this post was submitted on 15 Nov 2024

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Chinese immigrants in the U.S. are running Temu shipping centers out of their homes (restofworld.org)

submitted 1 week ago by Joker@sh.itjust.works to c/technology@lemmy.world

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[–] themurphy@lemmy.ml 70 points 6 days ago (4 children)

Temu is insanely popular. Don't underestimate this. Yes, it's pure crap, but people buy it. They earn bucks.

Meaning, it's not a valid argument to say it's crap, and then it's not a problem. Temu is a problem.

But then we have to start another discussion about the free market, because then Temu is valid.

Then what? Legit question, I don't have the answer to.

[–] nednobbins@lemm.ee 28 points 6 days ago (5 children)

The thing is that it's not PURE crap.

It's kind of like going to a flea market. Most of it is crap and you can still find some decent and good stuff that's way cheaper than it should be.

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[–] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 9 points 6 days ago (3 children)

I got some temu stuff. A 7$ bag heat sealer. Works perfectly fine.

However, I do not abide surveillance pricing. I can defeat the surveillance pricing but the procedure annoys me, so I've gone back to aliexpress which is easier to defeat.

[–] SplashJackson@lemmy.ca 16 points 6 days ago (3 children)

What is surveillance pricing? Are they like using cookies to subtley raise the price on thing you're searching for?

[–] aeshna_cyanea@lemm.ee 13 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

Things like using surveillance to figure out when your payday is and raising prices (just for you, and just on that day) because you psychologically are more willing to spend in that moment

[–] SplashJackson@lemmy.ca 7 points 6 days ago (3 children)

That's fucked up. Why this legal?

[–] aeshna_cyanea@lemm.ee 15 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Because we live in a capitalist hellscape and the companies that implemented these tricks were the fastest growing segment of our economy for like 15 years (esp after the 2008 crash) so the government turned a blind eye. Now they control the world and are able to literally buy politicians

[–] SplashJackson@lemmy.ca 5 points 5 days ago (2 children)

I've heard that if we vote, all these problems will go away. But every time I vote, there's never an option on the ballets for "Guillotines"

[–] electric_nan@lemmy.ml 5 points 5 days ago

The free market will provide guillotines if the people truly want them. /s

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[–] Creeoyfred@lemmy.world 7 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Any tips on defeating aliexpress pricing? I stopped buying because everything was up so much.

[–] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 5 points 6 days ago (2 children)

It's a process for me, I open hundreds of tabs, save all URLs, strip trackers from URLs, remove duplicates, then I reload all tabs into a fresh, empty multiaccount container, then I use a scraper addon called gatherfromtabs to pickup all the prices, then I log and setup everything up to the last page of the sale, I tally up all the totals in excel, order by price, usually 100s of ads, find the absolute 3 cheapest ones, review the ads really thoroughly to avoid scams and then buy 10-20x of whatever this item was to make it worth my time.

This process will become more difficult over time.

[–] kalpol@lemmy.world 10 points 6 days ago (1 children)

wtf

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[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Where there was once Tupperware, and makeup, there is now temu

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[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 21 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (2 children)

I don't see why it would only be Chinese immigrants doing it.

It's all over the place.

It's all fun and games until you're left with a bunch of crap you can't sell, or it turns out you were shipping dangerous products and now you're on the hook for it.

Enjoy your 5% profits though.

[–] socsa@piefed.social 14 points 5 days ago

Yeah this is literally just the newest version of what people have been doing with Amazon and Ebay markets for like 20 years. Anyone can bulk order random shit on Alibaba and then mark it up for the US market. This is just cutting out the middle man.

[–] surph_ninja@lemmy.world 4 points 5 days ago

It’s Sinophobia masquerading as news.

[–] Cyber@feddit.uk 13 points 6 days ago

But the U.S. government’s moves to crack down on cheap e-commerce parcels from China have pushed sellers to rethink their business strategies.

So, there's the problem then. If they made it all more expensive for the American consumer, then that solves the problem. /s

On a serious note: it's obviously cheaper because there's no physical shop with no staff. Isn't this how Bezos started out, from a garage?

[–] phoneymouse@lemmy.world 16 points 6 days ago

Temu is like NAFTA for American “business” people.

You cut out the factory worker first, then cut out the American importer.

[–] Etterra@lemmy.world 11 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Temu? More like Trashmu.

[–] Skates@feddit.nl 18 points 6 days ago (2 children)

It's the same low-to-medium quality crap that you can usually find on Amazon at a slightly higher price.

[–] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 5 days ago (5 children)

Reason why I only buy at AliExpress and only stuff I don't ingest or wear on me for longer times.

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[–] bokherif@lemmy.world 5 points 5 days ago

Exactly this. People shit on the Chinese companies, but the American ones just rip us off with the same product.

[–] evulhotdog@lemmy.world 9 points 6 days ago

I’ve personally been messaged on a few different platforms saying that I can be a seller for marketplaces and make 2500+ USD a week. I assume that it’s these big companies that they’re talking around as to try and not spill the beans because I assume it’s below the line in some way.

For some people that may be pretty lucrative.

[–] ComradeMiao@lemmy.world 11 points 6 days ago

Good on them, I wish I could do it

[–] CosmoNova@lemmy.world 9 points 6 days ago

It should be added this was discovered to the surprise of absolutely no one.

[–] 96VXb9ktTjFnRi@feddit.nl 4 points 5 days ago

Temu is quite literally poisonous.

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