I'm not sure whether to use this product, and a bit pissed off at being caught out when I'm usually careful

[BlackAmericanoNoSugar]

I try to avoid ordering from Amazon if I can order from a small business, or Irish or EU company instead. I don't mind paying a bit extra in order to do that. I was looking for an Irish source for a particular eye cream that Amazon.co.uk had and I found it for sale online at a Dublin shop, beautyshop.ie, for more or less the same price. So I ordered it from the Dublin company. I did check that they had a Dublin address and phone number as I know that a lot of scam companies pretend to be Irish.

Today the eye cream arrived from Amazon.com as a 'gift' from Beauty Shop Ireland. So clearly I have been caught out by a dropship company when I thought they were bricks and mortar. However, now that I've checked out their online reviews a lot of people never received their products and others have said that they have received fake products. I haven't used this cream before so I can't compare it to a previous purchase but, given that it's come from Amazon and had the correct packaging, is it safe to assume that it is the real deal and not a fake?

It's probably just a way of getting around custom charges from the U.K.

given that it's come from Amazon and had the correct packaging, is it safe to assume that it is the real deal and not a fake?

Nope, I'm afraid Amazon is full of fakes being sold by 3rd party sellers.

No idea about the particular site you used but Amazon is just a shopfront and transaction handler for a load of dodgy businesses (less risk if sold direct by Amazon, or by Amazon on behalf of a company).

Btw one useful way I've found to filter out the UK companies with ie domains is to look at their address for returns. Often that's where the UK home reveals itself as their virtual address in Dublin can't handle physical goods.

Honestly I would never buy any cosmetics from Amazon especially if it is through a third party who often pass themselves off as part of legitimate business but actually are not.

I find often find if you email the manufacturer of the product you want they will be able to tell you the suppliers in Ireland etc.

Oh and I certainly would not use the eye cream
I would not put something I was not 100% was not fake near my eyes

I don't think I will put it on my eyes. I might photograph it and email the manufacturer to ask if it's genuine, although it's perfectly possible that the jar is genuine but the cream isn't.

www.rte.ie/radio1/liveline/programmes/2021/0602/1225632-liveline-wednesday-2-june-2021/

Joe Duffy was talking about that site last week, might be worth a listen back

Liveline featured that company last week.
You should listen back to it.

Thanks for the link, my computer won't let me listen to it for some reason, so I'll try on my phone later.

Do you have the RTE Radio 1 app @BlackAmericanoNoSugar ?
It's great- you can listen back to loads of programmes.
Well worth getting.

Thanks LadyEloise, I'll download that.