Official price cuts, "follow-selling"? Temu sellers' order volume plummets

Since its launch in North America last September, Temu has been a hot topic among cross-border sellers.

——Can you do it?

——Will you continue the domestic style of play?

——Can the platform survive the numerous obstacles from US regulators?

…

It has been half a year since Temu was launched in North America, but these are still the topics that sellers discuss most when they mention Temu. Some of the sellers who tried Temu early on left because they were not used to it, while others received a lot of orders and tasted the sweetness of Temu.

However, a seller recently revealed that it was suspected that Temu officials were "copying" (copying the link to the same product) their best-selling products, causing the sales of the original products to be hit.

Temu was exposed to be "following the seller" by lowering the price? The seller's order volume plummeted

Recently, a seller revealed to Yien.com that he was suspected of being "copied" by Temu officials.

The seller said that the sales of a product in his store have been good since it was put on the shelves, but it has started to take a sharp turn for the worse recently. On his product page, the seller found that he was "followed by others", and the follower was suspected to be Temu official, because the name of the follower store was Pinduoduo Select.

The seller also claimed that Temu suddenly raised the price of its products by $2 before the sales volume dropped. However, the price of the same product in Pinduoduo Select is the original price of the seller's product. From the product appearance to the listing, the two links are almost copied and pasted, except that the product in Pinduoduo Select is in pre-sale status.

The seller tried to lower the supply price, hoping that Temu officials would also lower the seller's product pricing, but the result was not satisfactory. The supply price dropped, but the selling price did not change.

Through searching, Yien.com found that the store sells a wide range of products, including clothing, accessories, home furnishings, gardening, craft supplies, office supplies, pet supplies and other major categories, with as many as 100,000 product links .

Among them, the best-selling product in the store is a sofa cover priced at US$24.49. Data shows that 516 pieces were sold on March 1 alone . A total of 11,000 pieces have been sold so far , making it the top 1 on the Best Seller list of this type of product on Temu .

Currently, many products in Pinduoduo Select are in pre-sale status, but this does not prevent many of its products (including spot and pre-sale products) from being on the Best Seller list of the corresponding categories. The sales of lazy sofas, cushions, stationery storage boxes, household cleaning sets, women's jackets, coffee cups, pet bags, car folding tables , etc. range from one thousand to ten thousand.

In addition, Yien.com also found that many products in this store can be found on Temu, but the prices are lower than similar products. For the same product, its sales in other stores are very impressive, and it even appears on the Best Seller list of this category. Although its sales in Pinduoduo Select are still relatively low, under the attack of low prices, it may divert traffic in the future and cause an impact on sellers.

The seller said that the sales volume of the same products in Pinduoduo Select was lower because they had just been put on the shelves and were in pre-sale mode.

As for the existence of Pinduoduo Select, the seller prefers to be an official store for three reasons: 1. How can an ordinary seller achieve a volume of 100,000+ fine product categories in half a year? 2. The platform has conducted multiple audits, so why can ordinary sellers sell under the name of Pinduoduo Select? 3. Why are most products in pre-sale mode? Are Temu buyers "copying" popular products and waiting for buyers to place orders before preparing the stock?

However, these questions seem to have been answered. Yien.com learned that Temu’s official staff has acknowledged Pinduoduo Select as the official store of the platform. Why is the price lower than that of the seller? Perhaps Temu officials got a lower supply price. Some sellers believe that such "follow-selling" behavior has ignored the interests of sellers, and the increasingly stringent conditions have made it increasingly difficult for sellers to do Temu.

As rules become increasingly strict, sellers say Temu is "bleeding"

Following the forced price cuts and cancellation of freight subsidies, Temu recently announced a number of penalty rules for merchants, covering delivery time and product quality .

Last year, Temu issued a series of penalty regulations on sellers’ stocking and delivery time. If violations occur, sellers will be subject to fines ranging from 1 to 5 times the product’s quoted price, depending on the circumstances .

In February this year , Temu issued the "Rules for Handling Product Quality Accidents", stating that once a product has quality problems, the seller must bear the corresponding responsibilities.

Generally speaking, sellers only need to pay compensation if the products are returned due to quality problems , but the new regulations now refer to "problematic products" including but not limited to products that are ready to be put on the shelves for sale, are being sold, have been sold, have been removed from the shelves, etc. In other words , even if the product is not put on the shelves for sale, the seller must pay a fine if it is found to have quality problems .

Once quality accidents such as safety compliance, sensitive information, data falsification, illegal new product launches, false advertising, returns, etc. occur, the seller will be required to pay corresponding fines depending on the circumstances .

Taking luggage as an example, if the goods or packaging contain sharp, flammable and explosive foreign objects such as broken needles, spikes, glass fragments, lighters, etc., it will be regarded as a quality accident. If it happens before or during the sale, the seller will pay compensation to Temu at the rate of RMB 10,000 per item per order ; if the problem occurs after the sale, the seller will bear all losses of all parties on the basis of the former compensation .

Other fines for quality accidents include: 1. Products or packaging containing sensitive information such as religion or price : 500 yuan/item/order ; 2. Returns due to quality issues : declared price *5 ; 3. When Temu randomly inspects products and finds that ≥50% of the total number of samples have wrong prices or wrong codes : 1,000 yuan/item/order ...

( “order” refers to the stocking list, and “item” refers to each quality accident. Different violations of the same quality accident are considered multiple quality accidents)

Temu is becoming increasingly strict with product quality and delivery time, which may be related to the fact that it is facing a serious consumer reputation crisis.

With a reputation crisis looming, Temu is in urgent need of retaining consumers’ favor

After its debut at the Super Bowl , Temu has gained new popularity in the United States . But for consumers , Temu 's shopping experience does not match its popularity .

Previously, the Better Business Bureau ( BBB) ​​said it had received many complaints about Temu. Foreign media surveys also showed that American consumers have many dissatisfactions with Temu , mainly in the following aspects .

1. Logistics is too slow

Thanks to the supply chain advantages of domestic factories, Temu can not only guarantee the supply of products, but also guarantee the price advantage of products, but this also causes delays in its logistics timeliness.

Some American consumers need 10 days or even longer to receive their goods after placing an order . Amazon 's next-day delivery service greatly improves its delivery efficiency . Because the delivery time difference is ten times, many consumers are still willing to place orders on Amazon even if the price is higher .

2. The actual product does not match the picture

Many American consumers have filed complaints saying that the actual products on Temu are too different from the pictures , especially for higher-priced products, where the difference is even greater and the quality is also poorer.

3. The problem of counterfeit goods

Currently , American consumers' trust in Temu is declining. Consumers say they often receive counterfeit goods when buying branded goods on Temu , especially electronic products and cosmetics.

In addition, American consumers' dissatisfaction with their shopping experience at Temu also includes undeliverable packages, unclear fees, order confusion and poor customer service.

Rather than expanding the market, perhaps what Temu needs to do right now is to maintain its good reputation, secure its position in the US market, and gain the trust of more sellers. After all, the platform relies on the balance between supply and demand to survive in the long run.

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