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Temu appeared overnight. One day, we had never heard of it; The next, it was in the fashion of the world of Online shopping . His big break took place during the Super Bowl 2023 when the company broadcast an announcement, which prompted viewers to "shop as a billionaire". After that, the rapid rise in the application led many of us to ask: is TEMU legitimate?

Even if you do not connect to the Super Bowl of last year, you have undoubtedly heard of Temu, either from its ads on Facebook and Instagram, purchase features of influence on Tiktok, or news from sound recent legal quarrels With the quick fashion brand Shein. You can also expect to see much more application soon: Cable reports that TEMU provides for triple its American advertising expenses In 2024 to a superb $ 4.3 billion.

TEMU's online presence has led to serious real sales: according to applications, Temu Volume of raw goods Added to $ 3 million in the fall from 2022 to 1 billion dollars in June 2023 - so if you do not buy at TEMU, you can be assured that your friends, family members and colleagues are certainly . Read the rest to find out more about the online retail giant, as if it is sure, why it is controversial and whether it is legitimate or not.

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What is Temu?

To put it simply, TEMU is a website of electronic commerce that sells a little of everything at land prices. For this reason, he often makes comparisons with Amazon.

"You should be able to find things like clothes, furniture, electronics, toys, health and beauty items, and more," said Julie Ramhold , a consumption analyst with the Store comparison site Dealnews.com. "Basically, if you were going to look on Amazon, there is a good chance that you can also find it or something similar on TEMU."

A major difference is that TEMU is a little more fun - and, for the better or for the worst, the company makes an effort to gamify certain aspects of the purchasing experience.

"TEMU encourages social sharing, encouraging users to share agreements with friends Free product exchange , "Writes Digital Crew." A progress bar adds a pinch of excitement, presenting the number of additional social shares before a gift can be bought. ""

TEMU was launched in the United States in September 2022 and operated under the legal name Whaleco Inc. that it is up to PDD Holdings, which also owns the Chinese electronic commerce website Pinduudo (more later!). To maintain low prices, TEMU uses a network of Chinese manufacturers who Items sent directly to buyers, according to Reuters .

Its popularity in the United States is undeniable. According to Application analysis website Sensor Tower, TEMU is currently the best application downloaded in the App Store and on Google Play. Business of Apps reports that the application reached 250 million downloads in November 2023, against 130 million downloads in July 2023 and only 15 million in 2022; The majority of these downloads came from the United States, although the application was also popular in Mexico, the United Kingdom, France and Germany.

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How does the TEMU application work?

In a Press release announcement Its launch, TEMU has described its offers as covering a "wide range of carefully organized products" in the categories of "mode, beauty and health, house and garden, jewelry and accessories, electronics, shoes and bags, sports and outdoors, supplies for Pets, office products, and even more. "His home page boasts everything, musical instruments and smart houses for night clothes and luggage.

The most notable prices are prices. You will find a 12 Pack of kitchen sponges For less than $ 2, a 6 -foot phone charge cable also for less than $ 2, and a drone equipped with a camera and remote control for only $ 18.98. Many clothes oscillate at $ 10, and laptops cost around $ 250. (All prices reflect the time of writing.)

Because TEMU is limited to the supply of items to Chinese manufacturers, you will find some brand products. If you want a new pair of AirPods, rare beauty makeup, Ugg boots or something similar, you will not have a lot of luck on TEMU - the best it can provide is a low cost dupe.

Temu manufacturing limitation also has an impact on its shipping times. According to his website, the Temu The warehouse can take Between one and three days to process each order. From there, free standard delivery can take 6 to 20 days; Express Shipping, which costs $ 12.90 on orders less than $ 129 and is free for higher orders, takes between 4 and 9 days.

What data does TEMU collect from users?

Whenever you download your information on a new application or fork on your credit card number, you will want to be aware of the privacy policy of this application. "For months, it has been noted that TEMU will collect more data than other comparable applications," said Ramhold.

According to TEMU, the application Collects the evidence : Things like your name, your email address and your connection identification information. If you create an account via an application like Facebook or Google, it also collects your profile image, your username and your email address linked to this account.

When you make a purchase, TEMU receives your payment information, your shipping address and your phone number. He also collects information while you shop, including the pages you see, how long you spend on them and how you interact with them.

Then it goes further. It collects information on the model of your device, operating system information and language parameters; It also follows your approximate location data via your IP address. In addition, TEMU uses third party sources, such as its affiliation partners, its marketing partners, its data brokers, its public archives and its social media services, to find out more about you.

Currently, nothing indicates that the application collects the history of the external browser, although it notes your history in the application.

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Is TEMU a legitimate website?

It depends on how you define "legitimate". The application has a c + note of the Better Business Office (BBB) And is not listed like a scam. If you place an order, you will most likely receive it. However, users should be wary of goods manufactured at a lower cost, to collect heavy data and potentially mediocre customer service if there is a problem with an order.

Why is Temu so controversial?

Some of the largest controversies around TEMU come from its sister website, Pinduodoo. In March 2023, Google withdrew Pinduudo from its app store after malware problems were found on the versions of the application outside the store. According to CNBC, the Malware has authorized the application To bypass user safety authorizations, access private messages, biometrics, bluetooth and information on Wi-Fi networks, change the settings, display the data from other applications and prevent uninstallation.

At the time of the press, these problems were not found in TEMU. "There was no report on the malicious functionality present in the o ff here game, the app store or the third -party versions of Temu", " Daniel Thanos , vice-president and head of the Wolf Arctic laboratories, the threats of the threats of the Cybersecurity Society Arctic Wolf, told CNBC. "The keys used to sign Pinduodoo malware are not the same keys used to sign the TEMU application."

In November 2023, a group of consumers has filed a collective appeal In the American district court of the Northern Illinois district, alleging that the TEMU application is "deliberately and intentionally loaded with tools to carry out virulent and dangerous malware activities on user devices" and that it has access To "literally everything on your phone" including "facial characteristics, votes and fingerprints".

In a fashion fashion email, a TEMU The spokesman responded : "The allegations of the collective appeal are largely derived from a report of a short sale company, which has acquired commercial interests to disseminate a negative disinformation."

It is the links of the application with China that make these allegations particularly serious. Consumers can remember similar controversy surrounding the Chinese Tiktok application. In May 2023, Governor of Montana Greg Gianforte Banned Tiktok , TEMU and other applications linked to countries that the United States consider "foreign opponents" of use on government devices.

There are also ethical concerns about how extremely cheap articles on TEMU are manufactured. In June 2023, a Congress report found The fact that TEMU has no system to guarantee compliance with the forced ulghur labor prevention law (UFLPA), an American federal law implemented to ensure that American companies do not finance forced work by ethnic minorities in China.

"This guarantees that TEM shipments containing products manufactured with forced work regularly enter the United States, in UFLPA violation," said the report.

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So, is it sure to buy TEMU products?

The old adage "You get what you pay" also seems to be true for Temu. AE0FCC31AE342FD3A1346EBB1F342FCB

"Even if you are not concerned about security problems, TEMU opinions often call for problems such as ordering an item and receiving something less quality or even nothing at all," said Ramhold. "You can save from the start, but you might end up losing much more in the long term."

The application currently highlights its brand products with a blue checkout, but only a handful of brands are on board. If a product does not have a blue check, you can get the article that is illustrated and described - or a poor quality dupe. Like Amazon, each product has an examination section (and consumers seem to be honest in their opinions!), So that you can see how an article has resisted others.

Customer complaints against Tem

As mentioned, TEMU has a C + note with the BBB, and many of its 1,330 customer reviews on the site are negative. Complaints include reproaches concerning poor product quality, incorrect orders, slow delivery, lots of marketing email, poor customer service and problems to re -evolution of the application games.

"I received someone else's order," wrote a customer on the BBB. "I contacted customer service as indicated on the website and sent photos with the package inside outside, including address photos. They refused to reimburse because they said That it was not their fault if the bad package arrived. "

"Their products are announced as really cheap, because they are really cheap," said another BBB critic.

Aside from the quality, cybersecurity experts say that their largest fears concern the level of data that the company collects - and that if the data comes into bad hands, this could lead to an identity theft.

"The more information they get, the easier it is to steal their identity, in particular with a company linked to China," said BBB representative told CBS News . "You do not know where it is going, and the government has expressed many warnings over the years. Because once you have all this data, they can use this data to harm the United States in a way or of another."

A few Tiktok users And BBB criticisms said their credit card information had been stolen after making a purchase from TEMU; However, there is no way to prove if purchases and hacks were linked. From publication, Better life cannot find any case of identity theft confirmed directly correlated to the TEMU application.

Conclusion

Like any electronic commerce platform, you will want to use discretion if you decide to shop on TEMU. Make sure to use a solid password, make your purchases via a credit card so that you have a way to fight against incorrect costs, consult user reviews on all the products you plan to buy and to stay up to date on the news of the company so that you can take the appropriate actions if the application is deemed malicious.

You can also find offers elsewhere. "Most security experts seem to agree that you should not buy TEMU at all, and you should certainly not download the application," said Ramhold. "I would say jump and opt for a deeper dive on Amazon or even watch the markets available on sites like Walmart and Target if you want more options."

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