There's an Irish company out there of very, very dubious and dodgy standards, operating on Facebook - contravening their usage policies by the way - and one of the things they're selling is what they're claiming is Mac overstock. I'm not linking to them - these parasites don't deserve traffic - but unfortunately they're just one of many dodgy dealers out there seeking to make a quick buck off the back of a hugely popular brand.
When myself and some other bloggers challenged them about selling fake Mac products on Facebook last night, we were fudged, one was threatened with defamation and firstly we were blocked from commenting and then all the comments plus the comment thread were deleted (but the intrepid Lorraine from John it's Only Makeup has a grab on her Facebook page if you want a goo). Cos obviously that means that everything is fine, so lets all just carry on as normal. Selling fake products and scamming customers.
Now, lets take a little look at why they, and their ilk, would want to do that, and why Irish people would want to buy.
Number one, Mac is a brand that tightly controls its distribution and maintains a huge cult following. Think about it. In Ireland, you can only get it at extremely selected locations, those being at the country's most exclusive retailer, Brown Thomas, and its hip little sister, BT2. Nowhere else. That's it. That's also why it's so very very hard to buy real Mac products cheaply online - the brand tightly controls its distribution.
So, does it seem likely to you that a brand such as that would then sell overstock to any auld gobsheen huckster (who doesn't even have the nous to set up a website) to flog on a Facebook page?
Advertised
Erm, no, no it does not. So that's your number one clue that things might not be quite kosher.
Here's number two. And it really is a number two. Real Mac isn't cheap to buy and so these vile shit-pedlars can make rakes of cash selling crap-looking tat with a screen-printed Mac logo on it. It doesn't even have to look anything like a Mac product - while some don't know any better, lots of people don't seem to care that this stuff is as fake as that fake Pokemon someone bought you once on Moore Street. A Fakeachoo, if you will. Totally bogus. 100% not real. Totally and utterly the reverse of legit.
But it does actually matter. Here's why - and we wrote pretty much the same post this time last year, dishearteningly.
- You're paying over-the-odds for a brand name - but you're not getting it. Therefore, you are being scammed
- You have no idea what’s in these products and how they will react on your skin
- You give up your consumer rights when you buy fake products and you have no recourse in the event of a problem
- The exchequer gets no revenue from the sale - and right now, it really needs it
- Fake products are generally made by not-very-nice-people - and sold by gobshites
- Do you want your money to potentially fuel terrorism or organised crime (who do you think makes this stuff in the first place, and why?) purely so you can have a fake logo slapped on some crap-quality makeup?
So, it's got to stop. If you see this happening on Facebook, report it! It's easy too - Facebook has some help available here, but basically on a Page, you scroll to the bottom of the left hand panel and choose the 'Report This Page' option and take it from there.
