I’ve bought only one thing, because it came up in a product search; I liked the design, and couldn’t find it elsewhere, so I ordered it. I wasn’t looking for a deal - I literally couldn’t find this thing elsewhere. While it was inexpensive, it was also cheap, and the quality was not worth even what I paid.

That was my introduction to Temu. Since then, I’ve looked for other things which I’d been browsing on Amazon, and which I’m pretty sure were made in China anyway. The price difference has been negligible, the options fewer, and the shipping on that one thing took so long that now I doubt I’d buy anything else from Temu.

I’ve bought stuff directly from Chinese manufacturers and been very satisfied, but never because of cost. Quality stuff from China (e.g.) is – IME – of comparable cost to what you find from US companies.