Temu vs Aliexpress

[mke]

We always hear the good and the ugly about Aliexpress.

How about Temu? Anybody already bought pens/inks/paper at Temu?

[A Smug Dill]

I haven't ordered any fountain pen hobby-related stuff off Temu, but I did some other products — once. Never again. (In case you're curious, I returned what was delivered, and was duly given a full refund; there was no issue on that front.)

 

I also note that, in the past few weeks (since maybe the beginning of 2025), AliExpress has been flooded with ‘scam’ listings (and I ordered a few, to probe and test the phenomenon, hoping for the best but mainly expecting the worst), and I couldn't work out the logic of it, since — by the way I understand how AliExpress works these days — those ‘scam’ sellers would not stand to make any profit out of doing all that. It just made no sense, and it baffled me for a long while, until it came to me earlier what that is really about: damaging AliExpress's reputation and denting consumer confidence in the platform, as well as costing the platform operator in shipping, PayPal fees, etc. even if the ‘scammers’ (which seem to be at a scale well beyond a few scumbags trying to make a few bucks and sharing some loophole with each other to exploit) don't stand to take any money home from what must be a whole team of people's continued effort over weeks.

[Mr. Pink]

All that I'll say on the matter is that Temu has been known to sell counterfeit US postage samps.  

[RedPie]

I bought from TEMU and never had any issues. Pens or paper and other things. 

[PBWilson1970]

I've used Aliexpress several times (with good results and very low prices) and members of my family use Temu on and off.

 

My personal guideline for shopping with them is to not purchase anything so expensive that I'd be crushed if it turned out to not work or wasn't quite what I thought it would be. I go into it believing that customer service isn't really a thing and roll the dice. 

 

If I can get the same but higher-priced item for a few dollars more but know that the customer service is in my favor, I'll go there.