Is this appropriate? Would you accept this policy?

Hey guys, I just wanna bring this issue up because it rubbed me the wrong way.
I went to Miri today, to look for clothes for my new single, amongst other things.

Curious, I went to SaSa to see if the new eye primer by theBalm is in-stock. It was. Along with Meet Matt(e) Nude which I didn't buy.

theBalm "Put A Lid On It" Eye Primer (RM70)

So, here's the deal.

I wanted to buy the primer, so I asked the SA, "Is there a tester?"
"No, it's new." and I was like "Oh."

Then she did something I didn't expect her to do.
She said, "You can try it out." and proceeded to open it. Just like that.

I thought it was gonna be a tester or something.

I didn't ask for her to open it but she went ahead and did so.
I'm guessing she wanted to sell the product but wtf.

Even as a customer I wouldn't want to ask an employee to open the product UNLESS they intended to make it a tester.

She kinda urged me to try out the product she squeezed out of the tube.

Hesitantly, I did.


I think I couldn't hide my displeasure on my face but she was all smiles.

Not knowing how to feel, or what to think, I said, "I'll take it...(?)"

And she proceeded to put the used tube back in and into my basket.


Did I expect her to do that? Nope.
I expected her to turn that into a tester and give me a new product.
But at the back of my head, I did think:

"What if I didn't want to buy the product? Would she put it back on the rack?"

I kept it to myself as I shopped for other things.

I also asked about the Meet Matt(e) Nude, which didn't have a tester. The same SA asked the other SAs if there was a tester OR if she could open it. It was taped shut, that was a relief since I've experienced "swatched palettes" from them before.

You can read that here.

--

I went to see my sister after that and told her about what I experienced.
She was like "Wtf? Why did you buy it??"

"Because I wanted it. But I didn't expect that."

And then I went ahead and asked my mom and dad what they thought.


At the end of it, I decided to go back and ask the saleslady because it was constantly on my mind.

"Hi, I wanna ask something about the product before"

"Oh, you can't exchange or return it." She said, with a smile. Funnily, while she was saying this, at the back, they had a "Return and Exchange Policy" poster at the back.

"That's not the case..."

It was hard for me to word it out. Am I supposed to use English or Malay? LOL.

So I went ahead and asked her.

"The product before, should I didn't want to buy it, would you make it a tester?"

She just said, "Nope. We'll put it back on display since only a little product was used."

I cringed.

"Really?"

"Yep, I'll put it on display at the very back." she just said normally.

"But isn't that wrong? Is that this shop's policy?"

At that point, red flags were everywhere in my head. How many items I've bought that didn't have a seal, nor tester, were tested out by other people? Do other shops do this too?

"Before we sell something, we'd show the product."

And I was like "Holy shit, so they DO know palettes are swatched and stuff??"



I brought up the swatched palette story. It seemed like a normal thing to her.
And mind you, they sell it for full price.

I think at that time, she was on to my worries. "The product you bought just arrived last night. You're the first one to use it."


At that point, I was sickened.
I felt sick to the stomach.


I said a quick and awkward "Thank you" and went to my dad.

He said, "It's their strategy. It's how business is."

My sis went, "Ewww"



And I'm like.... "Can you imagine how many things that I might have bought from there that's been used? If it didn't have a tester?"



EWWWW.


SO YEAH.


What do YOU guys think?

Like, seriously.


I love SaSa because they supply my favourite brand, theBalm.

But wtf is this shittttt.





Seriously, should I write to SaSa Malaysia about this matter?
Or do you guys think it's okay??

EDIT: I've sent an e-mail.


Seriously!


I might not wanna buy from SaSa Miri anymore.

Sigh.


Take care, guys.

-Nisah-

Etude House Sweet Recipe Will Be In Brunei? YES!

Well, they said so on my post anyway!

At first I was like NO. Then OMG YESSSSSS.

Well, what does that mean?

HEAVEN.

I don't think I'll buy ALL the collection, I think I should collect all my monies for this day to come.

Provided that it's not overpriced :x

Like, seriously.

I'm eyeing the Ice Cream Nails, like HELLOOOO, that's why I wanted it in the first place.

Wanna see the pics?

Go Google it.

HAHAHA, no, no.

I'm just kidding.

I'm eyeing the Mint one the most. BUT I WANT EVERYTHING.

I just hope it's not marked up three times the price. Twice is fine.

But three times, no.

Nope.

Okay, Etude?

Great.

Take care, it's such a hot day!

-Nisah-

Profit VS Scamming (Brunei Edition)

Disclaimer: THIS POST IS BY NO MEANS TRYING TO PUT PEOPLE OUT OF BUSINESS, BUT READ IT WITH AN OPEN MIND.

Okay, after I post this, I will move on to happier things, okay?

This is what I experienced and saw today at Airport Mall, Brunei.

----

We were on the way back to our car, so we passed through Airport Mall, and there were stalls around. I didn't even look around because it was late.

But then my brother got stopped by one of the stall shopkeepers.

So they started talking, and me and his girlfriend saw some makeup being sold.
I didn't care for it, as I just bought something from Etude House.

Until I saw that my brother's girlfriend gushing about how pretty this palette was....

...can you guess what it was?


It was the sought after Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette.

Urban Decay's Naked 2 Palette (Image from Jess Beez Adventures ) 

Actually, it's the "Naked 2 Palette".

It was the fake one, the Grade A replica ones China makes.

Replicated "Naked 2 Palette" (Image taken from Makeuptalk ) 

You see, I'm familiar with things like these because I myself have contemplated buying them myself, online, through the proper shops. They sell these at USD15-19 per piece, and then shipping. If you buy in bulk however, you'd get it cheaper.

Converted, that should be BND19 right? Roughly. Plus maybe USD2 shipping, which makes it BND21. However, if you bought it in bulk, 12+, you can get one palette at BND13 (plus the shipping, which I guess it around BND40 depending on weight).

After some calculating, one price of the palette would be roughly BND16.

But they were selling it at BND85, because my brother's GF asked how much they were, while admiring it.

Yes, you read that right.

BND85.

So, how much profit are they making?

They are making BND69 out of one palette.


So, what do you think that's considered as?
Is it genuine "profit" or a scam?


Plus, after I outed them by saying "Well, that's fake, I know."

The seller said, "No, they're real, my friend bought it from the US."


Okay, that's one thing to sell it at BND85, but to insist that it's real?
Sorry, I can't tolerate that.


Not only are you making a HUGE profit from it, you're also LYING to potential customers.
Why can't you just say, "Oh, they're Grade A replicas from China."

And sell them maybe at a reasonable BND35 at least?

Might I add that China made the full replica now too, which comes with the lipgloss.

New Packaging of the Replica (Image taken from My Beauty Vanity ) 

You can also view the new fake Naked 2 Palette from this blog: Amna's Post

I also saw some of the replicas actually looking like this, but the palette is boxed like in the photo above.

So yeah, I have to back up Urban Decay telling me this when I asked them about this UD Palette I bought from eBay:

"Thank you for your email. We do not have any authorized resellers on Ebay. The only authorized resellers of Urban Decay are Sephora, Ulta, and Macy's as well as some international websites like beautybay.com. We do not have any individual authorized resellers. It is against our company policy."

Although after much soul searching, my palette (which I will write about in another entry), is possibly real, or a bloody good replica. LOL. Either way, I got it cheaply. And that's with shipping by the way~

Not expensively like BND85!!

So yeah, Brunei, is this even legal in our country?
Imagine all the unsuspecting people buying this palette.

BND85 isn't cheap you know.

Not only that, the ingredients in a fake palette can be full of dangerous ingredients and we wouldn't know!

But I did mention before that I considered buying them. Why would I not mind? Because I do have some palettes made in China.


My brother told me to let it be, it's some people's way of "making money to earn a living"

Yes. That's true.

But two things I can't forgive:

1) Insisting that the product is REAL and AUTHENTIC.
2) The pricing. Heck, even the original one is about BND70-75!

Not only that, they were also selling one of my favourite brands, theBalm. The fake one too of course. For that one, I didn't ask.


I'm just bringing this up.

How much of this is legal?
Can we protect consumers like this?

There's nothing wrong with admitting that they are replicas, and making just a bit of profit from it. Maybe double it. But that's about it.

I know you're a small business.


But I am also not a blind consumer.

Okay?


Sorry if I offended the seller should they be reading.

I am only saying it can be dangerous and very wrong.

Take care!

-Nisah-