The serum in your cart might not be real, and on a marketplace the checking got quietly handed to you. Estee Lauder is suing Walmart over counterfeit listings; the trade is a structural leak, with lost cosmetics sales long pegged at $5.4 billion a year. It turns into a health story when the fakes get tested: a UK government lab found beryllium oxide, arsenic, lead, and mercury in seized samples, plus rodent urine and horse feces. Consumer group Which? judged 23 of 34 marketplace buys likely fake, worst on resale and social apps (all six from Vinted). The unglamorous checks:
- Buy anything going near your skin from the brand or an authorized retailer
- Treat a price far under the sticker as information, not a bargain
- Check the batch code and packaging before the marketing copy
A court can't do that part for you.
