In the second week of July, 2025, Temu partnered with logistics providers to open a local warehouse in South Africa. This does not mean Temu now has a physical warehouse in the country, but the model allows sellers to manage their own inventory and logistics.
For South African buyers, this means lower import fees and faster deliveries for select items. Products marked “local warehouse” are stocked within the country and typically skip standard import duties—customers often only pay a flat R75 delivery fee for orders above R650.
I recently made an order of R638 and paid import duty of R194.90 (about 31%), bumping the total to nearly R833. If these items were in the local warehouse, I could have just paid R75, saving more than half of the import fees.
“Eligible products are labeled ‘local warehouse’, indicating that they are stocked in domestic facilities and dispatched directly from within South Africa,” Temu said.
I have been keeping an eye on the Temu app since it debuted the local warehousing model. So far, most of what is marked as locally available include home goods, wigs, and women’s t-shirts; more local stock is gradually being added.
For now, fashion lovers still have to pay import fees—most of the stylish clothes that pop up on the Temu app are not yet labelled local. “I was excited to see that Temu now has a warehouse in South Africa. I started browsing the app to check if the trendy clothes my daughter loves were available locally—but most of them are not marked as local, so they will still come from overseas and I still have to pay tax,” said Siza Hwalima, a regular Temu shopper.
Hwalima sees Temu as a great option for fast fashion fans, especially when shopping for kids and teens who quickly outgrow their clothes. When asked about her local shopping habits, she said she mixes Temu with local brands and thinks Temu’s clothing tends to be more stylish.
While there are a few clothing items, the local warehousing is currently focused on home goods.
“The local warehouse enables Temu to offer new product categories, such as furniture, home goods, and other bulkier items, that were previously less accessible due to international shipping constraints,” said Temu.
Temu officially entered South Africa in January 2024 through PDD Holdings, and quickly became one of the country’s most downloaded shopping apps. Weekly downloads of the platform’s app peaked between 72,000 and 551,000 in Q3 2024, while monthly active users climbed from 788,000 to nearly 1.8 million in just two months. Temu’s user numbers got a boost through its more flexible user verification compared to Shein. While Shein only lets people with a South African ID to make purchases, Temu accepts both IDs and passports, making it easier for foreign nationals living in South Africa to shop on the platform.
The local warehouse strategy puts Temu in direct competition with Amazon, which launched a South African site in 2024, and local heavyweights like Takealot and Makro.
South African customs had planned to impose a flat 45% import duty and 15% VAT on all clothing parcels—removing concessions for low-value shipments—but the rollout stalled. When this is finalised, fashion lovers will pay a higher fee on items that are lot local. It’s still unclear whether the current 20% duty plus 15% VAT for low-cost imports applies consistently as I paid lower than that.
Finding local items on the Temu app is not easy since there is no dedicated filter for local products, but I have done the legwork to help fellow shoppers spot what is local.
How to spot locally stocked items on Temu
- Search “local warehouse” – type this phrase into the Temu app or website search bar. It filters for products stocked in South Africa.
- Look for the “Local Warehouse” label – eligible items will have a tag that says “Local Warehouse” or “Ships from South Africa” or “Tax free” This means they’re stored domestically and qualify for faster delivery.
- Check delivery estimates – local items usually show 1–2 day delivery windows. If it says 7–21 days, it’s likely shipping from overseas.
- Check the delivery fee – orders under R650 from a single seller may still carry a R75 delivery fee—even if the item is local.
- Also follow these hacks to shop other items even if not labelled local
- Temu has various payment methods including card payments, EFTs and Buy Now Pay .
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