For months, Temu carved a place for itself in the carts of Pakistani shoppers by offering suspiciously cheap prices on everything from kitchen gadgets to fake Crocs. Now, that honeymoon appears to be over. Since the start of July, shoppers across Pakistan have reported massive and abrupt price increases on Temu – some as high as 200% – with no explanation from the company.
Social media has been flooded with posts from angry users. “Everything in my cart that was for Rs. 6,000 yesterday is now Rs. 13,000,” wrote one stunned shopper. Others described their entire carts ballooning in cost overnight. While some speculated this was due to the new 5% advance tax implemented by the Pakistani government on foreign e-commerce platforms, others dismissed that as a convenient excuse. “A 5% tax doesn’t triple your prices. This is just price hiking,” said another customer. Many are beginning to question whether Temu’s pricing model was ever sustainable or if the platform simply used ultra-low prices to build a user base before turning the screws.
Even more frustrating for users is the complete silence from Temu. The app and website continue to advertise flashy discounts, limited-time offers, and fake countdown timers as if nothing has changed, all while actual prices have skyrocketed. “They lured us in with Rs. 1,500 makeup brushes and now they are charging Rs. 4,500 for the same set,” a Karachi-based user fumed. “And they showcase like it’s a deal.”
Temu’s notoriously gamified shopping experience, with roulette-style coupon wheels and constant pop-up offers, had already drawn criticism for being manipulative. Now, with no transparency around pricing or customer service to address the concerns, many Pakistani users are calling it a bait-and-switch scheme. “It feels like we were tricked into trusting them, and now they think we will still check out even if the price is three times more,” one shopper said.
Complaints are piling up about cancelled orders, missing items, and unresponsive customer service. For some users, this is the final straw. “I was excited when Temu launched here. It was too good to be true, but turns out, it was,” said a disappointed customer in Lahore. Others have already deleted the app altogether, warning friends and family to stay away.
In a market already skeptical of online platforms and scarred by past experiences with unreliable deliveries, Temu’s latest pricing chaos is quickly erasing the thrill it built. What started as a promise of affordable global shopping has, for many Pakistanis, turned into a lesson in false advertising.
If Temu’s playbook is to hike prices while hiding behind vague references to taxes and system adjustments, it may soon find that the same customers it aggressively courted are now its most vocal critics.
