05-17-2023, 12:15 AM
Most of the stuff that Amazon sells is from China and there's an easy way to circumvent them with Temu.
I've seen ads for Temu for a long time but I just assumed it was just another scam site, but I saw some positive reviews from sites I know that are usually accurate so I gave them a try.
In a nutshell, Temu is sort of like Amazon but the stuff is still in China when it's bought. After the order is submitted it's sent air cargo with a bunch of other orders to the USA where it clears customs, is sorted, USPS shipping labels applied, and then end delivery happens a few days later. Basically it's the same crap they sell at Amazon or eBay etc but Jeff Bezos isn't getting a cut. In my case the order took about 6 days to get from China to LAX and through customs, then another 4 days for the USPS to deliver it to Hilo. So 10 days from ordering to in my hand. I have stuff I ordered from Amazon a month ago that hasn't shipped, so Temu is super fast by comparison. The stuff can also be half the price or less. I'm wondering how much Amazon stuff I've ordered that was "in stock"... but was it really still in China? Is Amazon doing the same thing a lot of the time? I don't know.
Temu has a delivery guarantee. If you don't get the order within their window (I think it's about 16 days) they give you a $5 credit. They also have a 90 day return window (Amazon=30) and a 30 day price difference guarantee (Amazon=0). I've never used any of their guarantees so I don't know if they actually have any value or not.
Temu doesn't have any club to join like Prime. Their order minimum is $10. They don't claim to have "free shipping" but every time I've logged in they have an "order now for free shipping" with a fake timer counting down like it's going to end soon. They also have so many different coupon offerings going on at a time its impossible to keep them straight. The one I used was "$20 off any $50 order". My cart already had $30 worth of crap in it so I figured, why not? So I found an additional $20 worth and added it to cart, and it was free.
Temu isn't perfect. You have to be on your toes when ordering. Example: I was looking at solar powered security cameras and they had all the same offerings I saw on Amazon, but none of them were any cheaper. Then I saw one for $14. "What's the catch?" The Devil is in the details. It wasn't until I got to the ordering button that I realized the camera and solar panel are sold separately. The solar panel was $14, not the camera. One has to look for some "bait and switch" on the ads. Another example was a 100 watt solar panel "kit". I wasn't interested in buying it but from the picture I could tell that it was at most a 20-30 watt panel, so I clicked on it to try and figure out what the switch was. Even after looking at it I'm not entirely sure, but I think the 100 watts was pertaining to the charge controller, not the solar panel. It was pretty clear in the negative reviews though that it was NOT a 100 watt panel.
So how's the quality? I didn't order any electronics, so I can't speak to that, but I ordered durable goods like tools, bits, umbrellas, sun hats, etc and they are all as good or better than anything I've received from Amazon. The shipping is quite a bit different. Everything I got was shipped loose in a bag. Nothing was broken, but also nothing was fragile. But they definitely cut down on shipping weight by not using boxes, foam, packing materials etc, and yet somehow the stuff arrived in better condition for it.
The site has 99 cent or dollar store feel to it, and everything has cheesy "99% Off Next 3 hours!" sales themes, but there are good quality items to be found at prices that can't be beat, especially if you want to play their coupon games etc. It's not the end-all solution to online shopping but it's another option to keep in mind.
The items I purchased had "Hawaii Okay to ship" type description on them in the ordering cart, so that leads me to believe there are some items they won't ship here, but I haven't actually come across one.
I've seen ads for Temu for a long time but I just assumed it was just another scam site, but I saw some positive reviews from sites I know that are usually accurate so I gave them a try.
In a nutshell, Temu is sort of like Amazon but the stuff is still in China when it's bought. After the order is submitted it's sent air cargo with a bunch of other orders to the USA where it clears customs, is sorted, USPS shipping labels applied, and then end delivery happens a few days later. Basically it's the same crap they sell at Amazon or eBay etc but Jeff Bezos isn't getting a cut. In my case the order took about 6 days to get from China to LAX and through customs, then another 4 days for the USPS to deliver it to Hilo. So 10 days from ordering to in my hand. I have stuff I ordered from Amazon a month ago that hasn't shipped, so Temu is super fast by comparison. The stuff can also be half the price or less. I'm wondering how much Amazon stuff I've ordered that was "in stock"... but was it really still in China? Is Amazon doing the same thing a lot of the time? I don't know.
Temu has a delivery guarantee. If you don't get the order within their window (I think it's about 16 days) they give you a $5 credit. They also have a 90 day return window (Amazon=30) and a 30 day price difference guarantee (Amazon=0). I've never used any of their guarantees so I don't know if they actually have any value or not.
Temu doesn't have any club to join like Prime. Their order minimum is $10. They don't claim to have "free shipping" but every time I've logged in they have an "order now for free shipping" with a fake timer counting down like it's going to end soon. They also have so many different coupon offerings going on at a time its impossible to keep them straight. The one I used was "$20 off any $50 order". My cart already had $30 worth of crap in it so I figured, why not? So I found an additional $20 worth and added it to cart, and it was free.
Temu isn't perfect. You have to be on your toes when ordering. Example: I was looking at solar powered security cameras and they had all the same offerings I saw on Amazon, but none of them were any cheaper. Then I saw one for $14. "What's the catch?" The Devil is in the details. It wasn't until I got to the ordering button that I realized the camera and solar panel are sold separately. The solar panel was $14, not the camera. One has to look for some "bait and switch" on the ads. Another example was a 100 watt solar panel "kit". I wasn't interested in buying it but from the picture I could tell that it was at most a 20-30 watt panel, so I clicked on it to try and figure out what the switch was. Even after looking at it I'm not entirely sure, but I think the 100 watts was pertaining to the charge controller, not the solar panel. It was pretty clear in the negative reviews though that it was NOT a 100 watt panel.
So how's the quality? I didn't order any electronics, so I can't speak to that, but I ordered durable goods like tools, bits, umbrellas, sun hats, etc and they are all as good or better than anything I've received from Amazon. The shipping is quite a bit different. Everything I got was shipped loose in a bag. Nothing was broken, but also nothing was fragile. But they definitely cut down on shipping weight by not using boxes, foam, packing materials etc, and yet somehow the stuff arrived in better condition for it.
The site has 99 cent or dollar store feel to it, and everything has cheesy "99% Off Next 3 hours!" sales themes, but there are good quality items to be found at prices that can't be beat, especially if you want to play their coupon games etc. It's not the end-all solution to online shopping but it's another option to keep in mind.
The items I purchased had "Hawaii Okay to ship" type description on them in the ordering cart, so that leads me to believe there are some items they won't ship here, but I haven't actually come across one.