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Temu – which I had posted about previously, had started to advertise “up to 90% savings on tools” and similar. I’ve been seeing those ads everywhere.
Temu has also been offering hefty influencer incentives, and I already started seeing recommendations for Temu tools on social media and YouTube.
Personally, I will NOT download the app, I will NOT shop at the store.
The company employ numerous high-urgency sales tactics on their website, and so I wasn’t surprised to see how many incentives Temu is looking to throw at influencers who might promote them.
I want to share with you an email that came in after I first posted about the discount retailer. You will find similar terms on Temu’s public “affiliate recruitment” page.
See Also: Would You Buy Tools from Temu?
Subject: Business Paid Collab Invites to Make Money from Temu
This wasn’t an “intro to Temu” email, it was a “make money” message.
Introductory emails of this nature are all too common these days. Many marketers no longer say “here’s our brand (or product) and how it’s different (or better),” they introduce their tools or brands by saying “make money with us,” and focus solely on that.
Hi dear,
This is Vera from TEMU. We really appreciate your influence and are honored to invite you to collaborate on our Affiliate Campaign!
👉You can click [link removed] to see the affiliate page or sign up directly to join the program.
The link had a referral code, suggesting that the Temu employee might receive monetary compensation for signing me up into their program, especially given some of the influencer incentives that are mentioned below.
Our core benefits:
✅Free
✅NO experience, NO followers & NO barriers!
✅Earn $5 on every new user’s referral download
✅$10 extra bonus for every 3 new referrals up to 30 new users($100)
✅Extra 30% Off discounts for referrals!
✅UP to 20% commission from their first order
✅Win an EXTRA $3,000 bonus every 3 days
✅The affiliates will get $10 after the affiliate they referred earns their first commission
✅Low time commitment: a few seconds a day to share the code & link
✅Free products if the affiliates are social media influencers!
Let’s break this down.
Earn $5 on every new user’s referral download
In other words, every time a new user downloads the app, the influencer gets $5. No purchases are necessary, this is $5 each, just for convincing someone to download the app to their mobile device.
$10 extra bonus for every 3 new referrals up to 30 new users($100)
From this it seems that 30 referrals of new users would net the influencer (30 x $5) + ($100)= $250, just for getting those new people to sign up for the shopping app.
Extra 30% Off discounts for referrals!
Temu has “new user gift” coupon bundle offers on their website, all of which require that you download the app.
I would be willing to bet that the 30% discount given to affiliates to share with readers or followers also requires users to download the app.
UP to 20% commission from their first order
They say similar on the website without giving much details – “up to 20% commission.” I’d guess it’s based on order value.
So, they offer a 30% discount and up to 20% commission, and are paying to just to get people to download the app.
Win an EXTRA $3,000 bonus every 3 days
It seems they’re practically throwing money at influencers to sign people up.
The affiliates will get $10 after the affiliate they referred earns their first commission
This means there are incentives to sign people up for the app, push sales, and sign up more affiliates who can do the same.
The form of collaboration:
Click the link above to register and generate your exclusive affiliate code and link. Then you can use your code and link to earn the commission from referring new users and their first orders.
In this way, you can get the commission and we get new users and the GMV they bring in. One of the websites [link removed] we collaborated with has already earned more than $3,000 commissions.And pls tell me your affiliate code and link that sign up through the link above. By registering from our source, you can be our priority user. We can better ensure the security of your account and avoid being banned. In addition we will give you priority when we launch some new features and exclusive benefits in the future.
We also would like to provide you with a budget for a paid partnership, so I’d like to ask for your media kit and rates.
There are some parts from this to highlight:
Click the link above to register…
And pls tell me your affiliate code and link that sign up through the link above. By registering from our source, you can be our priority user.
It really does sound like they’re incentivized to recruit new affiliates too.
We also would like to provide you with a budget for a paid partnership, so I’d like to ask for your media kit and rates.
So they want to talk about a paid partnership as well, right off the bat?
Let’s say that I signed up for the program (I certainly will NOT) and encouraged 100 people to give it a try. Of those people, let’s say 5 place an order. As I understand it, I’d receive $600 (100 x $5, plus $100 bonus) plus up to 20% commission on the orders, plus whatever payment the “paid partnership” involved.
Under their “earn up to $100,000 per month” messaging on their affiliate recruitment webpage, they have a rotation of example earnings.
- C***m earned $17,984.03
- O***i earned $221.92
- 9***0 earned $1,608.74
- g***z earned $2,167.24
- K***8 earned $1,801.89
- g***s earned $304,108.07
- L***S earned $2,689.66
- i***o earned $268.21
- T***m earned $99,739.55
- h***o earned $1,273.03
- S***s earned $2,625.16
Maybe these are real, maybe not. Will affiliates earn that much? It’s unlikely. The benefit is in encouraging affiliates to try.
Were’s a summary of what they’re offering:
Paid partnership – (presumably) money for just talking about the brand.
App Referrals – money for getting new users to download the app.
Affiliate Referral – money for signing up other affiliates.
“Free products” for social media influencers.
Discount codes to share – presumably only redeemable via the app.
Commissions – money for purchases referred users make.
Just as Temu seems to use every online shopping trick in the book to sell tools and other products, the company seems to be offering every incentive possible to get customers and influencers to encourage their friends, family, and followers to download the app and start shopping.
I’ve started seeing nonsense articles from mass media sites, such as “Amazon vs. Temu, where should you shop?”
There are also a growing number of videos on YouTube that focus specifically on Temu tools and woodworking accessories. In one, the YouTube has in their comments section the phrase “it’s not a scam.”
What does it say about the tools and retailer one is promoting, presumably with monetary incentives, if they feel compelled to add “it’s not a scam?”
I can see the potential appeal, as both a tool user/customer, and as an affiliate. Temu offers cheap products, and the opportunity to earn a lot of money through download referrals and commissions.
But, there are too many reasons I don’t trust the retailer enough to order anything from them. Knowing how many incentives Temu was offering me as a potential affiliate, I doubt I could trust anything positive I hear about them online.
With a typical affiliate program, a bad-faith recommendation might lead to a return, which would reverse any fees or commissions an affiliate might have received. With Temu’s program, it seems affiliates can earn a large sum just for getting new users to download the app.
Looking online, there’s discussion of the affiliate commission rate as being:
- 5% for orders under $50
- 10% for orders between $50 and $99.99
- 20% for orders $100 and up
Let’s say someone convinces you to download the app, and you buy a $10.73 drill bit set with free shipping. The commission to that affiliate will be $0.54, compared to a $5 (plus bonuses) reward for getting you to download the app.
It seems that Temu REALLY wants you to download the app, and they’re offering huge incentives to try to enlist affiliates to help them do it.
I will not download the app, nor will I order from the company. I will not recommend the app or products. No amount of savings or potential monetary earnings can convince me otherwise. There are too many red flags.
I also can’t help shake the feeling that this is all the basis for some kind of sci-fi movie plot. I’m onto you, Skynet!
