Finding all sorts of goodies on TEMU

Refueler said:
I smile when people warn 'Don't buy Chinese' ............ when its well known that a large part of worlds products are now Chinese !!

I always remember a rather expensive Phillips Stereo I had .... when you took back off .. it said ASSEMBLED in Holland ...... NOT Made in Holland. The stereo was actually made in China and only put together in Holland ...
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In fairness, that's not what he said - he said "direct from China" - the difference being your Phillips Stereo would have had incoming QC inspection in Holland and then been assembled and inspected/tested. Likely all to a Phillips owned design, with Phillips staff probably auditing the Chinese factory (if its not their own) too. If that radio burns your house/boat/car down you potentially have a point of recourse, certainly they have a brand to protect and are much more likely to comply with consumer protection laws around product recalls etc.

I'm not in the never buy Chinese, or even direct from China camp, but I think its reasonable people have their eyes open that some of this stuff is stupidly cheap for a reason. That said there's masses of this stuff getting imported and we don't have an epidemic of fires or electrocutions.
 
Neeves said:
But maybe we are just naive and the robot vacuum cleaner is a spy waiting for us to buy a Huawei phone so that it can download all our sensitive details.
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You don't need it connected to a phone for that! See this story about a man who accidentally found himself with access to all the data, including live camera feeds, from 7,000 other robot vacuum cleaners around the world. :oops:

The accidental hacker: how one man gained control of 7,000 robots
 
I'm not absolutely against buying Chinese products. Anyone who is can't find much to buy. But I am very wary of Temu in particular. I have clicked on things before and found that I was immediately in a page in inviting me to click on a link to "find out your discount". That used to be a fantastic 70% or so. The other day when my fat finger hit the wrong item in a list that came up in a search, the discount offer came up as 100%. Yes folks, buy this from us and get it absolutely free. Now I am a great believer in the maxim "if something seems too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true." I am also aware of warnings from Which? about cheap goods that are fake. Things like electric fires that really give you a good blaze and USB power supplies that are just moulded plugs with nothing in them.
I'm also concerned about where everyone in this country is going to find work to pay taxes so that the government can continue to pay my pension!
(I realise that all this is straying into the realm of current affairs, but hope that the Mods allow the discussion to continue.)
 
Neeves said:
Maybe you need to get out more.

Xenophobia comes to mind…
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it’s not xenophobic to say china is churning out cheap ‘stuff’ that may not be fit for purpose. It is. It is also churning out very good quality stuff and everything in between. I think the point being made was that if you buy from the places selling the cheapest of all the stuff you’re more likely to end up with something not fit for purpose.
 
ylop said:
In fairness, that's not what he said - he said "direct from China" - the difference being your Phillips Stereo would have had incoming QC inspection in Holland and then been assembled and inspected/tested. Likely all to a Phillips owned design, with Phillips staff probably auditing the Chinese factory (if its not their own) too. If that radio burns your house/boat/car down you potentially have a point of recourse, certainly they have a brand to protect and are much more likely to comply with consumer protection laws around product recalls etc.

I'm not in the never buy Chinese, or even direct from China camp, but I think its reasonable people have their eyes open that some of this stuff is stupidly cheap for a reason. That said there's masses of this stuff getting imported and we don't have an epidemic of fires or electrocutions.
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My Phillips story was just to illustrate how deep the Chinese product line gets.

I have worked with Chinese Co's for years and watched the changes ... from sweatshops to state of the art modern facilities ... The big difference with China - agreed that its a non Democratic State and has many faults - BUT when it comes to manufacturing - they know AND understand the market requirements. Give them a deadline to meet .. give them a quality to meet ... they meet it ..
 
fredrussell said:
it’s not xenophobic to say china is churning out cheap ‘stuff’ that may not be fit for purpose. It is. It is also churning out very good quality stuff and everything in between. I think the point being made was that if you buy from the places selling the cheapest of all the stuff you’re more likely to end up with something not fit for purpose.
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Correct - but that also applies in EU / UK / USA ... who have and do still produce some awful crap !!
 
Neeves said:
Maybe you need to get out more.

Xenophobia comes to mind

But maybe we are just naive and the robot vacuum cleaner is a spy waiting for us to buy a Huawei phone so that it can download all our sensitive details.

Jonathan
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Just quoting what the experts said about the Routers they bought on Temu...

No xenophobia - I've been to China, studied there and would rather - sorry mods about current affairs adjacency - work with China as a trading partner and a world power than the unstable and reactionary USA. This does not mean that individuals in China are not selling stuff with known security flaws.

And as for electrical parts that's long personal experience
 
Neeves said:
Temu is just the tip of the iceberg, Aliexpress, Tao Bao, Shein, Made in China - once you buy something you get onto their mail list, which is focussed round 'things' you bought, and then things related and then other products they offer that you don't need but ....they have a very clever modus operandi.

Jonathan
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My view is that price and appearances look good but when plastics fall apart because of lack of UV protection why bother? Buy cheap, buy twice?
 
The recommended BMS for a Lithium installation is Chinese.

If you are building your own battery then the cells will be Chinese.

I cannot think of many items more critical than those installed on a Lithium build.

if you are installing you own Lithium house bank and you are basing your installation on threads on PBO then failure is unlikely to be the kit - the weak link will be the installer).

It all depends on what you are buying. If you read back through the many Lithium build threads the brands of BMS or cells are defined. Temu is now promoting a BMS, I'v never heard of the brand (Daly) - but I'm not a Lithium expert.

Do your homework and China is a good source, for example Epever, buy because it is cheap and you have not done your homework - you have yourself to blame.

Other than a Lithium build another critical safety item is your rode - most leisure anchor chain is now sourced from China. I bet no-one asks to see a test certificate on their chain.

EVs seem of good quality......? When we bought our latest 4x4 we chose a, Chinese, petrol model, not an EV nor hybrid - because the recharging network in Australia is woeful. China is now the biggest supplier of motor vehicles to Australia. We are slowly being restricted on source - choice is contracting - but no-one is complaining about vehicle quality from China (which includes an awful lot of electronics and plastics - of which Trident is questioning).

Jonathan
 
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Refueler said:
At present I'm eyeing up the EVA Teak Decking .... my motor boat has half cockpit done by previous owner but rear half which is divided into port / stbd locker covers and centre engine cover are plain varnished ply ... you can guess what that is like when damp !
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Just got some for my cabin floor. Doesn't look very realistic but really good non slip.
 
I buy from China all the time. No problems. Recently bought a mini fanless computer (for nav). I had a slight problem with startup setting. Emailed and got a reply within a couple of hours. To test it I ran it for a couple of weeks non stop (most problems with electronic gear I have found at start of use). No issues. £108 in total with taxes.
 
dgadee said:
I buy from China all the time…
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It’s pretty hard not to!

Empire wise, the 19th century ‘belonged’ to Britain. The twentieth to America. Now it’s China’s turn. Say what you will about Chairman ‘you can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs’ Mao - the change China has gone through in 100 years is extraordinary.
 
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fredrussell said:
It’s pretty hard not to!

Empire wise, the 19th century ‘belonged’ to Britain. The twentieth to America. Now it’s China’s turn. Say what you will about Chairman ‘you can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs’ Mao - the change China has gone through in 100 years is extraordinary.
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In the 1990s the EU had the brilliant idea to send manufacturing to the far East and do design work in Europe. They considered the Chinese would not be smart enough to do anything else.

The Bangemann Report is a good read. That set things off. Europe was to be a 'knowledge economy'. That worked out well.

file:///home/pl/Downloads/europe%20and%20the%20global%20information%20society-DOC_1.pdf
 
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fredrussell said:
the change China has gone through in 100 years is extraordinary.
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Its more extraordinary than changes in the last 100 years.

Most of the changes I see, I've been visiting China since the 1970s - and still regularly visit, are in the last 20 years modern airports, the motorway system, the high speed trains, the new railway stations, the rise of the motor vehicle industry, electric cars, Chinese modern architecture all of which I've witnessed + the rise of the Chinese navy that I read about (and assume the army and airforce have equally mushroomed and become modern)

Australia has talked about a HST from Sydney to Newcastle, all of 200km - and still talk about it

The Chinese had a vision and took to heart that, all American, slogan

"Just Do It!"

The wonder is what will they do in the next 20 years.

Oddly Australian Universities are full, I exaggerate slightly, of Chinese students

For those xenophobes - because you are not willing or are unable to check

You ain't seen nothing yet

Video surveillance, that invasion of privacy, means there is minimal criminality and most people are well fed, healthy and monied (and this latter is an issue - their costs are rising).

I have not checked - but part of this change is that there are more leisure activities which (I see motor homes on the motorways) should mean the rise of leisure sailing (just to get the focus back on track). Stop worrying about Temu

Benny, Jenny and Bav - watch your backs.

Jonathan
 
My credit card details have been stolen and used once in decades of use. It was the day after I put in my one and only order with TEMU. Might be a coincidence.

Where practicable I try and source locally. OK it is sometimes hard, and have to pay more. I worry about the manufacturing drain to elsewhere, but now we are also seeing shops/wholesalers/importers being under pressure from the like of Temu. It might seem cheap (how do they do it?), but what are the longer term consequences of our actions?
 
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