WAHM Forums

I have been giving this thread a lot of thought this morning, esp with the color sales going on.

But then I remembered that BC does not give customers a return of their money if they wait beyond three days to return it.

Then the consultant is "stuck" with it if the customer wants their money back. Is this fair to the consultant? Mary Kay gives a 100% money back guarantee.

That's one reason I have shied away from selling makeup, as well as having to buy a lot of it just to show.

Have any of you had returns and how did you handle it?

I've always been very clear to clients that they cannot return it just because they dislike the color. That's why they need to meet with me and try the colors. it's a bit hard at first when you only have a few demos. Many times they will buy what you show them, so if you start out getting the most popular colors to demo, you should be ok.

are you sure about Mk giving the consultant a product replacement just because a client doesn't like a color?

I posted something to the Mary Kay board so they can answer this. I am pretty sure Mary Kay has one of the best policies around. I know the dept stores, even the drug stores will let you return makeup. I don't know about Avon, they sell a lot of makeup too. I can afford to lose a few $$ of makeup money, I just don't think I should have to, esp when BC doesn't even replace the product.

I have all the BC Spa Mineral make up collections and I keep a P2 and N2 on me at all times too. That way if I don't take my make up with me to a spa and the customer wants make up I'll tell her lets do a one on one and play with the make up. That way they can try before they buy and if she has the same kind of tone as me and doesn't really want to do the one on one then I stear her towards the Au natural or Wistera Lane. Those are the ones I wear daily and I'll show her my eyes. I also wear the mauve blush.

I did post over on the Mary Kay board and it is like I thought. They do replace the product for the consultant if the customer returns it, be it color or skin care or body care.

I have been selling BC make up for many many years and I can not remember the last time that a make up product was returned to me. Becaues this almost never happens, your make up profits will far exceed the cost of any replacements.

I keep a small amount of the most popular make up products that I sell the most in a demo case. I don't keep nearly as many demos as Bethany ( listed in the image discussion ) , but I do keep 4 wet/drys, 2 age defying demos, a few of the most popular mineral colours and pencils. And the concelaers and primers, because I love them & sell tons of them.

I mostly sell the products that I demo, so my clients have already tried the colour and know they like it. If they were to order an additional product that I do not have a demo for and they did not like it, I would simply add the one that they return to my demo selection and give them another colour that they like better.

Remember that they have paid you for the product, so if you are ordering at a 50% discount , your profit can cover the cost of the replacement AND you get a new demo product for your make up case.

I'm going to instruct my team to order the new collection that comes with the FREE blue make up bag and put that in your purse this month. Share it every day & you will see your make up sales soar.

For hygenic reasons I would never personally put something someone had returned to me, that had been used (maybe or maybe not) in my demo where others might be using it. I realize that some stores do this, because when I returned something one time the lady asked me "did you use this?" Truthfully I said no, but what if someone else returned something and she sold it to me??!!

That's why I get my stuff straight from the company. If I buy something from a dept store or even Merele Norman, I take a good hard look at it. Of course there is the wrapped items in the drug store but even those can be out of date.

When a make up product is returned ot me, I take the same caution that I use with all of my demonstration products to keep them clean and germ free for clients to try a colour.

This includes using alcohol swipes on the surfaces of the products, washing my make up brushes in antibacterial soaps and scraping the surface of lipsticks or sharpening pencils between each use to insure that there is no cross contamination. If it were a personal use product with an applicater, like lip gloss or mascara, I would not use them on other clients. I have never personally had one of these products returned to me.

I speak to a lot of consultants that are nervous about selling make up because they do not feel like they are "make up experts" . I always encourage them to share make up anyway because it creates loyal clients and women are already familiar with choosing the colours that they enjoy wearing. Most women you know already purchase mascara, lip gloss & maybe foundation. They might as well buy it from you!

I agree with Sherri on taking caution to make sure you are not using contaminated products as demos. I haven't had any products that I thought would be an issue returned (like mascara or things like that). I have had primers returned and used those as demos or pencils that you can just sharpen like Sherri mentioned. But I have not had many issues with makeup returns. I think for me it helps having the demos so people know they like it before they buy it. And I recommend the items I love.

Lady J

If a client returns any product all you need to do is call the consultant care center and tell them what product was returned and they will send you out a replacement for that product.

As for what to do with returned make up. You could do like Saralyn O. does and has demos that she lets the spas guests try on the back of their hand while she is doing the make up with the spa hostess.

I've never had anyone return make up either though.

Take care,
Catherine

I had one, and when I called they wouldn't replace it!
Should I have said it was return, instead of saying I needed an exchange?