Temu Purchase Declines due to "unusual activity." Anyone experience the same?

[Lucas61]

Hello All,

I tried my first purchases at Temu both with and without a VPN (for a U.S. server) where my financial accounts are in the U.S. and my shipping address is in the U.S. (Vimenpaq). Both sets of orders were reversed and refunded due to "unusual activity." I used a debit card and PayPal, both of which, always work when I order something from the U.S. from the D.R. Temu = complete fail due to a heavy-handed fraud algorithim that negates legitimate orders. Needless to say, since this is not a decision that a human makes (except that a human codes the algorithim), no one at Temu can specify the "unusual activity." Without being able to specify the "unusual activity" it is impossible to resolve the problem. Meanwhile, my case has been escalated via customer support. Thus far, Temu gets a FAIL for this reason; looks like it's impossible for me to do business.

Anybody experience this same issue of order reversed and refunded due to "unusual activity"?

 

[windeguy]

I had issues on AliBaba and other sites. Never bought from Temu.

It seems to be related to the US IP address Cable Del Norte uses in my case.
Some news sites require extra steps to access them as of late.

 

[jd426]

With Temu specifically
Just like with Facebook,
The Item/ Service you are Purchasing or getting almost for Free , is NOT The Product .

YOU are the Product .. ie your personal Information, which they can Sell to Buyers ..

The Product you think you are buying is the Gift .. and thats why its so Cheap.

Read that a couple of times , and when you understand it you will have your answer.

 

[El Hijo de Manolo]

With Temu specifically
Just like with Facebook,
The Item/ Service you are Purchasing or getting almost for Free , is NOT The Product .

YOU are the Product .. ie your personal Information, which they can Sell to Buyers ..

The Product you think you are buying is the Gift .. and thats why its so Cheap.

Read that a couple of times , and when you understand it you will have your answer.

Not to split hairs, but that’s kind of how digital marketing and marketing automation work in general these days. Not just the Xhinese.

 

[Lucas61]

I had issues on AliBaba and other sites. Never bought from Temu.

It seems to be related to the US IP address Cable Del Norte uses in my case.
Some news sites require extra steps to access them as of late.

Yeah, I thought the same thing. After my first set of orders were reversed and refunded, I then re-ordered the same set. This time I used Proton VPN (paid for) and selected a server in the U.S. So, in this case, a. My banking is in the U.S, b. My shipping address is in the U.S., c. My computer now has a U.S. IP address. And still the same decline. Well, at least I eliminated that variable.

 

[Lucas61]

With Temu specifically
Just like with Facebook,
The Item/ Service you are Purchasing or getting almost for Free , is NOT The Product .

YOU are the Product .. ie your personal Information, which they can Sell to Buyers ..

The Product you think you are buying is the Gift .. and thats why its so Cheap.

Read that a couple of times , and when you understand it you will have your answer.

If that is true wny are my Amazon orders never declined?

 

[NanSanPedro]

Hello All,

I tried my first purchases at Temu both with and without a VPN (for a U.S. server) where my financial accounts are in the U.S. and my shipping address is in the U.S. (Vimenpaq). Both sets of orders were reversed and refunded due to "unusual activity." I used a debit card and PayPal, both of which, always work when I order something from the U.S. from the D.R. Temu = complete fail due to a heavy-handed fraud algorithim that negates legitimate orders. Needless to say, since this is not a decision that a human makes (except that a human codes the algorithim), no one at Temu can specify the "unusual activity." Without being able to specify the "unusual activity" it is impossible to resolve the problem. Meanwhile, my case has been escalated via customer support. Thus far, Temu gets a FAIL for this reason; looks like it's impossible for me to do business.

Anybody experience this same issue of order reversed and refunded due to "unusual activity"?

I've had something similar with Famous Footwear with a VPN. There's too many others out there for me to worry about it. I just went somewhere else. And as an aside, Temu seems very cringy to me.

 

[Lucas61]

I've had something similar with Famous Footwear with a VPN. There's too many others out there for me to worry about it. I just went somewhere else. And as an aside, Temu seems very cringy to me.

Ditto for me. I felt very "cringy" about it too and decided to forget about it UNTIL my wife (dominicana) told me that she has friends and family members who reguarly place orders and never have problems. That's the only reason I decided to try it. Meanwhile: a. I'm still waiting for my escalated trouble ticket to be resolved (doubtful, I think), b. There's a possibility that my wife can create an account with delivery here, Temu linked to the D.R., and her BanReservas debit card. We'll have to find out exactly how her friends/family do this. Starting to feel that this is more trouble than it's worth but not ready to give up yet.

 

[jd426]

Not to split hairs, but that’s kind of how digital marketing and marketing automation work in general these days. Not just the Xhinese.

Yes, but the Chinese Companies like Temu are Hyper Focused on this . They learned it from Feyboo.
feyboo is all about ADS .. and engaging people ( esp your Friends) , and then more Ads.
Temu is selling your Information to many different Buyers .
They dont care about the Products you are buying from them,
Its a Gift to get you to sign on..




And no, I dont think Amazon would want to Share you with other Retailers (to answer the other poster).
They will do anything in fact to keep you as a loyal Customer and not stray.
Quite the opposite Business Model of Temu.

 

[Lucas61]

Yes, but the Chinese Companies like Temu are Hyper Focused on this . They learned it from Feyboo.
feyboo is all about ADS .. and engaging people ( esp your Friends) , and then more Ads.
Temu is selling your Information to many different Buyers .
They dont care about the Products you are buying from them,
Its a Gift to get you to sign on..




And no, I dont think Amazon would want to Share you with other Retailers (to answer the other poster).
They will do anything in fact to keep you as a loyal Customer and not stray.
Quite the opposite Business Model of Temu.

If that's true, then why are my wife's family members NOT declined due to "unusual activity"?

 

[Lucas61]

If that's true, then why are my wife's family members NOT declined due to "unusual activity"?

If you answer fits some situations but not all situations then your answer is incomplete.

 

[cavok]

I've placed three orders so far with Temu. No problems so far. Items do take about 2 weeks to get here in the DR.

 

[Lucas61]

I've placed three orders so far with Temu. No problems so far. Items do take about 2 weeks to get here in the DR.

When you say "get here in the D.R." that suggests a possible reason for my problem--not an exact reason but a general reason. We placed DIFFERENT types of orders, mine to the U.S. and yours to the D.R. Your "type" of order was accepted and my "type" of order was declined. We both ordered from the SAME place but with DIFFERENT types of orders.

 

[cavok]

When you say "get here in the D.R." that suggests a possible reason for my problem--not an exact reason but a general reason. We placed DIFFERENT types of orders, mine to the U.S. and yours to the D.R. Your "type" of order was accepted and my "type" of order was declined. We both ordered from the SAME place but with DIFFERENT types of orders.

No, my order was first sent to BM Cargo in Miami. Two weeks was the total time to get here inc. BMC.

 

[Lucas61]

No, my order was first sent to BM Cargo in Miami. Two weeks was the total time to get here inc. BMC.

Hmm, thanks for the clarification. And mine via Vimenpaq in Doral, Fl. I order stuff from the U.S. all the time and never have a problem. Temu is my first and only problem after 15 years of ordering stuff. So it looks like I still don't know the reason. And my debit card was rejected from the get go, and I've used that debit card in the U.S. and here and never had a problem. My PayPal account was accepted by Temu, then rejected with a refund processed. I received the refund within minutes of rejection. And I never have issues with PayPal--only with Temu. I sure wonder why you have no problems and I have problems with two forms of payment that I've never had issues with . . .

 

[windeguy]

Yeah, I thought the same thing. After my first set of orders were reversed and refunded, I then re-ordered the same set. This time I used Proton VPN (paid for) and selected a server in the U.S. So, in this case, a. My banking is in the U.S, b. My shipping address is in the U.S., c. My computer now has a U.S. IP address. And still the same decline. Well, at least I eliminated that variable.

I have no actual VPN to check out what would happen if I tried to use one. But, yes it is odd that they don't want our money.

I never have a problem with AMAZON or Ebay orders other then some arrive later than they are supposed to and my money has already been refunded.

 

[jd426]

If that's true, then why are my wife's family members NOT declined due to "unusual activity"?

I honestly dont know the Answer to that , Nor do I even have a guess, but I doubt its to Protect you from any kind of Fraud .
but perhaps they had disputed charges , and somehow linked them to you? by a Similar address or such .
Do you live in a Multi Unit building ?
Ask them to explain what this Unusual Activity is which they refer to .

 

[Uzin]

Some websites detect use of VPN and reject some operations, I've seen that with some banks, even BBC sometimes detect and refuse streaming. It might be the case with Temu...

Connection with DR IP address and ordering to US and using US card and account could also be flagged as suspect.

When I had this issue I connected to different VPN server in the same country and got around it. This is because they not recognise all VPN server IP addresses, but some of them.

My case is easy to change server and check, just login or see if I can stream from BBC etc. . But for shopping you have to go through the whole process and see if it fails or not after, too much hassle...!