Before Buying Brushes On Ebay Or Asking About Them Read This!!!

[queenofdisaster]

when you see the combo of these 8 MAC BRUSHES: 150, 190, 194, 168, 275, 266, 239, 316 on eBay, they are most definitely going to be counterfeit. a lot of sellers somehow have tons of these sets and i mistakenly bought one and thankfully was refunded.

when looking at the pictures, pay attention to the ferrules.

authentic mac ferrules kind of fan out, and the brush tapers into them.

every single one of these brush sets on ebay have straight ferrules, and straight handles. they smell of chemicals, and some of them are plastic.

the lip brushes are rusty on the inside of the metal cover.

please do not purchase these sets from eBay! and spread the word!!!

 

[MAC_Whore]

That's more brushes than usually come in a MAC-released set, as well. Usually it is only about 5.

 

[caffn8me]

M·A·C also does not sell full sized brush sets any more. This is to stop folks splitting the sets up and trying to obtain a refund or exchange on the individual brushes.

 

[dheedhee]

Thanks.. lucky i found this website first before i bid the item. I was thinking to buy it, but still consider about the genuine... coz been buying the fake MAC #187 so not thinking to buy from ebay anymore...

 

[Xqueeze_me]

Here here! I found a very useful information from an eBay seller, hoanganhcali.

Quote:

New tip for identify fake Mac brush: Authentic Mac brushes ALWAYS come in plastic sleeves WITH PRODUCT'S BARCODE PRINTED ON THE PLASTIC SLEEVE. The handle is heavy and sturdy, the bristle's texture is fine and held securely by the ferrules. The more you wash the softer it will get. Fake Mac brushes come in plain plastic sleeves packing without barcodes printed on the plastic sleeve. The handle is made of bad quality wood, feels like you could bend it, and its got a horrible strong odour of paint and it smells like they just painted it. The bristle's texture is dull and does not hold very securely by the ferrules. All the bristles will fall off after just one wash...yuck...

Hope that helps!

 

[Nomi Abebe]

On all pro brushes the UPC is a sticker at the end of the bag.

 

[panda0410]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nomi Abebe On all pro brushes the UPC is a sticker at the end of the bag.

Actually its not - sorry. All my brushes barcodes have been PRINTED on the bags, and quite a few others here as well have had the same experience when buying brushes from pro stores.

 

[loves_macxoxo]

oh wow thanks!!!

 

[miss_supra]

I wish I read this 5 days ago.

 

[Tabitha]

Actually, my 208 has the bar code at the end of the sleeve. It looks like it's printed on the sleeve, but if I look closely I can see it's a clear sticker with the barcode and other Mac info on it. I have no doubt about it's authenticity since it was purchased at a Mac counter in Macy's.

 

[Girl about town]

Thanks i was just going to bid on a set on ebay, think i will steer clear and just buy one every couple of weeks from the mac store xxx Cheers!!!

 

[panda0410]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tabitha Actually, my 208 has the bar code at the end of the sleeve. It looks like it's printed on the sleeve, but if I look closely I can see it's a clear sticker with the barcode and other Mac info on it. I have no doubt about it's authenticity since it was purchased at a Mac counter in Macy's.

thats not what is in dispute.... the other poster claims that sticker barcodes are the ONLY way brushes are sold. I can tell you for a fact its not - my brushes came from mac pro, and they are printed.

 

[kittiegothgirl]

i recently bought an eleven pieces brush set from ebay , the seller ( kois798 )
said it were genuine MAC brushes..
they had 7 positive feedbacks and looked legit.. (me not knowing anything and being naieve)
now, they arent registered on ebay anymore :s
all the brushes came in a plastic seetrough sleeve with a barcode sticker on the plastic, it also sais mac on the brushes themselves..
they look like the real deal..
i havent used them yet ,so i dont know if you wash them they get softer etc..
have i been ripped off?

 

[panda0410]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kittiegothgirl i recently bought an eleven pieces brush set from ebay , the seller ( kois798 ) said it were genuine MAC brushes.. they had 7 positive feedbacks and looked legit.. (me not knowing anything and being naieve) now, they arent registered on ebay anymore :s all the brushes came in a plastic seetrough sleeve with a barcode sticker on the plastic, it also sais mac on the brushes themselves.. they look like the real deal.. i havent used them yet ,so i dont know if you wash them they get softer etc.. have i been ripped off?

The quickest easiest way to tell would be with some pics - can you post some?? MAC brushes are no longer being sold in large sets, although I have seen brush "lots" these clearly state they are a lot and NOT a set, and were authentic. The problem with fakes is that they are becoming increasingly harder to tell - they are now coming with individual sleeves, now with barcodes as well - which in authentic packing are usually either printed or stickers, and all the fakes come with MAC printing on the brush. The key with the fakes is in the finer detail of the brush, printing, ferrule, and hair itself. Post some good pics and we should be able to help, but I have to tell you that 11 piece brush sets were never sold by MAC, I think be recollection the largest was a 7 or 8 piece set - and they stopped selling sets a LONG time ago. The only sets you will find now are 5 piece SE sets and thats pretty much it. Also given that your seller only had 7 positive FB and is now no longer registered I would hedge a better than fair bet that your brushes are probably fake, sorry.

 

[kittiegothgirl]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWN:IT&ih=010

this is the link to the auction ..
i feel reallly naieve right now *sigh*

i've also contacted ebay member wc-racer about this after reading her "tutorial" on how to pot fake mac..
this is what i wrote her :

"[FONT=Arial, Verdana]hi, i'm sorry to bother you with this but i just read your advice on how to spot fake mac and i'm afraid i did :s
i bought an 11 piece brush set from ebay seller kois798 which is not registered at ebay anymore .
the brushes look legit exept :
- the black looks shimmery to me (but not according to my friend)
- the "codes" are stickers
- and they smell (could be the smell of plastic too but not sure)

i'm not sure what to do here :s
again, sorry for bothering you "
[/FONT]

after a reply from her
(which i will not post because its gonna be tooo long

)
i wrote this back :

"hi , thank you so much for your quick reply..
the brushes all have the sticker with the "basic" numbers on them and the last numbers are all different..
there are 3 brushes from usa, 4 from France and 4 from japan

i'm on specktra too,so i checked these things (compared photos etc) but its really confusing :s

some members say the new brushes have a sparkly shine to them , other say they are matte, and others say : the fakes have a mist shine over them andt the genuine a sparkly pearl shine , which to be honest ,i cannot see the difference in ..
there are definately SParkles in there ,but my friend sais its matte ,and i say its sparkly

they feel soft and stand etc like there supposed too
(i compared my 187 with help of this site : http://blog.pixnet.net/risser/post/2080157 )
MOST of the time mine looks like the authentic one, but not ALWAYS
and even if this one is authentic doesnt mean the others are :s

when it comes to MAC stores i dont think i have much options, the closest MAC store here is in Antwerp ,and hearing from the people who have been there already, the MAC girls there are having a hard time understanding the difference between a pigment and an eyeshadow :s so i'm not expecting much help from them :s

also ,because the seller isnt on ebay anymore i'm not sure (if i would do this) how i can even file a complaint against them :s
and if so i'm scared that it will be my word against them ,(them saying i'm lying just to get money etc :s)

thank you so much for listening to me.."

i think this prety much sums it up..

oh,and i've also been buying other brands of make up from the same seller etc on ebay,but i think its the best if i put up a new post for this lol

 

[panda0410]

these pics are too hard to tell - we need close ups of the handle, print and ferrules to help you more. I have seen pigments that looked more than real as well - until you look at the "fine print" so to speak. Do you have the brushes yet? If you coudl take them out of the sleeves and get clsoe ups of the above then hopefully we will be able to tell you for sure

wc-racer has been good at posting her guides, I emaile dher a while ago (I have purchased from her in the past) regarding new fake pigments to which she never repsonded and I sincerely wish she had because her fake pigment spotting guide is no longer up to date

 

[kittiegothgirl]

yes, i already have the brushes...
i will take pics tomorrow (hopefully some decent ones

)
thank you so much for all the help ^^

 

[kittiegothgirl]

buh

,no need for pictures, they are FAKE !!
i washed the 187 brush and the black rubbed off on my hands + the tip (the hairs) litterally fell out of the handle!!!!
i also compared the other brushes to the 187 (even the fake ones dont have "glitter") and the ones i have definately have the wrong kind of shimmer...
bah ,i feel so duped and stupid

 

[panda0410]

Oh no

I am sorry to hear it, its hard to buy from ebay with confidence! Flick through that list I gave you - there are a couple of really good brush sellers there, one in particular (denisef609) often has 187s at pretty good prices so you might be able to replace it. And clostemustgo usually has a variety of authentic brushes at very reasonable prices ranging from full sized brushes to SEs split from sets and sometimes rarer brushes like Diana Ross.

 

[kittiegothgirl]

yeah ,but i still lost 106 dollars :s aargh :s
and paypal sais i cant file a claim because it didnt have "buyer protection from paypal" miep :'(