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Buying Cosmetics Online is Difficult

The risk that a lot of people, including myself, perceive with online stores is the inability to check out the products directly. This is especially true when wanting to buy face skin care products such as facial mask sheets or other hard to find products.

If I wanted to buy cosmetic products such as MAC, it’s easy to pop down the mall, try some samples of this and that and then buy online for a cheaper price. But here’s the problem, how do you purchase cosmetic products online safely and knowing that you will receive quality items for your hard to find items?

Let’s go through some points to follow which helped me to trust internet stores when making my purchase.

Check Manufactured Date

Cheap cosmetics on the internet are a sure sign of low quality. Many people are able to import products from China where the business methods and ethics are different to the west. The methods and strict regulations also lack compared to the western countries. What I am trying to say is that you pay for what you get. It’s too good to be true. This applies to cosmetic products.

When purchasing online, customer service should be able to inform you the manufactured date. After all, you don’t want a 2-3 year old product from overstock inventory spread all over your face.

Also do your research as there are even fake cosmetics available now. You may think you are buying a legitimate product but make sure the site contains all the required information such as site policies, return policies, shipping details, manufactured date, FAQ, SSL etc etc.

For this reason, people in the cosmetic industry are warning of the dangers of expired products and emphasizing the importance of checking the labels before purchasing.

• Point: Make sure the products have manufactured dates.

Don’t Fall for Sample Giveaways

Many online stores, offer free samples. Problem is that samples do not arrive from a licensed and trusted distributor. So how do you know exactly what sample you are getting and whether it is the same product?

Remember that if you buy products from uncertain sources without knowing the policies, you will have a difficult time receiving refunds. Samples also do not display manufactured dates which I discussed in the previous section.

Check Website for Trustworthiness

I have a story where my husband was looking to buy a camera and he came upon this great deal online. Thinking he found a bargain, he proceeded to submit the order and made the purchase, or so he thought.

What really happened was that the site owner owned more than 10 camera sites with the same products but they under different business names. So what this site does is they place an extremely cheap price for a camera but then they require you to ring them and confirm your details. It is at this point they proceed to tell you that they cannot sell you the camera unless you purchase the battery charger, extra batteries, camera strap and memory card which increases the purchase price by about $500 making it a blatant rip off.

To ensure the site you are wanting to purchase from is honest, look for at least these items.

• SSL - Very important as it proves the store is dedicated to providing you security. Stores must have this to encrypt your card information to prevent identity theft.
• Store policies - An online store should be just like a real store. Return, refund, shipping, privacy, legal and other policies and commitments must be clearly articulated. Most fake and dishonest sites fail in providing these details and documentations.
• Professional images, photos, descriptions, detail detail detail - Be wary of vague descriptions and unprofessional desig, photos and images.
• Contact information including email addresses, business hours, address

There are probably more that I can’t remember off the top of my head but I’m sure you get the point.

Read the Negative Reviews

Make sure to sort reviews that rank retailers and start reading from the negative reviews as they really do pinpoint what is wrong with the store.

How to Read Labels

It may seem contradictory that I suggest asking about the manufactured dates but with most cosmetic companies, including the international brands,  manufactured dates or expiration date are rare to find.
However, when you see any of the below, you can interpret it as the following:

Manufactured Date

• MFD/MFG/M: abbreviation of the word ‘manufactured’.
• M 15.03.02: March 15th, 2002
• M0409411: 04 means 2004, 094 means 94th day of the year (in other words, April 4th), and 11 means the manufacturing line. (April 4th, 2004)
• I03H30: I is the 9th alphabet thus means September. 03 means 2003. H means manufactured factory. 30 means 30th. (September 30th, 2003)
• PROD: Product Date

Expiration Date

• EXP. 05.05.2006: EXP(Expiration Date)
• ex) BBE 04.02.2003: Product is fine until 4/2/03
• 1004LJ23 : 10: month, 04: manufactured year, LJ: manufactured factory, 23: date (10/23/04)
• BBE / BE : Best Before.

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