Fake cosmetics on Amazon

[tigercametotea]

I bought a Benefit brows a go go set from Amazon Marketplace and was dismayed to find it was countetfeit. I had an old one that I bought from a Benefit counter ages ago to compare it with and the new one is so badly reproduced it's a joke. The cardboard packaging was poorly constructed and skewed, the tweezers are different in dimensions from the original and do not fit the way they should as in the genuine Benefit kit I have, the print quality of the wording on the eyeliner is very bad, the print pattern on the inside of the compact is missing detail. I paid nearly full price for it too, well £4 lesser, and I paid £3 for delivery. Never again. I contacted the seller and she applogised and said she was trying out a new wholesaler, hence this. She wanted me to return the item so she could return it to the wholesaler, and she said she will compensate me for the return expense. Does this sound right to you? I don't even live within easy reach of a post office. The local one closed down 2 years ago. Now I will have to take a bus and walk considerably to return this to her, plus buy a padded envelope and stamp. Such a hassle, and how is she going to compensate me for all that?

She didn't state how much she will be paying me for the cost of returning. I imagine it may just be based on the price of the stamp?? Just not happy about this. Am I entitled to a full refund without returning? Or should I demand a specific sum from her to cover the cost of my trouble for returning her the fake product? It all just sounds so wrong. She surely should have checked her goods before selling them??

Have you contacted Amazon about this? They do investigate fake goods apparently.

I wonder if it was the same seller as I bought a Benefit Mascara from someone on Amazon and when I opened it it just didnt look right.It was very shiney and gloopy and smelt slightly off.
I took it into debenhams and straight away they said it was fake.Showed me a genuine one and I could see the slight differences.The worrying thing is that she said that most of the fakes contain paint(hence the shiney and gloopyness) Thank goodness I had the sense to check it as I am currently 12 weeks pregnant.
I sent back and reported but have not heard anything so far.Sent back last friday.

You definitely have to return goods prior to refund, even though they're counterfeit - consumer rights act I'm afraid.

If you'd ordered it from any seller, Next for example or John Lewis even, you'd have to return it to get your money back. Make sure it's tracked and send your recepit details (a copy or a scan) to the seller. I would report to Amazon that I'd received fake goods. They take that kind of thing very seriously. You don't stand a hope in hell of being recompensed for travel costs or time, just as you wouldn't be with a standard retailer. The seller should be patient enough to wait til the next time you happen to be in town rather than you having to make a specific trip there for him/her. Good luck. Hope u manage to sort it out.

I understand it's right to return something if it's unwanted, but I thought that really should apply only to genuine goods. I'm not sure if it should apply to counterfeits. The stuff she sold me was so obviously fake. I mean, if I didn't know any better I would have thought it was real but unfortunately I do know what the real stuff is supposed to look like as I own it! As a seller she should have ensured she wasn't selling counterfeit products. Maybe she was already aware they were fake but was hoping to get away with it. There is no way this stuff she just sold me was real. Ugh... I feel so angry, what a waste of time. I just emailed her saying how upset I was to have to now take the trouble to return it to her just because she didn't know it was counterfeit and have to pay the price of a padded envelope and 2 bus trips just for that. I have not reported her to Amazon yet. But hoping that would be leverage? She replied saying that she will refund me in full and I will not have to return anything to her. But I will be waiting to see if she would actually do so. Just out of interest, how would Amazon go about investigating this if I reported her though?

@MuslinSuit, sorry just noticed you said the returns policy also applies to counterfeit goods. sigh I suppose this would be a good lesson for me. Buyer beware online, especially when buying cosmetics from anyone other than the company's website or Boots.com.

Oh by the way, just got an email come through from Amazon. The refund has been processed. I feel bad thinking of shopping her now. What do I do?

report her to Amazon - whether she is innocent or not she should not be selling fakes. make up can be dangerous if it is fake and it could harm somebody. Maybe she is drop shipping and hasn't actually handled the item, but she should not lie and sell fakes - simple as. It is her responsibility to be both legal and responsible and safe - you have nothing to feel guilty about.