I thought I'd bagged a great bargain when my £7 Temu beach chair was reduced to £1 – but its arrival left me in stitches
WITH summer on the horizon, many people are looking to stock up on garden and holiday items to enjoy the great outdoors.
One woman was delighted after spotting a bargain item for the beach on Temu, which was reduced to £1 - but was shocked when it arrived.
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TikTok user @travel_mouse83 showed how she had bought a pink camping chair that had been reduced to £1.13 down from £7.
While the item looked like the photo when it arrived, she had made a massive mistake with her purchase.
Instead of buying a full-size camping chair, she had accidentally bought a tiny chair that would fit a Barbie doll.
She wrote: 'POV when you buy your camping chair from Temu.'
To show the scale of her comical error, she zoomed out on the miniscule chair to show it next to a normal size one on the beach.
She said she had been 'all excited' for her camping chair and what arrived was 'not what I expected.'
Many people were left highly entertained at the shopping fail.
One said: 'No stop ittt.'
However, the product does have a number of five-star reviews from people who were expecting it to be tiny.
One happy customer wrote on Temu: "Good quality. My niece loved it, her Barbie fits in it beautifully."
I got a Disney travel bag from Temu for my birthday… it could've been lovely but the spelling errors had me in hysterics
It's not the first time a Temu buy has left the recipient dismayed.
We shared how a woman was left in hysterics when an "ornament" she bought 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.
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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.
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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.
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