this article originally appeared in Scratch, October 2004
Since opening the Nail Geek forums a year and a half ago one of the more common threads that regularly pop up is in regards to people discovering professional nail care products on EBay.
A year ago, all that you would find next to the gently used grandma knickers would be the occasional L&P brush or jar of polymer powder. Things have changed dramatically as now people are finding monomers, gels, fibreglass kits, UV lights, drills, etc This is turning into a serious business for some!
Now it appears that you can find a virtual trade show of professional products up for auction every day. These products are being sold by professional nail technicians that have managed to land a load of product somewhere to auction off to make a quick quid. Interestingly enough, the largest surge of products appear directly after a trade show where many professional technicians have gone in anticipation to buy products at a discounted rate to maximize their profit margins.
My EBay experience
About a year ago Mrs Geek and I were looking at remodelling our sitting room and I just about had her talked into a new Plasma Screen television. Desperate for my new toy that would be a true monument of my masculinity and an altar to the testosterone gods; I hunted out a brand new factory sealed forty-two-inch Pioneer Plasma Screen TV on EBay for half what I would have paid in the store.
My delight was paramount after heavy bidding and a last second snipe; I won out all other bidders with less than a minute remaining! The joy and triumph was second only to those that climb Mount Everest wearing only a mismatched pair of striped tube socks.
Minutes before I was about to pay for the goods I was alerted by EBay that I was dealing with a fraudster who was greedily awaiting me to click the button to transfer the funds to him and the rest of his Eastern block Mafia.
[BREAK]
Funnily enough as I am writing this, I just got a call from Mrs Geek who has just received a few of my EBay purchases from the weekend. One of those purchases happened to be Cat in the Hat for my youngest geeklin who loved the book. Sadly, he wont have the pleasure of viewing it as the DVD turns out to be a ripped off cheap copy that doesnt play. Yup folks, I have been duped saving a buck on EBay. I thought I was bidding on a new DVD and it turns out it was nothing more than a flashy coaster to rest a cold beer on.
That led me to wonder... What will you actually get if you purchase your professional products on EBay? How do you know that what you are buying is indeed what you think you are buying? How do you know that used monomer hasnt been poured back into the container? How do you know that it is even the monomer you think you are buying?
Sure, some may advertise the products as being sealed, but that means very little. My Cat in the Hat DVD was advertised as sealed the seller sealed it as he was laughing all the way to the bank in a way that would scare the crap out of Jack Nicholson.
Who cares?
Well, everyone does and those that shouldnt should start.
First off, these items are being sold to the general public!! Even if they follow the "will only sell to professional nail technicians" crap (which most do not) they are still being sold in a PUBLIC ARENA and most times for far more money than it costs to actually buy the product from a professional distributor.
Virtually all these hazardous products are being shipped via First Class post. Shipping flammables via standard First Class Post can lead to substantial fines, prosecution, and even imprisonment. Do they care? Do they care that mail rooms across the country get evacuated when a parcel containing flammable items is discovered? Do they care about you flying trans Atlantic sitting over a cargo hull filled with undeclared (and therefore not stored accordingly) flammable and hazardous items purchased overseas in an attempt to save 50 pence?
Even more importantly than the scare of men in white wigs yelling at you for being a naughty thrift tech; the fact that people are attempting to make money off of selling Joe Public products that they know they will not be able to use safely let alone successfully. This type of money making is incredibly dangerous and unethical.
- What can you do? First off, stop buying professional products from EBay. The more are sold, the more people will sell! The quicker these guys realize that no one is going to buy this stuff, the faster it will disappear.
- Distributors and companies can really do nothing to get products off of EBay so stop whinging about them not doing anything. Once these guys bought the product, it becomes their property to sell.
- Notify EBay the moment you see potentially hazardous items being sold on EBay they have a policy about hazardous goods being sold.
Just out of curiosity... Anyone interested in a sealed Cat in the Hat DVD?
BUT ....
