Does Galaxus sell Temu products?
The consumer magazine «Saldo» has accused us of reselling Temu goods at several times the price. Specifically, a potato cutter and other items from the Fischer² brand that a Swiss supplier bought on Temu and sold to us at an inflated price without carrying out the required checks. We take a closer look at what actually happened, what went wrong, and what this has to do with fair pricing.
What happened?
A reader of the consumer magazine «Saldo» bought a Fischer² potato cutter from us for CHF 14.90. The same product is available on Temu for CHF 2.91. That became the headline: Galaxus selling Temu goods at five times the price. Our detailed explanation of how this individual case came about got lost along the way. This is often how media works nowadays. Blowing up a single case into a dramatised, sweeping statement gets more attention than a nuanced view; the latter demands more effort from both journalist and reader alike. We’re taking this opportunity to lay out the case properly ourselves.
The specific case
We vet every new supplier and merchant before adding them to our shop. All of them sign a contract in which they commit to complying with both Swiss law and our own guidelines.
The supplier in question had worked with us for quite some time, supplying good products. Later, they started buying goods directly on Temu and listing them with us. But because the products were popular with the Community, received good ratings and nobody complained, we didn’t notice the guideline breach. Although we have a large team dedicated to supplier management, and another that handles regulatory compliance, perfect monitoring simply isn’t possible with several million products.
The goods originated from Temu. The supplier has since confirmed that they bought them there. This is the crucial part: they imported the products themselves, stored them in Switzerland and placed them on the market from here. That’s not dropshipping. Dropshipping would be the supplier shipping goods straight from China to customers, with nobody in the country of sale taking responsibility. Here, by contrast, there’s a tangible, liable party in Switzerland – the supplier – and we, the seller, even serve as a second one. The fact that the goods even included mention of their Temu origin doesn’t change that.
In fact, the supplier fell short on two fronts: they disregarded their legal obligations and breached our contract. They had contractually committed to complying with Swiss law and our guidelines. This matters all the more because stricter legal obligations apply to items that come into contact with food. Depending on the material, the «Bedarfsgegenständeverordnung» (ordinance on materials and articles in contact with foodstuffs, link in German) requires proof of conformity for such items. And under Article 26 of the Foodstuffs Act, anyone who commercially imports and places such goods on the market must ensure they meet legal requirements and is obliged to carry out self-checks. The supplier failed to do so.
So it’s a pretty clear-cut case. A smaller supplier bought products on Temu, tested them and added some of the ones they considered «superior» to the range – presumably not in bad faith, but without realising they were breaching their legal obligations and our contract.
We find the supplier’s conduct unacceptable. We do take responsibility for the fact that it slipped through the cracks on our end, though. After all, this is a supplier of ours.
To be clear, we’re not fundamentally against products from China, nor against products that can also be found on Temu. Just because two products may look similar doesn’t automatically mean they’re the same goods. A factory in China can export a product to a Swiss supplier, making sure it’s compliant for the Swiss market, while also offering the very same product via a merchant on Temu without that extra step. We ourselves investigated just how similar products can look, and how you can still spot the differences in our post titled «Is the same tat from China really everywhere?». Temu carries millions of products too, and by no means are all of them bad. What matters to us isn’t the origin, but whether the products we sell meet local regulations. And we don’t want goods that are also available on Temu to be sold by us at a much higher price without any real added value.
Why is Temu so cheap?
For the very reasons mentioned above: Temu has to meet very few regulations for its products. The law explicitly exempts imports by private individuals (Article 2, Paragraph 4, Letter b of the Foodstuffs Act). That means that if you order from abroad as a private individual, you become the importer and therefore bear full responsibility. If the product is harmful to your health or if a non-compliant device causes a fire, you, the customer, are personally liable.
Then there’s the price itself. Analyses have shown that Temu sells much of its range below its own costs, losing money on every order – anywhere from a few dollars to roughly 30 US dollars, depending on the data. The highest, most widely cited figure comes from a 2023 supply-chain analysis by Wired, which references subsidised shipping in the US market; Temu disputes such estimates. The exact size of the loss isn’t relevant to the crux of the matter. That is, this market is heavily distorted. If, on the other hand, a Swiss supplier buys in China – as we do too, at Galaxus – and does everything properly: imports the goods cleanly, complies with all laws, stores them in Switzerland and delivers them to customers, then a cheap product quickly becomes several times more expensive. The same holds true, if to a lesser extent, when you buy a product in Germany instead of Switzerland. Products are usually a bit cheaper there, though not because of a cross-subsidised market – rather, it’s because local costs are lower. In Switzerland, wages – and with them staffing costs for purchasing, warehousing and customer service – are higher, and rent for warehousing and office space is more expensive too. Both ultimately feed into higher sale prices.
This inequality has been recognised. In June 2026, the Federal Council submitted a partial revision of the «Produktesicherheitsgesetz» (product safety act, link in German) for consultation, which is still ongoing. It aims to impose new obligations on online retail players, including product identification details, warning and safety information, a Swiss contact point and cooperation with enforcement authorities. This is intended to bring foreign platforms closer to the same rules that have long applied to Swiss retailers. We welcome this in principle.
Why we’re critical of Temu, and why that’s not a contradiction
«Saldo» makes it seem as though criticising Temu while also having sold Temu goods were hypocritical. But the two facts have nothing to do with each other. Our criticism is substantively grounded and well documented, including in our own articles:
- Independent tests, such as those by German testing foundation «Stiftung Warentest», regularly show that a large share of goods from Temu and similar platforms contain harmful substances or breach safety standards, and that a CE mark alone is no guarantee of safety (see «A lot of poison for little money»).
- On top of that, there are manipulative purchase incentives, questionable data practices and a high environmental cost (see «Shop on Temu if you want, but doing so has its consequences»). The fact that a single supplier smuggled Temu goods into our range doesn’t change this stance. Quite the opposite: this is exactly the kind of unchecked product we don’t want in our range. The case strengthens our criticism – it doesn’t disprove it.
What a first importer must comply with
This case shows what really matters. Anyone who places goods from abroad on the Swiss market for the first time counts as the importer and with that takes on full responsibility for ensuring they comply with local rules. What this means in practice depends on the product.
The «Produktesicherheitsgesetz» (product safety act, link in German), along with its ordinance, applies to most consumer goods. For food and items that come into contact with food, such as the potato cutter in this case, the Foodstuffs Act and the «Bedarfsgegenständeverordnung» (ordinance on materials and articles in contact with foodstuffs, link in German) apply instead. Swiss requirements are largely aligned with those of the EU. Under the «Bundesgesetz über die technischen Handelshemmnisse» (federal act on technical barriers to trade, link in German), the «Cassis de Dijon» principle also applies: goods lawfully on the market in the EU may, in principle, also be sold in Switzerland. There are, however, exceptions. Food that doesn’t meet Swiss regulations, for instance, may only be placed on the market with prior authorisation from the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office.
Evidence and documentation
Before selling, an importer must ensure and be able to prove that a product is compliant.
- For many product groups, such as electrical appliances, toys or machinery, the manufacturer must issue a declaration of conformity and affix the CE mark to the product. The importer must request this declaration and keep it on file. A CE logo alone isn’t enough. Those working diligently will request to see the underlying test reports from recognised laboratories. For particularly high-risk products, a certificate from an independent testing body is also required.
- For items in contact with food, a proof of conformity depending on the material is required according to the «Bedarfsgegenständeverordnung» (ordinance on materials and articles in contact with foodstuffs). This could be a written declaration of conformity for plastics, for instance.
- If the responsible authorities carry out a random test, the importer must be able to produce the required technical documentation within a short deadline. Anyone who fails to do so risks a sales ban.
Labelling, language and traceability
As soon as goods go to retailers or end customers, there are additional formal obligations that also have to be met.
- The party placing the goods on the market must be identifiable. Their name and address must appear on the product, the packaging or the accompanying documents, so customers and authorities know who brought the goods into Switzerland. For food and food-contact items, the law even requires a responsible person with a business address in Switzerland.
- Instructions must be provided in the official language of the sales region. Warning and safety information must be provided in all official languages or using unambiguous symbols. In other words, a manual written only in English or Chinese isn’t enough for safety-relevant information.
- The importer must ensure traceability. This means documenting which goods they supplied from where and who they supplied them to. This ensures a product can be recalled if needed. None of this is out of the ordinary: this is the standard for reputable trade in Switzerland. In this case, the supplier didn’t put in the required effort.
The benefits of shopping in Switzerland
A higher price isn’t an end in itself. It pays for tangible benefits:
- Clear liability: Both the supplier and the seller are liable. If something goes wrong, you’re not alone.
- Compliance with Swiss law: Switzerland has high safety standards, especially for food and food-contact products.
- Faster availability: The goods are already in Switzerland.
- Warranty, returns and service: All are handled in accordance with Swiss law.
Could this happen again?
Honestly? Yes. We carry several million products in our range, with several hundred thousand being added or removed every month. As such, we have to rely on manufacturers and suppliers to comply with the law – Swiss suppliers with Swiss law, and manufacturers based in the EU with European law at the very least. That said, we’ll keep investing in our selection process to catch cases like the Fischer² products earlier in future.
In closing
I hope this article has shed some light on the matter. Quality at every level matters to us, and we really do invest a lot in guaranteeing it. But it’s a complex topic, and there’s always room for improvement. And that’s exactly what we’re working on.
Cool: Creating interfaces between the real world and the world of pure information. Not cool: Driving by car to the mall to shop. My life happens online, the information age is where I feel at home.
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