temu.com opinions?

Yes - I have ordered a few things from them oin the last couple of months. No real problems. Expect to get multiple emails per day with assorted offers/"surprises" and if you install their application then umpteen notifications ( I have had half a dozen since lunchtime).

Sounds as if Temu have learnt well from those who buy from Amazon but don't want Prime! It is possible, honest!

Other than that I wouldn't touch Temu even with a bargepole bought from Ebay.

From Which? -

Followed by the obligatory statutory statement whenever anything goes wrong:

"At the time Temu told us that the safety of its customers is its highest priority, and that proactive monitoring systems had detected and removed two heaters in December. "

and then:

"As part of another investigation, we found cheap electricals such as chargers and plugs across a variety of marketplaces including Temu that fell apart during a brief stress test.

Separately, Toy Industries of Europe (TIE) bought 19 toys from TEMU in February and found that none of the toys fully complied with EU legislation. 18 posed a real safety risk for children, with hazards including cutting, blockage, choking, strangulation and chemical danger. "

The list goes on, and on like one of those battery adverts.

Not Temu, but I did buy something from Wish.com that was half the price of all the Aliexpress sellers, and a third the price of Amazon. Since all the items appear to be identical and must come from the same factory, there wasn't much to lose. There was basically no other option without paying hundreds, so not like I could have paid a bit more to a UK seller to get better quality.

I think Temu and Wish are heavily subsidised by investors / the Chinese government, so if you are buying what you're fully aware is cheap tat you might as well take their money...

Theo

Not necessarily. PRC postage charges are very low and international agreements provide that items posted abroad only raise the same amount for the recipient country as was charged in the sender's country. Or maybe even nothing, on a reciprocal basis.

That's how the Chinese internet traders, whether on their own websites or on eBay, can offer free postage (it's catered for in the item price, as cheap as it is).

That's not true any more - they fixed the Universal Postal Union rules. For one thing, much of my sent-from-China tat comes by Evri these days, not Royal Mail (who are the official postal carrier). Usually it clears customs in a warehouse somewhere near to Heathrow (often 4PX or Cainio) and then an Evri label is slapped on it.

I think the Chinese government subsidises shipping, among many other things, to encourage exports.

Theo