Illustration: Andriy Onufriyenko/Getty Images

The Chinese shopping app is topping app stores in the US. But it’s burning money and squeezing its suppliers to a breaking point in a bid to take on Amazon. Eight makeup brushes for less than a dollar, with free international shipping, is surely too good to be true. But in the lightning deals section of Temu, the prices are all unbelievable—50 hair bands for $1.17, 10 pairs of socks for $3.87, six lip balms for $0.97.