One of the beauty bloggers whom I greatly admire did a post recently about a product she bought off ebay for quite cheap. Although she knew when going into the transaction she could be purchasing a fake she went and did it anyway and then maintained her product was an original. (it's not).
There's no doubt about it; sometimes the price of products is so exorbitant that you can justify spending money on a fake replica if it means you save $15. Counterfeit products are products that the seller tries to pass of a product as being a certain brand name, an authentic or even going so far as to say it's a "factory second".
I'm not going to lecture to you, but here's a few reasons why buying counterfeit make-up is a BAD idea:
Firstly, the seller is purposefully using another company's brand and hard-work to steal their profits. They are trying to trick the consumer. This may not be of a concern to you but there's a reason certain products have hype surrounding them. Buying a counterfeit does not guarantee that same quality.
Buying fake make-up is not the same as buying counterfeit clothes and handbags. You're putting this stuff on your skin where it will be absorbed. I can guarantee you that the chemicals used by the counterfeiters will be cheap and nasty. Further to this, there's no one for you to run to when you have a reaction, when your skin breaks out, or if there's harmful ingredients. For obvious reasons, counterfeit products are not held to the same quality testing as authentic products.
Okay, so now here's how to spot a fake. I've noticed a few bloggers writing about Urban Decay Naked Palettes and there's been quite a few who have posted about buying fake ones off ebay without intending to. So I will be using that brand and that product to emphasise my point, but remember that these will apply to pretty much every brand.
Both come in a tray, with the colours / info on the back, and in a plastic sleeve. The Naked 2 comes with a lip junkie lip gloss, and the first Naked comes with a primer potion.
Generally, if it does not come with the primer potion or with the lip junkie you can guarantee it's a fake. The listings may even point out that they don't come with the extra product:
Note that they say it comes with no lip gloss, yet the smaller text has been copy+pasted from UD's website - as it says it includes the Lip Junkie.
Some sellers will have excellent feedback:
Remember that people may leave feedback straight after they receive their item in the mail - feedback on ebay usually goes along the lines of "posted quick, delivery was great, thanks". I've also read numerous people saying they didn't realise their product was fake until after they left their feedback.
So don't take this as meaning anything.
The listing may say that the product is a "factory second":
This should immediately set alarm bells off in your head. High end brands DO NOT RELEASE factory seconds on their products. Even common sense and logic should tell you that they wouldn't. Especially to ebay sellers.
Further, I contacted Urban Decay and asked them about how to spot a fake. Here was what they had to say:
If you're interested in researching this further, or seeing the difference in quality of the fake to the authentic, just check out youtube. There's a few posts on there comparing the two.
Like I said, I get it! I understand why you would be incredibly tempted to buy that palette at $30 as opposed to $50 - especially when the product is not sold in Australian stores or is, but at a higher price. But for an extra $20 you could have an authentic product - with a proper returns policy if you didn't like it - and guaranteed quality. My skin is too important to me, which is why I wouldn't risk buying fakes.
Have you bought a fake product off ebay?
Would you buy a fake? Why/ Why not?
*Note that all photos were taken from ebay.
