I found the perfect ornament for my lounge on Temu but when it arrived all I could do was laugh – it was an epic fail
A WOMAN was left in hysterics when the “ornament” she bought on Temu arrived – and it wasn’t quite what she was expecting.
Maisie-Ellen was delighted when she spotted what appeared to be a colourful elephant, which she said would look perfect in her bright and cheerful lounge.
So she hit buy, and eagerly awaited its arrival.
But when her order arrived, she couldn’t believe what she found upon opening the box.
In a TikTok video, she showed the picture of the elephant on Temu, as she said she wanted a “multicoloured elephant to match my multicoloured front room”.
She then held up what had actually come in the order – a wooden cut out of said elephant.
“No seriously, that is my elephant!” Maisie-Ellen sighed.
“It’s flat, it’s not even 3D!
“Well it is 3D kind of but that’s not a statue!”
Things went from bad to worse as she pulled out a rug that she’d ordered, also to go in the lounge.
“It looks all thick and nice and colorful and pretty and whatever else,” she said.
But when she put it on her floor, she realised it was as thin as a “sheet of paper”.
“It’s the thinnest, flimsiest, crappiest…” she laughed.
Maisie-Ellen said another issue was that the rug didn’t have any green it it.
“The listing that I bought had like loads of green in it because obviously the living room is green!” she said.
“Where’s the green?”
She’d also ordered inserts for some sofa cushions, which were paper thin, and concluded by showing the colourful pampas grass she’d picked up from the site as well.
“It looked f**king sick on the pictures,” Maisie-Ellen said.
Why is Temu so cheap?
TEMU exploded onto the scene in late 2022, with people all over social media raving about the low prices.
The company is a Chinese-owned digital marketplace – essentially an online shopping app where people are connected to the retailer directly while the app takes care of the shipping element.
The frenzy over the app is not completely unfounded either as it offers a wide variety of products, including fashion, make-up, electronics and furniture.
According to a report from the US House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, Temu takes advantage of a trade loophole that allows the company to ship duty-free goods directly to the US.
The loophole is called the de minimis exception and it means they can ship goods valued up to $800 (£643) to the US without it being inspected or taxed by US customs.
Temu connects customers directly to manufacturers and only manages how the items are sent to customers.
It means Chinese vendors can essentially sell their products directly to customers and ship it without building a network of warehouses across the globe.
By doing this, they cut down on huge costs and ensure the product itself isn’t marked up extra.
While many of the products seen on the Temu app are from brands with extensive, original collections, many more are dupes of designer brands.
“It really did.
“It looked silly nice on the pictures.
“I don’t know how it looks in here!”
“That elephant was diabolical,” one person in the comments laughed.
“My nan ordered a lamp and got a metal picture of a LAMP,” another said.
“I made something like that elephant in Design and technology in 2003 in y7,” a third giggled.
“It’s Temu so things aren’t ever perfect,” someone else wrote.