Cosmetics reseller under fire for 860 per cent price hike

Dubai: The online marketplace Souq and one of its sellers has come under fire on social media for allowing certain products to be sold for significantly more than typical prices. In some cases, items were sold for over 800 per cent more than on official websites.

Despite being retailed for just £6.50 (Dh31.17) on Lush’s online store in the UK, the same shampoo bar was selling for £62 (Dh299) on Dubai-based website Souq, a mark-up of over 860 per cent.

UK-based cosmetics brand Lush told Gulf News in a statement that it had nothing to do with the seller on Souq, and was in the process of investigating the issue.

“Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics only sell through our own stand-alone shops in the UAE and our official website,” a spokesperson said in an email.

“We do not have any connections to these resellers on [Souq], and we will be investigating this,” the statement added.

The online seller, named firstgulfline, has more than 14,359 products listed on the website including watches, paddling pools and iPhone cases.

A number of the Lush products that the account sells are at least double the price that they retail for on Lush’s website.

When reached by phone, a spokesperson for Lush told Gulf News that the account was an “impostor”, calling the price increase “ridiculous”.

The brand encouraged its customers to use its official channels to ensure they are purchasing authentic Lush products.

A spokesperson for Souq did not respond to a request for comment. The product was still online as of Monday afternoon, despite the criticism.

Twitter user Jess Combes was the first to point out the huge price increase, asking how sellers were allowed to “jack up the prices to this extent?”

“Where is the quality control? How can they justify a 1,000 per cent mark up?,” she wrote.

Shopping on the official Lush Middle East website is still not cheap, as Combes pointed out in another tweet.

“Not a massive secret that @LushLtd in the Middle East is expensive — the prices listed on their website are more than double what you pay in the UK,” she wrote. comparing the same shampoo bar product on Lush’s official UK website to its official UAE website.

The shampoo costs Dh31.10 on the UK site (at Thursday’s exchange rate), while on the Middle East website the bar cost Dh74.95, a 140 per cent price increase.