Fakey fakey? I'm pretty sure...

[BlahWah]

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...ADME:B:SS:CA:1

I wanted to contact the bidder since he/she seems still new to eBay (according to feedback), but I'm not solid enough in my belief that these are fakes to warn someone off. But MAC never has "factory seconds" made available to the public in any way, right?

 

[SMMY]

Judging by the seller's feedback and inability to provide names, I'd definitely by wary of bidding on them. I've never heard of MAC factory seconds.

 

[BadPrincess]

I can't be sure if they are real but I can say that every brand ends up with seconds, mistakes are always made. And yup they aren't available to the public but they get out there all the time. I also hate to say this but thats what mostly is sold on ebay. That is what is mostly sold at fleamarkets also.... seconds. If they aren't seconds & the people selling them don't have some kinda contract with the brand/company then that makes them stolen one way or another. Then you have people who buy at retail or use the pro discount to resale.

 

[caffn8me]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlahWah I wanted to contact the bidder since he/she seems still new to eBay (according to feedback)

Quote:

Originally Posted by SMMY Judging by the seller's feedback.... [snip] ....I'd definitely by wary of bidding on them

Are you sure about this? Their feedback profile is 98.1% positive over 258 transactions and they have been an eBay member since June 1999 - over seven years.

Their M·A·C products do indeed look like they could be seconds. There are certainly such things - see the thread Fake? which has a link to a misprinted LipGelee which otherwise looks genuine.

The seller of the eyeshadows also lives in Canada where many of M·A·C's products are made. Take a look at some of their other sale items which all appear to be seconds.

• Lot - 5 MAC eye shadow - mauve pink black shiney
• NEW MAC BLUSH in a peach color
• MAC Stars N Rockets eyeshadow compact - the case and applicator look absolutely genuine. I've yet to see counterfeit items containing applicator pads as accurate as this one. We just don't know what the actual product is due to mislabelling.
• lot of 4 MAC eyeshadow - new Stars N Rockets pink - unlabelled or with the wrong label. The compact also has a Stars N Rockets eye shadow label.

All these items are consistent in the way they describe the products and mistakes of this sort do happen. What the correct factory policy for dealing with mistakes is another matter. Some companies destroy all seconds, others sell them to the public, others to staff and it's usually possible for production workers to sneak discarded product out too. It may even be that the waste disposal system is the weak link in the chain so product that has been discarded can be salvaged from skips/dumpsters either by members of the public or people working for the waste management company. From a manufacturing plant like this, the waste is most likely to be very clean so easy to salvage if it hasn't been properly destroyed by mechanical or thermal means.

I believe these products are real but you'd really need to find out what the Estee Lauder policy on factory seconds is to determine whether they are legitimate.