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Member since:11.10.2003
Reviews:64
Members who trust:143
A friend recommended for me to check out buycosmeticsdirect.com around christmas time after she had managed to get cheap brand name perfumes as gifts for friends - me being one of them! I now regularly visit the site to check out their new weekly offers and ever-changing promotions.
What is buycosmeticsdirect.com? *************************************
What do they claim / why choose them? ******************************************* They offer savings of up to 85% off High Street prices for varies cosmetics and gifts. They have over 25,000 items in stock, offer fast deliveries and a money back guarantee. They offer free delivery on purchases over £50. They guarantee themselves to be a secure site and encrypt your payment details to eliminate fraud - and they claim that no fraudulent activity has ever taken place as a result of a customer paying by card over the internet.
How are they able to sell their stock so cheaply? *****************************************************
They buy products in bulk from countries around Europe where the prices are lower and they bulk buy end of run and clearance lines. This can mean that you can find discontinued products here when you are unable to get them from High Street shops but also means if you find something cheap and really like it you may not be able to get it again.
What brands do they sell? *****************************
They stock over 100 well known brands so forgive me for not
mentioning them all! They include Armani, Calvin Klein, Chanel, Christian Dior, Clinique, Clarins and some of the High Street brands like Maybelline, Max Factor and RoC.
What is their range of products like? ***************************************
They sell a wide range of products including anti-aging, make-up, sun creams, self tanning creams, sunglasses, fragrances, watches, fitness equipment and body care. Unfortunately, as their main aim is to sell you products for cheaper prices, this sometimes means that you cannot always find the products you want. in their Clinique range for example they do not sell many of Cliniques best sellers or any clinique make-up. When you find what you want you do find it at a good price, however that is only WHEN!
It is also useful to note that you do not get any of the freebies and of course none of the personal advice that you would get through buying your cosmetics at a beauty counter.
What sort of savings can I expect? *************************************
Some of their best deals at the moment are:- Max Factor Calorie 2000 mascara half recommended selling price at £7 and also on BOGOF!
Mac lipstick Rouge A at £2.49 saving £8.51!
On non-promotional, every day stock you can expect a saving of around 10%
Is it easy to get around the site? ***********************************
Their home page is very helpful, offering you a variety of ways to choose to shop. Their home page is bright, colourful and very spacious too, which encourages your eyes to wander around. They have their "Deal of the Week" pictured and priced and various other specal offers, such as Buy One Get One Free (BOGOF), new stock offers and clearance prices. They list their top five best sellers and top five best discounts to try and tempt you in!
They really do make it easy for you to navigate the site and find what you are looking for. You can choose to search via product brands, new products, BOGOF, clearance, 3 for 2, type of product (eg lipstick, anti aging), gifts for under £5, £10, £25 or £50 or good old basic product name. It is a very well designed website in that it is very easy to find what you are looking for and very tempting to buy even more than you originally planned!
Once you have found a product you are interested in you get tempted with three other products that customers also bought with that item - Ah, it is worse than persistent sales people!
What about avaliability of stock? ***********************************
A GREAT feature of this site is that gives it another edge against similar beauty sites in that it gives you the exact number of stock items held so you feel safe in the knowledge that it will be delivered to you within a few days.
Is it easy to select the exact colour you want? *************************************************
With lipsticks, eyeshadows, blushes and similar products that require you to choose a colour they show you the different colours avaliable so that you can make your choice. On the downside though they do not actually tell you much about the product such as what skin type is is for, how you use it, or the ingredients. They expect you to have done a little research into exactly what you are looking for and the precise, colour, smell, texture, etc.
How easy is it to buy from the site? **************************************
Once you find an item you wish to purchase it is easy to add it to your shopping simply by clicking the "Add to Bag" button. It will show you your shopping basket and provide you with a running total of how much you have spent and how much you have saved. To purchase another item you simply click out of the page into another department to shop in.
What sort of delivery do they offer? *************************************
They offer two types of delivery: Standard or Express. Standard delivery is within 5-7 working days and costs £3.49 for orders under £50 and is free for orders abover £50. Express delivery is within two working days and costs £5.49 on orders under £50 and £1.99 on orders over £50. I have always used standard delivery and normally receive my items within 2-3 days after ordering.
I have been fooled into spending over £50 to get free delivery but found that I had saved £3.49 on delivery yet bought £20 worth of products that I didn't want, so beware it will bring the shopoholic out in you.
How do you pay? *******************
When you have finished your shopping you click to "Go to secure Checkout" where, if you are a new customer, you need to enter your email address and register your name, address, date of birth, phone number and password. You can not submit an order without a landline number. Once you have made a purchase you just need to enter your email address and password and your details will be retrieved.
You can pay online using mastercard, visa, solo, visa electron, switch and delta. They do not accept Diners Card or American Express. The site is protected by Verisign(tm) and they encrypt your details to prevent any fraudulent activity.
You need to enter your card details and confirm your order and then that is it - all finished. You will be remembered for next time so that you need only enter your card details and confirm your order. It is useful to note that if you do not wish to give your card details in this way you can phone them up and give them over the phone.
If you want to pay by cheque you can do that too by phoning them with your order and sending a cheque.
Once you have confirmed your order you are unable to cancel it. You can send back any unwanted items, as long as they are unused and unopened - provided it is within thirty days.
How soon do you get your items and are they well packed? ******************************************************************** I have only ever paid for standard delivery and usually get my items within two, maybe three days. They have always been very well packed with a lot of bubble wrap and each item is individually packed. I could not fault it at all.
What if i am not happy? *************************
They offer a 30 day money back guarantee on all unused, unopened items. You have to pay postage and packaging to send it back to them though. 30 days seems a fair amount of time and though I have never had to use their returns department if it is run as well as the rest of their company I have full faith in it.
Would I use them again? ***************************
I regularly have a nose at their home page to see what offers are on. They regularly get in clearance stock so they have new promotions running on a weekly basis. I have ordered from them four times now and tend to buy products that I know about as the information they supply you with is very basic.
Who is this site really for and hints and tips!! ************************************************
I recommend this site to people who know what they want and have a good knowledge of brands. You are unable to smell fragrances first, check ingredients for allergies, check whether brands are tested on animals, see how colours compare against your skin and get personal advice about the products. If I see something I like at a bargain price but I have not used it before I search my local shops for it to see what it is like and compare prices.
As a lot of the stock is discontinued you are unable to find it in shops so I use consumer review sites, such as Ciao, to get an opinion on the product and get an idea of whether it would suit me or not.
You can sign up for an email newsletter on the top right of their home page and they will email you all the latest offers and special members offers and discounts too.
In conclusion ***************
This site is well worth a look and it is definitely worth signing up for their newsletter so you are made aware of their new offers. They can save you a lot of money but without the personal advice you could save a lot of money on something you don't get along with - so go in, have a look round, make a note of what you like then do a bit of research so that you don't waste money on products that you really would not have bought.
I can't fault their customer service and delivery and for this reason I highly recommend that you check them out.
I used this company maybe twice when the postage was free over £25 - initially from following a link from theMutual.net/MutualPoints.com which offered a free gift worth £25 or so (I believe) - the free gift didn't materialise, the order was wrong when it arrived and there were all sorts of problems. I do NOT recommend them -.................................................................................................... ~ ♥ ~ jes ≈≈≈≈{; -)-{{::::: |||||< ♥♥
Connoisseur_Haggler 05.06.2004 01:10
so glad you were able to write your review the first one here as I requested this product sometime in March but never got round to writing! When I ordered it was £25 for free delivery so I got that -theres no way I would spend £50 for free delivery but you DO have to be careful some of the offers get sent out again and again and some products are actually more expensive apart from OLD discontinued Clearance products they had a Sale recently on YSL that seemed good value as it was about 60% off.
bistro 08.05.2004 13:13
Your information and advice contained within this easy-to-read format, is quite simply exceptional. Doubt the company itself could have put together a better, well-balanced account. Sounds excellent value! Mandy.XX
Advantages: Standard shipping costs have been scrapped, lots of products and companies to choose from Disadvantages: If you are after a specific product by a specific brand, you may be in for disappointment
js2ht2andl 16.06.2006 ·
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of BuyCosmetics.com
Apr 12th, 2004
exceptional by (31%):
very helpful by (68%):
helpful by (1%):
