7 pitfalls encountered when making Temu! Seller: I don’t want to play anymore

Less than four months after its launch, Temu has been installed 10.8 million times in the United States, and its sales during the Black Friday shopping season once reached US$7 million , making it a well-deserved traffic dark horse.

Driven by traffic, domestic sellers have tried their hand at it, and the Temu registration boom has quickly spread.

After operating for a period of time, some sellers think it is very attractive and can already place orders steadily. However, more cross-border sellers hold the opposite view, and their complaints about this platform are getting louder and louder. Some peers have summarized the various pitfalls encountered in Temu, including profit pits, shipping pits, return pits, and delisting pits, which resonated with many peers, and some even said bluntly: "I was persuaded to quit!"

However, many sellers have found that while they are complaining about Temu, they are also working hard to operate the business, adjusting their strategies according to the platform’s new regulations, and actively preparing inventory. After all, no one wants to miss out on new growth points, but does fast growth necessarily mean opportunities?

The seller summarized the seven pitfalls of Temu , which resonated with peers

Among the many new cross-border platforms, Temu is definitely the one with the highest registration, operation and discussion among sellers. With its huge traffic and considerable sales, it has gradually gained high attention, and has attracted top sellers such as Huakai Yibai and Youkeshu to settle in, and a wave of everyone trying out the waters has emerged in the industry.

Many sellers tried Temu with the intention of quickly placing orders and mastering the secrets of traffic, but they found that it was not what they thought. On Temu, sellers had no right to set prices or have a say in product pricing, and even various policies were not transparent. They were completely in the dark. After working hard for a month, they calculated their profits and found that they were negative. When they calculated again, they found that they might lose more.

Cross-border seller_Da Taozi has been using Temu for a month and summarized the seven pitfalls he encountered, which resonated with his peers. Many sellers encountered similar problems.

1. VMI freight pitfall : Temu transferred 50% of the VMI freight cost from the platform to the seller without any agreement. A few days later, they ignored even the 50% and directly said that there would be a certain discount for choosing the platform-recommended service provider when shipping. There is no clear standard for the specific discount. I checked the estimated freight in the background and didn't feel there was any discount.

2. The pitfall of not allowing price increases : In response to the increase in freight costs, some people will definitely say "take the freight costs into account before raising the price", but when the seller initiates a price adjustment, the backend will directly pop up a box [Price increases are temporarily not allowed], and the seller has no authority to raise prices at all.

In the opinion of one seller, on the Temu platform, sellers have no control over anything other than supply, and after supplying the goods, they become fish on the chopping board.

3. Return shipping fee pit : This pit has been mentioned by many seller groups. If the product is unsalable and returned, the goods are returned individually, and the shipping fee of a certain courier is 10.8 yuan per package. The difference in shipping fees can make a lot of money for the seller!

Previously, many sellers discussed the issue of return shipping in the group. The return price for a single shipment was ridiculously high. After a few orders, if a return came in, it would be a loss. One of the sellers lamented that Temu's return shipping was too expensive and the shipping fee was really painful!

Some sellers also said frankly that they are most worried about Temu's return issue. It is not easy to place orders in the first place, and if they encounter returns with freight paid on delivery one by one, they will directly lose money.

4. Warehouse quality inspection pitfall : More than 100 pieces of inventory were sent but disappeared. It was later discovered that the inventory quality inspection failed. The seller questioned: Did the inventory disappear directly in the system? First, there was no prompt or notification when the inventory disappeared; second, there was no problem during the sample review, and there were no problems with the first few small batches of goods, but the same items were not passed in the large batch of goods; finally, it was completely unclear where this batch of goods would go and what to do with it.

5. The pit of products being taken off the shelves without reason : Last week, a product that was selling well was taken off the shelves without any reason and without any notification. I contacted customer service and buyers, but there was no response. Anyway, it has not been resolved yet, and there is no specific solution.

Regarding the delisting trap, a seller said that the product was also delisted for no reason and he could not find any reason . The platform asked him to prepare the stock while delisting the product. In comparison, a product that sold dozens of orders a day on Amazon only sold one order a month, and it was difficult for other products to get orders.

Other sellers think that Temu's communication mechanism has problems. They can't find buyers for some categories, and there are no groups or customer service. As a seller, they don't know where the problem is, and they don't know who to contact. A product was removed from the shelves after it was sent, but they can't find the reason, there is no email notification, and even the goods are gone...

This problem is not an isolated case. Many sellers have encountered situations where their products have been removed from the shelves for no reason, but they cannot find the reason.

6. The pitfall of sales disappearing at any time : The platform recommends stocking up based on the estimated 7-day sales volume, but it will not tell you that the sales trend is completely irregular and has no weight, and may disappear at any time.

The sales volume is out of control and there is absolutely no logic to follow. Sellers jokingly call this a blind-eye way of operating and they don’t even know how to stock up.

7. The policy is not transparent and can change at any time : Sellers all understand this problem.

Most sellers encounter many force majeure situations in the process of operating Temu, which to some extent affects their business confidence. More sellers are adapting while complaining.

Some sellers were persuaded to quit, and more people continued to operate while complaining

Before cross-border sellers register on Temu , they will basically consult their peers or read relevant feedback. Amidst everyone's complaints, one seller said that he had registered and uploaded the product, but encountered the image review and failed. Later, the platform sent a message so that he would not miss the sales opportunity, and now he does not want to get into the trap anymore.

Sellers with the same idea lamented: "I am very disappointed with Temu 's management . I can't find anyone to contact when I encounter problems. I don't want to play anymore! " More sellers expressed similar opinions such as "I don't want to proceed after registering, goodbye Temu ".

One veteran seller even directly suggested that his peers should not cooperate with Temu and should not act as the platform's product selection tool.

Amid the controversy, some sellers have considered leaving the platform, as they feel they are not suitable for it. But more sellers continue to operate while complaining, and slowly get on the track of development through trial and error.

A seller talked about his own situation. He sold his first order on Temu in October . So far, he has tried two products. The experience he gained is that he can continue to operate, but he advises his peers: As an Amazon seller, don't get close to Temu, otherwise you will become unlucky.

However, there are also sellers who are doing relatively well. According to their introduction, they can currently sell 100 units a day on Temu. They can still maintain such sales volume even after the price increase of some products, which is already quite good. The seller is optimistic about the future of Temu platform.

At present, the proportion of feedback from sellers who are doing well is relatively small, but sellers who complain about poor business conditions have not given up. Their intuitive feeling is that if you don’t ask, you don’t know. Once you ask, you will find that many of your peers are doing Temu. If I don’t do Temu, it seems that I can’t keep up with the pace.

Obviously, a large number of sellers are still trying to take off with the help of Temu's traffic. However, at this stage, profits and supply prices are still a concern for many people.

One seller operated Temu for a month and placed 600 orders with sales of nearly 20,000 yuan, but found that the cash withdrawal amount was 0 and the profit was negative; an old Amazon seller operated Temu and placed an average of 20 orders per day in less than a week, but the profit was 0. His mentality was to clear the backlog of inventory for many years. In fact, one of the purposes of many Amazon sellers to do Temu is to clear inventory.

Some sellers saw their suppliers’ products on Temu, and the price was only one-third of their price on Amazon. According to the sellers’ revelations, Temu ’s contact personnel issued a relevant notice, requiring sellers to supply goods at least 10%-20% cheaper than 1688, and also stated that if the merchant’s quotation is higher, they will be directly blocked and refused to cooperate .

In terms of supply, some sellers said: "The platform's approval of supply prices is extremely abnormal, requiring extremely low prices, and this price must also include the cost of a single mailing package. The platform also provides subsidies for new buyers, and strangles sellers. Temu directly cuts the sellers ! "

An industry leader analyzed Temu's business process and pointed out that there are too many factors controlled by humans in Temu, and even the distribution of traffic is controlled by humans, rather than an algorithm like A9 or other mechanisms. He gave an example: a customized product cost less than 10 yuan, and according to the quotation, one order can earn more than 10 yuan. In the first three days after it was put on the shelves, more than 10 orders were sold, and it was immediately replenished in two batches. Later, no orders were sold, and Temu sent text messages for several consecutive days to remind him that the inventory was insufficient and asked him to replenish the stock.

Other peers also share this view, saying that Temu's traffic is largely controlled by humans, and they report to you in the name of promotions. Over the past few days, there may be dozens of orders per day, but as soon as the traffic is gone, the products will stop selling.

Many cross-border sellers may still have expectations for Temu despite complaints . As an industry insider said, whether you do it or not, the development of Temu will not be affected by the will of sellers. If you don't do it, there will be a large number of peers to fill the gap.

Cross-border sellers VS factory sellers, who will cheer for Temu?

While some sellers are hesitating whether to continue expanding their operations in Temu, others are still at a loss.

Hair accessories, holiday decorations and other accessories are very popular on Temu. A month ago, seller Wang Qing wanted to join Temu. Because he didn’t do much research, he didn’t know how to register or what to pay attention to when opening a store. After several attempts, he finally opened an account and put a few products on the shelves. But then he got stuck - after half a month of putting his products on the shelves, no one still reviewed his products, so he didn’t ship them and didn’t know who to contact.

In fact, Temu sellers contacted the official store manager through the knock APP. When Wang Qing was at a loss, messages from the seller group on knock kept popping up. But as mentioned above, Temu's communication mechanism is problematic. Even mature sellers who have contacted the investment manager may be "disconnected" from the manager later, and may not get a response when they need consultation.

This involves the efficiency of the platform. It is not difficult to guess that during the platform's growth period, even if Pinduoduo prepared a battle-hardened team for Temu, it would be difficult to cope with the surge in merchants and the inquiries. Another reason is that Temu's product review and other processes are very dependent on manual labor. Other sellers have also mentioned that there are too many factors in Temu's business process that are controlled by humans, such as traffic distribution.

Having been online for less than four months, Temu certainly has its issues, with sellers having different opinions on whether the platform is a success or not. To a large extent, their conclusions are based on the type of company they are and their previous retail experience.

For example, for trade sellers, Temu's platform mechanism is not sound, and there are no fixed standards for supply price, inventory, product review, etc. In addition, the frequent policy adjustments inevitably make it uncomfortable ; they do not have much initiative in sales. If the supply price is too low, not only will the profit be limited, but it may also erode the sales of this category in other markets, such as Amazon, which is the focus of sellers. Therefore, exchanging meager profits for short-term sales growth is tantamount to killing the goose that lays the golden eggs for sellers, and it is not feasible at all.

But for factory-type sellers, Temu does allow them to skip the management and operation links that they are not good at, and directly push their products to hundreds of millions of consumers, opening up the C-end sales channel. Although SHEIN is a good example, SHEIN's categories are mainly clothing, and the types and number of suppliers that can be absorbed are limited. In contrast, Temu currently has nearly 30 major categories such as home appliances, electronics, toys, etc., which is self-evidently attractive to many domestic factories that are as rich as capillaries.

In addition, factories can control costs to the extreme. Under the same quotation, factories can keep 30% or even more of the profit, but trading sellers are no longer profitable. Especially after Temu cancelled the subsidy for domestic delivery, the sellers' costs increased sharply. Compared with the yield of other platforms, this channel really seems a bit tasteless.

Therefore, even if they want to retain this channel, many cross-border sellers will try to classify their products, or create a brand that is suitable for the platform, rather than lowering their own prices to compete with their own products on Amazon.

On the other hand, some sellers previously speculated that Temu would recruit investors from trade-oriented merchants because it saw these sellers' overseas experience and product selection sense, which could help the platform capture the interests of North American consumers in one fell swoop. In addition, trade-oriented sellers would provide a rich variety of categories, which would be conducive to the early construction of the platform.

As the platform gradually completes its product categories, it will select the best ones. A seller revealed that Temu has begun to look for sellers who have goods in US overseas warehouses and can supply them, and the screening behavior has begun to show signs.

After that, Temu will further adjust the supply and sales prices to expand the market while ensuring profits. Currently, the prices of many products on the Temu platform have been raised, but sellers are not too happy. After all, their settlement profits are only related to the supply price, and Temu's price adjustment after gaining a certain reputation is the platform's behavior and has nothing to do with sellers.

The first generation of gold diggers stood firm, Temu continued to move forward

Temu follows Pinduoduo's business model, which is to sell a few popular products at a loss and attract customers with these discounted products. At the same time, it also adopts a communication model similar to Pinduoduo. If consumers help promote Temu on social networks, they can get various rewards, including coupons or gifts.

For example, Temu pinned a post on Facebook titled "Extra Christmas Benefits," inviting users to claim a $50 coupon by retweeting the post. So far, the post has received more than 7,600 comments and more than 1,100 retweets.

The New Year is approaching, and Temu has also launched a similar giveaway event on Instagram in the past two days . Consumers who follow the Temu account and like the event tweet can participate in the lottery. The prizes include an iPhone 14 (first prize), a pair of AirPods Pro 2 (second prize) and 10 US$50 Temu coupons (third prize). As of now, this tweet has been liked more than 9,500 times.

With the support of money, the viral communication has achieved remarkable results. On Facebook, Temu has accumulated nearly 800,000 fans, with active posting on the account, and has 100,000 fans on Instagram. This one-to-ten spread method has also helped Temu gain a large number of new customers.

According to data from the analysis company Sensor Tower, in less than 4 months, Temu's downloads and installations in the United States have reached 10.8 million, making it the most downloaded mobile app in all categories in the United States between November 1 and December 14.

According to data from market research firm YipitData, shoppers who like to compare prices for the best deals helped Temu's November revenue surge by about three times from the previous month, and Temu achieved sales of $7 million during the Black Friday shopping season. At a time when American consumers are under pressure from inflation and economic recession, Temu's conquest is in stark contrast to the headwinds faced by established e-commerce companies such as Amazon.

As the platform grew, early-stage sellers also made their first fortune.

Among the recommended products on the platform homepage, products with sales of thousands or even tens of thousands can be seen everywhere. The first Lenovo Bluetooth headset to be put on sale has sold more than 100,000 units, with 601 units sold in the past 24 hours. Currently, the product has more than 5,900 reviews, more than 10,000 store reviews, and a score of 4.8 points.

The Wall Street Journal believes that with its big discounts and generous coupons, Temu has become "the new favorite of bargain hunters." Low prices are absolutely lethal in any market, especially in the context of the unpredictable global economic situation. This label will attract a large customer base for Temu, many of whom will become repeat customers.

The report mentioned a case. During the holiday shopping season, a consumer, Benetti, did not plan to go shopping when she first browsed Temu's website, but she was attracted by the cheap prices and bought 14 items at once, spending only $90 at checkout. She did not care that these items would take 7-15 working days to arrive because the prices were much cheaper than on Amazon. A few days later, she came to Temu to buy Christmas gifts again, and finally spent $223 on as many as 34 items.

Later, Benetti learned that she could earn US dollars by recommending Temu to her friends, so she planned to share the referral link with her relatives and friends. At the same time, she was also considering quitting Amazon membership. This shows the impact of Temu on the US online shopping market.

On the one hand, Temu attracts new App users by issuing coupons; on the other hand, the platform's big promotions have been staged one after another, which effectively stimulates old users to continue to repurchase. As the New Year is approaching, Temu has already started a new round of big promotions with discounts of up to 90%. This wave of spiral strength is so great that other platforms cannot catch up. In the Pinduoduo investment group, the investment manager is urging sellers to prepare enough inventory for the 28 days of the Spring Festival to avoid insufficient inventory to sell by then.

After a series of combined efforts, Temu's popularity remains high and it is frequently mentioned in newspapers. On various North American strategy websites, "how to save money on Temu without making any mistakes" has also become a hot topic.

Although it is still a young company, Temu has made rapid moves. With the support of strong e-commerce companies and a highly sticky operating model, its overseas expansion has begun to bear fruit, causing alarm bells to ring inside many e-commerce platforms. Temu is still moving forward. Where will it go next? We will have to wait and see.

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