Creative Technology Innovations, a New Jersey-based refurbished tech seller, saw sales soar months ahead of its Black Friday peak as Temu linked it to a fast-growing base of electronics buyers.
The Black Friday rush came five months early to a warehouse in Sayreville, N.J., where workers at Creative Technology Innovations spent July testing iPads, cleaning Chromebooks and sealing laptops into boxes — a surge touched off by the company’s debut on Temu.
The refurbished-electronics seller usually sees its peak in late November. This year, daily revenue hit $10,000 in midsummer, 50 percent more than in June. In its first three months on Temu, the company sold more than 4,800 items.
“We expected Temu to be a nice extra channel, not one that would blow past our projections in just a few months,” said Albert Maimon, the founder and president, who sells on the platform as Tech Pirate. “This year, Temu flipped that on its head.”
The rush came as families, facing what economists say has been the most expensive back-to-school season on record, turned to cheaper alternatives. iPads led the orders, followed by laptops and Chromebooks for students from kindergarten through college. “We’re seeing parents buying for high school, K–12 and college,” Maimon said.
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Maimon, 38, first learned electronics in a Manhattan shop while in college. At 22 he struck out on his own, refurbishing home theater systems and DVD players for New York retailers. When streaming undercut that business, he shifted to laptops and tablets, building in-house testing and repair to keep them reliable.
From that one-man start, the company has grown to 25 employees. In Sayreville, they handle diagnostics, grading, cleaning, packing and shipping under one roof. The business also provides software and IT support for institutions.
Rising competition in refurbished electronics pushed Maimon to seek new outlets. A friend suggested Temu. “Compared with other marketplaces, it felt like a different audience. They are buying fast,” Maimon said.
He credited Temu’s discovery-driven shopping model, broad reach, hands-on merchant support and lower commission fees for allowing sharper pricing in a margin-sensitive category. “Any real issue we have gets resolved, and Temu supports both the customer and the seller.”
July and August bring a wave of supply as schools upgrade their systems and clear out old equipment. That flow has helped the company stock its shelves just as parents go hunting for deals. “We’re already expanding our inventory and repair capacity to meet what could be our strongest holiday season yet,” Maimon said.
In the workshop, the routine holds steady: the glow of screens on diagnostic benches, stacks of laptops waiting their turn, and cartons sealed for homes across the country.
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