Eight months of Temu

At the beginning of the year, I wrote¹ about the Temu web site and ordering items from there. Since then, I have become somewhat addicted to this site. At first, I started off with items for my guitar (pedal board and pedals) then it was deck shoes (very comfortable and very cheap) then shirts then .... The list goes on and on.

At some stage my wife got into the act, so after ordering curtains for my grand-daughters' rooms, we've gone on to macrame owls, sofa covers and 'Arm Table Clip On Trays'. She broke my little USB fan that sits next to the computer and blows air into my face, so of course I had to order a new fan (it arrived today). Some of the items are junk (some of the cables that I ordered, a lock) but some are very good. All of the items are cheap, so I don't have to beat myself up about it if something turns out to be useless. At first, I used to order only once a month but after a few months, I began ordering twice a month. This month we've gone wild and I've made three orders (by 'month', I mean the month between paying credit card debts, so the current month started on 11 August and will finish on 10 September).

Regarding the fan, my old one started to work when it was connected to the computer and stopped when it was disconnected (should I need the USB port for something else); it had one speed. This new fan has five speeds, but more importantly, it appears to have an internal battery, so I can disconnect it from the computer and it will continue to work. Useful during power cuts and when I need the USB port.

I am about to test one new, important, fact about Temu: they say that they will pay import duties on orders. In Israel, one can order goods costing up to $75 without having to pay customs duties. Thus I have been careful to limit each order so as not to cross this boundary. That's why there have been more than one order a month lately. But the total cost of the third order - with the macrame owls, etc - exceeds $75, so I'll wait and see whether they do in fact pay the tax, or whether I will have to.

Why is this important? At some time in the future I am intending to buy what I would call a MIDI guitar but is advertised as a 'smart guitar' that allows one to play with or without volume; it has multiple tone possibilities and is always in tune. What interests me is that "it is a midi [sic] guitar for writing music score with the built-in USB 2.0 micro USB interface". Elsewhere in the user manual it is written "The smart guitar adopts nearly 100 groups of sensors and up to 5 CPUs to work in coordination. Through AI learning of bionic traditional guitar, players can realize the real-time detection of the guitar fretboard". I would use this device in order to create MIDI files by playing as opposed to having to type everything and so get a more realistic sound. At the current rate of exchange, this device would cost $106 which of course is well over the minimum. But if Temu pays the customs duties....

Not all that glistens is gold. I have read stories of how Temu forces its suppliers to sell at a price that may not be economic for them, and that there are privacy concerns regarding the smartphone Temu app. But I order from their website via a computer and I doubt very much that the privacy concerns are relevant.

Normally the orders arrive quite quickly. Today was the first delivery that almost exceeded the delivery time - had the delivery been tomorrow then I would have received a small credit. This is hardly Temu's fault as flights to Israel are somewhat erratic at the moment. But it's also interesting to examine the local delivery company: there have been cases where orders have been collected by them from customs but have waited nearly a week to be delivered. Today's order was collected yesterday afternoon and delivered today. So they can be efficient when they want to be.

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This day in history:

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