Buyer Beware: The Hidden Dangers of Skincare on Amazon

I was sitting on Ben Azadi’s couch discussing what questions we would be covering in our podcast interview the following morning.  He is telling me the story of how he ran out of our products a month prior and needed to grab a moisturizer for a work trip he was going on a few days later.

In a pinch, Ben went to Amazon and ordered a tallow product that had rave reviews and seemed clean, reasonably priced and was available (through Prime shipping) to arrive on his doorstep the following morning.  He told me it arrived the next day and without even opening the box, he stuff it in his bag and left for his trip that afternoon.

Ben looks at me and says “Charles, I don’t think this product is tallow.  I opened it when I got to my destination and it smells funny and doesn’t have the consistency of tallow. DO YOU THINK IT’S FAKE?” Ben still had the product and scurried off to grab it.  As soon as I opened the lid, I knew this was a fake. 

“Ben”, I said, “There is no way you bought this on Amazon.”  He pulled out his orders and showed me. I went to my account and immediately ordered one (seen in picture). It sits on my desk as a reminder of how completely WRONG our systems and enforcement regarding skincare is in this country.

Folks—THIS PRODUCT IS A FAKE.

As many of you already know, beef tallow is all the rage at the moment with the MAHA movement and all the press.  It seems like a week doesn’t go by that I don’t see a new tallow brand launch online.

Don’t get me wrong, here at Farrow—we love tallow. We use it in several of our products and it has a great function in sealing in the moisturizing that our SmartLard® does for your skin.

I’ve not had the product analyzed in a lab…but I can tell you that there are multiple compounds in this product that are NOT beef tallow.

The FDA regulations around skincare in this country need some serious work…but this product doesn’t even meet them.

• No Ingredients listed (on the product or the box it came in)
• No Manufacturer listed
• No Brand or company name listed
  

HOW IN THE WORLD DOES AN ILLEGAL PRODUCT GET SOLD ON AMAZON?

This is going to happen when things get trendy. Fake, copycats and the like will seize an opportunity to profit from trends. However, there are lines that should not be crossed. When it comes to consumer protection and integrity, it is my opinion that Amazon has failed its customers.

As remarkable as Amazon is for delivering products to consumers rapidly, their vendor vetting needs some work.