the risks and dangers of online shopping with Temu and other platforms

see also:

• photography and camping main index page

• we all love a bargain and we all love the ease of online shopping in finding goods which we are looking for (or not looking for)
• BUT there are some major risks you need to be aware of, particularly with online platforms which are not run by companies within your own country
• online shopping platforms like Temu, Aliexpress, Amazon, Ebay generally are just the interface for consumers to purchase from sellers which are generally independent of the platform
• https://www.desertcart.com.au/ is a direct seller global online shopping platform which manages the entire process — from sourcing to delivery; it was founded in 2014 and headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (Australian website introduced in 2026);
• consumers need to take care before they purchase - if something is too cheap to be true value then it probably is going to be a waste of your money and time, or even worse, burn your house down

• you can't just return it to a physical store
  • postage costs or complexities may outweigh any benefit of returning it
• poor product quality or incorrect sizing
  • frequently, the goods delivered do not align with the quality claims of the advertisements
  • they may be incorrectly sized, have poor quality manufacturing, have high failure rates which mean they are likely destined to land fill rubbish if found not fit for purpose as most consumers will not bother to arrange and possibly have to pay for postage back to the seller.
  • many of the budget products just fail to do what they are advertised to do or are just plain gimmicky and useless
    • I have bought lithium battery powered large air pumps for tyres, tents, etc which just make a lot of noise but don't even inflate past 2 psi
    • I have bought inflatable air tents advertised as having puncture resistant air beams only to have them very easily punctured even though there was no obvious sharp object to do so - and these punctures do not repair easily
    • I have bought hiking gaiters which are so thin and flimsy they are not worth wearing
    • I have bought glow in the dark products which just don't glow in the dark despite exposing them to sun all day prior
    • I bought a budget 3-in-1 lithium battery coffee maker for pods and ground coffee - works but makes fairly weak coffee - perhaps not enough pressure generated
• potentially poor safety, or illegal to possess and not compliant with local laws of product safety
  • it has been reported that some products have had forged safety certificates on the advertisement
  • this can be critically important for products which are either:
    • safety products
      • eg. rock climbing gear has been known to be sold with non-compliant or even forged safety body certifications and may have higher failure rates which could be life threatening
    • budget outdoor shelters you may be relying upon for protection from the cold and rain
      • I generally do not buy super cheap fast set up tents or “pop-up” tents as I know they will fail when the wind picks up a bit just when you will be needing them and the may let the rain in - I tend to avoid any with fibreglass poles (except clam style ones) or flimsy plastic fast up frames
      • many budget tents/shelters are not adequately watersealed or waterproofed
    • healthcare products
      • many have been fraudulently marked as “FDA approved”
    • electrical devices - AC powered or lithium battery powered - these may have high electrical shock or fire risks
      • cables may not be adequate for the potential currents - especially the case with Anderson plug cables which should be rated to 50A DC currents and thus have 8AWG cables not 12AWG.
    • child toys or designed for children
      • there may be toxins, strangle or choking hazards, button batteries, electrical hazards, or child carry systems may break and the child falls, etc
    • radio transmitters - practically no Chinese radio transmitters are legal to possess in Australia (CB radios must only transmit on certain channels and have max output of 5W)
    • weapons - these are generally illegal to possess in Australia
• contain toxic materials
  • many budget items of clothing or jewelry have been found to have high levels of potentially toxic metals such as lead, cadmium, antimony
• product size or fit
  • purchasing online clothing is always problematic as nothing replaces the ability to go into a shop and try it on first
  • this is particularly an issue with online sellers from other countries which may have very different fittings to Caucasian body builds, or lack adequate sizing information
    • I have bought tops that despite being “my size” I couldn't fit my head through
• design is not optimal
  • many companies dump short runs of initial product designs onto these online platforms and these may have been found to have had design flaws - often minor but can be significant
• you may not be able to get spare parts or repairs
  • these companies do not generally have spare parts available easily,particularly if the product is a short manufacture run
• privacy terms and conditions are often unclear
  • one can probably assume that any online platform operating from within China will have all its data accessible by the Chinese government given they have a lot of control over Chinese internet traffic, hence your private data, platform use patterns, purchase history, etc could be assumed to be accessible by third parties
• app interfaces designed to keep you shopping and with potential addictive behaviours
  • this is particularly the case with Temu
  • you should avoid spinning the lucky wheel and clicking on offers - these often send you down a time consuming rabbit hole for no real gains - just search for what you want and leave without doing death scrolling
  • the other ploy to get you to buy more and waste more time on their site is often the minimum spend amounts to get free postage, for example, in 2025, Temu required minimum spend of $AU40, while Aliexpress had a more complicated algorithm dependent upon various sellers.
• it may take a couple of months to arrive
  • if it is a bit heavy, it may be being shipped by slow boat from China which can take 2-3 months
• do you really need that gadget?
  • there are some many gadgets online - but even if they work, do you really need it?
  • they may be fun to explore their uses for a few days - but often that is about how much use you may get from them because you really don't need it
  • for camping, often the less you take the better, and what you take should be reliable and have multiple uses unless there is a specific use that is important
    • yes, you probably do need that lithium battery jump starter device, but unless you go off road, you probably don't need a tyre inflater (if you get a puncture you are probably going to change tyres, if your tyre is just a bit flat you can go to a petrol station and pump it up)
    • yes, you probably should have a couple of lightweight tarps with lots of attachment points, but you probably don't need that heavy duty clear PVC tarp
    • no, you don't need a Geiger counter or EMF radiation meter, or a camping range hood device for cooking, or an air purifier for camping, or bulky cooking gear - but instead buy collapsible buckets and cooking gear - take up much less room
    • if it is heavy or bulky, you may not want to be taking it with you
      • no, you probably don't need a bulky heavy hot shower system - it needs gas and electricity as well as water and may fail - get something more simple
      • no, you probably don't need solar panels unless you are going off grid for more than a week - just get an extra LiFePO4 battery +/- DC-DC charger
      • no you probably don't need that 2000W AC inverter - unless you are going to use an induction cooktop or air conditioning (in which case you also need a noisy generator)

• these look great but cannot be trusted for accuracy of information and they certainly do not have the good will past record of good service, refund policies, etc and generally are just acting as an intermediary between you and a manufacturer but without the corporate backing of large business structures such as Amazon, Temu, Aliexpress and could easily disappear overnight
• for example:
  • the new https://campingaustralia.com.au/ online shopping website apparently based in Bendigo, Victoria but does not allow local pickups and there does not appear to be a returns policy for warranty issues (another red flag), and buyer pays for shipping costs of return unless it is the company's fault such as incorrect product or faulty product on arrival - see https://campingaustralia.com.au/policies/refund-policy
    • items appear to be AI generated from the manufacturer's sites
    • shipping charges appear to be much cheaper than the manufacturer's shipping charges which is a red flag to me
      • eg. Nortent is a high end tent manufacturer in Norway (actually made in China) and shipping to Australia is about $AU165 for a 4-5kg hiking tent whereas https://campingaustralia.com.au/ only are charging $AU14.50
    • a further red flag is that the “helpful” resources on the site are all AI generated and completely incorrect, for example, https://campingaustralia.com.au/apps/campsite-explorer/regions/golden-triangle should give camping suggestions for the Golden Triangle in Victoria which includes Bendigo, Maryborough, etc but actually shows camping sites in Queensland - presumably the AI got mixed up with Maryborough Queensland and the owners have failed to double check the accuracy