Temu suspends international sales to Turkey

• Istanbul centre raided by authorities
• Not under formal investigation
• Temu blocks access to overseas goods

Chinese online retail platform Temu has suspended all international sales to Turkey after its Istanbul centre was raided by officers of the country’s competition regulatory authority. 

Temu shut down its overseas sales operations in Turkey last week, disabling the international section of its retail app for Turkish clients. 

While Temu has blocked access to all overseas goods, it is maintaining a presence in the Turkish marketplace, continuing to offer local products on its app. 

The state Competition Authority is the main regulatory agency for overseeing the goods and services market.

The agency issued a statement on the day of the raid, January 21, stating that the operation should not be interpreted as formal investigation into Temu, but the company said that electronic devices and records had been accessed by authorities. 

The Temu retreat comes as the operational climate for international ecommerce platforms in Turkey takes on an additional chill. 

As of February 1, all packages imported into Turkey will be subject to customs duties, adding to retailers’ costs. This marks the final stage in Turkish efforts to rein in overseas sales from online vendors, having progressively lowered the duty free ceiling from €150 in mid-2024 to the present rate of €30 per package. 

Though the previous reductions in the duty-free limit did little to scale back online sales – with at least some customers having orders broken up into lower value units to escape tariffs – the elimination of any exemptions may cool consumer appetite for imports, with the government hoping the levies will boost opportunities for local traders. 

Rather than support local retailers, the new customs duties and targeting of overseas ecommerce platforms will have a negative effect, according to Fehmi Darbay, the chair of the executive board of the Electronic Trade Association.

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“The platforms that are present in Turkey are global already, one should not close the doors on them, these platforms come here, build offices and create business,” he told AGBI. 

“Everywhere there are rules and regulations, and they should be in place, but do not slam the doors, otherwise why should they come and invest here?” 

The new customs regulations have the potential to strangle international ecommerce in Turkey, Darbay warned: “Platforms such as Temu, Shein, Amazon and AliExpress will stop sales of goods from abroad, as it is likely that the products will be stuck at customs and not reach the customer.”