# What do You do with Returned Makeup from Customer's?



## LatteQueen (Dec 23, 2009)

Here are some questions for Cosmetic Employees...
1. What do you with the returned makeup from customers? The ones that haven't been opened at all? 

2. Do you rotate the old makeup in the display cases or on the counters?

3. The same with cologne's, perfumes..rotate them?

4. I've always wondered about that when shopping in drugstores or department stores..When shopping in drugstores I always take the last item in the back cause I am thinking it's more newer and the older one is in the front..

Thanks..


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## shatteredshards (Dec 23, 2009)

I don't work in the industry, but, I think that, by law in the US, the cosmetics cannot be put back on the shelf for sale. I believe that they can be repurposed as testers or displays, but you cannot guarantee the returned item is unopened and untouched, so it's a hygine thing.


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## sandrrra (Dec 23, 2009)

Where I used to work if it was un opened and unused we would put it back out on the shelf. Anything that was used or damaged we sent back to the company.


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## LatteQueen (Dec 26, 2009)

OK...but with new  makeup coming in everyday...do you rotate the old makeup in the display case by putting the new one in the front and the old one in the back so when a customer asks for that item the old one is ready to grab.

How about the cologne's also? Rotate these also in display cases?
this is such a waste of a product.. That's why I love Sephora where one can take a sample of that product home and test/use it to see how it works for them...I hate it when you ask for a sample at a dept. store they can get such an attitude behind that..
I also wish stores  sold mini sample mascara's to purchase to see if that mascara works for you instead of buying the whole tube and find out that it's such a waste and then have to return that expensive item..
mini sample mascara's
mini sample lipstick's


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## LatteQueen (Dec 26, 2009)

thanks..


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## SmokeSignal16 (Dec 26, 2009)

At my counter we usually rotate things in our drawers we put the oldest in front and the newest in the back and work it that way. When we get returns we always look them over, most of the time we have those little silver tabs things where things screw on the moisturizer lids so we can tell if it was used or not. Mascara we never chance so we just toss it no matter what. Apparently the reason why most companies don't make travel/sample size mascaras is the fact that they claim it costs them a lot of money to produce them. That and what you get in a sample tube may not deliver the exact results when you buy the full sized one. I have had some customers tell me that either the sample works better than the full size mascara or vice versa. I try not to get an attitude when customers ask for samples but at my counter we only get 2 boxes of 36 tiny jars in them so we have to be very careful with what we dram out because they never send us enough and they send us those like every 2-3 months! My line believes more in making the customer buy the product and if they dont like it they can return it type of thing.


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## Kragey (Dec 26, 2009)

Most companies throw out returned products or, if possible, sanitize them and re-appropriate them as testers. As for the rotation: I've yet to come across a make-up counter that had products on its shelf long enough that they had to rotate them like bread. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





 Generally speaking, if a product isn't selling well and it doesn't look like sales for it will pick up, most lines will just put the product on clearance.


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## Junkie (Dec 26, 2009)

I know we rotate older items - because the lights in the displays sometimes "bleach" the colouring on the boxes.

Anything opened we scan out as damages and they either get thrown out or sent back to the company. Policy at our chain of stores dictates that any cosmetic product that comes back as returned/refunded has to be accompanied by a paper filled out by the customer stating the reason as to why its being returned - ESPECIALLY if it has to do with an allergic reaction or irritation.

Anything unopened (like mascara, compacts, etc) - in plastic attached to a cardboard backing is ok to go back on the shelf. Stuff in boxes that can be opened is at the descretion of the worker - even a swatch is obvious though, so no biggie.

Colognes/perfumes are only ordered maybe 5 boxes at a time depending on how well a particular brand sells, so we don't have to deal too much with rotating them.


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