7 Gadgets You Should Probably Avoid Buying From Temu - BGR

Technology Accessories 7 Gadgets You Should Probably Avoid Buying From Temu By Sydney Louw Butler July 7, 2026 4:02 pm EST Audio und werbung/Shutterstock Temu doesn't have the best reputation. It's even become a mild insult to say something is the "Temu version" of something else. With the meaning being that it's the worse version that no one actually wants. The internet is full of stories of people who buy Temu products and end up with something that looks nothing like the pictures or is simply of such poor quality that it was a waste of money, despite the small price tag. That's one of the reasons we've recommended you should delete your Temu account for good . Those unbeatable prices can be so tempting for some, though. The products look legitimate, but there's a reason Temu tech is so cheap . And it's not that the company is feeling generous. Sometimes the item may work as expected or look the same as another product for much less money. At the end of the day, buying from Temu is your choice and, of course, your money. That said, we think these gadgets are ones you should never buy off Temu — no matter how good the deal appears. Storage drives and memory cards Shutter B Photo/Shutterstock Thanks to the ongoing demand for SSDs and other components by the AI industry, an SSD might literally be worth its weight in gold . So it's no wonder that fake flash memory is a common scam on sites like Temu. Now, to be clear, this is a scam that pops up on sites like Amazon now and then, but it's more common on Temu and your options for recourse are limited if you do receive a fake device. The scam drives usually have a cheap SD card glued inside and a modified drive controller that reports a much bigger capacity than the drive actually has. When the SD card is full, it just overwrites it in a loop. You won't know there's anything wrong with the drive until you try to read the data and find it gone, or if you use a fake USB drive detector app that can check what the real capacity of the device is. Most people probably don't notice something's wrong until they've passed the refund or return window, assuming Temu ever offered a refund on that item to begin with. While there are surely some legitimate SSDs, SD cards, and thumb drive on Temu, the risk is just too high. Even cheap legitimate SSD brands can be unreliable. Sadly, the means we all have to pay the piper and opt for trusted drives from reputable sites and retailers. USB chargers and power banks Lixu/Getty Images Our modern society has a heavy dependency on lithium-ion batteries, but they require sophisticated safety circuitry and high-quality, careful manufacturing. Unfortunately, people will buy the cheapest power banks they can, and that leads to all sorts of safety issues. Power banks that don't meet safety standards keep catching fire on planes leading Japan to officially banned power banks on flights as well as Amazon recalling 8,000 faulty power banks . You can see where this is going. You should probably avoid buying anything that contains a lithium-ion battery from Temu, and in the same vein, chargers bought from Temu don't inspire confidence in those who've opened them up to have a look at what makes them tick. Only buy chargers or devices that contain batteries if you can confirm that they have safety certifications, such as UL Certification . It's not enough that these devices have it stamped, since the stamps can be faked. The supplier should have its certification documents on its website, and if you can't determine who the manufacturer is, stay away. There are plenty of cheap power banks that are safe to use. It's not worth ordering a potential firebomb from an unregulated marketplace to save a few bucks. Smart home security devices nblx/Shutterstock The smart home revolution is in full swing, and we're all having a ball filling our home with automated gadgets and internet-connected devices. You probably have at least one IP security cameras inside your home, and apart from the fact that you can operate them from an app on your phone or through a browser on your PC, they look just like any security camera. The thing is that a smart security camera is basically a small internet-connected computer. It can see the other devices on your local network, and it can send information into the greater internet, such as the server of whoever manufactured it. This means that a compromised camera can be used for all sorts of mischief. It's scary enough that a hacker who takes control of a camera with weak security can spy on you and share private footage with whoever they like. But it's perhaps even worse to think that cheap cameras might be put out on the market, booby-trapped with backdoors and malware, so that you can be the victim of cybercrime at some point in the future. It's not just Temu that might sell you a trojan camera, even places like Amazon and Walmart have been seen selling devices that pose a potential cybersecurity threat. Yes, smart home gear and network equipment can be expensive, but it's best to stick with reputable brands that at least have the budget and incentive to make their smart products safe. Lithium-ion batteries and battery replacements Kritchai7752/Shutterstock This is partly related to the advice against buying power banks, but the purchase of spare batteries for device you already own is enough of a problem that it deserves to be highlighted separately. While devices like smartphones and tablets generally don't have replaceable batteries these days, you probably own several devices that can change batteries with ease. Camera batteries, power tool battery packs, and many more gadgets offer swappable batteries as a feature. The companies that make these batteries always advise that you only use official first-party batteries, but they would say that, wouldn't they? The truth is that there are many third-party battery makers who are reputable and make safe products. Companies like RAVPower have a long history of making, for example, spare batteries for GoPro cameras or various DSLRs. They sell these at a lower price than the originals and often give you more capacity to boot. But that doesn't mean the no-name replacement or spare batteries you buy on Temu will be safe to use. For example, in 2024 the UK government issued a safety warning related to a certain brand of power tool battery sold on Temu. It was labeled a high fire risk because "it is possible for the internal wiring to detach and bypass the protection circuit, causing it to short circuit." The small amount of research you need to do to find safe third-party batteries is a small sacrifice compared to burning your house down. Replicas of high-end electronics Adrianhancu/Getty Images There has always been a market for knockoff products that look like premium gear, since these devices are as much status symbols as they are high-end gadgets. Some people simply want to look more affluent than they actually are. We're not here to judge, but we are here to caution you about the reasons why you should never buy these counterfeit devices. The reasons are numerous, but a key point here is that presumably you're going to actually use these devices. In which case, it's not worth it to endure the poor quality and performance that's part and parcel of these cheap gadgets. That's before we even get to the potential safety, privacy, and ethical issues around these products. You're far better off spending the exact same money on good budget gear that actually performs well for the money. Some of the best earbuds on Amazon will surprise you with their pricing and quality, as one example. They might not impress anyone when you're at the gym or sitting in a coffee shop, but it's likely no one was looking at you in the first place. CPUs, GPUs, RAM, and motherboards PJ McDonnell/Shutterstock As the prices of PC component prices fluctuate, it can be tempting to trawl sites like Temu looking for a bargain. There are certainly people who have, for example, bought a CPU on one of these sites and actually got what they paid for. However, there are many more examples of people ordering components through these sites and receiving faulty or counterfeit goods. If you aren't tech-savvy, it can even be hard to tell. The firmware in some components can be altered so that it displays a different model number when you check your BIOS or use component identification apps. The only clue may be the poor performance of the part, but if you don't know what the performance of the real component should be, you may never question it. Again, this sort of thing happens with online retailers like Amazon as well. The key difference is that if you're scammed on a site like Amazon, you'll almost certainly get your money back and Amazon will kick the seller out of the system. On Temu, you may have no recourse as it's your word against that of an unscrupulous seller. These are high-value purchases, and even if you actually do get the component you ordered, it might be a used one sold as new and without the potential for a warranty return if it goes wrong. Safety equipment like smoke detectors Towfiqu ahamed barbhuiya/Shutterstock Would you trust a motorcycle crash helmet with your life if you ordered it from Temu? Hopefully not. Then why would you consider buying other types of safety equipment like smoke or carbon monoxide detectors? Investigations have found that, for example, carbon monoxide testers from sites like Temu and AliExpress did not pass safety tests. It should also be noted that some of these devices sold on Amazon also failed the same test. Again, if you get a faulty device from Amazon, you have at least the potential of liability and compensation. If you already own safety devices like these bought from online retailers like Temu, you should check to see if your devices have been tested and whether they pass the minimum safety standards. If not, return them and ask for a refund. As a general rule, the more damage you can suffer from a product not doing its advertised job correctly, the less you should consider buying it from Temu. The upfront cost savings can never be worth it.