It isn’t all or nothing, products from Temu/Shein/AliExpress are not all “crap”; (and the idea that Chinese products are crap is also seriously outdated). Yes, there’s a lot of shovelware on those websites, but if you know how to navigate them you can get the same products that you’d get from Amazon for a third of the price. I’ve bought bags, tools, hobby equipment etc from aliexpress that has lasted me years and saved literally 50% on average.

Buy item X from Amazon, which is effectively a Temu product+ a 50% markup.

Or buy direct from Temu/AliExpress and save money?

It's not a hard choice.

I like watches. While I still pay retail for most of my watches, the bands are like 2$ on AliExpress and 15$ on Amazon. Phone cases are much much cheaper.

Certain phones aren't released domestically at all, so now I'm looking at a 100$ fee to import them. If I want to work on a project requiring a PCB that's now impossibly expensive.

Our neighbours have Prime vans as well as unmarked white delivery vans dropping stuff off almost daily, mostly small items. I have sometimes wondered where it all goes, until I see their overflowing garbage and recycling bins.

I don’t buy things online too often (about once a month, I would say), but regularly I buy on AliExpress things that I cannot find elsewhere at a decent price or at all (mostly electronics and specialised hobbyist stuff). On the other hand, yes, Temi is cheap garbage, and so is much of AliExpress. And Amazon as well, to be honest. Real life leaves room for a lot of nuance.

There is also 'cheap' stuff from Temu that doesn't fall apart.

There are plenty of white label products that are made in China and marked up 400+% in the US and sold under name brands.

There are plenty of times a cheap tool is useful over an expensive one.

Reality doesn't fall under your simple black and white classification.

No, I had the exact same thoughts. I personally find it crazy to think that you'd buy something (that isn't an explicit perishable or consumable) and intentionally buy something shoddy or discard it after only a few weeks.

With regards to clothing, I'm kind of glad the market for cheap shit from sweatshops is getting a beating, as I'm tired of seeing fewer and fewer legitimately durable clothing items. We need more union shops like Carhartt's (which only makes a few things anymore) building nice durable clothing. God knows a good pure cotton duck jacket or pants are both better for the environment (no petroleum products for synthetic materials and longer life) and frankly a better investment when they last years or at least months under the hardest abuse.

I make maybe 5 Amazon purchases a year. There are a lot of shopping addicts out there! Gotta get your dopamine fix somehow I suppose.

Very easy if your bar is already at rock bottom (amazon).