What’s Going on With The Fake Beauty Products on Amazon?

Amazon Prime has definitely become part of our everyday lives in a way that other brands and companies have not. I don’t know one person who isn’t signed up for it. In fact, I think I know more people who currently have something on the way via Prime than people who don’t. But lately, things have been a bit weird. I’ve noticed a lot of complaints from friends and family about how certain products seem fake or off.

Apparently Amazon has a big counterfeit problem and it’s not just with a specific category of items. There are fakes in almost all product types, including batteries, shaving razors, card games, shampoo, makeup, vitamin supplements, basically anything you can think of.

How can something like this even happen with a big company like Amazon? A lot of the products on the site are commingled together in Amazon’s system. Sellers do have the choice to opt out of their products being mixed with others, but there is a fee charged. If you ever receive a packaged with a sticker on it starting with “X”, that means the seller opted out and the product you received is likely genuine.

But if not, orders placed from third party sellers that are fulfilled by Amazon are filled from warehouses that are closest to the customer location wise. For example, if you lived in New York and you bought a beauty product by a specific brand who’s items are located in a warehouse in California, Amazon will find another seller close to you offering the same thing to fulfill your order using their inventory instead. This gets your order to you much quicker than if they were to ship it from California, which in theory sounds amazing. If they can’t find one close to you, that’s where the longer shipping times come in.

But it’s very obvious why commingling isn’t good, although it may seem that way since our orders arrive quickly. If you purchase something via Amazon Prime, you can be shipped an item that literally anyone could’ve sent in. If it has the same name, it gets labeled as the same in their system. This means you could buy from a credible seller and receive a terrible version of the product they’re offering which is what has been happening lately.

The only times you can be sure you receive a genuine product on Amazon is if the brand or seller opts out of commingling, which you won’t know until you receive your package, or if you shop in the premium sections.  If not, it really a toss up, which sucks because same day and 2 day shipping is amazing. Thankfully Sephora is now offering same day shipping to satisfy most of your beauty needs 😎 But if you’d still like to shop on Amazon for beauty and skincare, check out the sections that show only authorized retailers.

 

Outside of the premium sections, there are a few things you can do to avoid fake products as best as you can.

1. Check the origin

Right underneath the ‘Add to Cart’ and ‘Buy Now’ button on a product page, you’ll see if a product is shipped from Amazon and the brand it’s sold by.
 
If the product being sold is something you know should NOT be coming from another country like China such as Crest toothpaste, Olaplex shampoo, or Maybelline mascara, it’s most likely fake. Also, if the company selling the product does not match the brand underneath the product name, you should look into things before purchasing. You could be buying from an actual store who lists products on Amazon, which is great, or you can be buying from a random person in another country.
 

2. Check the reviews

This probably doesn’t make much sense since it seems like reviews for the most part don’t matter, but check to see if the company has any customer complaining they’ve received a low quality or fake product. If you see absolutely none, there might be a chance this company opted out of commingled inventory, which means there’s a possibility you’re more likely to receive the actual product you bought.
 

3. Check the price

If a product is consistently cheaper on Amazon than it is in store or on a brand’s website, you might want to look into why. Sometimes a lower price tag isn’t always the case and the price will be the exact same even if it is a fake, but it’s always good to look into what you’re purchasing and who you’re purchasing from.



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