Parallel Imports a risk to consumers

Parallel Imports a risk to consumers

The Cosmetic Toiletry and Fragrance Association today warned consumers of the risks of purchasing cosmetic products from the current rash of businesses promoting cheap import cosmetic and fragrance products.

“Many of the products are old discontinued lines with at least one recent example found to be over five years old” said Garth Wyllie Executive Director.
“When products are this old there is no guarantee of the quality and consumers are not getting what they think they are getting in many cases”, he said.

We question the safety of products that have been shipped without the normal adherence to both keeping the products in top condition and in meeting the rules normally applied for shipping of such products. In some instances there may even be breaches in Aviation rules when these products are imported via the postal system.

“Much of the promotion of products talks about the savings consumers will achieve however the CTFA warns consumers not to buy before checking out the real prices at normal retailers. In some cases the savings are not real and certainly don’t justify the risk to the consumer of buying old products. This is very much a case of buyer beware” said Garth Wyllie

There is some evidence that the parallel imported products may not always be genuine and this is particularly so when the price difference is substantially less than the actual retail price. In such cases consumers may not be getting a bargain, but ripped off with inferior products that at best only use the brand name they purport to be. Such products are likely to be made in back street operations using poor quality ingredients and manufacturing processes.

“Consumers should be very wary of purchasing via parallel importers claiming bargain prices” said Garth Wyllie

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