Updated on April 13th, 2026
Temu has taken the world by storm. Temu began in the US and eventually expanded to Europe, including Denmark. I wanted to check out Temu for myself and see what it is all about.
What is Temu?
Temu is an online marketplace that launched in September 2022. Temu sells any item you can think of, from clothing, shoes, jewelry, accessories, makeup, skincare, home decor, kitchen supplies, office supplies, toys, games, electronics, appliances, art supplies, craft materials, musical instruments, pet supplies, and more. The brand is owned by PDD Holdings, which is a Chinese-based company that also owns Pinduoduo.
Pinduoduo has come under scrutiny as the app was found to have malware. Subsequently, the Pinduoduo app was removed from the Google Play Store, but it remains on the Apple App Store. Malware in the Pinduoduo app has raised similar concerns about the Temu app, but security experts have not identified any malware in Temu.
What Countries Does Temu Ship To?
Temu began in September 2022 in the US, and in February 2023, Temu launched in Canada. In March 2023, Temu launched in Australia and New Zealand, followed by France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and the UK in April 2023. In the following months and years, Temu expanded to more countries in Europe as well as in Asia.
Temu currently ships to Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guam, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Mariana Islands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Republic of Korea, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam, and Virgin Islands (U.S.). Also, Temu has free shipping on all orders.
How is Temu So Cheap?
Temu has low prices because they ship products from 3rd party sellers in China, and they do not produce the products themselves. However, this leads to you not knowing who the manufacturers are, the working conditions of their factory workers, or any safety measures taken place at the factories. On Temu, you can see the seller’s shop with their overall rating and all their reviews, but besides the name of the shop, you do not know any information about the seller or the manufacturers they use.
Furthermore, the low prices often lead to overconsumption, especially when it comes to influencers who accept sponsorships and do massive hauls on YouTube and TikTok to promote Temu. Huge hauls are problematic because individuals are likely to throw away items in the trash that are broken or of poor quality, because the items are so cheap. I have actually received emails before to collaborate with Temu, but I declined because Temu did not ship to Denmark at the time, and they did seem like another website, just like Shein, that has low prices and questionable quality of items.
Is Temu Legit?
Temu is a real online marketplace. If you order items from Temu, you will generally receive those items. However, items may be of lower quality than you expected, and there may be instances where the item you receive does not match the picture. Also, it is possible the package will get lost in the mail.
Beauty Products
With that said, there are a lot of dupe or knockoff products on Temu, especially with makeup and skincare products. You can find knockoffs for many well-known brands like Charlotte Tilbury, Fenty Beauty, MAC, Rare Beauty, Urban Decay, e.l.f., Essence, Maybelline, NYX, Pixi Beauty, The Ordinary, First Aid Beauty, and Vaseline, but the brand names of the products on Temu will be different.
However, I would not buy any makeup or skincare products on Temu because they could be made in unsafe working conditions or contain harmful ingredients. On Temu, they do not list any of the ingredients for the beauty products, so you have to rely on the ingredients on the packaging. Even if the ingredients on the packaging are accurate, the beauty products are likely to be of lower quality, especially when compared to the real name-brand products.
Beauty Review tried makeup from Temu, and when they looked up the ingredients on the packaging, they did not exist, and the quality of the items was not great. Also, cheaper makeup and skincare can contain more harmful ingredients, and a commenter on Reddit is being treated for contact dermatitis after trying makeup from Temu because they discovered they are allergic to cobalt, which is found in cheap makeup that is not paraben-free.
Electronics
The dupe and knockoff products extend to electronics, and you can buy electronics that look like AirPods, AirPods Max, Apple Watches, Polaroid Cameras, a Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and more. However, these products tend to be of much lower quality than the original. Microwave Society reviewed various knockoff electronics from Temu, and they were a lot cheaper than the originals, but they were also not of good quality. Furthermore, I would not buy electronics from Temu myself because the lower quality will also lead to them breaking easily.
Clothing
I would also avoid any clothing because even though I am not doing weekly hauls like some influencers, I am actively avoiding fast fashion brands. Fast fashion brands overproduce clothes, pollute the environment, and exploit their workers, and I try to make more sustainable choices instead of keeping up with trends. Furthermore, Temu is just like Shein, and they often knock off big-name brands like Air Jordans as well as steal designs from smaller independent brands. If you can afford to, it is much better to support the smaller independent brands over fast fashion brands like Temu. Mia Maples shared a video where she purchased the original fashion pieces from several clothing brands that had their designs stolen and compared them to the listings on Temu and Shein. The clothing from the independent brands is of much higher quality than what you would get from Temu or Shein.
In addition to buying new clothes, I am also keen to give old clothes a new lease of life through Custom Patches. Custom patches can be creative patterns or logos with special meanings. When clothes are worn, or you want to change the style, a well-designed custom patch can not only solve the problem but also make the clothes unique. Custom patches are a way to practice sustainable fashion, reducing the demand for new clothes and thus reducing the pressure on the environment.
Are Temu, Shein, and Wish the Same?
Temu is similar to Shein and Wish in that they are all online marketplaces that sell thousands of different products, but they are not the same. Temu is owned by PDD Holdings, and they began in 2022 and sell products from third-party manufacturers in China. In comparison, Shein seems to have multiple parent companies, including Roadget Business Pte Ltd and Zoetop Business Co., which also owns ROMWE. Shein was founded in 2008, and similarly, they do not manufacture their own products, and they sell items from third-party suppliers in China. Wish‘s parent company is ContextLogic Inc. and they launched in 2010. Wish does not produce its own items. Instead, they rely on sellers who are mainly based in China and other countries that have affordable manufacturing.
With that said, Temu, Shein, and Wish can sell similar or even the same products and use the same product photos. However, the price and quality of the item can be different, and Mia Maples does a great job highlighting the similarities and differences between the three online marketplaces.
Are Temu Products Good?
To answer this question, I decided to purchase some items for myself. I stuck to the home & kitchen and office & school supplies categories as those were the items I could actually use.
It did take a while to narrow down the items I wanted, and I decided to order some kitchen supplies to make cute bento boxes as well as a utensil rest. I also ordered stationery for myself that I could see myself using regularly. I placed my order on August 13th, and it had an expected delivery of August 19th-26th. The package ended up being delivered on the 21st, and a week is not bad at all for my order to be delivered.
Kitchen
3 Vegetable Cutters Set
As I mentioned, I have been wanting to make bento boxes, and these vegetable cutters seemed perfect to use with sliced cucumber, carrots, and other veggies. The vegetable cutters were $1.45 and came in a heart, flower, and scalloped circle design, and they worked easily with the vegetable slices. When you use the vegetable cutter, the sliced vegetable can become stuck in the cutter, but you can use a chopstick in the hole at the top and push the slice out. The designs look great, and I like them.
3 Sandwich Moulds
To go with the bento box theme, I bought these sandwich moulds in a rabbit, flower, and bear design for $4.88. I am not a big fan of crust on sandwiches, and I could use the flower mould twice and the bear and bunny once for one sandwich, and I was just left with the crust to discard. The cutter part of the mould worked well, and they did have the shape of the designs, but I had trouble using the face design part of the mould. I had to push down hard on the sandwich pieces to get the faces to show up, and it made a mess, but even then, the designs did not show up that well. I would stick to just using the cutter part to make the shapes and not worry about the face designs.
2 Boiled Egg Moulds
I also bought the egg moulds that came in a rabbit and bear design for $1.94. To use the moulds according to the packaging, you first have to boil eggs and then peel them while they are still warm. You then place the peeled eggs in the mould, close it, and keep the moulds in a bowl of cold water for 10 minutes. The moulds did work, and the rabbit, especially, turned out great. However, the eggs I had were not big enough for the bear, so the bear was missing its ears, but the face design still looked cute.
The moulds are a cute way to make hard-boiled eggs more appealing to the eye, but the bear is better for larger eggs, while the bunny is better for smaller eggs. Also, I had an extra hard-boiled egg that I kept in the fridge for a few hours, and I wanted to try out the mould without the egg being warm or using a bowl of water. I placed the egg in the mould and put it back in the fridge for 10 minutes. The egg turned out great with the design, so you do not have to peel the eggs while they are warm, and keep them in water for 10 minutes for the moulds to work.
Silicone Utensil Rest
I cook almost every day, and I often leave the utensils in the pot or pan or on the counter. I thought this utensil rest would be useful for when I do not keep the utensils in the pot, and it was $1.17. However, the utensil rest is not made of silicone. Instead, it is a hard plastic that is not malleable. Also, the top right corner is bent up. Therefore, the utensil rest does not lie flat on the counter. The utensil rest is the most disappointing kitchen item I bought from Temu.
Office Supplies
Milk Pencil Case
The pencil case is adorable, and it is a good size for $1.38. I was able to store the 12 pens in it along with the to-do list (at an angle) and the stickers. There is plenty of room for pencils, erasers, and other stationery you may have.
12 Milky Pens
I only have a couple of black and blue ink pens, and I thought it would be nice to have more variety for writing notes or using with the to-do list. The pens were $3.90, and some of the pens seemed better than others, but for the most part, they seemed to write well after I got them started. However, I literally could not use the brown pen because the cap was stuck, and when I tried to take the cap off, the whole pen came apart.
50 Sheets To Do List
I usually have a daily to-do list on my phone, but I wanted to have a physical to-do list when I have a lot to do, and I do not want to be distracted by my phone. The to-do list was $1.22, and it is cute, and I love the rainbow cloud pattern.
50 Heartstopper Stickers
I bought these stickers for $2.15, which are based on the Heartstopper books and Netflix series. There are 50 stickers in the set, and the designs are cute. The stickers themselves are good quality, and I can use them for crafts or to decorate with.
Based on the items I bought and tried out, most of them seem to be of good quality. However, there are a few items that are not up to par, including the silicone utensil rest that is not made of silicone and is bent, and the brown pen that is unusable because the cap is stuck. There is the common saying you get what you pay for, and I would say that is the case with Temu. Yes, the items are cheap and affordable, but not all the items are going to be good.
Final Thoughts on Temu
It does not seem like Temu is leaving the online marketplace space anytime soon, as they are actively expanding to more countries and more and more people are buying from them. Even though items on Temu are cheap, the quality can drastically vary, especially when it comes to knockoff and dupe products. If you want to purchase from Temu, buy items you need and would use. You should also check the reviews, including photos of the products taken by reviewers, to get a better idea of the quality of the item. You can also check the seller’s overall ratings and reviews to ensure you are not wasting your money and throwing low-quality items in the trash.
Thank you for your article! Unfortunately I have been tempted to purchase multiple items from Temu. I say unfortunately, because I feel like I got sucked into the low prices, all the cute stuff. Just all the odds and ends of things you don’t really think about but when you see it, you think, oh that would be cool to use or useful to have.
Of the many items I purchased, I have to say I am happy with the majority of them. There have been a few that either didn’t work, weren’t as described or were not quality I was expecting. But with that being said, they have been very good about my returns and issuing credit. I have the same experience on Amazon sometimes, so to me, it’s not much different. If you think about how Amazon has dominated the market and just kind of took over, I look at Temu the same way. So I pay close attention to the reviews, look at the pictures and double check the item description. I have looked at some descriptions and thought it was ceramic or glass and it was plastic. So like anything, just be careful what you buy.
All in all, I will continue to purchase.
Thank you for sharing your experience! That’s good to hear you’ve been happy with most of the items you received from Temu. Yes it is important to read reviews and look at pictures customers have uploaded because the item in real life can look different than the listing photo and the item name and description can say it is one material, but in reality it’s a different material. Also, that’s good to hear Temu handles returns and credits well. None of the items I bought warranted a return, so I do not have experience with their return process.
BEWARE OF ELECTRICAL ITEMS MADE IN CHINA I bought a small heater which works well but when I read the warranty, it said that no guarantee would be given if used in any country apart from China. When I contacted the website I saw the ad for it in, I told them of this lack of guarantee & that if they advertised a product that lacked a guarantee in Australia, they could be sued or at least find themselves in a grey area of the law. They have since stopped advertising Temu products. I would imagine that any country with similar laws to Australia – ie Britain & countries governed under the Westminster system – any advertising of Temu products could be risky.
That’s really interesting and I had no idea that was a thing with the warranty not being valid and advertising Temu products could lead to them being in a grey area.
I haven’t yet purchased from TEMU yet, but I really want to get some items from the site.
It is definitely tempting to purchase from Temu because they are so affordable. If you do purchase anything from them, make sure it is something that you would use and be sure to check the reviews!
Temu is a great place, but I would stick to the home decor stuff and their fashion accessories like purses. I have bought several fake flowers and plants from there to act as photo props, and I have also bought a few desk things like desk mats and wrist rests. I would stay away from their electronic stuff because their electronic stuff is cheaply made. My mom bought a headphone adapter from Temu and she ended up having to get a refund because it wouldn’t work. By far one of my best purchases was a Marc Jacobs tote bag dupe for $12 and it has lasted a long time and can hold a lot.
That’s great you had good experiences with shopping on Temu! Their home decor and fashion accessories do seem like better items to buy than their electronics. I’m sorry the headphone adapter didn’t work, but that’s good your mom was able to get a refund!
I’ve resisted making any Temu orders so far but they do have soo many cute things! I think I’ll get some Autumn bits and see how they are
Rosie
That’s great you’ve resisted so far because it is definitely tempting especially considering the price! If you do purchase from them, I am curious to see how the quality is of the items you get.
I’ve been seeing ads for Temu and wondered if it’s really worth trying them out. Your tips and recommendations will be handy if I do give them a try. Thanks for sharing.
There has been a ton of ads for Temu, and they do have affordable prices, but the quality isn’t always good. You’re welcome!
I’m glad you found some things you like on Temu. I stopped from buying Shein about two years ago, when I found out how terrible they were for the environment and the workers. Since Temu is really similar to Shein, I’m not even going to look on their site. I know some prices are amazing, but I don’t even want to be tempted! Great post xx
Melina | http://www.melinaelisa.com
I haven’t bought anything from Shein in about 2 years either (the last time was for my Testing Overly Sponsored Products – Not Sponsored post in 2021)
Temu is really similar to Shein and they probably use the same manufacturers too so they’re not good for the environment or the workers.
That’s good you’re not going to be tempted by Temu!
I have seen a lot of reports and information on social media about how frequently credit card and bank information is sold or leaked after using Temu; it seems to be a really significant issue. Aside from the hit and miss quality (and most often poor quality) of the items and the other issues I will not be using Temu.
This was a really informative review!
I haven’t heard about people getting their credit card and bank information stolen, but it is always a risk when shopping online in general.
I used PayPal for this purchase, and there hasn’t been any unwanted charges. With that said, it is better to be on the safe side
I didn’t even know Temu was finally shipping to Norway until this.. I installed the app yesterday and it said it was free shipping on the 29th only for the grand opening in Norway, but today it says the same thing for the 30th, so already feeling slightly scammed like with wish and aliexpress and so on. I’m sure there are some hidden gems on there though, great post ;D
I randomly came across that Temu started shipping to Denmark and that’s when I decided to place an order.
There will always be free shipping on Temu (at least for now) so the timer will contiously reset. I noticed that too and I think it’s to get people to place orders quickly because they think that after the first day they downloaded the app, they’ll no longer have free shipping.
There are some good items on Temu, but of course, you do have a lot of low quality “trash” too
I have been so curious about Temu over the last few months with all of the marketing they have been doing. Thank you for sharing all of this information and your personal experience with the products you bought, it was very interesting to read!
https://melissakacar.com
There has been a ton of advertising for Temu, and some of their products I bought are good, but there are others that are poor quality. You’re welcome!
Thank you for this review of Temu. I haven’t really thought about buying anything from Temu before, I’ve always been a bit wary of the quality of the pieces! x
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
You’re welcome! The quality of the items on Temu would definitely vary much like other online marketplaces like Shein and Wish!
I have heard about Temu being bad for data breaches etc. I haven’t actually ordered anything before however, some of the products do look really good. Thank you for sharing this honest review of this brand!
Lauren – bournemouthgirl
I heard that too, but the Snopes article I linked to at the start of the post states that Temu does collect data on your sessions and search history like pretty much all other eCommerce apps, but the data isn’t being shared & they aren’t gaining access to everything on your phone.
Some of the products on Temu are good, but there are some duds. You’re welcome!
This is the first time I heard of Temu. We don’t behave this online shopping platform in Malaysia. Here we have Shopee, Lazada, and many more. Online shopping Nia very famous these days. Plus, it is cheaper.
I’ve heard of Shopee, but not the others. Temu has recently expanded to Japan and South Korea, so maybe they’ll expand to more countries in Asia. However, if Shopee and the others are cheaper, then I wonder how the pricing on Temu would be
Thanks for this thorough review. I’ve been hearing a lot about Temu. I think I’ll stay away.
You’re welcome! Yes that’s a good idea because unless there’s something you really need, it’s better to not risk wasting your money on a questionable quality item.
We bought a few bits and pieces we actually use from Temu – art supplies seem to be the best. Ryan got some lovely brushes that are really good quality for the price and I got fine liners, water colour pens and hollow paint brushes for bleaching – all of which work well! It’s hit or miss much like those other online markets that are similar.
That’s great to hear their art supplies are good and work well! I completely agree it’s hit or miss if the items are good like I figured the pens would be good, but for some reason the cap on the brown pen is stuck and I can’t get it off without the pen coming apart!!
Thanks for sharing
You’re welcome! Have you heard about Temu and purchased from them?
This was a really interesting read! I was a little hesitant to try out Temu but I was pleasantly surprised with the beads I received. The milky pens are so cute – it’s a shame about the brown one! I think we really do just need to be careful with only buying things we need and will get use out of to avoid overconsumption. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts x
Thank you! That’s great the beads you got are good. The pens are cute, and I have no idea why the cap on the brown pen is completely stuck when all the others are fine.
I completely agree! Since the prices on Temu are cheap, it is easy to buy way more than we would need, so it’s important to think about your purchases.
Thanks for the review! It’s exactly what I thought and now I can either not buy or limit my purchase to certain items. Clothes and makeup will remain a NO for me too.
You’re welcome! I definitely recommend limiting your purchase on Temu!
It’s good to avoid purchasing clothes from Temu because they are just another fast fashion brand. Also, even if a makeup item is highly rated on Temu, I’ll always pass on it because I don’t want to potentially have a bad reaction to ingredients I can’t even verify!