Yes! They do exist!

I had the misfortune of buying a fake Clarisonic Mia last year on eBay (what I get for trying to be cheap!) It was my fault for not checking for clues or asking for more pictures. But at least it taught me a lesson to be more cautious now. I thought I'd share my story and some tips to avoid buying fake things on eBay.

What I learned:

• ALWAYS ASK QUESTIONS!
  
• Be suspicious when seller uses stock photos! (real life items can look very different from stock photos)
  
• If the seller is using stock photos, ask them to take their own picture of the product.
  
• Look for signs on the picture/s provided. If you're not sure, ask for more pictures or ask more questions.
  
• Look for words like "authentic" or "real" in the description. If there isn't any, ask if it's real (be polite about it).

It's always best to be sure! You don't want to regret it / be disappointed when you get the product and it's not what you expect it to be. If something looks off / you suspect it to be fake, it is best not to buy it - no matter how cheap it may seem! It could be worthless. I bought the fake Clarisonic ONLY relying on a stock photo, and I never asked questions. I looked at the seller's credentials and she had positive feedback ratings. I was sold on that fact alone and quickly bought the item. BIG MISTAKE. Just because a seller has good feedback rating doesn't mean you can trust them! I should have asked for more pictures, and asked if it was authentic. She probably would have told me it was real, but it makes them look bad when you open a case with eBay. And that kind of stuff gives you an automatic win in an eBay case, especially if you can prove that the item is fake and the user assuring you that it's real (which I eventually did). Thinking about it now, it was pretty suspicious that the seller had more than 10 in stock of the fake Clarisonic Mia, and she didn't provide any real pictures of the product.

Anyway, this is the FAKE Clarisonic Mia I got:


On the box, the Clarisonic Mia is WHITE but the label is in pink. RED FLAG!
The box for the REAL pink Clarisonic Mia looks like this (courtesy of MsGlitzy).

I contacted the seller about it, and she assures me it's real, saying "this is the old packaging."


Everything looks normal right? BUT . . . I still wasn't convinced. Why?


NO Clarisonic label on the back !
Real Clarisonic Mia's have the "Clarisonic Mia" label on the back.

As if that wasn't enough dead giveaway, I found even more proof of its fakeness:

Take a look at the phone number on the box (feel free to click the photo to enlarge it). It says 888-585-2747. This is a FAKE number. I even tried calling it, and it went to some random corporation.

The OFFICIAL Clarisonic website listed their customer service number as "1-888-525-2747", which I called and is the right number (obviously). The real Clarisonic's of course come in boxes with the RIGHT customer service number on it. I checked at Sephora to confirm this.
So there you have it !

After I sent these pictures to the seller as proof, she stopped responding to me. I opened an eBay case, sent her stupid fake Clarisonic back, and eBay refunded me my money. I did lose out money to ship it back to her. . about $8. Don't make the mistake I did! And if anything, I hope this was at least entertaining for you to read. lol.

PS. I did give the seller a negative feedback, but was sad to see that people were still giving her positive feedback on the Clarisonic Mia after my negative feedback stating it's fake. She was selling them for $95 ! :(