Over 40% of cosmetics purchased in overseas online stores are fakes, China Consumer Association says

Beijing. February 9. Silkroadnews - Over 40% of cosmetics purchased in overseas online stores are fakes, a report by China Consumer Association says, the Global Times reported.
“More than 40 percent of the cosmetic products purchased through cross-border e-commerce platforms during the November 11 Shopping Festival of 2017 were counterfeit, and changing and refunding of those fake goods has been far more difficult compared with those (bought via domestic channels), according to a report issued by the China Consumer Association,” the agency wrote.
The report was based on a survey of 16 online shopping platforms covering nine major categories, such as clothing, footwear, smartphones, electronic products, food, cosmetics, household appliances and baby products.
Among 53 selected goods purchased on cross-border shopping sites, only 37 represented the goods of high quality, the report said. But eight out of the 19 cosmetics samples were found to be counterfeit.
As for the goods that could be returned within seven days without a reason, 62 percent of the surveyed products bought from cross-border e-commerce platforms did not actually support such a service. Also, consumers generally do not opt to return goods due to high transportation and tax fees, the authors of the report wrote.
It was rather problematic to purchase suitable clothes in online stores, but after-sales services were “quite good”, the report said.
In addition, about 78% of online sellers “marked up prices prior to the shopping festival and then lowered the prices, pretending they were offering huge discounts to consumers.”
The report also calls on delivery firms to do more to protect their personal data. Only seven out of the 206 surveyed courier receipts did not show the recipients’ personal information.