I recently made my first online order on Temu and mused, “I don’t know what their return policy is like?” Well now I know. Within my first order, a laser disco ball light was defective and even though it was cheap (less than $5), Temu did heavily advertise they offered “Free Returns” and I was eager to find out if this was for real.
In order to process a return I had to upload photos or a short 00:30 video demonstrating the problem. Videos longer than :30 are rejected by their website upload page. In my case, one of the three disco lights I had purchased, didn’t change color when music or sound played.
If approved, they offer a free downloadable return mailing label. You have to box up all the item(s) you wish to return from each order. You can return multiple items from your order but if you’ve already shipped a box and discover another defective item, Temu will not give you a free shipping label but will instead charge you $7.90 for it.
In my product return process, they approved my return and told me that I didn’t have to return the products. Probably because it would cost them more to ship it back than the item was worth. Overall the experience was relatively easy, similar to AliExpress but not quite as easy as Amazon.
Temu is the fastest grown shopping app on the Apple Store and Android Play. Based in China it blew up on social media in the last two years, offering crazy cheap deals. They gamify your online experience letting you “spin to win” coupons like $10 off or 20% off orders that are time limited (you must order within the hour).
This has driven a viral trend of people posting deals they’ve gotten on Temu. Some customers and influencers have reported short-term Hot deals like Baofang radios for $2 or Nintendo Switches for $80. While there is always a risk of buying counterfeit products, it appears the majority of items sold on Temu are brand-less OEMs or knock offs. On Amazon you’d get the same products but with key mash names like “Hihhy”, “VCELINK” or “Aukey”.
Temu can offer products cheaply because they sell products direct from manufacturers in China, cutting out middle men distributors and retailers. AliExpress and Wish also have a similar business model which often make them cheaper than Amazon. AliExpress has a larger selection of sellers than Temu. Wish.com has lower prices and many items but of also lower quality.
Temu, AliExpress, and Wish all offer “free shipping” on many of their items. Temu offers free shipping on all of their products with a minimum order amount. Temu really blew up a year ago when they started offering “free expedited delivery” via air freight. AliExpress and Wish charge extra for air fright.
My Temu order took 8 days to arrive and some users have reported delivery times of 2-3 days. “Free shipping” from AliExpress and Wish via ship cargo, takes about 30 days. This puts Temu closer to Amazon’s 2-7 day delivery expectation.
Temu can offer “Free Air Express” because they worked out a deal with an Asian air cargo company, who offered them a huge discount on their air freight rates. This deal is temporary (likely 6 months to 1 year at most) but Temu is leveraging this opportunity by pumping huge amounts of money into marketing, including a Super Bowl commercial.
As to my order, the items were mostly clothing and accessories picked out by my wife and daughter from Temu’s Hot Deals. The quality was about the same quality of fashionable budget clothing found at Target or H&M. The electronics I ordered were USB cables and chargers which all worked.
Overall, our experience with Temu has bas been positive. So much so that I’ve been confident enough to begun placing additional small $25-$50 orders in the days since. I do find myself succumbing to the gamified coupons and spending way too much time and effort to search for some additional item that I may or may not really need to get that slightly higher discount.
I did find one disappointing and one defective item amongst my orders thus far. I’ll follow up in a few days with my experience with Temu’s “Free Return” policy. Be sure to check back for that video soon.
