Beware of Fake Sellers!

Posted on Saturday, November 19, 2011 by Mr. Tambay



In the world of advanced technology, there are certain things that we thought impossible before, yet we are enjoying it now, and one of which is online marketing. People nowadays rush to various sites and buy things that they want in just a click, one thing that we viewed very impractical before the Internet era came.

Since I mentioned that some folks are already addicted to online shopping, here goes this one question "Can we assure that the products we buy online are legitimate or it is one of the products that are tagged FAKE?"

This is one question I bet online buyers sometimes failed to take into consideration. Since the Internet has opened its doors to alternative venue for marketing in the form of online shopping, it also welcomed some sorts to fraud acts and one good example is selling fake products online. This factor must not be discarded especially when the items you buy online are life-threatening, like health care products, cosmetics, and sometimes, food. What's worse is that sometimes sellers offer almost half the original price of the product they sell, which is very attractive to buyers.

A friend of mine once told me that she is very careful and watchful of the product that she buys, especially products that are concerned with pimples or acne. She said she does not want to be like her friend whose face got destroyed by a pimple-remover product.

Luckily, Proactiv Solutions, exclusively distributed in the Philippines by Top American Product Solutions Inc., take the time and opportunity to educate consumers regarding the dangers and risks when buying at spurious sellers and leading them to shop at legal and real ones through the following sales channels:
  • All Watsons Stores (Elizabeth Mall branch, SM City Cebu Branch, and other branches here in Cebu)
  • All SM Department Stores
  • Proactiv Mall Kiosks located at the following malls:
    • Glorietta
    • Robinsons Galleria
    • Trinoma
    • Marquee Mall
    • Alphaland Southgate Mall
    • Eastwood
  • Proactiv Hotline 729-2222 or toll free numbers
  • Proactiv Online Shopping Cart www.my.proactiv.com.ph 
Proactiv Website.
Proactiv Solutions also shared to the public the dangers they may get when buying at black market vendors:
  1. They may be selling the Fake or Counterfeit Proactiv products. They don't have any documents to prove that the ones they sell are genuine. They do not have the License to Import genuine Proactiv products issued by the Bureau of Customs, and each batch of imports must be cleared with an FDA Certificate of Product Registration.
  2. They may be selling products that are being smuggled into the country since they do not have documentation to import products legally. This leads to the undercutting of legitimate prices since they smuggle it, which results to not paying the taxes that might be helpful to the government in protecting the rights of the costumers.
  3. Illegal sellers are unregistered sellers. Once they already made a transaction with you, it is difficult for you to track him down after you found out that his goods are fake. You might end up ripped-off since there is virtually zero post-sale costumer support.
  4. Costumers who became victims of black market don't have the protection of FDA. There will be no clinical oversight from FDA protecting the buyers since the product they bought is not registered.
  5. Illegitimate products comes without warranties because unauthorized dealers do not have FDA Permit attesting the authority of the product they are selling. Other will give you the tag "If you find it fake, then we'll give you a refund!" but the real story is you can't pursue the buyer after you found it fake because he is nowhere to be found.
Here's a testimonial for a woman who chose to buy from legal vendors.

    Proactiv Solutions also reminded that do not easily trust the disclaimers. Disclaimers are sometimes used by illegal vendors to assure their costumers that they are not connected with the manufacturer, but this does not assure product legitimacy and consumer safety.

    Be aware of the authenticity of the Proactiv products being sold online.