A steeply discounted product from an unfamiliar seller can be four quite different things. Three of them are genuine and one is not, and they arrive through the same channels, in the same listings, at the same price. Telling them apart is the most practically valuable skill in this entire subject, because it is the one place where a bad decision can affect your skin rather than your wallet.
The four things a cheap product can be
| Category | What it is | What you lose |
|---|---|---|
| Parallel import | Genuine product intended for another market, imported outside the brand's own channel | UK compliant labelling, sometimes a UK responsible person, and the brand's guarantee |
| Diverted stock | Genuine product intended for a specific channel, sold outside it | Storage assurance, and sometimes any traceable purchase route if there is a problem |
| Liquidated stock | Genuine product from closed businesses, discontinued lines or clearance | Usually little, if the product is in date and properly stored. This is the benign case |
| Counterfeit | Not the product at all. Contents unknown | Everything. There is no safety assessment, no accountable party and no way to know what is inside |
The uncomfortable part is that the first three are legal in the usual case and the fourth is a crime, and none of them looks different in a photograph.
Parallel imports, and the labelling problem
A parallel import is a genuine product bought in one market and sold in another without the brand's involvement. This is not counterfeiting and the goods are real. What travels with them, however, is a label made for a different market.
That creates specific gaps for a UK buyer. The mandatory particulars must be given in English for the UK market. There must be a UK responsible person. Ingredient restrictions differ between jurisdictions, so a product legally sold elsewhere may contain a substance restricted or prohibited here. A product sold into the UK without these is non compliant, whatever its origin.
Genuine product, sourced from an authorised distributor
That the seller asserts the goods are authentic and were obtained through some distribution chain. It is a statement about origin, not about compliance with UK requirements.
In many cases it is entirely true. Grey market goods are usually genuine.
It does not mean the seller is authorised by the brand. It does not mean the product was intended for the UK market. It does not mean the labelling meets UK requirements. It does not mean a UK responsible person exists for it. It does not tell you how the goods were stored, for how long, or at what temperature. It does not give you the brand's guarantee, which usually applies only to purchases through authorised channels.
What would actually reassure you is on the product rather than in the listing: a UK responsible person address, mandatory particulars in English, an intact batch code, an intact period after opening indication and a seller with a returns route. Those you can check. Assertions about sourcing you cannot.
Storage, the risk nobody photographs
The most underestimated risk in grey market goods is not authenticity but history. A product that has spent a summer in an uncooled warehouse, crossed a border in a hot container, or sat in a garage for two years is genuine and may still have failed. Heat accelerates exactly the degradation processes that stability testing is designed to measure, and no external inspection reveals it.
Through an authorised channel the storage chain is at least someone's responsibility. Through an unauthorised one it is nobody's. This is why a product that arrives with separated texture, a changed colour or an altered smell should be treated as failed rather than as a variation, whatever the seller says.
Why the grey market exists at all
Brands sell the same product at different prices in different markets, and to different channels at different terms. That price differential is the entire engine. Wherever the gap between two prices exceeds the cost of moving goods between them, somebody will move goods between them.
Diversion works similarly. Stock allocated to one channel at preferential terms is worth more sold into another, and the difference is the trader's margin.
None of this requires anybody to sell a fake. It requires only a price difference and a willing buyer, which is why enforcement against grey trading is difficult and why brands rely on distribution contracts rather than on the law.
- Traders and arbitrageurs. Capture the difference between two prices for identical goods
- Discount retailers. Obtain premium branded stock they could not buy through authorised channels
- Brands. Lose price control and channel control, and respond with tighter contracts and coding
- Shoppers. Get a real discount on a real product, with an unverifiable history attached
Parallel trade in genuine goods is generally lawful. Counterfeiting is not, and the two should not be confused.
Counterfeits, which are a different category entirely
A counterfeit cosmetic is not a cheaper version of a product. It is an unknown substance in a familiar looking container. There is no safety assessment, no product information file, no accountable responsible person, no controlled manufacture and no way to know what is inside. Enforcement bodies periodically report counterfeit cosmetics containing substances that would never be permitted in a legitimate product.
Counterfeiting is a criminal matter. Trading Standards and the Intellectual Property Office handle intellectual property crime, and unsafe products fall to Trading Standards and the Office for Product Safety and Standards. Reporting matters, because these operations are only visible through reports.
The signals that actually distinguish them
- No UK responsible person address. The strongest single signal that a product was not placed on the UK market properly.
- Removed or obscured batch code. Codes are sometimes removed to hide the source of diverted stock. It also removes your ability to trace the unit.
- Mandatory particulars not in English. Required for the UK market.
- Missing period after opening or durability information. Required, and its absence means you cannot assess the product's age.
- Price far below every authorised seller. A genuine product carries a genuine cost. A very large gap has to be explained by something.
- Print, weight or texture that differs from a known unit. Useful only if you have a reference, but decisive when you do.
- No returns route or no identifiable seller. Which also means no route if something goes wrong.
What your rights are, and where they end
Buying from a UK trader gives you consumer rights against that trader regardless of where the goods came from: goods must be as described, of satisfactory quality and fit for purpose. Distance selling gives you cancellation rights in most cases. Those are real protections and they are worth using.
Where the protection thins is in enforcement reach rather than in the law. Buying directly from an overseas seller can leave you with rights that are difficult to exercise in practice, and with no UK responsible person to approach. That is not a legal technicality: it is the difference between a complaint that goes somewhere and one that does not. Consumer advice routes are published by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute.
The practical rule
A discounted product with a UK responsible person address, mandatory particulars in English, an intact batch code and a visible durability indication is very likely a genuine bargain, and buying it is a reasonable decision. A discounted product missing any of those is not a bargain with a small risk attached. It is a product you cannot assess, from a chain you cannot trace, with nobody to answer for it.
That is the whole test, and it works on a photograph in a listing. For what those markings are and where to find them, see how to read a cosmetic label in order.