As a cosmetics seller for several years now, one of the questions my customers continually ask me is why they can save so much when they buy from my store or from other Ebay sellers over the price they pay in the retail shops. This is a good question and it deserves a good answer so I will try to give a few of the reasons why I have been able to offer my customers the best prices on genuine cosmetics.

I buy from wholesalers in the US for the most part. These businesses have a close relationship with the cosmetic manufacturers and many times get super deals on very large lots of product which are then on-sold to people like myself at a fraction of the retail cost. I have spent a long time sourcing these contacts and because of these efforts, I can save a lot off of the full price or even the wholesale price in Australia and I pass the savings on to you. Now the reason why these wholesalers get these large lots vary, but some of the reasons may include:

1- An item has been discontinued. Let's face it, who hasn't had their favourite colour all of a sudden cease production and you're left out in the cold? Fashions change and companies like large cosmetic manufacturers change the fashions by constantly updating their lines, adding new colours and, it seems to me, renaming colours to make them seem new :-) What happens in that case is that the discontinued items they have left which may be only one season old, get sent to wholesalers at a deep discount. That is why a lot of the items I sell consist of discontinued colours. A boon if the shade you love so much has been discontinued.

2- There could be packaging problems on the assembly line. You know those little labels at are so cleverly stuck on the bottom of the tube or jar? Well, sometimes, the machines mess up and those labels either don't get stuck on or else, they fall off. These products are now considered seconds. It is too expensive for the company to run them through the process again so they are sold to wholesalers. What about boxes? Sometimes, a manufacturer will run out of boxes before they run out of stock. If you are a big cosmetics company selling millions of pieces of one item in a year, a few thousand unboxed items are just another business expense so again, they will sell this stock to wholesalers.

3- Packaging changes. Last year, Clarins changed all of their packaging, updating the design and giving it a more modern look. Hundreds of thousands of Clarins in the older packaging could no longer be sold to retail shops. Everything had to be consistent. Their loss - your gain! Because of these changes, sellers like me on Ebay were able to offer products which were identical to the ones on sale in stores with the exception of the case or package.

4- Dings and scratches. Shipping cosmetics must be a difficult job. Many times the cases are very fragile and the tubes and bottles can scratch and chip - especially those in acrylic. Again, they are not available for sale in retail stores, but they are perfect in every other way so, off to Ebay they go.

5- Overproduction. Even cosmetic companies with decades of experience have suffered from overproduction of one particular line and when that happens, they don't like to have stock lying around doing nothing. They will then sell their overstocks to wholesalers.

6- Last but not least - when you have a relationship with a wholesaler, you can obtain current, perfect boxed cosmetics at wholesale price which will always be much lower than retail. Being an Ebay seller means not having all of the overheads that a bricks and mortar business would have so I can tack on a small percentage and still make a profit while giving you, the customer, the best possible price. Everyone is a winner!

A caveat for those of you reading this. There are a LOT of counterfeit cosmetics on Ebay and you do have to beware. Try to buy from a seller with a long track record and good feedback. Buying cosmetics from Asia is asking for trouble in many cases. Check the picture carefully. Also check the colours on offer against the colours via the manufacturer's website. If you are being offered a colour which is not now and never has been associated with the company, chances are it's counterfeit. I have seen pictures of cosmetics with the manufacturer's name spelled incorrectly. A really good clue as to the authenticity of the item. And remember, if a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Buying a $250 bottle of perfume for $10 is virtually guaranteeing that this item is not genuine. You want to go for a discount but keep your wits about you too - too cheap is not necessarily too good.

I hope you've enjoyed this guide. It's the first one I've written and I hope to write more as time allows.