CHANCES are, you’ll have come across – or even used – Temu for its budget range of fashion, cosmetics and small home decor items.
The Chinese-founded online marketplace made a big splash when it launched in the UK last year, grabbing the attention of budget-conscious shoppers with its tagline that promises you can “shop like a billionaire”.
She bought it from Chinese-founded marketplace, Temu[/caption]
The online photos showed a bright green sofa, with even brighter gold hardware[/caption]
What you might not know, however, is that the platform even sells large furniture items such as sofas.
And better still, they ship direct from the UK – so you won’t have to wait weeks to receive your order.
One shopper has shared her latest sofa purchase from the company, at an eye-wateringly low price.
Taking to Facebook to share her bargain, she wrote: “This was £90 with free delivery from Temu!
“I know Temu has mixed reviews but this actually shipped from the UK and arrived in two days.”
And acknowledging that a £90 sofa may not be suitable for heavy everyday use, she noted: “It’s just for in a bedroom and I’m so happy with it.
“I thought I’d share as it could help someone in need of a sofa on a budget.”
She accompanied the post with a picture of her brand-new sofa, which looked stylish and bold in a rich shade of emerald green, finished in a velvet-effect fabric.
Her post was quickly flooded with comments from people, impressed by the price and quality.
“The colour is amazing, really nice sofa”, said one person.
“My hallway is green & gold.. would look lovely under my stairs,” another user commented.
The sofa in question is by a brand called Yaheetech, which some savvy shoppers were already familiar with, through other retailers.
“I got the exact same one off of Wayfair earlier this year, for double that price!! It’s a lovely little sofa,” said one person.
“Yaheetech stuff is decent enough, have one of their bedframes from Argos for about £40-£50,” wrote another.
But it seems there’s competition in pricing, as someone else managed to find it on Amazon, sharing a screenshot of the sofa advertised for £95.99 – with a voucher available to them, which would reduce it down to just £80.99.
“Amazon also have it and mine has a £15 voucher on it. I’m very tempted,” they shared.
Other shoppers were surprised to discover that Temu has items that ship from the UK, in the first place.
“I’ve had a few really nice home bits from their UK warehouse,” wrote one.
“I only discovered it a few weeks back, thinking surely these big items have a huge delivery cost, but then I realised. It’s a game changer,” they raved.
Someone else gave advice on how to find UK-based items, sharing, “You can filter so it only shows items from the local warehouse. I ordered a gaming chair for my son for xmas and it came the day after!”
“Oh my god didn’t know this, now on looking for local items,” replied another shopper.
Why is Temu so cheap?
TEMU exploded onto the scene in late 2022, with people all over social media raving about the low prices.
The company is a Chinese-owned digital marketplace – essentially an online shopping app where people are connected to the retailer directly while the app takes care of the shipping element.
The frenzy over the app is not completely unfounded either as it offers a wide variety of products, including fashion, make-up, electronics and furniture.
According to a report from the US House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, Temu takes advantage of a trade loophole that allows the company to ship duty-free goods directly to the US.
The loophole is called the de minimis exception and it means they can ship goods valued up to $800 (£643) to the US without it being inspected or taxed by US customs.
Temu connects customers directly to manufacturers and only manages how the items are sent to customers.
It means Chinese vendors can essentially sell their products directly to customers and ship it without building a network of warehouses across the globe.
By doing this, they cut down on huge costs and ensure the product itself isn’t marked up extra.
While many of the products seen on the Temu app are from brands with extensive, original collections, many more are dupes of designer brands.
