In September 2022, an app was launched by PDD Holdings, owned by Pinduoduo, a Chinese online commerce platform. The app quickly reached a high rank in popularity due to the many advertisements put on popular social media channels, becoming a local marketplace for many.

Over the two years since its release, Temu has made a whopping $3 billion from selling expensive items for a considerably cheaper price. Although a highly successful business, many claim that Temu is a huge scam, providing customers with the lowest quality of items.

As many know, inflation has hit America like a truck: many once cheap items are now more expensive, making local buyers seek alternative methods of getting what they need for a cheaper price. When the app Temu was released, their social media campaign on platforms such as TikTok and Snapchat persuaded many users to purchase items from the app because of the unbelievably low prices.

But, that begs the question: why is Temu so cheap? Temu sells items straight from the manufacturer, making all items on-site/app the cheapest they can get. 

Other complaints center around shipping and customer service.

“Temu is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and has an average rating of two-and-a-half out of five stars. Many recent complaints about Temu on the BBB website say that items never arrived or, if they did, took weeks or even months to arrive,” Jada Jones, writer for ZDNet said.

For the sake of evaluating the site, as well as shipping, the Wildcat Chronicle ordered three items from Temu: a short alligator statue, an earbud cleaner, and adjustable joystick padding for video gaming controllers. All of these items rang up to just $6.77, which seemed cheap for online purchases. The purchase went through on Jan. 29, and were delivered on Feb. 7.

In short, Temu is only a scam for expensive items. As seen in the video, the products purchased were really cheap – not just in cost, but also in terms of overall quality. However, for the price of all three items, it is best to believe that Temu did not let the people down with their marketplace. They do not proclaim to offer high-quality merchandise, and their products are all reviewed by users, so there is a level of security in purchasing so long as the customer has low expectations.

That said, there remain some security concerns with Temu that must be taken into account.

“Scammers push Temu referral codes via fake celebrity TikTok. Scammers are exploiting Temu’s referral program (generating links users can share on social media or with friends and family) to earn store credit and other rewards by creating fake videos on TikTok that ‘imply sensitive photos and videos of celebrities have been leaked,’” Alina BÎZGĂ, writer for the Bitdefender website, said.

Many bot accounts on TikTok post thousands of videos of the same Temu advertisement with different tags in each one to persuade customers to check out the site/app. Most of what is shown is false advertisements, tricking customers into putting in a Temu code that grants the original user money in the app. Although Temu itself might be harmless, their association with scammers and lies puts others on edge, and rightfully so.

Although in the Wildcat Chronicle’s case, there appeared to be no elements of a scam, it is recommended to use Temu with caution: the app has work to do to establish trust, and there remain several shady marketing schemes circulating on other social media platforms at present time. 

Temu is not as bad as everyone says, but do not make purchases on the site a regular occurrence: brick-and-mortar stores, or even Amazon, are a lot more reliable than an app that appears too good to be true.