Temu App - Is it completely nuts?

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gzt

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#323348 21-Nov-2025 17:40

A few weeks ago I saw a special offer from Temu - 90% off random things if you install the app. I installed the app. I selected the discounted items then it told me I needed to select xyz more to claim the discount. Ok then I selected a few more things. At that point it told me to select more to qualify so I figured I missed some fine print, gave up and abandoned the cart.

After a week of the app spamming me with special offers I found some time and accepted some offer of $350 worth of coupons for purchasing just one item. I added one item to the cart and then it told me I needed $26 spend to qualify. Uh ok then I added a couple more items. Then it told me I needed to spend $56 to qualify. Along the way I actually paid at a couple of stages. After the promised stuff was not included in the order I requested refunds.

The incentive offers seem to be a completely bogus waste of time to drive engagement. What is the story with this crazy thing?

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#3436435 21-Nov-2025 17:54

I ignore all special offers and flashy promises on Temu, they are just a complete annoyance. Hit the x and just go directly to what you are buying. It’s an awful site and you’re always buying the last available item…hurry, it will sit there for another week so ignore the push.

Have bought a few reasonable purchases. Most of the photos are nothing like the quality of the product so give them some poetic licence.

Got a not bad shirt for 80s night. Pure polyester as are most of the materials. Also bought a nice jewelery box for a prezzy and it was perfect.

I always pay with a virtual Wise card as don’t really trust them. Goods arrive quite fast.

gzt

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#3436437 21-Nov-2025 17:59

Sometime last year I bought three things from the web version. It was a much saner experience. But two of those things never arrived. On the plus side they seem good with refunds. What a waste of time though.

Gurezaemon

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#3436446 21-Nov-2025 18:39

Eva888:

I ignore all special offers and flashy promises on Temu, they are just a complete annoyance. Hit the x and just go directly to what you are buying. It’s an awful site and you’re always buying the last available item…hurry, it will sit there for another week so ignore the push.

Have bought a few reasonable purchases. Most of the photos are nothing like the quality of the product so give them some poetic licence.

Got a not bad shirt for 80s night. Pure polyester as are most of the materials. Also bought a nice jewelery box for a prezzy and it was perfect.

I always pay with a virtual Wise card as don’t really trust them. Goods arrive quite fast.

I went to the Oktoberfest in Kumeu last month. I reckon 2/3 of the people there were wearing Temu lederhosen and the like. From a distance, they looked the part, but I refuse to believe that all that many regular kiwis own Oktoberfest outfits.

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scuwp

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#3436500 21-Nov-2025 19:53

The website is much better. Now have several shipments under my belt, choose carefully and there are some great savings to be had.

Lazy is such an ugly word, I prefer to call it selective participation

everettpsycho

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#3436503 21-Nov-2025 20:05

I only installed the app this week after a few orders via the shopback app. Honestly the only reason I installed it was to track my orders easier as it's invasive and horrific with pop ups.

Personally I only bother with temu when shopback have 70% cashback deals. We haven't had any major issues with anything yet but why spend full price when I can get $30 back on a $55 order.

timmmay

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#3436504 21-Nov-2025 20:07

"Shop like a billionaire". A billionaire probably says to one of their many personal assistants "buy me the best available of (this thing)" and thinks no more of it until it arrives.

I have never and probably will never look at Teru. I don't need more junk.

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cddt

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#3436506 21-Nov-2025 20:17

I also don't need more junk of questionable quality or safety. I can get enough asbestos sand at local stores.

\> children’s raincoats with toxic chemicals, sunglasses with no UV filter

\> baby soothers with beads that fall off easily, which pose a choking hazard because they did not have the regulation-size hole to enable a baby who did swallow one accidentally to continue to get air

\> cosmetics containing butylphenyl methylpropional, also known as Lilial, which is listed as a chemical of “very high concern” by the EU and has been banned since 2022 over concerns that it affects fertility and foetal development

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jul/20/eu-commissioner-shocked-dangerous-goods-sold-shein-temu

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gzt

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#3436509 21-Nov-2025 20:33

scuwp: The website is much better. Now have several shipments under my belt, choose carefully and there are some great savings to be had.

Sounds good. How do you choose carefully?

Linux

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#3436513 21-Nov-2025 20:45

Nuts to install the Temu app

floydbloke

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#3436515 21-Nov-2025 20:57

gzt:

... a completely bogus waste of time to drive engagement. What is the story with this crazy thing?

Sorry you had a bad experience but thank you for validating my decision to steer well clear of anything to do with Temu.

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#3436548 22-Nov-2025 00:16

I have found Temu to be ok although having used it in a very long time. But those offers seem to be impossible to actually take up. The advantage of it over AliExpress is far better purchase protection I have found. You basically have none with Aliepxress if they send you something that isn't actually correct. Eg I purchased some screen protectors for an iphone. They were too small for the phone and the black border covered the screen on all sides even though it was for the correct model. They disputed this and closed the case. No way to challenge it. But with Temu when something hasn't been right, they just gave me a refund.

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lNomNoml

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#3436549 22-Nov-2025 02:21

Stop buying things from Temu.

trig42

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#3436567 22-Nov-2025 08:44

Temo is Ok for cheap LED lights etc. We've bought a few things from there, no issues with shipping or things not arriving. Got to expect to get what you're paying for though.

The App is horrible, they spam you with emails, and the 'promos' are BS.

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#3436574 22-Nov-2025 08:56

I tried for 6 weeks as an experiment to actually get free stuff via their watering promotion..

No matter how much you spend or time you waste you'll never get the free stuff is the conclusion I came to. They start by jumping up 25% type thing on task completed on your trip to 100%, then they slowly reduce the percentage doing things does until your at 99.9% and your getting 0.0001% per task completed.

Now I just buy from either aliexpress or temu depending on whos cheaper - I have a min spend of like $30 on temu.. I completely ignore all of their spam advertising / promotions. For the most part Aliexpress is my go to site though. And the stuff turns up quicker. Pity their delivery service here is garbage..

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#3436578 22-Nov-2025 09:14

Bought 3 pair summer lightweight cotton trousers & 2 cotton shirts this week. Quite good quality. Plus two solar pond/birdbath fountains and some other $2 crap.

TIP: the solar-powered items are just that, they do not store energy, so no sun, no does work. Though they do look very pretty, when working, in our small pond and birdbath.

Autumn this year bought 2 bathers robes for my aqua-aerobics. Looks fantastic on the website, but are very cheap material (& price). I'm not too keen to wash them as they might just disintegrate.

Looking at getting some car body paint touch up pens, red & white. Much, much cheaper, if you can get them, than NZ.

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

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