My first purchase from Temu: will it be my last?
This article has been a long time coming, but it is said that it is better late than never.
The problem
I made my first purchase on Temu on July 3, 2025, followed by a second on July 5, 2025. The experience I had has made me wonder whether I’ll ever purchase on that platform again. The total amount I ended up paying was way more than I had bargained for. In fact, it would have been better buying those same items in Wa, Ghana, where I live. The cost of the items themselves was not a problem. The problem was that I had to pay custom clearance tax. For goods valued at one thousand, one hundred and five Ghana cedis, thirty-seven pesewas (GHC 1105.37), I paid custom clearance tax of four hundred and ten Ghana cedis, ninety-seven pesewas (GHC 410.97). Adding the customs clearance tax to the cost price, the total cost exceeded how much I would have bought them in Ghana. This is in addition to the risk of damage to the items and loss, which would lead to other complications. It is even made worse by the fact that I did not know the quality of the imported products.
It is worth noting that I had been buying from AliExpress since 2016, and had never once paid for customs clearance. For comparison, on the same July 3, I had made a purchase worth one thousand, one hundred and sixty-two Ghana cedis, thirty-two pesewas (GHC 1162.32) on AliExpress. As you can see, this is a breadth higher than the amount on Temu, yet I didn’t pay any customs clearance tax for the AliExpress on purchase.
Information Verification from Speedaf
To understand what was going on, I placed a call to the support of Speedaf, the shipper of the goods from both Temu and AliExpress, on February 2, 2026. I was told that that was how Temu operated; that they charged for customs clearance for goods over one thousand Ghana cedis (GHC 1000). I sought to understand why but they could not help me with any more information.
At the time I made the purchases, prices on Temu were generally lower than on AliExpress. However, the customs clearance tax basically eroded any gains. Since I like to know all my costs upfront, I prefer buying on AliExpress.
Could Temu have helped eliminate the customs clearance tax?
Absolutely, yes. You see, I bought the items in two separate orders, on two different days and from multiple sellers. However, Temu consolidated all the products before shipping. This is generally the desirable arrangement, so that instead of having the purchases delivered in pieces, they are delivered in one package. However, Temu should know that the goods sold on their platform exist in most, if not all, countries. People buy from them because of the lower cost. They must, therefore, do everything possible to keep the costs as low as possible. In my case, they could have just sent the two orders separately, and I wouldn’t be paying customs clearance tax. Even when a single order costs more than one thousand Ghana cedis (GHC 1000), they can still split it up, as long as it is not only one item, and splitting it up can get the individual packages to value under one thousand (GHC 1000). If they do not understand this business model, then they’re in bad business.
Good news
As at February 2, 2026, when I contacted the Speedaf support, though the customs clearance tax still exists for Temu products exceeding One thousand Ghana cedis (GHC 1000), the good news is that the amount has been reduced to one hundred Ghana cedis, eighty pesewas (GHC 100.80).
My advice to other shoppers from Ghana
- When comparing prices between Temu and other platforms, factor in the customs clearance tax charged by Temu for goods exceeding one thousand Ghana Cedis (GHC 1000) in value.
- Avoid buying from Temu altogether.
- If you want to go ahead and buy on Temu, you should contact Speedaf with the total value of the products, to confirm the customs clearance tax before placing your order.
Conclusion
So, am I going to buy from Temu ever again? Well, it depends. If factoring in the customs clearance tax, now that it has been drastically reduced, I’m still getting a better deal from them, I’ll definitely buy from them again.