IRK vs TEMU; Your Mileage May Vary
10I spent the last two weeks on the road, and while I was gone, both an IRK and a package from TEMU arrived. I was struck by the way that the two were similar in many (sometimes rueful) respects.
The IRK contained a Cuisinart cutting board, an IRK bag, a pair of yoga pants, and a pair of Bluetooth earbuds. The TEMU package contained a kit of Dremel-ish bits designed for use with a nail salon rotary tool remarkably like a mini-Dremel, a very nice case for such bits, a manicure set, a magnetic oil drain plug tool with a flexible shaft, a small collapsible funnel, some reflective stickers, and some LEDs. The cost for the two purchases was in the same ballpark. The value received was similar in many respects. And because TEMU’s shipping is just slow enough to allow the purchaser to forget what’s coming in some cases, there’s a level of surprise involved in the unpacking of both.
Overall, I have to say that back when an IRK was reliably just $5 (plus shipping if you weren’t a Mehmber), it was the better entertainment value. But at $20+, dropping the cash on TEMU may be the more satisfying route, if you know the nature of the beast and can shape the results to your tastes. And for me, this is going to weigh heavily in my future reactions to Mehrathons where the IRKs are nontrivially priced.
Your thoughts?
- 13 comments, 22 replies
- Comment
Meh.
@blaineg (Seriously, what did you expect?)
@blaineg A cogent reply, and a valid rationale, adequately elaborated.
I recently took the plunge and gave TEMU a try. Had to spend $15+ to get free shipping, but the crap I got exceeded my expectations.
Definitely better than my last few IRKs.
My last one may have been only &8+ but it was worthless to me; case+ of TrackRs, bunch of mascara, 3 outdated screen savers, and an IRK bag ( only useful thing).
After the last few IRKs and the inconsistent prices, I’m pretty sure that TEMU is the better gamble!
I’d rather shop like a Mehllionare
At this point Temu is the better bang for your buck.
Temu can be hit or miss. I’ve ordered twice from them and both times I had to complain about broken stuff, missing parts and stuff being what was in the picture. They did quickly credit me back for the stuff, but it is annoying.
I’ve made one order from Temu so far. I got 13 items for $24 including shipping, and everything that showed up was actually pretty decent. I kept my expectations low and tried to only buy stuff that I figured would be fine even if low quality.
I think Temu is the better buy over an IRK. At least it’s all stuff that you know you want and can use.
I have ordered once from temu - although the items that I liked and kept were not the ones I selected but the filler I put in there to get the free shipping. The items I actually wanted all went to the Goodwill because returning them wasn’t worth it so it’s for me six one half a dozen of the other
Ove never shopped at Temu, but I am more than good with my last several Irk purchases!
@tinamarie1974 Hey, that movie’s on my infinite watch list!
@ircon96
Yeah, small phone keyboard + fat fingers = chaos
@tinamarie1974 So true! Not to mention autoINcorrect, which constantly screws up my glide typing technique, which i use BECAUSE of small keyboard/fat finger syndrome. The bots are trying to drive us crazy!
@ircon96 @tinamarie1974 And there’s the Google speech to text automispunctuate demon, that can take a perfectly good sentence and garble or invert its meaning by adding periods where they don’t belong.
@tinamarie1974 @werehatrack Ah, yes, the old “Eats, Shoots & Leaves” effect!
Does TEMU have a forum with all these glorious people?
How do you go about celebrating (or lamenting) the junk you found in the box when it arrived?
It sounds like TEMU might be financially better, but nobody over there can loan you any Grey Poupon.
But on the other hand, probably nobody gets injured in the Black-Friday-like rush to buy IRKs over at TEMU…
@xobzoo Ive got some Grey Pupon if you need it!!!
@tinamarie1974 @xobzoo Same, but to be clear it is a gift and not a loan. TYVM
@macromeh @xobzoo
/giphy for sure
I don’t want Winnie to know my shopping habits. The octopus can though!
@poids Who’s the octopus now? Why are we calling them the octopus?
@pakopako @poids The reference is to snapster, the only octopus-icon-weilding user on the forum. Not sure who Winnie is; maybe that’s the name of the woman I’ve seen in the commercials for TEMU that always have the audio muted?
@pakopako @poids @werehatrack
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/07/china-bans-winnie-the-pooh-film-to-stop-comparisons-to-president-xi
@Kyeh @pakopako @poids @werehatrack President Xi JinPooh doesn’t understand how comparisons work.
@Kyeh @pakopako @poids @werehatrack I don’t understand Xi’s butthurt!
Winnie the Pooh is such a nice and lovable character. I can think of far worse cartoon characters to be compared to.
Winnie the Pooh should be more offended by the comparison instead.
@OnionSoup @pakopako @poids @werehatrack I agree
! But I guess Xi wants to be seen as a tough guy.
I’m confused to start with…
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Does TEMU sell some sort of ‘random crap’ mystery box? I never bought anything from them, but I thought I read that they were an e-commerce site selling cheap products from China direct to consumers.
If they sell a ‘mystery box’ … I can understand your comparison.
If not then I really don’t see the point.
Comparing a box that is called an Instant Regret Kit and is defined as an assortment of random crap of limited (or no) value to a curated order you made for items which may be of uncertain quality but at least were things you took the time to search for and order from the website seems to be a bit unfair.
@chienfou There is a certain amount of uncertainty due to the often questionable quality, the frequent lack of resemblance between the depiction and the item delivered, and the uncertainty of just what the heck was ordered along with the principal cheap item so that free shipping would be had. This uncertainty is increased by the significant lead time between ordering and receipt. And, let’s face it, while TEMU is far better than Wish in my experience, it still is not someplace where one goes looking for essentials, so it’s easy to forget just exactly what was selected.
@werehatrack
I am shocked that TEMU doesn’t have a way to see your old orders once they have been processed.
Looking at the posts above it appears at least TEMU is willing to issue credit as needed for those situations where things go south…
The type of shopping offered by TEMU is not really the style I generally prefer. While I have ordered my share of cheap stuff directly from China thru eBay, they were mostly one-off orders for things I wanted and either had free shipping, or were so cheap the shipping was basically the entire out-of-pocket cost of the item. They were items I was actively in search of, not stuff I was ordering to get free shipping on something else. And they were generally things that had been ‘vetted’ thru reviews by other shoppers.
Again, another site I have not had the (questionable) pleasure of utilizing… though Wish seems to have fallen out of favor with the rise of TEMU.
In short, I still think an IRK is not really the same shopping experience as a TEMU order… nor do they profess to be.
@chienfou Both are primarily shopping as entertainment. In that respect, they’re very much alike. The difference is that the expectation of regret may be nominally lower with one, and the possibility for a pleasant surprise that exceeds the expected value may be greater with the other, but you don’t really know for sure what you’re going to get with either one. And given the inflation seen with the instant regret kit, TEMU may reliably deliver more bang for the buck, even in pure entertainment terms.
@werehatrack
I guess I am just not a ‘shopping as entertainment’ sort of guy.
While I will not weigh in on the relative value or experience between the 2 sites (in fact, I cannot do so, only having ordered from the “other” one), I will say that everything I have ordered has exceeded my (relatively) low expectations. I do think that choosing the products carefully is a good idea, and tempering your excitement based on how likely the product is to live up to a given level of quality is also wise. As far as having to fill your cart far enough to get free shipping, I have found that to be quite easy, as I keep finding things that would be darn handy (assuming a given level of quality). In fact, I think something that Temu sorely lacks is a proper wishlist. Your only alternative is to add to your cart and then de-select the ones you’re still thinking about. And yes, they do not make it easy to revisit past orders, but it is not impossible. I think if they had an “order this item again” section, I would certainly use it, as I have found a few items I had gotten a minimal amount of to “test” the quality and decide if I should get a supply in. In every case so far where that was my strategy, I have indeed gone back to get more, so you can count me as a satisfied customer.
On a side note, one of the items I ordered to test the quality was a 30-pack of generic Magic Eraser (for I think less than 3 bucks). Turns out they work great, and when I went back to re-order, that particular listing said I had already bought the “maximum amount”, and that even if I had wanted to on the initial order I could only add one 30-pack to my cart. So, to re-order, I had to go find a different quantity pack (100, in this case (for $4.89)) to get more. I found that a bit… odd. But, no matter. It does seem that whatever item you happen to look at, there is more than 1 listing. Sometimes a different color, sometimes a different quantity.
It is also surprising the sheer range of items available there. I continually find things I would not expect to be available based on what assumptions I’ve made about a direct-from-china shopping experience. I also continually find things I was unaware of as being a product, and seeing how handy that product would be to me. If nothing else, just browsing their site and saying “huh, didn’t know anybody made that” is certainly entertaining, and often enlightening.
Now, having said all of that, I would almost certainly NOT download their app, but instead shop from the website. While I have not heard that their app is… malicious, or involved in data mining, I did hear a rumor (and JUST a rumor) that the company that coded the app has worked on other apps that were less-than-honest. Now, it is perhaps a false security to shop there through one avenue but not the other, but I just don’t trust installing any apps on my phone (or computer) that were crafted in China (don’t EVEN get me started on the cancer that is TikTok).
So, yes, I and my partner are both satisfied customers (she likes their craft item selection), but as always, YMMV.
@Doooood Temu does have a wishlist, looks like you can only ♥ stuff if you’re signed in.
Just ordered last week, ton of plant stuff for $55 bucks. Expectations aren’t terribly high, but stuff I ordered I was like how bad could it be?
@jennafer74 Are you shopping on their app? I cannot find any kind of wishlist (or see any place to ♥ anything) while shopping on the website. Perhaps you can wishlist through the app? It would not be enough incentive for me to install the app, if that’s the case, but it would be interesting to know. And if they do offer that in the app, it seems odd the website doesn’t have it too.
My thoughts?
I think you used a LOT of words - to say NOTHING.