After Temu launched the semi-managed model, it once again attracted great attention in the industry.
Different from the previous fully managed model, the advantage of semi-custody is to improve the timeliness of logistics, which is good news for those sellers with overseas warehouse layout.
Recently, a seller service provider once said: "It's so hot! In more than a month, thousands of sellers have come to consult, and they can't reply at all!"
Some industry insiders believe that the semi-custody model may be a new outlet in the future, and there may be a wave of traffic peaks in the next few months, so those sellers who settled in early will enjoy this wave of traffic dividends.
But what the real situation is, we also need to listen to the feedback given by those sellers who have already settled in.
Fully managed sellers were "swept to death" by semi-custodians, and sales plummeted
According to the official introduction, in the semi-custodian model, merchants need to be responsible for supply, logistics and warehousing, advertising, sales and other links. But whether it's fully managed or semi-managed, the pricing power of the product is still in Temu's hands.
Although it still has no pricing power, Temu can be regarded as giving sellers more room to play independently. However, more room to play also means that Temu will put forward more requirements for sellers.
At present, the timeliness of delivery is an important indicator for Temu to evaluate semi-custodial sellers. It is understood that sellers need to set up delivery timeliness and free shipping areas in the Temu background. In terms of timeliness options, the platform only provides two options: "delivery within 1 working day" and "delivery within 2 working days", and the delivery time in the delivery area is "2 to 5 working days".
This will undoubtedly be a test for many sellers, and this is also a way for Temu to screen the qualifications of sellers.
In addition to the logistics timeliness, Temu also has requirements for the pricing of semi-managed sellers. Some sellers reported that they shipped the goods after the successful price verification at the beginning, but they had just sold dozens of them, and they were suddenly asked to reduce the price, but the seller did not agree, and the product was removed from the shelves the next day.
After consulting the buyer, the reply was that it was because I found a cheaper product on Amazon, but this answer was obviously unacceptable. But fortunately, this seller also has TikTok and Amazon stores, so the goods sent in the past can continue to sell, which is a blessing in misfortune.
In addition, Temu's strict price verification requirements for semi-custodial sellers have been affected even by the platform's fully custodial sellers. Recently, some sellers complained that since the influx of semi-managed sellers, their products have also been affected.
According to this seller, his product was originally the first in the vertical category, but not long ago he saw a semi-managed product on the front end, and the price was only half of his own, no wonder the recent sales were so poor.
I really didn't expect that Temu not only rolled up other platforms, but also did not let go of sellers on its own platform.
However, in addition to the price roll, Temu semi-custodian sellers seem to have encountered other problems.
Semi-custodial sellers experience only refunds, fines
In the past month, there have been a large number of Temu sellers complaining on social media that consumers have applied for refunds only.
Some sellers have found that on platforms such as Youtube, Facebook, and Instagram, there are a large number of bloggers who only refund wool content through Temu, and the success rate is said to be as high as 95%.
Unlike full escrow, semi-managed sellers are responsible for their own last-mile shipping costs. Taking the seller's own situation as an example, the minimum cost is 4-5 dollars per order, and the cost of the refund alone becomes: the cost of goods + the cost of the first mile + the cost of the last mile.
Generally speaking, the gross profit of most Temu sellers does not reach $5 at all, and according to the Temu seller rules, if the consumer chooses to refund only or return the product for various reasons, then the shipping fee under the order will also be deducted from the merchant account. In this way, sellers simply can't afford it.
In addition to these costs, some netizens reminded that labor costs should also be included, and sellers couldn't stand it.
After dealing with consumers' wool picking, the platform brought the sellers the news of a 3-fold fine.
According to the latest updated after-sales rules of Temu semi-managed background, for products with quality problems, Temu officials have the right to impose 3 times the total value of the goods on the merchant.
According to the feedback of many sellers, they have recently begun to feel the power of Temu's fines. One of the sellers said he had been fined several times because of the statute of limitations. Temu stipulates that orders need to be delivered to the customer within 7 days (customer signature), but the reality is that even if the seller ships the goods on the first day, it is difficult for the consumer to sign for it within 7 days. If you overtime, you will be fined 40 yuan/5 US dollars per order, but your profit is only 10 yuan.
In addition, out of stock, false delivery, fraudulent delivery, illegal logistics freight terms, and product quality problems will incur corresponding fines.
Some seller's chat records show that one seller was fined 66,000 yuan in 14 days, a total fine of 200,000 yuan, and another seller was also deducted 37,000 yuan within a month.
Although the voices of complaints continue, semi-custodianship, as the project that Temu is most concerned about at present, there must still be sellers who enjoy the traffic dividend.
Semi-custodial sellers get traffic tilts, and excellent buyers also run to help
Recently, some sellers opened the Temu front desk and took a look, and found that they are basically the products of semi-managed merchants, and it is rare to see the shadow of fully managed sellers, which shows that Temu is very inclined to semi-managed traffic.
According to this seller, the inventory that he had been unsold on Amazon for a long time has now begun to be slowly cleared through Temu.
There are semi-managed sellers who have posted their own background data, and they have sold more than 100,000 in a month after opening the store, and there are countless sellers who have posted orders.
And this is obviously inseparable from the support of the platform, some Temu sellers said that they have been working very smoothly with the buyer recently suddenly said that he would hand over the work to another buyer, and this made the seller reluctant, after all, it is not easy to have a suitable buyer.
Some netizens speculated that this buyer may have been transferred to the semi-custody business, and many excellent buyers have been transferred to help recently.
With the support of traffic in the early stage, I believe that many sellers are looking forward to this pouring wealth. However, some sellers calmly analyzed that in the case of the same product and price, the semi-managed seller has to compete to see whose last-mile freight and warehousing have more advantages. In addition, the delivery time is also a problem that many sellers need to solve.