Last week, I spent several hours exploring the Temu app, trying everything from the 'free gift' games, offers, spinning wheel, 1-cent coupons, and other promotions to see what I could find out.
The ultimate goal: To find out whether these Temu gifts are even real or fake. What’s the catch? What are they counting on you not noticing?
Here’s what I found. I’ll walk you through the different games, price tricks, 'free gift' offers, and whether you’re likely to come out ahead or be duped.
What I did
- I installed the Temu app and shopped in Canadian currency.
- I played the games, spun the wheel, looked at the gift offers, and minimum spend coupons.
- I took notes of each game, whether referrals or clicks were needed, and how the gift’s listed value compared to other places in the app.
- I compared the gift items in promotion interfaces to their price if you just searched for them normally or bought them outside the promotion.
What are these Temu games?
While games like Fishland have been phased out of Temu, the website uses a handful of other promotional games to lure you in:
Spinning wheels
For this, you get a free spin or spin-to-win pop-up. However, in many cases, the spin always “wins” the same small reward. This is usually a coupon of some sort. In my research, there is rarely a big gift. It’s the classic psychology of winning something, so you stay engaged, while the valuable prizes are extremely unlikely. I didn’t get any high-value gifts via the wheel in my trials.
Bonus wheels
These games are similar to the spinning wheels, but instead of winning a free prize, you get a bonus discount on the item purchased. This is typically a percentage off the cart.
In my experiment, I was able to get a discount on some items based on playing this game. I was able to successfully apply a double-discount in addition to a $10 credit I won from the spin-the-wheel game to purchase a set of new lights for my kitchen!
I received a 2-for-1 discount of $11.69, and another $10 spin-the-wheel game for a total of $21.69 off the original price.
Other offers
These 'free gifts' are often obtained by placing orders in the app instead of the website. Sometimes you also get special free or 1-cent offers by spending a minimum amount and selecting an offer from a curated list of products.
Temu will show a set of free or 1-cent gifts you can pick once your cart or order meets certain thresholds. But the items in the gift gallery are often more expensive (in list price) than their regular counterparts. Sometimes, Temu inflates the regular or before promo price to make the discounted or free gift look amazing.
When you compare that same item outside of the promo, the price is much lower. Reddit threads confirm users noticing a 'free gift' item that supposedly “saves you $40” being priced like $5 elsewhere.
Comparing the prices
Here is where it gets tricky. Oftentimes, regular prices shown in the gift gallery might appear exaggerated. It's not that they are incorrect, but rather they're showing you a multi-pack price.
In my search, I found that the regular price is if you purchase a two-pack of lamps, while the offer price is only for one.
Temu shows them to be a regular price $54.20, now free with a purchase of $100.
The offer with the game brought the price down to $9.99, but is only for one lamp.
Then I searched those exact items in Temu search (outside the promo) or found them via direct product links. Often, I found the same model for less than what the free-gift gallery had listed as the regular price. Sometimes, even less than the value needed to unlock the gift.
The takeaway: Temu may raise the regular or compare-at price of the gift so the “deal” looks much better than reality. They bank on people thinking they are getting something worth $30 for free, versus comparing fairly.
Then, when you choose the free gift, you often have to spend extra or meet thresholds. Sometimes items in your cart that are part of unlocking the gift are priced a bit higher than if bought individually later.
Are the Temu free gifts real or fake? My thoughts
After my research, here’s how I would address whether Temu's free gifts are real or fake:
They are not completely fake. It is possible to receive gifts, or at the very least, a decent discount. But the gifts don’t come free. They often require minimum spend, and the gifts are curated in a way to make you think you’re receiving a better discount than in reality.
There are many strings, including inflated regular prices, time commitments, spending requirements, and thresholds.
Other tricks I noticed
Compare-at vs regular price: Temu often exaggerates what something is “worth” before a discount or free gift. Then the free/gift listing makes you feel you scored.
Cart threshold: Spend X dollars to unlock a free gift. But some of the items in your cart (or that you need to buy) may be overpriced in that interface. So your minimum spend almost always nudges you to spend more.
Time-limited deals: Free gift offers vanish and give you a sense of urgency to spend. These games also rotate, sometimes are even just for illustration only, while other times the thresholds move.
Coupons and bundles: Coupons like “$100 off orders over $200” are real, and I have had success scoring these, but they usually have conditions. Sometimes, they require you to apply the coupon to certain pricier sellers. A friend got one of these offers and had to purchase three items to receive a $300 bundle.
If you look at the fine print, however, you'll see that it's a coupon bundle and only one coupon can be used per future order with a minimum spend. This means you have to realistically spend a lot more money to access any substantial savings.
Doing the math
If you look at the fine print above, in order to access the full $360 worth of savings in the coupon bundle, you would have to spend the minimums for each of the individual coupons. Only one coupon can be used per order, meaning you must make seven individual transactions.
- $95 off over $300 spend
- $60 off over $200 spend
- $75 off over $200 spend
- $50 off over $150 spend
- $30 off over $100 spend
- $30 off over $100 spend
- $20 off over $60 spend
In order to receive the full $360 coupon savings, you must spend a grand total of $1,110 across seven different transactions.
Where can you find the most success?
From my experiment, I found there are ways to come out ahead, but only if you are savvy. Here are my tips based on what I saw:
- Always check the non-promo price of the gift item. If you can find the same item by searching, compare it. If the “free gift” item is usually way cheaper outside, the offer is less good than it looks.
- Track time vs gain. If a game takes a daily effort for a small item, ask whether you want to put in that time.
- Don’t trust “regular value” numbers without proof. Temu frequently uses compare at or strikethrough prices that appear inflated.
- Use coupons carefully. If there is a $100 off coupon, make sure you are buying items you already want, and that you are not inflating the cart just to meet the threshold.
- Be wary of referrals. They help, but at a cost (inviting, waiting, sometimes friends don’t reciprocate).
- Finally, this might seem obvious, but talk to customer service. If you feel you've been cheated by a promotion, send customer service a message. Your mileage may vary, but you may get a goodwill discount for a future purchase.
Bottom line
Temu’s gift promotions are often real, but heavily engineered to extract value from your time, attention, or purchases. If you go in expecting something for nothing, you’ll be disappointed. If you go in skeptical, reading all the fine print, checking normal prices, and possibly referring friends, then yes, you can win something.
