I Ordered the Same Crochet Kit 3 Times... The Most Expensive Was a Scam

Hey all, welcome back. So today we're doing something a little different and honestly I'm really excited about this one. So while I was perusing Temu for crochet kits, I kept seeing this cute little succulent crochet kit and I thought I'd seen it other places as well. Turns out I did. I saw the same exact picture popping up everywhere online and they were identical. Same six plants, same photos. Same finished results, but the prices were all over the place. So I thought, instead of guessing which one is worth it, and why they're at such different price points, I would buy all three and compare them for you. I ordered the exact same six plant kit from three different places. Temu for $10.40, Amazon for $22.16, and Etsy for $40.25. So that's a pretty big range for what's supposed to be the exact same kit. So today we're going to take a close look at each one and see what we're actually getting for the money. My goal is to help you figure out which one makes the most sense so you can save a little cash and pick the best option the first time, but also make sure we're not getting scammed. But first be sure to hit the like, subscribe, and notification bell so you never miss out on future crochet reviews as well as free patterns, tutorials, and all kinds of stuff. So come on, let's go see what we got. Okay, so before I even open up these packages, I'm gonna start off by venting. Of course, the first thing that I received was my Amazon package because, you know, Prime and two-day delivery. I know that this is from Amazon because it's in standard Amazon packaging. It said delivered. I got it that day. Then, the next day, I placed my Etsy order. And just so you know, there are a few sellers on Etsy that are selling this, so that was kind of one red flag, but the biggest red flag after spending $40 for my Etsy package versus $20 for my Amazon, I got it two days later and it looks like they shipped it straight from Amazon. So I would say that I was absolutely scammed right off the bat from someone on Etsy. Just buying it from Amazon and putting in my shipping address. So buyer beware. Now I'm going to open up the Amazon and Etsy one because I think they're the same. I have not pulled this out of the bag yet, but the box is the same size as the one that came with no packaging. So I'm not too hopeful that this is different. I looked up Magimuse, I think that's how you say that, and everything kind of led me back to Amazon. Like, this is somebody that sells this on Amazon. Like, I didn't see, like, a Magimuse website, it was just, that's kind of what it was. The fact that this person charged me an extra $20, they're not getting a good review. Mm-mm-mm-mm. Be careful when you're buying something. Do a reverse Google image search and see who else is selling it. Especially if you're in a website that's touting kind of handmade supplies and things because you may just be paying extra for where it's coming from. Now let's open up the Temu before we actually get into the kits just to see if what arrived was different. Okay so the Temu kit did show up different. It is a bag, basically, and it comes with yarn and stuff, so that's good at least. But I want to see, like, what's in here compared to the box. The box is smaller, like, this is a little bit bigger, but I want to see what's going on. Was this $10 kit a better deal than definitely the $40, but, you know, is it going to make what? This one looks like kind of the original, so I want to see what the 20 versus 10, because the 40 is out of the running. Just get rid of that one. We know what's going to be in it. It's going to have this stuff in it, so I'm not even going to bother with that one. So let's see what our differences are. Okay, the Amazon kit and Etsy has the yarn, so all of the yarn seems like a Ayyyy. Lightweight acrylic, maybe even cotton yarn. But it's got every color you need for all six plants, and hopefully enough yardage for all of them. But I'm guessing, since this is probably the original, that it should be good. Okay, the Temu yarn. Um... Some of the colors are similar, like the green and the green, very similar, but I have a tan and a tan, and then I have white, and I have no white on the Amazon kit. Plus, these look like they might be different weight, slightly, maybe not once I get into it, but I have The yarn, it's a little fluffier. It's not as, like, it feels like acrylic for sure. This feels probably almost a cotton. It's wound a lot tighter, it seems, like really tight. This is not wound very tight, but this looks like I have every color I need. So, so far the yarn is pretty similar, just the colors are kind of off. Okay, we both get Vacuum pack stuffing. I'm holding up the Amazon crochet hooks already. These are both 3mm. I was expecting like a 3 and a 3.5. I don't know why they sent me two. Usually these are not things that will break easily, so that's kind of weird. On the Temu side I got two I have two hooks, too, but these are 2.5. Again, they're both 2.5, so why... Why are they the same size? Then the Amazon kit has safety eyes, stitch markers, a yarn needle, all the goodies that you need when you're making your amigurumis, as well as some wire that I'm sure we're gonna need for at least one of them. And then the Temu side, same thing. It has a glue stick in it. Why is there a glue stick? It's got wire, it's got a yarn needle, it's got scissors, so we got something extra, plus the glue stick, and then the safety eyes and the stitch markers. I can't wait to see what to do with that glue stick. I do have a very cool glue gun that I just got though when I was doing my tufting, which I'll link to if you've never seen rug tufting. That was super fun. And I actually didn't use the glue stick or my glue gun on that. But it might come in handy now. And then lastly, we have the instructions. So the Amazon kit comes with a whole booklet, which I won't give away things. But It's got pretty large instructions and the reason that I say large is because it looks like this one might have hijacked their instructions and printed them extremely small. Like, I couldn't read this unless I had a magnifying glass. It does give you QR codes to go download. the pattern if you need it bigger, which I'm definitely going to need, but it looks pretty much identical to what's in here, so I can probably just use that. So my plan is to try to make the amigurumis with both kits and see if I actually have what I need, because the Temu one definitely looks like a knockoff of the Amazon one, almost like they just substituted the yarn and But the hooks are the wrong size. I'm only using what was sent to me. So the Temu's getting the 2.5 and the Amazon's getting the 3 and the Etsy's getting the boot because it was a scam. But let me get started making some of these and I'll let you know how the patterns go. How the videos look. And what I end up making. So cactus time. First thing though, the Etsy kit. I opened it, looked through everything, and it was the exact same as the Amazon one. Same materials, same packaging, same everything. Not even like a reused box with swapped out yarn, it was just the Amazon kit. So I reached out to the Etsy seller about them shipping something from Amazon directly and just marking it up, but I did not mention the Amazon sticker on the box. And they said that they don't ship from Amazon. Okay, so that one I set aside because it's the same as the Amazon kit, just more expensive. No reason to make the same thing twice. Which leaves Amazon versus Temu. These two are very clearly not the same. Before I show you. Let me just talk about it a bit. So the Amazon kit feels like the original. The materials are better, the yarn is nicer to work with, and it comes with a three millimeter hook which actually makes sense for that yarn weight. The Temu kit? Not quite right. The yarn is cheaper and it splits a lot so you're constantly fighting it while you're working and the colors are just off Like instead of a nice rust color for one of the pots, they just sent white. And it just makes it look cheaper. And then the hook. Temu again included a 2.5 millimeter and I don't understand this ongoing commitment to this tiny hook. I swear every Temu kit I've tried is like, what if we just make this harder than it needs to be? But using that That smaller hook with that yarn? As usual, not enjoyable at all. So tell me. Here is the same cactus from the Amazon and Temu kit. Can you tell which one is Timu? Like if I didn't put these side by side you might think the Temu one is perfectly fine. If you were the one crocheting it though you would have stopped after this one. And in fact I did. At least using the 2.5 millimeter hook. So I actually made one of the Temu cactus With a three millimeter hook from the Amazon kit just to compare. I did forget So this is the Amazon. I forgot the hanging portion of it, but you can see That it's more in line with the Amazon using that bigger hook. It's a little bigger The stitches fit nicer. It's still annoying because the yarn but visually it's better That's where I stopped with the Temu kit Some of these cactus parts are a little complex, or very small, like these little pink flowers, and I was not going to wrestle with bad yarn to make all six of the cactus. Which makes me question, if you're already copying the pattern, why not also use the The correct hook size. Was there a clearance sale on 2.5 millimeter hooks somewhere? I just, I don't understand. And yes, the patterns are identical. So it really looks like Timu or someone selling on Timu just took the pattern and reproduced it into a printed page and then added lower quality materials. That said though, the pattern itself is actually well written. There were only a couple of spots spots where I had to kind of pause, mostly on these guys, these fern leaves, because They, the counts just weren't quite adding up, but they include video tutorials and those were actually really helpful and cleared it up right away. So I ended up making all six cacti from the Amazon kit and honestly the finished ones from the Amazon kit are really cute. I didn't do the full faces on the pots, I just did the eyes for now. I might go back and add the rest later, but even as is, I think they're adorable. I think they'll make the cutest decorations. Also worth noting, I have still a lot of yarn left over from the Amazon kit, like enough to probably make a couple more if I wanted to. So overall, the most expensive option, which was Etsy in this case, ended up just being the same as Amazon, but Marked up. So that was a total scam in my opinion. Amazon seems to be the original and the best option. Timu, I would completely skip. The materials make it more frustrating than it needs to be and the end result isn't as nice. So my tip to you, if you're ever seeing the same kit across multiple sites at different price points, do a quick reverse image search. It will help you kind of track down the original so you're not overpaying. We're ending up with a lower quality version. I'll link the Amazon kit since that's the one I'd actually recommend, and I would definitely buy from that seller again if they had other kits. But what do you think? Do you like how these turned out? Are you team full faces or just the eyes? Let me know in the comments. And stay tuned because I have a few more videos coming on this whole scam situation, so make sure you're subscribed because there's whole other categories we haven't even talked about yet. Until next time, I'm Deja with Knit and Crochet Ever After, and thank you for watching!