Cosmetics bought from eBay

kaymiller1983

I was just wondering if anyone buys cosmetics from eBay?!

I have seen a few great bargains, but then I worry that I am getting a knocked version of the high end brands...for example, MAC eye pencil, I found a good priced one aprox £3 in total, while RRP is £13-14

Has anybody had any good/bad experiences with eBay cosmetics.

What do I look out for and how do I avoid getting conned!

vintage_beanpole

I bought a Benefit Big Beautiful Eyes kit once and it was fake unfortunately. Not that you would have known unless you'd had one before (lots of people had left positive reviews).

Saying that, I have bought Chanel pressed powder which was genuine - but it was a discontinued powder which I love (down to my last one - sob!) so understandable how the seller could have gotten hold of it.

Avoid mascaras though - you don't know how long they've had them or what conditions they've been kept in - could well be drying out. Plus you don't really know if it's been used...

jenniewb

I tend not to buy cosmetics on ebay for that exact reason, you see stuff being sold off fron Hong Kong and it just looks dodgy in so many ways: the mass selling of a certain colour, overly low prices or a bad write up and even if you think you've spotted a lone seller selling one of an item and no more then this, you don't know if that seller purchased what they are selling from a seller selling fakes!

I would bid on some items, more like hair care, body cosmetics or sellers who I feel I can trust more for whatever reason but most importantly in every case I will have purchased the item from a real shop (one which doesn't sell fakes!) and know the product backwards before purchasing and comparing the dregs of what I have left with the new product I have won.

I would say there are so many fakes on the site you have to be so careful. My mum (and I screamed at her for this!) won some Molton Brown stuff a year or so ago. She bid and won having researched what she could about the seller: selling many Molton Brown items from a UK base (was actually in London). Luckily for her she did have an almost used up bottle of the stuff left when the new item arrived. On the surface they looked the same but my mum works in a job where she uses graphics and fonts a great deal and was able to spot a mile off the difference in type style. I only could when she pointed it out. There were further tiny mineute yet noticable when pointed out differences the more she compared and the scent was not exactly the same. Smelled fainter and just not as 'Molton Brown'. She wanted her money back so contacted the seller who asked for the item back and refunded her. My mum had said she wanted her money back as she believed the item was fake, the seller did not argue but did request feedback to be left (posative!) beforehand. I was furious at my mum for not raising it with ebay, she could have gotten her money back with paypal and instead has left the same scam wide open to other bidders. I even tried to convince her to do something about it afterwards but she still wouldn't! I hope others are not as ....(words fail me here)...as my mum was but I think maybe there are many others out there.

I won a pair of earphones from ebay about 5? years ago. Claiming to be Sony they took about 3 weeks to arrive. They were from Hong Kong which I knew was risky but Sony are made in Hong Kong so I wasn't too worried. They arrived and were so ovbiously fake I didn't even bother to plug them in. Angrily contacted the seller to say "these are fake and I want my money back"! The seller said in very broken English "I agree" then proceeded to say I would get my full refund but that I needed to leave good feedback first. I just went straight to ebay, sent them copies of the emails which had been sent through ebay and they refunded me and cancelled the sellers account. What annoys me though is that I did look a the sellers feedback first, all full of posatives other then the odd neutral on waiting time for delivery, it would seem that others were too spineless to raise any sort of concern with ebay and let others fall for the same thing: my worries that there are more out there just like my mum maybe proven long before she even had something similar happen.

I would say if your at all in doubt, don't bid, if you do get a fake, do report it. Ebay favor the bidder in every case and even in cases when its obvious the bidder is in the wrong or is scamming- I have yet to see or hear otherwise!

angelil

I've personally never had any bad experiences buying cosmetics off ebay (have bought MAC and Benefit stuff there in the past)...I'd say give it a go

Bettie

I often buy make up on Ebay. I would never buy used and I look for sealed items of my favourites. I buy from sellers with 100% feedback or thereabouts and I have never had a problem yet.

Pennylane

I've bought a few bits of make-up on Ebay but only new and sealed. Been pleased with everything.

suki1964

I buy make up from ebay with no problem.

When the dollar was so weak against the pound I used to buy from ebay.com, better prices and also more sellers offering the products I buy

poorly_scammo

The only problem I've found is that some of the stock is older than if you'd bought it in a shop but as long as it's not opened then there shouldn't be a problem.

alias123

I personally haven't bought make-up from ebay so cant comment. However if you really want MAC, why don't you wait until there's a blue cross/10% sale + a code, for Debenhams. I've done this and you can get the MAC stuff at least 20% cheaper and its real. OR if you have a cosmetics company outlet near you, purchase from there.

lily76

I bought a jar of 100ml cream de la mer from ebay and saved a lot. I never choose anything outside the UK. And I always check the seller's history which must be 100% positive.

moneylover

lily76 wrote: »

I bought a jar of 100ml cream de la mer from ebay and saved a lot. I never choose anything outside the UK. And I always check the seller's history which must be 100% positive.

Wow! I would love some of this- but when I did a search didnt come up with any reductions. Do you still have details, and, more importantly, what do you think of it?

I was actually thinking of posting the same question as original poster has posted so have been very interested in all the replies. Thank you everyone! I have worried about fakes but have only bought from fairly well known online retailers - I have had Elizabeth Arden immebone(?) which retails at over £100 normally and would like some more of that but will obviously need to be careful.