Ecommerce big Temu has suspended cross-border gross sales of merchandise in Türkiye. Customers within the nation can solely see and purchase merchandise from native on-line sellers that supply home delivery. The change comes after a regulatory inspection from Türkiye’s Competitors Authority, and it’s unclear if it’s a everlasting change or not.
Since opening its market to European on-line sellers in 2024, Temu has grown steadily in Europe. In June 2025, the platform established an workplace in Istanbul, Türkiye. This was determined after the Commerce Ministry within the nation required all overseas on-line market operators to register a home authorized entity. Round that point, Temu had additionally began permitting Turkish on-line sellers on the platform.
Restructuring to deal with regulatory compliance considerations
Final week, the Turkish Competitors Authority performed an inspection at Temu’s workplace in Istanbul. In response to the company, the go to didn’t sign a proper investigation. Nevertheless, simply days later, Temu made the choice to solely present items from on-line retailers based mostly in Türkiye. This may point out that {the marketplace} is restructuring its operations within the nation to deal with regulatory compliance considerations.
‘The shift impacts purchasing habits of customers who’ve gotten used to purchasing low cost imported merchandise’
The Chinese language on-line market Temu is well-known for its massive product vary, with low cost merchandise coming from on-line sellers based mostly in Asia. Shifting to a Türkiye-only market within the nation impacts purchasing habits of Turkish customers who’ve gotten used to purchasing imported merchandise by the platform.
Tighter guidelines for Chinese language ecommerce platforms
The platform has not expressed whether or not the change is non permanent or everlasting. Türkiye has been intensifying its scrutiny of Chinese language ecommerce platforms working within the nation. Earlier this month, the Commerce Ministry introduced that it’s going to get rid of the present simplified customs clearance course of for gadgets valued as much as 30 euros. This elimination will come into impact on 1 February.
Similar to in different international locations, Turkish investigations confirmed that poisonous and carcinogenic substances have been present in imported merchandise. Since then, native ecommerce organizations have pushed for tighter import guidelines.
Widespread import reforms
And within the European Union, it was determined to take away the customs exemption that was relevant to items with a price of as much as 150 euros by this yr. Whereas Türkiye is unaffected by that reform, it’s evident a name for import rules and reforms is widespread.
