{"id":649933,"date":"2026-05-26T14:19:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T12:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=649933"},"modified":"2026-05-26T14:28:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T12:28:24","slug":"warning-about-temu-counterfeit-goods-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/internet\/649933-warning-about-temu-counterfeit-goods-in-south-africa.html","title":{"rendered":"Warning about Temu counterfeit goods in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Merchants on Chinese e-commerce platform Temu continue to list counterfeit goods for sale, including items featuring prominent South African brands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These included prominent sports teams such as the Springboks, Sharks, Orlando Pirates, Mamelodi Sundowns, and Kaizer Chiefs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Temu even had various items bearing the logos of Nando\u2019s, Woolworths, and Buffelsfontein for sale on its platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem does not only affect big companies but also small sellers who have developed their own brands, who have asked in online forums how to stop Temu from \u201cstealing their brands\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa is also not unique, with Members of the European Parliament recently reporting back after a mission to China regarding e-commerce platforms offering direct import services from the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe witnessed how big these companies are. We are not used to the size of these companies, and they are now very active in our market,\u201d Parliament member Dirk Gotink said<\/a> on an EPP Group podcast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gotink said they found the companies receptive whenever confronted about the problem of counterfeit and unsafe products being sold on their platforms. \u201cThey want to comply,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHowever, we still don\u2019t see it at the border, which is the main problem. You can find all kinds of fake, unsafe, and unhealthy products on platforms like Temu, and we have to do much more to stop it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa\u2019s problems are similar, including shortcomings in border enforcement by the South African Revenue Service\u2019s customs division.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the years, MyBroadband has received many complaints from small- and medium-sized sellers who said they have ensured compliance with local regulations at great cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This included obtaining Letters of Authority from the NRCS, type approval from telecommunications regulator ICASA, and other necessary certifications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Product distributors and merchants told MyBroadband they were being driven out of business by retailers, including Temu, that were allowing cheaper, non-compliant goods on their platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Energy industry analysts and associations have also warned about the safety dangers inherent in non-compliant electrical goods being sold in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Knock-offs of Woolworths, Nando\u2019s, and sports teams<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

MyBroadband asked Temu what systems it had in place to ensure products sold on its platform in South Africa are genuine and properly licensed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It responded by asking us to provide specific examples, and after a few minutes on the platform, we had found at least 10 different major brands whose logos were being used on knock-off merchandise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the knock-offs we discovered included bags with the Woolworths logo, various Nando\u2019s-branded items, counterfeit supporters jerseys, and various items with the Buffelsfontein logo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTemu requires sellers to comply with applicable laws and regulations and platform policies as a condition of operating on the marketplace,\u201d the e-commerce giant said after being given the screenshots. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe unauthorised use of intellectual property is prohibited. In response to your specific query, we are in the process of taking down the listings as a precaution while we review the products.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not the first time MyBroadband has highlighted the issue. Last year, we also found various items exploiting the branding of popular sports teams<\/a> on the platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Temu previously assured that it safeguarded thousands of brands through a combination of automated detection and manual review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe welcome rights holders to register their brand assets with us to enhance screening, and to submit takedown requests through our IP protection portal<\/a>,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe take intellectual property rights seriously. Our policies prohibit infringement, and we enforce them by removing listings, suspending listing privileges, and in some cases, terminating seller accounts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, Temu has been on a global drive to sign undertakings with regulators to provide assurances about safety compliance, as well as compliance with copyright and trademark law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs a member of the International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition (IACC) and its Marketplace Advisory Council, Temu supports broader industry efforts to fight the sale of counterfeit goods online,\u201d it told MyBroadband.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Merchants on Chinese e-commerce platform Temu continue to list counterfeit goods for sale, including items featuring prominent South African brands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":649940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,18],"tags":[105498,105496,12909,44334,98142,105497,12245,41280,21665,2938,87953,8507],"class_list":["post-649933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-internet","tag-buffelsfontein","tag-dirk-gotink","tag-european-union","tag-kaizer-chiefs","tag-mamelodi-sundowns","tag-marmite","tag-nandos","tag-orlando-pirates","tag-sharks","tag-springboks","tag-temu","tag-woolworths"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649933"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649933"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":649948,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649933\/revisions\/649948"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}