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Shopping app Temu is “dangerous malware,” spying on your texts, lawsuit claims (arstechnica.com)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 66 points 2 years ago (47 children)

I can't believe anyone would buy from Temu. I knew they were Chinese knockoff bullshit the second I saw their first obnoxious ad.

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  • [–] 18 points 2 years ago (6 children)

    Plenty of items on eBay are just people who buy from China directly and mark up prices. If it is likely made in China and I don’t want it quickly, I’ll buy off aliexpress. That said, alibaba wanted me to upload photo ID which I noped out of. Temu started spamming my email address when I’d never used them. The unsubscribe link went to their website said to adjust your account settings if you didn’t want spam… I never created and account and avoided them completely following that.

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  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    Shit, most of Amazon is that as well.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

    Amazon is usually OK if you buy things that are sold by Amazon or sold by the manufacturer (if it's a well-known brand). The third-party sellers on Amazon based in China are almost always reselling stuff from Aliexpress/Alibaba with a significant markup.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    Half of them aren't in China though. It's dropshippers, so you still get your cheap death traps, but you get them in a few days, Amazon get their enormous cut, and they get to take no responsibility when it burns your house down.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago*

    That's why I said "sold by Amazon". The drop shippers are all third-parties. Instead of the item saying "Sold by Amazon", it'll say something like "Sold by [some third party] and fulfilled by Amazon".

    Stuff sold by Amazon themselves is generally okay, since they're directly responsible for it (no third party they can blame for any issues).

    I try to avoid Amazon where possible though. B&H is pretty good for electronics, and I know I'm not going to get cheap Chinese knockoffs when I search their online store.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago

    I don't buy anything from eBay that I can get elsewhere. I didn't even use those other sites. Sure, everything is made in China, but I'm good not trusting China without a more reputable middleman that's subject to American laws regarding things like refunds and such.

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  • [–] 15 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    Isn't that the site that's AliExpress but worse?

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Apparently for some people (my mom) the search or filters work better on Temu. No idea why, I only ever use AliExpress.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Alis search is really bad.
    Somehow the auto translation is active for the product names but if you search they don't seem to apply.
    For example:
    Searching for Cherry MX switches brings up articles that are named "Mechanische Kirsch Schalter für Tastatur" (essentially the name but translated). Problem is: Cherry the company is like it's in english as well, also the fruit amd thus will not be translated correctly.
    Trying to search more niche stuff quickly gets annoying when trying to find something specific.

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  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    somethings people don't care about quality. An example, the one time I checked out Temu way back when it first made its splash I bought some targets for shooting... Hard to fuck that up and got em cheap as fuck with that promo deal they do to hook you. Uninstalled it right after, probably not worth it but I feel like that is a common experience. There are items where you just simply can't fuck up so the ultra cheapness works out.

    With that said, an obligatory FUCK temu and those like it.

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  • [–] 10 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Aliexpress seems most straightforward, and not quite as gimmicky.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Have you seen the wheel spin and Fomo coupons?
    Maybe not as much but still highly gimmicky in comparison to normal e-commerce sites

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago

    They don't seem to give overall preference to a given supplier beyond their obvious coupons and paid rankings. Alibaba is better, but who needs 144 of any specific widget..?

    If you compare to one of the most preferred e-commerce website, which I would consider Amazon, it's still not that bad. I have found less lies on Ali express v Amazon. If it comes to any cheaper electronics the Ali description is the real deal as far as I have seen. Amazon I have been shipped differing products, the description or features have just been a lie, or it didn't come with the things implied. For the most part Ali descriptions are exactly what you will expect when opening the product... in fact many times I discover extra features when receiving the product that seemingly just couldn't explain in their marketing.

    Ali>Aliexpress>Amazon... just depends on needs

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago

    My only reasons to buy on Ali is when I need something simple like velcro that can be cut to length or other small scale stuff electronics (e.g. Rasperry Pi 0) and it doesnt have to be fast.
    Ironically the shipping is either free or so cheap it's better than domestic amazon.
    I often suspect they sell the same item but order it with DHL shipping (our domestic shipper) with high priority shipping included in the price (2€ item + 8€ shipping = 10€ on Amazon + "free" shipping)

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  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago* (4 children)

    A huge amount of products are just generic Chinese products that have a brand slapped on it. If you've ever bought a random small USB device (i.e USB hubs, etc) from a major brand like LogiTech and others, if you crack it open it is just the same device as cheap resellers with a branded coating. It's not worth it to many companies to bother manufacturing their own small tat so they just sub-contract out.

    And sure, it likely works, but it's the exact same hardware with the same capabilities as a product a 10th of the price.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    The cheap Chinese stuff often uses knock-off ICs tho.
    They can be fairly difficult to detect, and will work for a short time or under very light loads. But they will be nowhere near the spec of the data sheets.
    They might massively overheat, not provide the correct currents or voltages, run at lower speeds. All sorts of corners being cut to turn a $2 IC into a 50¢ IC. Or a 50¢ ic into a 5¢ one

    So yeh, might be the same PCB layout inside, it might visually look the same (or very very close) but the parts are likely to be counterfeit.

    Of course, it's also probable that name brands might be hit with counterfeit parts inside as well. Hopefully their QA picks that up

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  • [–] -2 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    I can't believe people pay full price on cheap stuff. The only reasonable thing to do is pay cheap on cheap stuff. And the delivery times are unbeatable .

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I can't believe people buy cheap trash that would be sold on Temu.

    But here we are, people buy cheap ass trash off Temu. If China started picking through the trash we shipped them and sold it back to us on a site like Temu, something tells me people would still buy it.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago

    People would buy an actual turd on temu if it's cheap enough. Just read these comments here... But it's cheap. Congrats, you bought cheap garbage and it got send around the globe by a company that sells your data

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  • [+] -15 points 2 years ago (21 children)

    With how cheap they are, people will and should buy from TEMU. Aliexpress as a general store never had much of a competition for English speakers outside of Banggood for select electronics. Taoboa is good but it's harder to use

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  • [–] 16 points 2 years ago (20 children)

    So for you, the lowest price is the only thing that matters? It doesn't matter whether it's a shitty product? Or that they're one of the least efficient shippers due to their tariff avoidance strategy, and in doing so are contributing more per purchase to climate change than even companies like Amazon and Walmart?

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  • [+] -6 points 2 years ago* (17 children)

    I'm happy because it's competition for Aliexpress.

    Arguments against carbon emissions and carbon footprints against corporations isn't very helpful unless you can do something about it. This is somehow a very unpopular opinion here, for some reason people don't like being told that they don't have much power. Boycotting it by yourself won't work either, because even if the west gives up on it, the East will not. Carbon emissions will remain unless strict regulations are maintained, and we know who buys politicians these days. If I can do nothing about the climate, then yes I'd rather pay less. And I'm not explicitly anti-China like some people here because America is just as hypocritical.

    Yes there are really bad products and their QC is horrible. I'll say the same for Aliexpress, Taobao, Amazon, Walmart and Bestbuy. Unfortunately for everyone here, we're going to have to choose between shit options, so yes I'd rather pay less if it's shit I'm going to get anyway. Besides, I'm smart enough to not make bigger purchases on these sites because I know of their QC situation.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago (10 children)

    Boycotting is a collective action, it spreads like a virus, so you are wrong on its effectiveness.

    You sound like someone who wants hand waive away the real costs of their actions by saying there's nothing you can do to change things.

    I hope the people who read your post aren't demotivated to effect change because of it.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago* (9 children)

    What I do not understand is why people are biased against certain companies in such a discussion. If your arguments are correct, then Amazon is a horrendous beast that should have been killed by now with "viral boycotting". And here we are. Is anyone demotivated by knowing that people still buy from Amazon and make them billions? Why all the hate against TEMU specifically, when they're trying to undercut Amazon and other stores? Let's not pretend that Amazon and Best Buy and Walmart are a collective bunch of saints and can mean no harm. Where is the action in this case?

    Let me speak the bitter truth for you: the majority of the population here is American, with an inherent anti-chinese mentality when it comes to capitalistic ventures/operations. That is the reason for the hate. Alibaba faced the same issues, and in case someone wants to bring up Huawei for their actions, remember that AT&T runs an NSA spy-mission in Manhattan. Where is the outcry in this case?

    I might have veered off-topic, but bad QC and cheap deals aren't inherently a Chinese thing. Hence, I do not follow the propaganda against Chinese shops who are beating American companies at their own game.

    Edit: since I've been called guilty of waiving away untoward actions, please enlighten me on how the general American population has stayed "responsible" and managed to put any dent in other non-Chinese companies that have their ethics in the dumpster and actively harm the environment and people (I'm looking at you Nestle, Spotify and OpenAI)

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (6 children)

    I can't force people to do the things I think they should. Noone can. People draw inspiration from all sorts of things. Like you right now seem inspired to protect China from racist western policies.

    I dont pretend to speak for my country, or its government, but I can do two things:

    1. Walk the walk, if you believe something then follow it. Examples: de-googling, disengaging with social media, following a vegan lifestyle, research companies before giving them your money.

    2. Talking about all of this stuff in public places. With my family, coworkers, or here on Lemmy, anything we say has the potential to inspire someone to change. You never know what will be the thing that triggers change, but for all the things I listed above I had someone share that information with me in a public forum, which caused me to change.

    I'm sure we can argue the efficacy of this strategy all day, and even some of the examples you gave like Amazon are no longer the behemoth they used to be.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (5 children)

    After coming back from a break, I realised I might have leaned too hard into "protecting Chinese companies". I will say this right now for everyone reading: I have no love for the nationality of said companies. I don't care if Aliexpress or a clone of theirs was Chinese, Korean, Brazilian, Swiss, Russian, Iranian, Australian or Japanese (incidentally I spend time on buyee.jp because the cheap deals on CDs sometimes). What I care about is providing competition to the bigger mammoths here. If I find a USB adapter for a quarter of the price with free shipping and refunds from a Chinese shop with a decent reputation (Aliexpress, Banggood, TaoBao and now TEMU), I'll take it. I hope this forces big American retailers to maybe give better, fairer prices to their customers.

    I'm not quite convinced that Amazon is no longer the giant with worms as we knew it. Can you explain?

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (4 children)

    I don't have a lot of inner details about amazon but I do know that they have peaked already as far as retail goes. I don't know when, I just know its happened already.

    Amazon is no longer any of the following:

    1. The cheapest deal
    2. Filled with reliable reviews
    3. Filled with trustworthy companies

    And on top of that, their product search page is to the point where not even the advertisers are having a good time. The end users (buyers) stopped having a useful interface a while before that.

    Its easier now for me to avoid amazon simply because they aren't the best deal by nearly any metric any more.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (3 children)

    I see. Well, my point still stands; we're choosing amongst shit anyway

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (2 children)

    True, most global brands are garbage, but I do see a lot of stuff locally thats sprung up to fill interesting niches. I still think the community of people who say "fuck big business, and fuck endless greed" is a growing bunch so I'm hopeful.

    It helps for me to watch what the generations after me are doing, and they are doing a fine job fighting for progress in my opinion.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    I don't see much of a "fuck corporate greed" around me. And there are some things are much better overseas, like cheap IOT gizmos. Purchasing a cheap relay is much easier from the bigger brands on Aliexpress than from a local manufacturer

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago

    Yeah I think probably me saying "big business" is overly broad.

    I almost always use that to mean big companies that use their size unfairly in the marketplace, and I'm not just talking about how production of scale works.

    I do think that we need to really open up the global market, this competition by country is sort of ridiculous, but I'm not going to pretend I understand it all enough to prescribe a solution.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I'm anticonsumption in general and temu just seems like the epitome of paying for disposable garbage.

    In general i don't understand why people are buying any nonessential items at all. Everyone is apparently too poor but random crap still sells. I splurged and bought a cheap tablet to use as an ereader this year but only because i can't justify the expense of buying books and my local library is awful.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago

    Well, at least you're consistent with your views. Being anti-consumption is a fine stand. In my case, I usually go to these sites for cheap deals on microcontrollers, tit-bits like USB adapters, metal stands, IEM cables etc. I'm not buying expensive/essential stuff from them.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (5 children)

    Yes there are really bad products and their QC is horrible. I'll say the same for Aliexpress, Taobao, Amazon, Walmart and Bestbuy.

    There's a huge difference between some 5/10 products at Walmart and Best Buy and the best case being a 5/10 product with the majority being 2/10 and some being actually dangerous like Temu.

    They're not remotely similar.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (4 children)

    Depends on what you buy. You shouldn't be buying PSUs or TVs or something of the sort from there, but try finding cheap clothes, accessories, electronics like that on Amazon

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  • [–] -1 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    You shouldn't be buying anything from there.

    Those cheap clothes would be overpriced at free.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (2 children)

    And where am I getting such cheap clothes if I don't have a thrift store near me? I'd happily take them for free.

    And clothes are just one part of it, which I don't really purchase that often (I mentioned them because I bought a few boxers to wear around the house but that's it)

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