Who should sell on Temu
Temu fits sellers with high-volume, low-price-point products who can operate on thin per-unit margins across large order counts — it is not a fit for premium-positioned or narrow-margin brands. Two very different operating models now sit under the "sell on Temu" umbrella, and which one applies to you changes almost everything else on this page: the original cross-border consignment model (Temu takes inventory into its own fulfillment network and handles shipping, storage, and returns, generally from Chinese warehouses) and the newer Local Seller Program / semi-managed model (you hold and ship inventory that is already inside the destination country). If you're comparing Temu against other cross-border-friendly options, see Best Marketplaces to Sell On.
A note on sourcing, before anything else
Unlike every other hub in this section, Temu does not publish an official, public seller fee schedule or a single comprehensive seller-eligibility page as of this writing. Everything below on fees and several details on eligibility come from third-party seller-services guides (cited in Sources) rather than Temu's own documentation, and those guides don't always agree with each other on specifics. We're flagging this plainly rather than presenting third-party numbers as confirmed platform fact — reconfirm any number below directly in Temu's own Seller Center before pricing a SKU.
Fees (third-party-reported, unconfirmed by Temu)
| Model | Reported commission | Category variation |
|---|---|---|
| Fully managed (consignment) | Roughly 2-5% | Electronics/toys/games reported at the low end (2-3%); fashion, apparel, and beauty reported at the high end (3-5%) |
| Semi-Managed / Local Seller | Roughly 8-15% | Electronics/toys reported around 8-10%; fashion and beauty reported up to 15% |
On top of commission, semi-managed/Local Seller accounts are reported to carry a roughly $39/month business-account subscription and third-party payment processing (PayPal, at roughly 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction) — the fully-managed model reportedly carries no subscription fee and no seller-side payment processing cost, since Temu itself handles checkout. Payout cadence is reported as weekly-to-biweekly for fully-managed sellers and 3-7 business days for semi-managed sellers via PayPal. None of these figures come from a Temu-published fee schedule — treat them as directional only, gathered from multiple seller-services guides published in 2026.
The Local Seller Program: what it is and why it exists now
Temu launched local-warehousing selling in early 2024 to let merchants fulfill orders from inventory already inside a market rather than shipping cross-border for every order, and has since expanded which markets can reach which other markets under the same program. As of this update, the program reportedly spans roughly 37 markets, and 2026 has brought new regional reach: sellers in nine EU countries gained access to sell into the UK, Iceland, and Switzerland, and U.S.-based sellers gained the ability to sell into Canada starting December 2025. Registration is reported as a four-step flow (account creation, business location/type, business registration details including an EIN, and identity verification) taking roughly 10 minutes, with approval typically issued within one business day.
What changed recently: the end of the U.S. de minimis exemption
The U.S. de minimis exemption — which had let low-value parcels (historically under $800) enter the country duty-free — ended globally in August 2025, removing the mechanism that made Temu's original direct-from-China cross-border shipping model cheap for U.S. buyers. This is a large part of why the Local Seller Program (fulfilling from inventory already inside the destination market, avoiding a duty-triggering cross-border parcel entirely) has become strategically important rather than a minor feature — sellers relying on the older cross-border consignment model into markets that removed their de minimis threshold should expect cost and pricing dynamics to look different than they did in 2024. See Currency, Duties, and VAT Basics for Cross-Border Selling for the underlying mechanics of duties and de minimis thresholds generally.
Eligibility & how to apply
Cross-border/fully-managed sellers apply through Temu's standard seller onboarding; Local Seller Program applicants additionally provide business registration details and complete identity verification, as described above. Neither path has a single, official, fully public eligibility checklist as of this writing — expect the application flow itself to surface additional requirements.
Product categories & restrictions
Temu's catalog spans a very wide range of low-to-mid-price categories (home goods, apparel, electronics accessories, toys, beauty). As with any marketplace, hazardous materials, counterfeit goods, and other standard restricted-product categories apply — confirm current restrictions directly in Seller Center before sourcing into a new category.
Sources
Digital Commerce 360, "Sell Locally and Now Into Regional Markets: Temu's Local Seller Program Explained (2026 Update)" (digitalcommerce360.com), April 30, 2026. OneCart, "Temu Seller Fees [2026]: 2-15% Commission + Hidden Costs" (getonecart.com), fetched September 2026 — third-party fee compilation, not an official Temu source. CNBC, "Retail panic: What the end of the 'de minimis' exemption means for brands across the globe" (cnbc.com), August 29, 2025. None of the fee or eligibility specifics above are independently confirmed by an official Temu seller-documentation page; reconfirm directly in Temu Seller Center before relying on any figure here.