EU fines Temu €200M for allowing sale of illegal products • Hacker News Board

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

#291

Post by markdown » Thu, May 28, 2026, 9:37 PM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #171

whimsicalism wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yes, i'm very in favor of the shift towards direct-to-consumer among chinese retailers, but that might be because i'm not actually all that sympathetic to small business

I recently bought some custom-built pool lighting directly from the manufacturer in Ningbo, and I have to say, the sales, delivery, and customer support I received was top notch. Their representatives were fluent in English and competent, the product quality was excellent (yes, I carefully inspected it upon receipt because it's going into water), and the entire process from measurement to delivery was fast and smooth…

Isn't pool lighting low voltage (12v?) so not much of a risk even if faulty?

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

#292

Post by alopha » Thu, May 28, 2026, 9:41 PM UTC

ben_w wrote: post #205

lopis wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My line is a little bit further back. Any electronics that will be plugged to a wall... Lots of appliances are not safe.

Yup. I've even had an (Amazon rather than Temu) power-strip-and-USB combo noticeably sparking and tripping the apartment circuit breakers when plugged in just 6 months after purchase.

Amazon is does zero quality control on listings, it's just AliExpress which larger margins. At least the reviews at Aliexpress often include exhaustive detail & photos by the terminally skeptical.

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

#293

Post by markdown » Thu, May 28, 2026, 9:42 PM UTC

shell0x wrote: post #266

Taobao and Temu are great. The quality is not always amazing, but the prices are low and many sellers even offer customisation. In Australia, the product selection is often limited, and a lot of local stores are just reselling Chinese-made products with huge markups anyway. At that point, you may as well order directly from China and save money. It also saves 10% GST.

> It also saves 10% GST.

For now.

Your local companies hate the competition, and will be lobbying hard to remove de minimis exemptions on imports.

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

#294

Post by derelicta » Thu, May 28, 2026, 9:47 PM UTC

I've learnt from a coworker that actually, all the stuff we order from AliExpress is crap they don't sell in their own country. A bit like the Swiss selling their shitty cheese abroad whilst they keep the good stuff for themselves.

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

#295

Post by ryandrake » Thu, May 28, 2026, 9:53 PM UTC

markdown wrote: post #291

ryandrake wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently bought some custom-built pool lighting directly from the manufacturer in Ningbo, and I have to say, the sales, delivery, and customer support I received was top notch. Their representatives were fluent in English and competent, the product quality was excellent (yes, I carefully inspected it upon receipt because it's going into water), and the entire process from measurement to delivery was fast and smooth…

Isn't pool lighting low voltage (12v?) so not much of a risk even if faulty?

That's right, so I wasn't that worried about physical safety. Mostly worried about damage to the product that water ingress could cause.

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

#296

Post by BobAliceInATree » Thu, May 28, 2026, 10:00 PM UTC

AussieWog93 wrote: post #290

BrtByte wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But I still think chargers and children's toys are exactly where the line should be drawn

I've bought both from AliExpress before and they were fine. Just required common sense.

This is why we have UL listings in USA and Canada. So you don’t have to rely on “common sense” which is notoriously unreliable.

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

#297

Post by Numerlor » Thu, May 28, 2026, 10:15 PM UTC

Scroll_Swe wrote: post #246

dsign wrote: post #109

Say what you may of Temu, and I do think more vetting of certain goods is a good idea, but they fill a very real need. In the part of Europe where I live, the choice is only between intermediaries for the same products coming from China. The local intermediaries sell a very limited picking at staggering margins. And when it comes to certain things, like electronic components, the choice is between importing (old) Ame…

Like what? The clothes are all 100% plastic polyester shit with extra chemicals. If you have proof of otherwise, show me. Yes I make enough to buy good clothes. If I REALLY need cheap clothes H&M basics are always there. Same with anything else, IT and tech parts I shop in Sweden. What else? Like, what is so needed now that you did not need before but you need to buy plastic China crap from Temu now?

More niche hardware has been impossible for me to find in the EU marketplaces I got to with searches, with only availability from US ebay, and then Chinese marketplaces. Or if it does exist here it's the same used part but it costs 500€ instead of 40

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

#298

Post by DANmode » Thu, May 28, 2026, 10:17 PM UTC

ascorbic wrote: post #270

DANmode wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, let them suck on the poison Happy Meal toy instead. The line should be drawn by parents. The paternalism really has gone too far, and people are (incorrectly and dangerously) expecting to be protected now.

Are parents supposed to perform safety and toxicity testing on all products they buy?

“Supposed to”?

I’ll do whatever reading, and due diligence keeps my family safe.

I’ll abstain from things until I’m sure.

Others might choose the same.

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

#299

Post by avereveard » Thu, May 28, 2026, 10:36 PM UTC

10000truths wrote: post #215

Someone wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the losses from having warehouses storing zillions of products that do not get sold for a long time. There’s a reason the likes of Aldi and Lidl have limited product choice.

Aldi and Lidl deal with perishable goods. Temu (by and large) doesn't.

But they are, especially those with batteries

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

#300

Post by dangus » Thu, May 28, 2026, 10:39 PM UTC

Detrytus wrote: post #260

dangus wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a nuance-free take. There’s zero demand for products that are hiding safety issues that nobody was seeking out (e.g., toys with lead paint, batteries that explode) Demand for illegal things isn’t in a vacuum. It’s hard to enact prohibition on alcohol or cannabis (extremely easy to produce) versus prohibiting something more complicated to make, difficult to smuggle, or less desirable to buy. If my government b…

> We have a good example with incandescent light bulbs. I don’t know anyone who has attempted to violate the ban on home incandescent light bulbs. Funny, because I remember that when this ban was first introduced in my country there actually was a black market for incandescent light bulbs. Some stores would keep selling them as “special purpose” or “vibration-resistant”. It only ended when LED bulbs appeared on the m…

And how big was that black market for incandescent light bulbs?

What would have happened to it when supply of incandescent bulbs dried up as manufacturers stopped making them?

Were there any homebrew incandescent lightbulbs?

You’re actually demonstrating my point here: when you ban or regulate something, there are a lot of things that go into whether a significant amount of people try to circumvent that ban. It’s not an automatic free for all thriving black market.

One reason not to circumvent a regulation is when it results in improvement of the status quo or when better alternatives to the banned item already existed.