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this post was submitted on 03 Apr 2024
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A relative was talking about ordering stuff from Temu. My response was that the products sold through them (they're just a marketplace) are so cheap that there's got to be slavery involved.
From what I hear, it's also Chinese manufacturers trying to "break in" to the western market by initially operating at a loss. But I doubt how effective of a business strategy that would be, given that there is basically zero brand loyalty on marketplaces like temu. Am I getting my USB dongles from CKXLKY or TOPK? Fuck if I care! Idk tho, maybe the experience is different for people who buy stuff other than cheap electronics.
But yeah, there is 100% slavery involved. It's like the cacao/coffee/chocolate industries, down to the "don't blame us, we're just buying these goods at market prices, like everyone else" excuse. Brother, you are the one setting the market price.
Ironically I have had good enough experiences with one or two Chinese brands to probably look at their stuff first whenever I ultimately replace/upgrade what I've got from them, but they certainly aren't the "spam random letters to game Amazon's systems" sort of brands and are really only slightly cheaper than the equivalents from elsewhere.
It's less a case of gaming Amazon, as it's a case of amazons systems making it easier to game the trademark office, than gaming Amazon.