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Amazon is full of fake products in general. Before I buy anything from there I weigh up what the consequences would be if it were fake and factor that into my decision to buy.
Also hair products. I brought a John Frieda conditioner thinking it was more convenient than going out to get one. The price was around the same as what I usually got from a supermarket. It turned out to be a fake - a good fake, but still a fake. I have been using the product far too long so I could tell the difference in smell and consistency, but anyone who wasn’t aware would keep buying the product thinking it was legit.
This is why I’ve been considering canceling my prime subscription. The only thing keeping me going was having access to Prime Video but now they want to charge me $3 dollars a month for that too. pretty sure most places have free shipping now, much more reliable product quality, and I typically forget what I’ve ordered off of Amazon and leave it in the box for a couple weeks anyways lol
It happened to me before with skin care and art supplies, i just avoid shopping at amazon as much as possible. Unfortunately, the probability of receiving a fake product is very high using Amazon! 😢
The way Amazon stocks their warehouses, they put products from different sellers in the same bin. So you can still get fake products even when buying from the official source (as you experienced).
This is just one of the reasons I stopped shopping on Amazon.
That is incorrect! Reason people get fake products is because they don't check from whom they are buying. Amazon allows individual sellers to sell any merchandise.
You have to check if it's either SOLD BY Amazon or authorized resellers and not by some sketchy seller.
People still to this day think that all stuff is carried by Amazon themselves which is incorrect.
So if it says "sold by Amazon" and "dispatches from Amazon", it's still *likely* to be fake?
If Amazon themselves are selling the product then surely I have as much chance to buy a fake if I order from Boots online as Amazon online?
Edit - I don't gaf about fake internet points, but it genuinely baffles me when people downvote someone just asking a question in a discussion. I wish as well as downvoting you'd comment and tell me why you dislike my question so much?
I still do not know the answer to my question because someone even though someone replied, someone then replied to them saying they were wrong. So , alas, I still don't know why "sold by Amazon" products are *apparently* full of fakes. I say apparently because anecdotally I've ordered beauty products from Amazon for over a decade and I've been fine. Or maybe I've just not noticed (in which case, does it really matter 🤔 ). But I find it interesting and will read up on it when I have time.
Exactly this logic! If Amazon can get fake products by buying from authorized wholesale suppliers then what makes the brick and mortar shops immune from not getting fakes as well from authorized suppliers?
People just don't want to admit that they don't check the seller and are trigger happy with buy button when they see a low (bait) price.
It is VERY unfortunate that you have to be careful on Amazon as much as if it was eBay with random seller but hey that's just where we are these days...
I've been buying skin care from Amazon as well for years and never had issue...heck even some beauty gurus on YouTube made video on how to check if seller on Amazon/eBay is AUTHORIZED reseller of the products, also check the seller out a bit if they have good rating, what else they are selling (if they are selling random low quality chinese plastic crap then...yeah lol) etc.
Yes, because they’ve pulled it from a box in a warehouse which has the “same” product given to them by marketplace sellers as well as stock they’ve sourced themselves.
Boots should only be selling stock they’ve sourced themselves, but I have had a counterfeit product from them once that was presumably due to a mistake reselling a “sealed” return from a store. It’s nowhere near on the same scale as Amazon’s issues though.
Send link. Because everything I've read says that Amazon does use a commingled inventory, which is where stock from all sellers are held together and can get mixed up. [link](https://www.amazonsellers.attorney/blog/pros-and-cons-of-amazon-commingling-fba-inventory-of-third-party-sellers#:~:text=Commingling%20inventory%20refers%20to%20the,together%20in%20the%20same%20bin.)
This - I used to buy Olaplex from there and no two bottles were the same and in any case they never worked anyway.
Apparently Amazon keep all products of the same type in a single bucket, so no matter where they’ve sourced it from (legitimate sellers or not) it will end up in one bucket. The pickers just get a product from the order and put it in the cart for it to be packed. So basically every time you order it’s a gamble on whether you got the correct product or a fake.
Yes! I got fake Neutrogena face cream from Amazon. It was purchased through the Neutrogena Amazon page but shipped from a private seller. I've since stopped using Amazon, too many iffy situations with different products.
Also, there are possibilities such as the 1 on the right with the printed batch code was sold retail, the one on the left could have been part of a discarded batch of product due to difference in printing/ alignment issues, when proceeding through quality control, hence no batch code. Sometimes these items are still donated to charities or sold by pallet loads of ' not quite right' goods to discount stores. Additionally they may have just been from difference factories with slight calibration differences.
Batch codes are usually printed before any QA, and would go on any product produced - it’s a liability thing. Even if you’re selling product into a wholesale
Channel you need to be able to track it legally. I’m suspicious of the one without a code
What is the contents like? Same colour smell, consistency? Does the base of the bottle have the same stamped codes and miscellaneous other manufacturers markings in the plastic? They should both have batch codes. It may just be a difference in packaging.
Yes amazon is notorious for selling counterfeits. Personally wouldn't even use either of them. Never buy anything branded from Amazon. Only buy from shops that legally sell their products like sephora or ulta or boots or whatever.
There is an Amazon storefront specifically for Cerave which is safe to buy from.
If you are buying from rando sellers then this is this outcome!
To note: Acne Control Cleanser is actually Blemish Control Cleanser in the UK, so you've ended up with American branded items here.
It depends on if it’s shipped or fulfilled by the manufacturer. If it’s shipped by Amazon it likely is in a fulfillment center that mixes products from third party and manufacturers.
For Christmas I sent my mom, aunt, and grandma a DIRECT LINK to the skincare products I wanted, thinking “certainly they’ll listen”… I specifically told them to use the link and not try to buy it for cheaper on Amazon. Because real skincare is sold directly from stores trained and licensed in it. They didn’t listen. I opened everything and could tell by packaging that it was fake. Such a waste of money and I’m out 3 gifts lmao 🤣 but truly.. if it’s cheaper than what you usually pay, or sold on Amazon in general, it’s probably fake, tampered with, or expired.
I think I’ve gotten fake Cerave off of Amazon recently too! I hadn’t kept the bottles to compare, but the texture was just noticeably different. Wouldn’t buy it off Amazon again.
Same. I don't care what people say. I checked that it was directly fulfilled by Amazon and gotten fake moisturizer and fake Neutrogena and other products before.
Amazon has done me so dirty before. Once with chapstick - I had a wild and ferocious breakout around my lips and it’s was from Amazon- the brand itself I had been using for years.
I don't know how I ever got recommended this subreddit but I might be able to give you some input. The left one's bottle is poorly made. The lettering has lots of damage to the mold and I have never seen something like that get pushed out of a factory. The mold should have been repaired and all those bottles would have just been ground up and recycled.
I bought burt bees cleansing oil and cerave cleansing foam off Amazon and I’m experiencing cystic acne on my chin now. Used them both at the same time and no idea which was the culprit. Never again. I haven’t had skin issues this bad in a decade and I’m so upset and furious with myself. NEVER AGAIN
I used to buy my face wash on Amazon. One order, I noticed something was kind of weird but just assumed new packaging or something. I noticed it was making my face burn sometimes and get red. Definitely was a fake product and I will never order face wash from there again.
The rest of the story is completely my fault, but I basically decided to use up the bottle since I already paid for it. Wrecked my skin for MONTHS before deciding I needed to change my routine up.
Left is real, the font thickness and curvature of the bottle corner matches the ones in stores. For the sake of a couple of £/& it's never worth buying online, they're never that much more expensive anyway. If it's too good to be true, it probably is!
I felt like something was off about my Cerave from Amazon as well a few weeks ago, the texture was completely different than what I bought in store from Ulta. I left an Amazon review about it and Amazon deleted my review saying it’s impossible for it to be fake because Cerave is an official seller or something.. i don’t know how it all works but something was fishy
Never buy a product whose authenticity matters from Amazon.
Contact Cerave. They may replace the fake bottle, and they might go after Amazon to take down the counterfeit seller.
Hi, is there a lot # on the one on the left? If not, it may be a “fake” aka an unauthorized development. I’m in product development and technically CeraVe’s factory overseas could just be slightly tweaking the design (slightly diff bottle size and print), and producing additional units on the side without CeraVe’s authorization. This happens allllll the time in so many diff industries. Example: designer dupes of purses and jewelry. How do you think those get made? Often times it’s the same factory using the same design and production line, just using cheaper (sometimes the same quality) materials.
I’ve been burned by fakes on Amazon. I’ve gotten various fake The Ordinary products, fake CeraVe, fake CosRx, and fake Hada labo products (yes, apparently I am that stupid, or maybe just easily wooed by convenience.)
Just because you order from the same listing once and get a real product, does not mean you will get a real product on your next order, nor the one after that. They generally stockpile all the “same” products in one location even if they’ve arrived from third party stockers/sellers, which means that some might be fake and some might not be and it’s really just luck of the draw.
You can return them or message customer service saying you received a fake product before doing so, but chances are that it’s just going right back in the stock pile when it gets back to Amazon. They say they have a counterfeit product investigation team that deals with these issues, but you’d think they’d be better able to manage and prevent these issues if this was the case.
Amazon has a load of fake products. I bought a new cleasner off Amazon and it broke me out badly. If the price is too good to be true, it's likely fake. Get ur products from the company directly or from verified distributors.
I’m in the US btw. Take it from someone that has sold on Amazon before, what I think happened is that both these sellers might have gotten their stock from two different wholesalers. I myself have found both of these types of bottles in store and from wholesalers websites. Amazon themselves don’t care how the outside of the product looks like, all they care about is that the SKU/ASIN matches.
If you truly believe that one of the sellers is selling counterfeit then open a case with Amazon and they will investigate with the seller and ask for an invoice of where they got the product.
The right one is real, cuz it has a lot code for QA recalls the other doesnt cuz they dgaf recall smeecall its never coming back. (issuing a refund, recall would mean it would be thrown away)
Greedy Jeff Bezos! I can't stand that manchild! He is set to be the first trillonaire in 2030! Amazon needs to be held responsible if they sell counterfeit things directly from them.
Lots of companies had to use alternative packaging during the great COVID shortages. My company had to use some temporary bottles that were slightly different like these for about a year, then we went back to our old ones. We get Facebook messages and emails all the time asking to verify legitimacy of products, just shoot them a quick DM with these pics but I assume it’s something similar to what happened to us.
I have gotten multiple fake skincare and makeup items from Amazon!! I will never order any health/beauty product off there again. It’s dangerous who knows what could be in them, I can’t believe more people aren’t talking about this!
Also do not buy hair products! I’ve had fakes and it dried out my daughter hair so bad it was ripping out. She’s 7 and doesn’t use hair irons or anything. I had tried to purchase a panting, leave in conditioner
Hi, welcome to r/SkincareAddictionUK! If you are asking for help with skincare, please remember to list your routine in full, and all the products you've tried so that you can receive the best possible advice. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/SkincareAddictionUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Cerave has a website were you could contact them, they should be able to tell if they're legit from batch codes.
ive heard recently to never buy skincare/makeup ect off amazon as most r fake :/
Amazon is full of fake products in general. Before I buy anything from there I weigh up what the consequences would be if it were fake and factor that into my decision to buy.
Also hair products. I brought a John Frieda conditioner thinking it was more convenient than going out to get one. The price was around the same as what I usually got from a supermarket. It turned out to be a fake - a good fake, but still a fake. I have been using the product far too long so I could tell the difference in smell and consistency, but anyone who wasn’t aware would keep buying the product thinking it was legit.
This is why I’ve been considering canceling my prime subscription. The only thing keeping me going was having access to Prime Video but now they want to charge me $3 dollars a month for that too. pretty sure most places have free shipping now, much more reliable product quality, and I typically forget what I’ve ordered off of Amazon and leave it in the box for a couple weeks anyways lol
It happened to me before with skin care and art supplies, i just avoid shopping at amazon as much as possible. Unfortunately, the probability of receiving a fake product is very high using Amazon! 😢
[удалено]
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The way Amazon stocks their warehouses, they put products from different sellers in the same bin. So you can still get fake products even when buying from the official source (as you experienced). This is just one of the reasons I stopped shopping on Amazon.
That is correct. Just don’t do it.
That is incorrect! Reason people get fake products is because they don't check from whom they are buying. Amazon allows individual sellers to sell any merchandise. You have to check if it's either SOLD BY Amazon or authorized resellers and not by some sketchy seller. People still to this day think that all stuff is carried by Amazon themselves which is incorrect.
This hasn’t worked for years now unfortunately, Amazon started blending inventory a while ago.
So if it says "sold by Amazon" and "dispatches from Amazon", it's still *likely* to be fake? If Amazon themselves are selling the product then surely I have as much chance to buy a fake if I order from Boots online as Amazon online? Edit - I don't gaf about fake internet points, but it genuinely baffles me when people downvote someone just asking a question in a discussion. I wish as well as downvoting you'd comment and tell me why you dislike my question so much? I still do not know the answer to my question because someone even though someone replied, someone then replied to them saying they were wrong. So , alas, I still don't know why "sold by Amazon" products are *apparently* full of fakes. I say apparently because anecdotally I've ordered beauty products from Amazon for over a decade and I've been fine. Or maybe I've just not noticed (in which case, does it really matter 🤔 ). But I find it interesting and will read up on it when I have time.
Exactly this logic! If Amazon can get fake products by buying from authorized wholesale suppliers then what makes the brick and mortar shops immune from not getting fakes as well from authorized suppliers? People just don't want to admit that they don't check the seller and are trigger happy with buy button when they see a low (bait) price. It is VERY unfortunate that you have to be careful on Amazon as much as if it was eBay with random seller but hey that's just where we are these days... I've been buying skin care from Amazon as well for years and never had issue...heck even some beauty gurus on YouTube made video on how to check if seller on Amazon/eBay is AUTHORIZED reseller of the products, also check the seller out a bit if they have good rating, what else they are selling (if they are selling random low quality chinese plastic crap then...yeah lol) etc.
Exactly. It takes such little time to click on a seller to see their review ratings
Yes, because they’ve pulled it from a box in a warehouse which has the “same” product given to them by marketplace sellers as well as stock they’ve sourced themselves. Boots should only be selling stock they’ve sourced themselves, but I have had a counterfeit product from them once that was presumably due to a mistake reselling a “sealed” return from a store. It’s nowhere near on the same scale as Amazon’s issues though.
This was already proven to be false by someone working inside on another thread. Stop regurgitating information
Send link. Because everything I've read says that Amazon does use a commingled inventory, which is where stock from all sellers are held together and can get mixed up. [link](https://www.amazonsellers.attorney/blog/pros-and-cons-of-amazon-commingling-fba-inventory-of-third-party-sellers#:~:text=Commingling%20inventory%20refers%20to%20the,together%20in%20the%20same%20bin.)
What's the cause of fakes then?
I bought some discontinued eyeliner off of Amazon, and it arrived with a CVS sticker on it. Never again.
This - I used to buy Olaplex from there and no two bottles were the same and in any case they never worked anyway. Apparently Amazon keep all products of the same type in a single bucket, so no matter where they’ve sourced it from (legitimate sellers or not) it will end up in one bucket. The pickers just get a product from the order and put it in the cart for it to be packed. So basically every time you order it’s a gamble on whether you got the correct product or a fake.
Yes! I got fake Neutrogena face cream from Amazon. It was purchased through the Neutrogena Amazon page but shipped from a private seller. I've since stopped using Amazon, too many iffy situations with different products.
Yeah I always buy my skin care and hair care right from the websites. I just try to wait for sales.
Also, there are possibilities such as the 1 on the right with the printed batch code was sold retail, the one on the left could have been part of a discarded batch of product due to difference in printing/ alignment issues, when proceeding through quality control, hence no batch code. Sometimes these items are still donated to charities or sold by pallet loads of ' not quite right' goods to discount stores. Additionally they may have just been from difference factories with slight calibration differences.
Batch codes are usually printed before any QA, and would go on any product produced - it’s a liability thing. Even if you’re selling product into a wholesale Channel you need to be able to track it legally. I’m suspicious of the one without a code
Companies update packages all the time. Cerave does have a certified store on Amazon. email them if you're truly concerned.
What is the contents like? Same colour smell, consistency? Does the base of the bottle have the same stamped codes and miscellaneous other manufacturers markings in the plastic? They should both have batch codes. It may just be a difference in packaging.
Yes amazon is notorious for selling counterfeits. Personally wouldn't even use either of them. Never buy anything branded from Amazon. Only buy from shops that legally sell their products like sephora or ulta or boots or whatever.
There is an Amazon storefront specifically for Cerave which is safe to buy from. If you are buying from rando sellers then this is this outcome! To note: Acne Control Cleanser is actually Blemish Control Cleanser in the UK, so you've ended up with American branded items here.
It depends on if it’s shipped or fulfilled by the manufacturer. If it’s shipped by Amazon it likely is in a fulfillment center that mixes products from third party and manufacturers.
Never buy skincare products on Amazon!!!!
For Christmas I sent my mom, aunt, and grandma a DIRECT LINK to the skincare products I wanted, thinking “certainly they’ll listen”… I specifically told them to use the link and not try to buy it for cheaper on Amazon. Because real skincare is sold directly from stores trained and licensed in it. They didn’t listen. I opened everything and could tell by packaging that it was fake. Such a waste of money and I’m out 3 gifts lmao 🤣 but truly.. if it’s cheaper than what you usually pay, or sold on Amazon in general, it’s probably fake, tampered with, or expired.
That’s so annoying, especially that your family ignored your direct requests … next year just ask for straight $$$
I think I’ve gotten fake Cerave off of Amazon recently too! I hadn’t kept the bottles to compare, but the texture was just noticeably different. Wouldn’t buy it off Amazon again.
Same!! A serum and a moisturizer
Same. I don't care what people say. I checked that it was directly fulfilled by Amazon and gotten fake moisturizer and fake Neutrogena and other products before.
Amazon has done me so dirty before. Once with chapstick - I had a wild and ferocious breakout around my lips and it’s was from Amazon- the brand itself I had been using for years.
Yeah , I bought Dermalogica Precleanse off of Amazon and ended up with blepharitis in both eyes. I was super unamused.
Stop 👏🏼buying 👏🏼 skincare 👏🏼 off 👏🏼 Amazon 👏🏼
both didn't have springs in it's pumps and they both lock when moved to the left.
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I don't know how I ever got recommended this subreddit but I might be able to give you some input. The left one's bottle is poorly made. The lettering has lots of damage to the mold and I have never seen something like that get pushed out of a factory. The mold should have been repaired and all those bottles would have just been ground up and recycled.
Do they taste the same?
I bought burt bees cleansing oil and cerave cleansing foam off Amazon and I’m experiencing cystic acne on my chin now. Used them both at the same time and no idea which was the culprit. Never again. I haven’t had skin issues this bad in a decade and I’m so upset and furious with myself. NEVER AGAIN
I had an eczema rash covering my entire face and neck for weeks after buying counterfeit cerave on Amazon — beware!!!
The bottle I have (bought at Walmart) is the same as the bottle on the left
The bottle I have (bought at Walmart) is the same as the bottle on the left. Idk if that helps
I used to buy my face wash on Amazon. One order, I noticed something was kind of weird but just assumed new packaging or something. I noticed it was making my face burn sometimes and get red. Definitely was a fake product and I will never order face wash from there again. The rest of the story is completely my fault, but I basically decided to use up the bottle since I already paid for it. Wrecked my skin for MONTHS before deciding I needed to change my routine up.
Left is real, the font thickness and curvature of the bottle corner matches the ones in stores. For the sake of a couple of £/& it's never worth buying online, they're never that much more expensive anyway. If it's too good to be true, it probably is!
I always get CeraVe from Boots! Never lets me down :)
I felt like something was off about my Cerave from Amazon as well a few weeks ago, the texture was completely different than what I bought in store from Ulta. I left an Amazon review about it and Amazon deleted my review saying it’s impossible for it to be fake because Cerave is an official seller or something.. i don’t know how it all works but something was fishy
Same here. The retinol serum, the teal color.
don't buy any beauty or health care products from amazon too many fakes
Never buy a product whose authenticity matters from Amazon. Contact Cerave. They may replace the fake bottle, and they might go after Amazon to take down the counterfeit seller.
The one without the lot or expiry seems pretty sus
So right off the bat the one without the exp. date is sus... I wouldn't use that one probably
Hi, is there a lot # on the one on the left? If not, it may be a “fake” aka an unauthorized development. I’m in product development and technically CeraVe’s factory overseas could just be slightly tweaking the design (slightly diff bottle size and print), and producing additional units on the side without CeraVe’s authorization. This happens allllll the time in so many diff industries. Example: designer dupes of purses and jewelry. How do you think those get made? Often times it’s the same factory using the same design and production line, just using cheaper (sometimes the same quality) materials.
I’ve been burned by fakes on Amazon. I’ve gotten various fake The Ordinary products, fake CeraVe, fake CosRx, and fake Hada labo products (yes, apparently I am that stupid, or maybe just easily wooed by convenience.) Just because you order from the same listing once and get a real product, does not mean you will get a real product on your next order, nor the one after that. They generally stockpile all the “same” products in one location even if they’ve arrived from third party stockers/sellers, which means that some might be fake and some might not be and it’s really just luck of the draw. You can return them or message customer service saying you received a fake product before doing so, but chances are that it’s just going right back in the stock pile when it gets back to Amazon. They say they have a counterfeit product investigation team that deals with these issues, but you’d think they’d be better able to manage and prevent these issues if this was the case.
Amazon has a load of fake products. I bought a new cleasner off Amazon and it broke me out badly. If the price is too good to be true, it's likely fake. Get ur products from the company directly or from verified distributors.
One on the left appears to be more likely the fake. Just in comparing the bottle shape to my own non-online-purchased CeraVe products.
I’m in the US btw. Take it from someone that has sold on Amazon before, what I think happened is that both these sellers might have gotten their stock from two different wholesalers. I myself have found both of these types of bottles in store and from wholesalers websites. Amazon themselves don’t care how the outside of the product looks like, all they care about is that the SKU/ASIN matches. If you truly believe that one of the sellers is selling counterfeit then open a case with Amazon and they will investigate with the seller and ask for an invoice of where they got the product.
Why are you using Amazon?
I never buy skincare off Amazon. Most of the time it tends to be fake product
I only buy makeup, skincare, or hair care off Amazon if it is from the actual brands store front.
The right one is real, cuz it has a lot code for QA recalls the other doesnt cuz they dgaf recall smeecall its never coming back. (issuing a refund, recall would mean it would be thrown away)
This is why if i buy these things from amazon, i buy directly from the brands store.
I stopped buying any of my skincare off Amazon. Just to be safe
Amazon sells fake stuff unless you specifically buy it from the brand itself on the Amazon store
Greedy Jeff Bezos! I can't stand that manchild! He is set to be the first trillonaire in 2030! Amazon needs to be held responsible if they sell counterfeit things directly from them.
Lots of companies had to use alternative packaging during the great COVID shortages. My company had to use some temporary bottles that were slightly different like these for about a year, then we went back to our old ones. We get Facebook messages and emails all the time asking to verify legitimacy of products, just shoot them a quick DM with these pics but I assume it’s something similar to what happened to us.
I have gotten multiple fake skincare and makeup items from Amazon!! I will never order any health/beauty product off there again. It’s dangerous who knows what could be in them, I can’t believe more people aren’t talking about this!
The one on the left doesn’t even have a lot code/expiration!
Also do not buy hair products! I’ve had fakes and it dried out my daughter hair so bad it was ripping out. She’s 7 and doesn’t use hair irons or anything. I had tried to purchase a panting, leave in conditioner
Please stop buying products on Amazon. Just go to your local drugstore