The economy is not getting worse and unemployment is at an all-time low.
That being said, I don’t shop at Temu, but I have seen Alibaba sellers use Amazon images for products they don’t even carry. I presume they hope you will purchase something else anyway.
In any event, I am trying to work directly with manufacturers so that I am not competing with China, etc. I have watched as they overtake product niches with inferior product at Amazon. Some of the prices I see from Chinese sellers even at Amazon are crazy low…this was $7.99 through Amazon FBA yesterday (a bot apparently raised the price recently):
2PCS 5" Large Crystal Sun Catcher Prisms
It’s getting harder and harder to find unique products to sell anywhere. I am even mixing in some hand-made things that has helped my income greatly.