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ve seen a lot of warnings lately saying don’t load the Temu app or buy from the store. There have been plenty of accusations but few actual, validated facts.
While I’ve been very leery of Facebook ads because I’ve lost around $150 on Facebook scams so far, I did recently buy a smart toilet from Homary to replace my $5,000 (now more like $7,000) Toto Neorest, which had started to sound like it was going to swallow me. Thankfully, the new one is working fine.
Let me share my experiences with both companies as they compare to their far more expensive U.S. and Japanese competitors. We’ll end with my Product of the Week, the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite, which is currently between six and 12 months ahead of AMD and Intel and sets the near-term bar for the AI PC.
Temu vs. Amazon
To say I buy a lot from Amazon would be an understatement. I rarely shop anywhere else, even though I almost stopped shopping there after a $200 Amazon gift card was stolen in transit, used, and not refunded. I’m still upset about that and have stopped buying Amazon gift cards, which, up until then, were my go-to gift purchase.
Amazon’s advantages are that it delivers more quickly, the goods are better packaged, and the quality and customer support, except for that gift card issue, has been exceptional.
Temu is a ton cheaper. For example:
- I bought a nice automatic dragon buckle belt from Amazon for $23.99. I purchased a similar automatic belt from Temu with a Jaguar (car) buckle for $9.19.
- I bought a nice back brace from Amazon that set me back $29.97. I bought a better one on Temu for $10.88.
- Most interestingly, on March 3, I bought an LED exhaust tip from Amazon for $41.39 out of China, which has yet to arrive, and the same exact thing from Temu on March 23 for $22.07, delivered on April 2.
- A keychain from Amazon was $11.99, and the same thing from Temu was $1.74, though it was delivered a week and a half later than the one from Amazon.
Yes, some things from Temu have been low quality, but I’ve had quality issues with eBay out of China from time to time, as well as stuff from Amazon. You have to be careful, but the Temu merchandise is 50 to 90% cheaper than similar things from Amazon.
Some questionable items included a $15 smartwatch that worked but was hardly an Apple Watch replacement. I bought a pair of $17 tennis shoes that looked great but felt cheap, making me doubt whether they’d hold up. I’ve purchased several tools from Temu, and all have worked fine and were of similar quality to Craftsman, though not the same level of quality as Snap-on tools. Still, for me, they were fine, and for a little bit of money, I’ve really fleshed out my tool sets.
