Is Temu a Trusted Website? 10 Ways To Tell if a Website Is Safe
It’s more important now than ever to make sure you’re shopping on trusted websites that are legit and safe. Temu is a name that has been gaining a lot of traction lately, especially since they recently became the #1 free app in the iOS app store. But what exactly is Temu, and should you trust this company with your hard-earned money? In this guide, we’ll take a closer look at Temu.com to see if it’s a trusted and safe website.
Table of Contents:
What is Temu? Can You Trust Temu?
How to Tell If a Website Is Legit
- SSL Certificate
- Google Transparency Report
- Verified Social Media Presence
- Available Contact Info
- Overall Professional Website Look and Feel
- Verified Company Reviews
- Search for a Privacy Policy
- Verified Website Ownership
- Payment Options and Security
- Temu Purchase Protection, Return and Refund Policy
Final Verdict: Is Temu Legit and Safe to Use?
What is Temu? Can You Trust Temu?
Temu is an online marketplace that offers quality merchandise from top global suppliers and brands to consumers at wholesale prices. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, Temu is a member of PDD Holdings (Nasdaq: PDD), which has been in business since 2015. In 2021 alone, PDD Holdings, fulfilled 61 billion orders and generated over $14.7 billion in revenue, meaning they are definitely not new to commerce. The fact that Temu is part of such a large publicly listed company gives customers peace of mind that Temu is definitely NOT a scam site and that they are shopping on a safe and reliable platform.
One thing that has made Temu very popular is their incredibly affordable prices. Thanks to its access to PDD Holdings’ global network of over 11 million suppliers, Temu is able to source thousands of products at wholesale prices. This means that consumers can enjoy significant discounts on the items they purchase, making it an attractive option for budget-conscious shoppers.
For those who don’t know, the attractive low prices have many wondering if Temu is a website they can trust. We are here to tell you:
Yes, Temu is a trusted website and is safe to shop on.
- They are a legitimate member of PDD Holdings, a publicly-listed multinational commerce group that has been in business since 2015.
- All of their payment links are PCI-certified to protect their customers’ financial and personal information. They partner with major providers who have state-of-the-art technology that comply with strict security standards.
- And their site passes all of the normal website security checks that you should look out for when you’re checking if a website is legit.
Let’s review each of the factors below.
How to Tell If a Website Is Legit
We looked at technology security leaders McAfee and Norton to go through what they recommend are the best steps to review if a website is trusted, safe, and legit. We’re going to run Temu.com through these steps to check that Temu is a trusted website and safe to shop on.
1) Temu SSL Certificate:
A website is considered secure if it has an SSL certificate. This is a security protocol that certifies that the information between the website and its users are encrypted, ensuring that no third party is able to intercept sensitive data like credit card numbers. You can tell if a website is SSL certified if you see an “https” at the beginning of the URL, not just “http.”
As you can see above, Temu’s website has “https” at the beginning of the URL. You can see for yourself by going to https://temu.com. Double click in the URL bar so that you can see the full URL address. You can also tell if it’s SSL certified when you see the padlock icon in your browser’s address bar. Temu also has the padlock icon to show that they are SSL certified.
2) Google Transparency Report Check for Temu
Google helps protect consumers with their Safe Browsing technology, which crawls billions of websites every day. They provide consumers with free access to this technology by letting you check a website’s safe browsing status here: https://transparencyreport.google.com/safe-browsing/search.
If you check Temu’s safe browsing status, you will see this:
According to Google’s Transparency report, Temu’s website status is “no unsafe content found.” This means that Google crawled Temu’s website and did not find any signs that the website has been compromised. No unsafe content was found on Temu.com.
3) Temu Social Media Presence
Another way that you can confirm if a website can be trusted is by checking the company’s social media presence. According to McAfee, you should look for signs that the account is active, ideally with original content and follower engagement. You should also look for transparency about who runs the account.
As you can see below, this is a screenshot of Temu’s Instagram account page. It has the blue check mark icon next to their name which shows that it is an official account, verified by Instagram. They have over 51,000 followers and over 200 posts.
We’re also linking Temu’s social media profiles for you below to explore for yourself:
- Instagram: @shoptemu https://www.instagram.com/shoptemu/
- Twitter: @shoptemu https://www.twitter.com/@shoptemu
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shoptemu
- Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/shoptemu/
- Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@shoptemu
- Youtube: https://youtu.be/J_Izyx4pYn8
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/shoptemu/
4) Temu Contact Info
You can also confirm the legitimacy of a website by checking if there is available contact information. This shows that they are willing to be contacted in case something is wrong with their service. Any legitimate website is going to have contact information listed prominently. You can see Temu’s contact information here on their website: https://www.temu.com/contact-us.html
Temu is open about how you can contact them by call, email, social media, or live chat on their Temu app or website.
5) Overall Professional Website Look and Feel
Legitimate websites usually have a professional look and feel, with clear navigation and visually appealing design. You can also tell if a website is legitimate by looking at its content; it should be well-written and free from spelling or grammar mistakes, as this is an indication of professionalism.
The screenshot below is taken from the Temu.com homepage. The navigation bar is clear and easily accessible. You are able to search for specific items with their search bar, sign in and out of your account, contact customer support, and view your shopping cart all from the website header navigation. The orange, white, and black branding is also consistent throughout the site and is decently attractive. We’d say that Temu passes this check.
6) Verified Company Reviews
It’s always helpful to read or watch reviews of any website before you make a purchase. Having available reviews on different review sites and Youtube is a great way to confirm if a website can be trusted. There are many reviews on Temu on various sites. Here are a few:
Temu Review on Youtube:
Goodbye WISH And Hello TEMU | My Second Haul | Loving This Site
7) Search for a Privacy Policy
According to Norton, another way to show if a website can be trusted is by looking for a company privacy policy. A trusted website’s privacy policy tells you how the company collects, uses, and protects their customer data. Most secure sites will have one especially since the US, Canada, and other countries actually legally require them. They are usually easily found in the footer of every website.
You can find Temu’s privacy policy here: https://www.temu.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy.html
Having a clear privacy policy also shows customers that their privacy is valued, along with showing them that the secure site is safe for browsing.
8) Verified Website Ownership
Another helpful Norton tip is that you can verify the ownership of a website to check if it’s legit and secure. You can use the free Whois Lookup tool to find the name of the registered legal entity that owns the website.
If you look up Temu with the Whois Lookup tool, you’ll be able to confirm that the website is registered to Whaleco Inc, a legally registered US entity.
Whaleco Inc. is incorporated in Delaware and is the legal entity that Temu operates under, which can be confirmed by multiple news sources and Temu’s Wikipedia page.
9) Payment Options and Security
You should always check the payment options a website offers before making a purchase. Legitimate websites are going to offer more than one option for paying, as this is an indication of their trustworthiness. Temu is no exception. Temu works with all major payment providers, such as Visa, American Express, and Discover credit and debit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay to ensure a safe and secure online shopping experience for all their customers. So you can rest assured that your financial information is secure when you shop on Temu.com or the Temu app.
Temu itself also follows strict security protocols to protect the personal data of all its customers. It uses the highest level of commercially available encryption and all of their payment links are PCI-certified, meaning that your data will be secure and protected.
You can see their payment methods in the footer of their website: https://temu.com.
10) Temu Purchase Protection, Return and Refund Policy
Finally, a legitimate e-commerce company will have a reasonable and easily accessible return and refund policy. The return and refund policy is found in the footer of most websites. You can find Temu’s return and refund policy here: https://www.temu.com/return-and-refund-policy.html
Temu has a very generous return and refund policy where you can return almost all items within 90 days of purchase. The return process can be easily done through the Temu app or Temu.com and the first return for every order is free.
In addition to their return and refund policy, Temu has an incredible Purchase Protection program where you can get a full refund if your item(s) do not arrive, arrive damaged, or are not as described. You can read more about the Temu Purchase Protection program on their website: https://www.temu.com/temu-purchase-protection.html
Since Temu cares most about their customers’ satisfaction, they want to make sure that their customers are always happy with their purchases and can shop confidently on Temu.
Final Verdict: Is Temu Legit and Safe to Use?
Yes, Temu is a trusted website and is safe to use. We know that it can be scary sometimes to try out a new website, especially one where you are buying something, but Temu is 100% legit, safe, and NOT a scam. We’ve thoroughly analyzed their website’s appearance, security, and ownership certifications. We’ve verified their legitimacy by looking at their active social media profiles, customer reviews, and learning more about their corporate history. Finally, we also reviewed their available payment options and security, privacy policy, return and refund policy, and contact information. All of these factors are indicative of a legitimate website and company so you can trust that you can buy safely on Temu.com.
We hope that our analysis gives you peace of mind as you explore this nascent new Temu shopping app. If you know what to look out for, it’s easy to tell that Temu is safe, legit, and can be trusted.
