Temu has been taking the online shopping world by storm with its trendy products at bargain prices – but is it legitimate?

Despite only arriving in the market in the last year (and even more recently in the UK), Temu has already overtaking fast fashion giant SHEIN in sales volume.

Temu’s products are suspiciously cheap (sometimes with discounts of up to 97%) which has led people to wonder how on earth they are doing it.

Bargain prices have fuelled Temu’s popularity especially in the cost of living crisis as consumers can still afford what they otherwise would have bought at more expensive outlets.

The internet is full of videos and blogs claiming all sorts of things about Temu such as that they put pressure on manufacturers (probably true) which encourages them to use unethical practices like underpaying workers.

I’ve also heard Temu play fast and loose with copyright laws (again probably true) and also that they steal data (not seen any proper evidence of this from reputable sources).

Temu offer free shipping and returns in an attempt to lure customers in a build market share however there have been reports and estimates this is losing them £24 per order (with a total loss somewhere between £465 and £754 million) – I wonder if the Temu customers will stay when they inevitably charge for delivery.

To see whether the unbelievably cheap prices mean that you get unbelievably rubbish products from Temu I decided to order £15 worth of stuff. I didn’t order any electrical goods because I’ve seen too many episodes of Fake Britain and don’t really want to blow the house up.

Shopping on Temu is certainly an assault on the senses as you are bombarded with pop-ups offering you discounts, mailing lists and random freebies. Another quirk of the site is the fish game which allows you to feed virtual fish in exchange for discounts in an attempt to get you to spend more.

For my £14.72 I received 9 bracelets, a planner, some sticky notes (for my many to do lists), a phone case, a soft tyre keyring (their F1 selection is very limited) and a guillotine.

8/9 bracelets I really liked and they seem decent enough and similar quality to what you’d find in a supermarket/Claire’s accessories just at a fraction of the cost.

The stationery is of very good quality with the planner printed on decent paper with a plastic cover and the sticky notes are of a reasonable size (considering they were £1.68).

The phone case feels nice to the touch and fits perfectly (even flush to the camera). The key ring is also very cool and cute (for a tyre).

The guillotine serves its purpose and I could cut 6 sheets of paper at once but is a bit on the flimsy side. However, it was £3.58 which is a lot less than I could find one for elsewhere.

Delivery was relatively prompt taking just over a week to come – from China, gone are the days of waiting weeks – and everything was in tact in its own plastic bag (probably not great for the planet but convenient).

In conclusion, I would recommend ordering from Temu: everything arrived in a timely manner, the products were of better quality than the price suggested and everything is very cheap.

Would you shop on Temu?

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