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EU fines Temu €200M for allowing sale of illegal products

bbc.co.uk

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Re: EU fines Temu €200M for allowing sale of illegal products

#41

Post by crote »

spwa4 wrote: post #20

So they let sellers from china, and reseller platforms, get away with violating safety laws for 3 years (just Temu), have 50 BILLION euro in revenue (about 3-4 billion in profit for the platform itself) from those products and then charge them 200 Million for the crime? Can European companies demand equal treatment? Wait, no, I know the answer to that.

Yes, because it is the start of enforcement. That's how it works, not just a one-and-done slap on the wrist.

If they don't fix it, it'll eventually continue to the "20% of worldwide revenue" kind of fine everyone on HN was so afraid of when the GDPR was introduced. But that's not what it starts with.

Re: EU fines Temu €200M for allowing sale of illegal products

#42

Post by everfrustrated »

noir_lord wrote: post #40
maccard wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We don’t have the fakes problem but Amazon in the UK has a growing amount of stuff that is just resale of stuff from temu. I suspect if you tested the top 10 chargers on Amazon that weren’t anker, you’d find the same problems.

One of the many reasons (up to and including US foreign policy) I don't buy from Amazon any more. I'd sooner give Argos the money, they aren't that much more expensive (if at all) for the common set of things they sell and I can walk and pick it up same day. They broke the first rule of e-commerce - "Don't make the customer think ".

One of the best usb chargers for the money is the 40W IKEA charger. I trust their quality control.

Re: EU fines Temu €200M for allowing sale of illegal products

#44

Post by psychoslave »

embedding-shape wrote: post #9
throwa356262 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is temu much worse than amazon here?

Probably yeah, Amazon already had long exposure to the regulations from EU and European countries, they surely have some won lessons from these years, compared to Temu which is relatively new and might still be learning how things work, apparently. Temu is what, 3-4 years old or something?

Isn’t Temu basically Aliexpress with some "new shiny" frontend?

Not sure there is anything one couldn’t find on Amazon the exact same wares, though with the additional margin for a USA bigtech company in the middle.

Re: EU fines Temu €200M for allowing sale of illegal products

#45

Post by kirtakat »

everfrustrated wrote: post #42
noir_lord wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the many reasons (up to and including US foreign policy) I don't buy from Amazon any more. I'd sooner give Argos the money, they aren't that much more expensive (if at all) for the common set of things they sell and I can walk and pick it up same day. They broke the first rule of e-commerce - "Don't make the customer think ".

One of the best usb chargers for the money is the 40W IKEA charger. I trust their quality control.

I wasn't aware that Ikea sold a charger, so I googled it - this is the very first result: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/customer-service/product-support/...

Re: EU fines Temu €200M for allowing sale of illegal products

#47

Post by eqvinox »

TheJoeMan wrote: post #34
big85 wrote: post #3

> Evidence from a mystery shopping exercise included in the Commission's investigation shows that a very high percentage of the selected chargers failed basic safety tests, while a high percentage of tested baby toys posed safety risks of medium to high severity, as they contain chemicals exceeding legal safety limits or pose suffocation hazards due to detachable parts. > Under the DSA, designated Very Large Online P…

I'd be curious to see a breakdown between the "toxic chemicals" and "suffocation hazards" categories, as my intuition says it's mostly the latter and often bunk. The other day I was watching the TV above the Walmart customer service desk that displays product recalls, and multiple recalled products were a motorized bassinet, but the wireless remote control has a battery compartment that could be opened and then the b…

> "suffocation hazards" categories, as my intuition says it's mostly the latter and often bunk.

Are you US-american? (Walmart is a good hint that you are.) There's some widespread misconceptions/prejudice there, e.g. the Kinder egg thing. The EU has no problem with selling those.

Re: EU fines Temu €200M for allowing sale of illegal products

#48

Post by tormeh »

crote wrote: post #41
spwa4 wrote: post #20

So they let sellers from china, and reseller platforms, get away with violating safety laws for 3 years (just Temu), have 50 BILLION euro in revenue (about 3-4 billion in profit for the platform itself) from those products and then charge them 200 Million for the crime? Can European companies demand equal treatment? Wait, no, I know the answer to that.

Yes, because it is the start of enforcement. That's how it works, not just a one-and-done slap on the wrist. If they don't fix it, it'll eventually continue to the "20% of worldwide revenue" kind of fine everyone on HN was so afraid of when the GDPR was introduced. But that's not what it starts with.

This is a key observation and I also remember those dumb discussions. The top end of the fine scale is more or less theoretical if you demonstrate any willingness to improve. Looks like Temu has engaged in really bad practices, and they still only get what's (to them) a gentle reminder that there are rules.

Re: EU fines Temu €200M for allowing sale of illegal products

#49

Post by schnitzelstoat »

It seems like quite a light punishment for selling such dangerous products that could literally kill people. The dodgy e-bike batteries have already been linked to several fires.

bigclivedotcom takes apart some of the Temu stuff on YouTube and some of the electronics is atrocious.

Re: EU fines Temu €200M for allowing sale of illegal products

#50

Post by LunaSea »

crote wrote: post #41
spwa4 wrote: post #20

So they let sellers from china, and reseller platforms, get away with violating safety laws for 3 years (just Temu), have 50 BILLION euro in revenue (about 3-4 billion in profit for the platform itself) from those products and then charge them 200 Million for the crime? Can European companies demand equal treatment? Wait, no, I know the answer to that.

Yes, because it is the start of enforcement. That's how it works, not just a one-and-done slap on the wrist. If they don't fix it, it'll eventually continue to the "20% of worldwide revenue" kind of fine everyone on HN was so afraid of when the GDPR was introduced. But that's not what it starts with.

It will never continue to 20% of worldwide revenue. No matter how long they refuse to comply with EU laws for.

GDPR has been a farce in terms of enforcement.

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