.

[–] ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com 63 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 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.

[–] Valmond@lemmy.world 36 points 18 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.

[–] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 15 points 15 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)

[–] SplashJackson@lemmy.ca 6 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

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

[–] ShepherdPie@midwest.social 4 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

I thought that's what they call upvotes on PornHub.

[–] SplashJackson@lemmy.ca 1 points 6 hours ago

I thought those were called ErectVotes

[–] altima_neo@lemmy.zip 28 points 17 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.

[–] JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyz 12 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 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.

[–] nehal3m@sh.itjust.works 16 points 19 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.

[–] SolacefromSilence@fedia.io 24 points 18 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.

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[–] Cenotaph@mander.xyz 21 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 15 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@lemmy.world 6 points 13 hours 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@lemmy.world 9 points 16 hours ago

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

[–] bassomitron@lemmy.world 21 points 19 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.

[–] TomSelleck@lemm.ee 29 points 19 hours ago (10 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.

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[–] GissaMittJobb@lemmy.ml 10 points 18 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.

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[–] CosmoNova@lemmy.world 9 points 17 hours ago

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

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