Terms of Service

I contacted Ebay yesterday about GlitterSniffer Cosmetics sale of this listing. Ebay has strict terms about what may or may not be sold on the site. Per their Terms of Service recalled items may not be sold on the site.

Products that are currently subject to a recall but the sale of the product is not prohibited by law or regulation, as long as the listing includes the recall information.

The items sold in this lot contained ingredients for GlitterSniffer Cosmetics recalled items (from the listing: We are offering them in a bulk listing because we are currently not shipping orders while we play catch up and put some new company rules in place, along with colors we will no longer be selling.) in addition to others. No where in the listing is the recall listed. In fact the listing specifically states that it can be added to mascara or brow gel, and that the lot will perform as an eye shadow "in the sense that you may put them on your eyes".

Here is a screenshot of GlitterSniffer Cosmetics offsite linking in an Etsy feedback from late last year:

Per the Do's and Don'ts of Etsy:

You may not use Etsy to direct shoppers to another online selling venue to purchase the same items as listed in your Etsy shop, as this may constitute fee avoidance. This includes posting links/URLs or providing information sufficient to locate the other online venue(s).

Per Artfire Terms of Service an Artisan may not sell:

Any item that which in whole or in part is subject to a recall.

Glittersniffer Cosmetics unlabeled "Randoms" may fall into this catagory as they do not meet FDA regulations for labeling, could be called misbranded, and as such be subject to recall. The "Random" listing was flagged today and removed from Artfire. This is in addition to a listing flagged and earlier this week which was removed as it included brushes and NYX bases which are not Handmade and therefore violate Artfore TOS. The other listings on Artfire are also questionable because it does not appear as yet that GlitterSniffer Cosmetics is complying with FDA labeling guidelines.

Just to review, it appears that GlitterSniffer Cosmetics has violated Ebay Terms of Service with this listing. We also know that GlitterSniffer Cosmetics is no longer using Paypal due to a Terms of Service violation. GlitterSniffer Cosmetics clearly violated Etsy's offsite link policy. Two listings on Artfire, since flagged and removed, violated TOS.

Every site that GlitterSniffer Cosmetics utilizes has clear guidelines which must be followed. It would seem that in addition to FDA ingredients and labeling guidelines GlitterSniffer Cosmetics simply disregards this information, though it is readily available to them.

Old Stock and the Vegan Question

There has been much speculation as to what happened to all the old stock that GlitterSniffer Cosmetics committed to disposing of on December 23, 2010.

This lot was sold by GlitterSniffer Cosmetics 7 days after making that commitment. It was originally listed on December 25, 2010, TWO DAYS after GS promised it would dispose of their old stock. 

 

The listing contains 106 reds/pinks. All pink products were recalled by Glittersniffer Cosmetics two days previous to this listing as being possibly unsafe for eye use. There is no mention of the recall nor the possibility that any of the items may be unsafe. Here is all the information it provides:

The listing clearly states that although this is not eyeshadow per se it can be used on the eyes.

Though we know this lot was bought by someone who was well aware of the issues surrounding the use of these products this lot was listed on a publicly available website with absolutely no information in regards to the safety of the products. Anyone could have bought this listing. It was just luck that it went to someone who was fully informed. Once again, GlitterSniffer Cosmetics leaves out vital information for the purchasing public at large and fails to meet one of their many commitments.

This piece of the listing is also of interest:

Not all are vegan, most reds and pinks contain carmine.

This, despite the assertion that the only 3 pigments ever sold by GlitterSniffer Cosmetics that were not vegan/contained carmine were Ariel, Seuss Red, and Ruby Red Slippers. GlitterSniffer Cosmetics has never stated that ANY pink contained carmine. *Note that the official answer contained in the screenshot below was changed after a post to this blog that the company had overlooked Ruby Red Slippers as being nonvegan and links showing that although the official answer stated all nonvegan reds were specifically noted that way in the Etsy listings there was, in fact, no such information listed. That original post with screenshots of GS original answers can be found here.

If we go by the Ebay listing then the majority of the reds/pinks sold by GlitterSniffer Cosmetics were not vegan despite the company's many claims to the contrary. GlitterSniffer Cosmetics has refused to recall any nonvegan items as they state they have always released that information "at some point in time".

Emphasis mine.

Perhaps GlitterSniffer Cosmetics is confused by what exactly "vegan" means. By definition a vegan is:

a strict vegetarian who consumes no animal food or dairy products; also : one who abstains from using animal products (as leather) 

Then why was a "100% vegan" company selling items that contained beeswax?  After further investigation it becomes clear:

Solid perfume made with "vegan beeswax"

There is no such thing as vegan beeswax. It's an animal derived product and by definition cannot be vegan.

The solid perfumes were also sold on the official GlitterSniffer Cosmetics website, though the company continues to state that all items sold on that site were vegan. It is speculation at this point as to whether or not the solid perfume sold on the site was vegan as there are no ingredients listed.

There is also this:

This listing, purchased November 24, 2010, is for lip balm base containing beeswax. While I have found no evidence GlitterSniffer Cosmetics sold lip balms this base could have easily been used for other products. As there were no ingredients listed by the company on any of their products it is hard to know for certain.

Perhaps it was purchased for personal use, although with proprietor Lela Warren's commitment to living cruelty free, it's doubtful.

Unfortunately, these Ebay listings raise more questions than they answer. Why was the public not informed in the listing of the exact nature of the products being sold (IE: Some of the ingredients had been recalled as being unsafe)? Why are there pigments in this listing that the company states were being sold on glittersniffercosmetics.com that are not vegan despite their claims that they are a 100% vegan company and all products sold through the site were vegan? Why was it sold at all when the company committed to disposing of it?

These questions again must remain rhetorical, as GlitterSniffer Cosmetics refuses to answer any further questions posed by this blog, though the answers to those questions are well within every consumers right to know.

2/8/11 ETA:
It has been brought to my attention via the comments that there is a vegan beeswax. It is called Microcrystalline Wax and is a synthetic made with crude oil. It is vegan.

Although I researched this information over the course of a few hours I was unable to locate it when I published this post originally. I regret the error.