This article is to alert my fellow online shoppers, that shop at AliExpress and Temu, and who do not already know, that the product reviews available for each product, and therefore impressions of products are deceptively skewed towards positive reviews!
That is because both online merchants are deliberately preventing customers in case of AliExpress, and deceptively discouraging customers in case of Temu, to post negative reviews!
How exactly do they do that? Glad you asked, in case of AliExpress, they remove the ability to post a review, unless you already have, when you request a return, exchange or refund! Therefore, I recommend any AliExpress customer who have a negative experience with a product, and or seller, to first post your negative, but objective review, before you contact customer service for a return, exchange or refund.
With Temu it is a bit more deceptive. When you try to post your negative review, Temu detects via the star rating if it is negative, and a pop-up appears if you instead want to contact customer service for a return, exchange or refund!
What this effectively means is that an unknown number of customers who have a negative experience with a product, and or seller, will not be posting their negative reviews, because either customers were prevented from rating a product in case of AliExpress, or persuaded not to post the negative review, in case of Temu, and instead go through a return, exchange or refund process.
In others words, do not solely make a purchase decision based on a product that have mostly, or in some cases only, positive reviews, because there is a good chance many previous customers did actually have a problem!
Now to the good news! If you purchase something from either online merchant, AliExpress or Temu, and are not satisfied with the quality, you should be able to return for a full refund. I started purchasing from AliExpress about 15 years ago, 10-20 orders a year, and sold stuff online and at a local flea market, and I rarely had a problem, and in the few instances I did I was able to get a full refund, or exchange. Regarding Temu, which is a much newer online merchant, I only started purchasing this year, and have so far received about 23 items, and are expecting another three within a few days. Although my return rate on Temu is higher at about 17%, than AliExpress at less than 5% on 150+ orders, I have in each case had no problem requesting a return and refund with Temu.
Conclusion
As an online AliExpress or Temu shopper browsing on their website or app, please take the product reviews with a grain of salt, as most likely negative feedback and ratings, from previous buyers that did have a problem with the particular item, are missing simply because the buyers could, or did not post them!
Secondly as a customer who bought something from AliExpress or Temu, and come upon a bad product, please do everybody else a favor and share your experience, by posting your review and rating, before you contact customer support for a return, exchange or refund.