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You guys realize that Temu is backed by Pinduoduo, one of the largest e-commerce startups in China/theWorld right? At least you admit you don't know much about

by looppp 2y ago

You guys realize that Temu is backed by Pinduoduo, one of the largest e-commerce startups in China/theWorld right? At least you admit you don't know much about the space, though.

dkarras 2y ago
how does being backed by something big in China makes it less scammy?
seanhunter 2y ago
Are you saying that because they are backed by a big startup they can't be a fraud? China has a big problem with financial fraud of various kinds partly because of rapid growth and partly because of how regulation is shared between Beijing and the regions meaning some things fall between the cracks. https://www.ft.com/content/77f61cf0-5b9d-4ea8-854a-4f220039dcb7 https://www.ft.com/content/77f61cf0-5b9d-4ea8-854a-4f220039d... Some recent examples: Evergrande - one of the biggest property companies in China. Also, a fraud https://www.bbc.com/news/business-68603195 https://www.bbc.com/news/business-68603195 Sino Forest - Massive. Listed on the Toronto stock exchange. A fraud https://moneyweek.com/economy/people/601220/great-frauds-in-history-allen-chan-of-sino-forest https://moneyweek.com/economy/people/601220/great-frauds-in-... Lantian Gerui - Fast-growing investment company, 100s of thousands of investors. A fraud. https://www.ft.com/content/605a7ca9-3f5f-47e6-ab5c-818b9a1bf0d5 https://www.ft.com/content/605a7ca9-3f5f-47e6-ab5c-818b9a1bf... Pinduoduo themselves have been accused of using improper accounting practices to hide losses and inflate revenues https://www.ft.com/content/314a56d0-e899-11e8-8a85-04b8afea6ea3 https://www.ft.com/content/314a56d0-e899-11e8-8a85-04b8afea6...
- resolutebat 2y ago
  Evergrande sold promises of houses, FTX and Lantian sold promises of huge investment gains. But if you buy something on Temu, it's actually delivered to you in a week. The worst case is that the unsustainable growth is propped by VC money, like the early days of Uber, but the consumer is still the one that's profiting here.
  - seanhunter 2y ago
    Not sure the consumer is winning here. Eg the UK consumer advocacy organization "Which?" tested 3 electric heaters ordered on Temu and found all three unsafe[1]. The US bbb has them at a "C+" rating due to complaints about goods being ordered but not arriving etc[2] [1] https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/what-is-temu-and-is-it-safe-to-buy-from-a7BUb4k5fBFH https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/what-is-temu-and-is-it-... [2] https://www.bbb.org/us/ma/boston/profile/online-shopping/temucom-0021-553943 https://www.bbb.org/us/ma/boston/profile/online-shopping/tem...
dawnerd 2y ago
Right I think you should read up on it before assuming others don’t know. https://krebsonsecurity.com/2023/03/google-suspends-chinese-e-commerce-app-pinduoduo-over-malware/ https://krebsonsecurity.com/2023/03/google-suspends-chinese-...
somedudetbh 2y ago
What did you think I meant by "PDD/Temu"?

by looppp 2y ago

You guys realize that Temu is backed by Pinduoduo, one of the largest e-commerce startups in China/theWorld right? At least you admit you don't know much about the space, though.

dkarras 2y ago

how does being backed by something big in China makes it less scammy?

seanhunter 2y ago

Are you saying that because they are backed by a big startup they can't be a fraud? China has a big problem with financial fraud of various kinds partly because of rapid growth and partly because of how regulation is shared between Beijing and the regions meaning some things fall between the cracks. https://www.ft.com/content/77f61cf0-5b9d-4ea8-854a-4f220039dcb7 https://www.ft.com/content/77f61cf0-5b9d-4ea8-854a-4f220039d... Some recent examples: Evergrande - one of the biggest property companies in China. Also, a fraud https://www.bbc.com/news/business-68603195 https://www.bbc.com/news/business-68603195 Sino Forest - Massive. Listed on the Toronto stock exchange. A fraud https://moneyweek.com/economy/people/601220/great-frauds-in-history-allen-chan-of-sino-forest https://moneyweek.com/economy/people/601220/great-frauds-in-... Lantian Gerui - Fast-growing investment company, 100s of thousands of investors. A fraud. https://www.ft.com/content/605a7ca9-3f5f-47e6-ab5c-818b9a1bf0d5 https://www.ft.com/content/605a7ca9-3f5f-47e6-ab5c-818b9a1bf... Pinduoduo themselves have been accused of using improper accounting practices to hide losses and inflate revenues https://www.ft.com/content/314a56d0-e899-11e8-8a85-04b8afea6ea3 https://www.ft.com/content/314a56d0-e899-11e8-8a85-04b8afea6...

resolutebat 2y ago
Evergrande sold promises of houses, FTX and Lantian sold promises of huge investment gains. But if you buy something on Temu, it's actually delivered to you in a week. The worst case is that the unsustainable growth is propped by VC money, like the early days of Uber, but the consumer is still the one that's profiting here.
- seanhunter 2y ago
  Not sure the consumer is winning here. Eg the UK consumer advocacy organization "Which?" tested 3 electric heaters ordered on Temu and found all three unsafe[1]. The US bbb has them at a "C+" rating due to complaints about goods being ordered but not arriving etc[2] [1] https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/what-is-temu-and-is-it-safe-to-buy-from-a7BUb4k5fBFH https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/what-is-temu-and-is-it-... [2] https://www.bbb.org/us/ma/boston/profile/online-shopping/temucom-0021-553943 https://www.bbb.org/us/ma/boston/profile/online-shopping/tem...

dawnerd 2y ago

Right I think you should read up on it before assuming others don’t know. https://krebsonsecurity.com/2023/03/google-suspends-chinese-e-commerce-app-pinduoduo-over-malware/ https://krebsonsecurity.com/2023/03/google-suspends-chinese-...

somedudetbh 2y ago

What did you think I meant by "PDD/Temu"?