What happened to all the fabric on temu?I

October 13, 2023 6:38 PM

Up until today there was lots of fabric, including lots of quilting fabric on Temu and other sewing supplies, too. Today it's ALL GONE. Like not a single jelly roll or charm pack as far as the eye can see. No fabric. No zippers. No interfacing. No rotary cutters. If I go into my orders and click on the listings for items I ordered previously, they're all discontinued. Why?

I am in Canada. I would be curious if people in other places still have fabric in their temu listings? this is so wierd? Did I get blocked? Why did I get blocked? I haven't returned anything.

posted by If only I had a penguin... to Grab Bag (13 answers total)

I don't have an answer for why for you, just a data point that yes, I can still see the things you list above.
posted by stormyteal at 6:51 PM on October 13, 2023

As an opposite data point to stormyteal, I am in Canada and when I search on fabric related terms I get only finished items like duvets rather than yardage or fat quarters.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:56 PM on October 13, 2023

Same here from Ottawa, Canada - no duvets, duvet covers, and puffy jackets when I look at TEMU > quilting > cotton quilting fabric .

Not seeing rotary cutters or yarn when I do a search from the front page.
posted by sebastienbailard at 7:07 PM on October 13, 2023

Here in the US, I am seeing lots of fabric. "Clearance sale" stuff, (ending in 4 hours btw), but a fair amount. Any new import/export laws going into effect in Canada tomorrow? Weird though.
posted by Windopaene at 7:29 PM on October 13, 2023

"Clearance sale" stuff, (ending in 4 hours btw)

Yes, everything is always on sale and the sales are always ending imminently. I also thought of possible regulation changes and couldn't find anything when I googled it. Also, you'd think that if there were new restrictions on textiles, say, that shouldn't affect tools. I mean they might just wipe out anything with a "sewing" tag til they figure it out? But like I said, I can't find any restrictions.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 7:39 PM on October 13, 2023

I came across this discussion (from today) about another category of items seemingly disappearing off Temu. The poster says, "Temu support tells me that for Canadians, they are updating product selection which is why everything shows out of stock." Perhaps your items are undergoing something similar.
posted by paperback version at 11:14 PM on October 13, 2023

Temu has no inventory, no manufacturing, no unique product, everything is just drop-shipped. They can therefore swing into and out of whole product categories at any time if the analytics indicate that’s what they should do.
posted by rockindata at 5:38 AM on October 14, 2023

. They can therefore swing into and out of whole product categories at any time if the analytics indicate that’s what they should do.

Sure, but what's the point? I mean it's a listing and they lose nothing if nobody orders it. I mean they're not even the ones drop shipping it. It's basically a market full of independent sellers. So yeah if some stuff doesn't sell well they won't make as much off that category but the costs of listing the stuff is near-zero isn't it? And the crafting stuff (Which all seems to be gone) is generally well-reviewed unlike their terrible clothes, which are still there.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 5:52 AM on October 14, 2023

I have a theory, which is a guess I made up just now, but maybe they are seeing trouble getting specific types of items across the border and because of their on time delivery guarantee they are losing money on those. So maybe they are pulling that category until they can narrow down the problem or fix it? It wouldn't necessarily mean a change in policy at the border, just a sudden run of bad luck on similar items or a change in enforcement priorities.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:12 AM on October 14, 2023

Can you find what you want to buy on AliExpress? Or are those products blocked, too. That will easily answer the question about importing.

It is the exact same stuff, but without the requirement to use a data harvesting app with gambling gamification.
posted by phunniemee at 6:15 AM on October 14, 2023

One suggestion is to instead of just looking at past items, go into past items and click on the merchant. They may have more offerings that suit you.
posted by kschang at 7:26 AM on October 14, 2023

Ding ding ding I bet that's it. I've had a package in customs for like 2 weeks now and there was another that took a long time getting through. I've gotten a bunch of credits as a result.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 8:01 AM on October 14, 2023

I found ONE fabric listing back and it's one thing I was hoping to get so I'm jumping on it. Also, my mom ordered some dinosaur hoodies for my son and they're also now "discontinued". I wonder if the stuff will come back when the free shipping supposedly ends in 7 days.

AliExpress has some similar items but not as much selection as Temu had and Temu has free shipping and AliExpress will charge me $11 for shipping a $4 item.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 1:48 PM on October 14, 2023