Temu sells US$4 remotes compatible with e-commerce rival Amazon’s Fire TV Stick

Temu is selling Alexa-activated remote controls that are compatible with Amazon’s Fire TV Stick for as little as US$4. Similar generic versions cost about US$10 on Amazon.com, while the official Fire TV replacement is about US$25.

Since emerging in 2022, Temu has challenged Amazon’s speedy delivery guarantees by offering steep discounts to shoppers willing to wait about a week to receive their orders.

The knock-off Fire TV remotes are selling briskly, according to Temu’s site, which gave the “bestseller” badge to one product described as a “replacement Alexa Voice Remote Control” that is compatible with Fire TV streaming devices.

Temu shoppers bought more than 75,000 units of the product, which had a 4.6-star rating from thousands of reviews. Many of the reviewers said the replacement looked exactly like the remotes that came with their Amazon streaming devices. The devices are provided by a China-based company called “Cilcone,” according to the website.

“I was sceptical that this would work, but for the cost was willing to try,” one review dated August 16 states. “All I had to do was put batteries in, follow the instructions and within 30 seconds it was controlling my Fire Cube and TV.”