‘I’m really desperate now’: Temu sellers revolt against fines and withheld pay

Editor’s Note: Sign up for CNN’s Meanwhile in China newsletter which explores what you need to know about the country’s rise and how it impacts the world.

Hong Kong CNN —

Online shopping site Temu has faced tough questions before about its business practices. Now it has a new problem: a backlash from independent merchants based in China who sell their products on the wildly popular rival to Amazon.

Hundreds of them staged a demonstration this week at an office affiliated with Temu in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou. They were protesting what they called “unjust” fines levied by the company or withheld payment on goods already sold, among other complaints.

The protest, which peaked on Monday and had largely dispersed by mid-week, highlights the myriad challenges faced by Temu, owned by Chinese e-commerce giant PDD (PDD), as it continues an ambitious and expensive global expansion. The platform entered its latest market, Thailand, last month.

Temu operates as an online store, carrying cut-price merchandise from self-employed sellers. More than 100,000 of them are based in China, according to Marketplace Pulse, a research firm.

Temu suppliers protesting at the Aoyuan Group Mansion in Guangzhou, China, on July 29.

According to videos taken by a protester on Monday and seen by CNN, the demonstrators gathered to chant slogans demanding their money. Dozens of them managed to get into the office and staged a sit-in. The atmosphere, while loud and tense, was peaceful.

Two suppliers, who declined to be named for fear of retribution, separately told CNN that they were there to complain about what they called “disproportionately high” fines charged by Temu for poor customer service. This could include late deliveries,