
Everyone warned me to not buy a sofa from Temu but I did it anyway – it was £223, came in 2 days & got 8/10 for comfort
IT'S known for its mega fashion range and wallet-friendly bargains ideal as last-minute gift ideas.
However, the China-based marketplace
2
The thrifty shopper managed to bag a gorgeous sofa from Temu for less than £300
Credit: TIKTOK/@ecomkatie
2
Similar furniture will set you back an eye-watering £700 elsewhere
Credit: TIKTOK/@ecomkatie
But this is exactly what one online shopper, Katie Louise, from Manchester, did, taking a huge risk and ordering a gorgeous sofa from the cut-price website.
She recently took to TikTok to show off the stunning product, which cost her a mere £233.87, after being advised to not purchase a couch from the site.
Temu's version comes in hundreds of pounds cheaper than similar furniture from other retailers, such as Sofa Club where it will set you back an eye-watering £699.
Meanwhile,
READ MORE ON HOMES
Katie, who recently moved into a
While Katie admitted that at first, she was ''filled with immediate regret'', she later learnt there was no need to worry.
The delivery took a mere two days and after putting it all together, the online shopper gave it a good steam, before giving the sofa the comfort test.
Raving about the wallet-friendly purchase, Katie scored the sofa 8/10 for comfort and a whopping 10/10 for overall value.
Most read in Fabulous
She wrote in the caption of the video: ''Apartment diy diaries continue with my £233.87 corner sofa from Temu.
''Genuinely surprised at the value and it arrived in 2 working days!''
I used cheap Temu tiles to get a herringbone bathroom while saving for a reno - they're good as new 4 months later
'Woah, actually not bad'
Almost 8,000 viewers gave it a like, as others flooded to comments.
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.
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.
One person couldn't believe the speedy delivery, as they wrote: ''Wait 2 days??? that's impressive.''
Another chuckled: ''When u brought out the first box I thought that was it and it was one of them tiny fake ones.''
Someone else chimed in: ''woah actually not bad.''
''Why do I kinda want to do this,'' penned another.
Katie is not the only person who's recently scored mega luck with furniture from Temu, as one woman managed to bag
Another bargain hunter now has
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Irish Examiner
an hour ago
- Irish Examiner
Manufacturers need to invest in AI or risk falling behind, PwC advises
Irish-based manufacturers need to accelerate their adoption of AI tools to avoid being left behind Europe, Middle East and Africa, experts at PwC have advised. Just 3% of Irish manufacturing companies have fully integrated AI into their operations versus 8% for EMEA companies. While the gap cited in PwC's report 'AI in Operations — Revolutionising the manufacturing industry' isn't huge, Irish firms are being urged to act now and not let it widen. Áine Brassill, operations transformation partner, PwC Ireland, takes heart from the survey findings that there is a lot of AI innovation and piloting going on, with many Irish firms clearly looking to catch up. 'Around 70% of Irish respondents are piloting and scaling up their AI projects compared to 55% for EMEA counterparts. We can, therefore expect a surge in widespread AI implementation in Irish manufacturing in the years to come,' said Áine. 'While the initial focus regarding AI implementation is on operational and productivity improvements, the real interest lies in the potential to disrupt and fundamentally reinvent existing business models. AI agents will make the ability for AI systems to autonomously perform tasks a reality, enabling decision making and delivering real competitive differentiation. 'However, building trust in AI will be critical for customers, regulators and employees. Companies need to be confident in the integrity of solutions that will drive safe and secure AI outcomes. Taking a responsible approach, including upskilling employees, will be critical to getting the most from AI alongside confirming future compliance with regulators and the EU AI Act.' Áine Brassill, operations transformation partner, PwC Ireland. The report found that both Irish and EMEA manufacturers believe in AI's potential to increase profitability. Irish operations, however, are less optimistic than their EMEA counterparts as regards their belief in what AI can deliver. Some 73% of Irish manufacturing operations expect AI to increase profitability by 2030 versus 84% of EMEA respondents. Just 26% of Irish respondents expect AI to increase profit margins by at least 6% by 2030, trailing the 40% of EMEA manufacturers. The report features 400 manufacturing operations' executives in over 30 countries in Europe, Middle East and Africa, including Ireland. In Ireland, 43% of respondents were in pharma/life science and med-tech multinational operations with the balance in retail and consumer and industrial products. AI in Ireland is also maturing relatively slowly. Some 29% of Irish respondents reported no business benefits as yet from AI versus 14% for the EMEA. Just 4% of Irish and EMEA manufacturers have already enjoyed financial benefits and return on investment from AI. A further 11% report that they have received measurable financial benefits (EMEA: 13%). Irish manufacturing operations are also investing less in AI initiatives than their EMEA counterparts. In the last five years, 32% of Irish manufacturing operations invested less than €1m in AI initiatives (EMEA: 29%). 15% invested in excess of €6 million compared to 41% for their EMEA counterparts. In both Ireland and EMEA, progress is slow on AI. Just 3% of Irish manufacturing companies have fully integrated AI into their operations compared to 8% for EMEA companies. At the same time, there is a lot of AI innovation and piloting going on with many Irish firms clearly looking to catch up: 70% of Irish respondents are piloting and scaling up their AI projects compared to 55% for EMEA counterparts. We can therefore expect a surge in widespread AI implementation in Irish manufacturing in the years to come. Gary Hanniffy, director of manufacturing, PwC Ireland, said: 'Like many businesses, the manufacturing industry is facing significant uncertainty stemming from geopolitical disruption, economic fragmentation, supply chain volatility, tightening regulation, climate change, technology transformation and increasing costs. 'AI offers a real opportunity for business model reinvention for manufacturing operations and our study shows that the potential benefits from AI will justify the effort. The survey suggests that manufacturing operations can become more competitive as a result of full-scale AI adoption. 'The survey highlights that a majority of Irish manufacturing operations, consisting largely of pharma, life sciences and med-tech multinational companies, are piloting AI initiatives rather than having moved to scaling and integrating the technology right across their business operations while EMEA companies are more advanced in their implementation journey. 'At the same time, they do have high expectations for realising the benefits from AI in terms of profitability and other financial benefits,' Gary added. 'Getting to the next level requires investment and results here are mixed, with some companies planning significant investment levels, others are not yet ready to commit. In Ireland, in particular, more investment in AI is also needed to keep up with EMEA peers.' Read More Business movers: People starting new jobs in Ireland The survey highlights a number of key challenges for successful AI implementation. These include: data quality; IT & data security; reliability of AI-generated content and data availability. Gary Hanniffy said: 'Strong organisational structures and processes are essential for steering and delivering a successful AI strategy and to enable safe and secure outcomes. Those manufacturing organisations who have integrated and scaled up their AI projects are using an organisational governance model that involves a central AI team (Ireland: 100%; EMEA: 71%). 'On the other hand, the majority of those organisations that have just started piloting AI lack coordinated governance and are using non-centralised organisational structures (Ireland: 76%; EMEA: 58%). This finding is in line with PwC's earlier 2025 GenAI Business Leaders survey, indicating that more work needs to be done on AI trust and governance such as building appropriate governance structures.'


Irish Examiner
an hour ago
- Irish Examiner
Rich pickings at €1.6m Carewswood House, lovingly nurtured by Gill and Jack Hornibrook
THE gift of a tree to mark the birth of daughter number four sowed the seed that led to Gill and Jack Hornibrook buying Carewswood House in Castlemartyr 29 years ago. At the time the couple was running a business set up by Gill, Glendonagh Nursing home, in a period house in Dungourney. 'Neil Williams [the late owner of Carewswood House and Garden Centre] called after the birth of Rachel and he brought a tree to plant at Glendonagh, where we lived at the time. 'He told us that himself and Sonia (his wife) were selling Carewswood, that it had become too big for them, and he said 'We think you and Jack would be a great fit'.' As Gill was a keen gardener and Jack's background was in building and property development (Cork-based Hornibrook Builders) the notion of taking on a large period home on 40 acres, plus landscaped grounds, garden centre and cafe, while continuing to operate a nursing home, and a flower shop in Midleton, in between the business of raising four children, seemed, well, entirely manageable. Front view of Carewswood House Incredibly, the dynamic duo pulled it off. For years, they ran multiple businesses, before eventually leasing out the garden centre, which they sold in recent years to a couple that had made a very good fist of it while leasing it out. 'Daniel (Leahy) and Juulika (Lomp) are a fab couple, and they love it as much as we do. You just don't get walled gardens like that anymore, unless it's a top class property,' Gill says. Carewswood House is, inarguably, a top-class property. Built as the 'dower' house for the early 1700s nearby Castlemartyr House (dower houses were home to the widow or unmarried sisters of an estate owner), it was originally owned by the Boyle family, Earls of Shannon and baron of Castlemartyr. To this day you will find the remains of a tunnel that used to link the dower house, which dates to the 1800s, with the Great House, better known these days as five-star Castlemartyr Resort. While the pedigree of Carewswood House is immutable, the gardens grew from good stock too. Sumputous gardens Descendants of a chap called Barnabas Sall (or Saul), who worked on the demense grounds at Castlemartyr House, ended up as landscapers in Washington DC, including in the grounds of the White House. You'll find a plaque commemorating their achievements (dedicated to John Saul) in Castlemartyr. Gill was the gardening powerhouse at Carewswood and enjoying popping down to the nearby garden centre — it's handy these days when visitors drop by. 'We can all stroll down to the café,' Gill says. While Gill was the green-fingered half of the couple, Jack oversaw any building work. 'We'd the best of both worlds. I had the ideas and he had the people to implement them,' Gill says. She adds that the 'two greatest additions we made' were a beautiful, vaulted, south-east facing garden room, reached via French doors from the kitchen, and a front porch, with portico and columns, that faces south. Beautifully bright hallway Tasteful sunroom off the kitchen The delightfully bright porch 'When we bought the house, two big teak doors made the hallway very dark. Now, it's a wonderfully bright space.' A home bar and lounge area were added after Gill created space by removing a hidden backstairs. It had been concealed inside a suspiciously thick wall which Gill convinced one of Jack's workmen to saw through. Home bar was a terrific entertainment space 'When we sawed through, we found the stairs, so we took it out and fitted a bar,' Gill says. As a big fan of entertaining, she could shepherd guests straight to the bar while finishing off dinner preparations in the roomy kitchen, where herself and food buyer/blogger Rachel — daughter number four – have many happy memories of cooking up a storm. 'She was thinking of cheffing, but she was cured after doing a shift or two at Castlemartyr Hotel,' laughs Gill. Great big kitchen which opens to the sun room They've enjoying dining outdoors too, on the patio, or in a sandstone paved courtyard, where an old stone archway with intricate iron gates, topped by a bell and a weathervane, harks back to the days when bells were used to summon staff from service wings or announce the arrival of visitors. 'We did up the courtyard and we restored the gate lodge too. There was a tree growing through it when we bought the property and the land was ploughed fields,' Gill says. Jack and Gill did a tremendous job of Carewswood House and gardens and Gill's exceptional good taste is reflected in the décor of its myriad rooms. Exquisite drawing room Stately dining room Basement games room Basement lounge It's main reception rooms (drawing room and formal dining room, where the solid maple floors were salvaged from a former Midleton hotel ) have the high ceilings of a period home; the spacious basement (with external access) houses a games room with exposed stone walls, as well as a bathroom and family lounge; on the first floor, all five bedrooms have en suites. Upstairs landing Main bedroom There's a laundry room too and a pantry and a home office with underfloor heating. Outdoors, renowned South African landscaper Susan Turner worked on a new layout with Gill in recent years, resulting in a curved drive and an exquisite Koi pond. Stunning koi pond It's all good to go to the next set of owners. It even has a C2 energy rating, impressive for such an old house. 'This is a house you can walk into with your toothbrush,' Gill says. 'It has the grandeur of a big, old house, but even though it is very big (almost 5,000 sq ft), it is very manageable and practical, very warm and inviting.' She leaves behind many memories, mostly joyful (every family celebration) and a few tinged by sadness, mainly the passing of Jack on Christmas Day, 2023. 'He adored it here and he got his dying wish, that he would leave the world from home, with his family around him, myself and our four daughters, Victoria, Zara, Jacqueline and Rachel,' Gill says. As she prepares to downsize, joint agents Ray Sweetnam of Casey & Kingston and Adrianna Hegarty of Hegarty Properties, are bringing the house and a one-bed gate lodge, on three acres, to market for €1.6m. Ms Hegarty says the graceful property has been superbly Sweetnam says it's 'one of a kind'. It's a terrific location: a short walk from Castlemartyr village and close to the sea, with beaches nearby at Garryvoe and Ballycotton, while Midleton town is just a 10 minute spin and Cork city is a half hour drive. VERDICT: Demand for high end properties in East Cork is tracking upwards, with US interest on the rise among Irish buyers looking to return. Queries are in too from Cork City and Midleton, with keen interest in this exceptional home.


Irish Times
3 hours ago
- Irish Times
Can belated economic sanity save the US from a Liz Truss-style fiasco?
The US approach to trade restrictions is a roller coaster. The tactic so far has been to announce a big increase in tariffs on its trading partners, then some degree of rowing back pending negotiations, then some new threats if negotiations aren't going fully the US's way. Now the US courts have intervened to at least delay proposed tariffs. It's not clear where all this will land. China confronted US tariffs that escalated to more than 100 per cent with its own countermeasures. Then negotiations opened and there has, for now, been significant rowing back . Alongside higher tariffs on steel and cars, the opening salvo against the EU was for 20 per cent tariffs, scaled back to 10 per cent while negotiations opened. The latest threat from the Trump administration is for 50 per cent tariffs on imports from the EU , unless agreement on a trade deal is reached by midsummer. Trade deals are complex and the window for reaching a deal is very short. The short-term effects of these threats are destabilising, both for exporters to the US and for US producers relying on imported inputs. READ MORE The objective of the US administration is, presumably, to see US production replace imported goods. However, unless US firms have spare capacity to replace imports, they need to build such capability. [ EU-US tariff talks: What happens next? Opens in new window ] No sane US firm will invest in new factories until it is clear what the final outcome will be from the negotiations with different big trading partners. In many cases, it could take years to bring such investments on stream – possibly only after the next US presidential election. If Trump's successor were to pursue a different trade policy, import-replacing investment might struggle to make money. The Republic of Ireland exported more than €50 billion of pharmaceuticals to the US last year. New US pharma capacity would be needed to replace imports from Ireland. Firms are unlikely to decide to invest in new factories in the US until they know what the final trade landscape will be. Then, if new plants are built, they will need regulatory approval to produce the relevant drugs in the United States, likely also taking years. Thus, it could take considerable time before pharmaceutical production could switch from Ireland to the US. How to manage your pension in these volatile times Listen | 37:00 Recent studies by the EU Commission and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have looked at the possible effect of the US-initiated trade war on the EU and the US economies. The studies suggest that the trade war is likely to be particularly damaging for the US, with a much more muted impact on the EU. That is because the tariffs will raise the cost of US imports for US consumers and producers. In turn, this will lead to higher inflation, which could require the US central bank, the Fed, to raise interest rates, slowing the economy further. The EU research suggests that the unilateral imposition of tariffs by the US, just through their effects on trade, would reduce US national income by 1 per cent next year, while the impact on the EU would only be 0.2 per cent. Retaliatory action by the EU and others would raise the United States' loss to 1.5 per cent. The EU analysis also indicates that the US costs would be magnified by any increase in interest rates needed to choke off inflation. If the Fed were to raise rates to counter rising inflation, this could provoke a Trump response, overturning the Fed's vital independent role in setting interest rates. If this were to happen, the loss of faith in US economic policy would be likely to have even more serious consequences. However, the United States faces a further problem. US government debt is 120 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), back to where it was in 1945 after the second World War. In the OECD, only the Greek, Italian and Japanese governments are more indebted. Nevertheless, the Trump administration plans to implement big tax cuts for the coming years. While serious cuts in expenditure, affecting social and health services, are also promised, the net effect will still mean borrowing of 6 per cent to 7 per cent of GDP each year, adding rapidly to the already high debt burden. The lesson we learned from the fiscal crisis in the 1980s, and again 15 years ago in the financial crash, is that if your national debt goes above 100 per cent of national income, you face big challenges borrowing at reasonable rates. Current US policy raises the possibility of a Liz Truss type event , where government interest rates rise significantly due to the prospect of an ever-increasing government debt burden. Hopefully, before this happens, sanity will prevail in US economic policy.