How to Know High End MakeUp is Authentic

   The sad fact is, you cannot one hundred percent know your item will be authentic. However, there are steps you can take to make sure they are more likely to be real.
   If the price is super low and too good to be true then there is probably a reason. That reason is that is most likely not an authentic product. Cheap knock-offs off high-end brands can be bought from overseas by people who only wish to take your money. These knock-offs are not the quality of the real high-end products even if the packaging does look exactly the same.
 

   MAC and Benefit are often imitated and sold online. I know from experience how easy it is to get ripped off from sellers of fake cosmetics. Remember, rule one: if it is too good to be true, it most likely is.
   Be mindful of the country you order high end cosmetic from. Most of the knock-offs seem to come out of Asian countries. If you order them directly from there you are mostly likely ordering fakes. Also, many sellers now put that they ship from the USA in their information but their shipping time says 25 days. This is a red flag to tell you they are not really in the USA or are "drop shipping" from another country. Buyer beware.
Pay close attention to a sellers feedback. Read it. If there is neutral and negative feedback that states the item received was not authentic, rethink purchasing from that seller. Look for sellers who know their products and those who do not sell, let's say benefit, on a massive scale. Look for the seller who has great feedback that may have gotten the item as a gift and does not want it and you are more likely to get an authentic item. For instance, this seller has perfect feedback, does not habitually sell Urban Decay as she is selling right now and is not selling it for an absurdly low price. People like this are your best bet on receiving an authentic high-end makeup item.

Local auctions are another platform that has provided me with some great results

Garage sales are another big way to buy items cheap. Most garage sales are not hosted to make money, its usually an angry wife that wants to get rid of all the useless shit that has piled up over the years. These wives just want to get rid of the items without “throwing them out.” You can walk up with a few items in your hand, offer $5 and walk away with some treasure. I purchased a 3$ bread maker at a garage sale and sold it for 50$ thanks to eBay. Not every deal you find will be like that but you can find items where you will make $15-20 on easy, now imagine coming home with 20-30 items a weekend to list on eBay. I do not attend too many garage sales because the timing of these events does not work out with my social life, Its SATURDAY AND SUNDAY, there is no way I am up at the crack of dawn. If you are familiar with local forums or forums that have local sections there is usually a classified sections. I am a huge car guru and belong to numerous car forums, I have all of the for sale sections bookmarked and check those frequently. Most forums have a trader rating similar to eBay’s feedback system so you know if the guy selling you that Xbox is legit or not. Thrift stores often have donated items that are marked very low because they do not properly research the value of the item. I do not do much thrift store shopping but I have talked to some sellers who love digging through piles of old donated crap to find some item they can make 20$ on. If you can identify real silver, there is always silverware that is there, I do not possess this skill and probably will look into this some day. Everywhere there is a deal! Keep your eyes open and always keep prices in your head, I was at a bar and this chick dropped her White iPhone 16gig 3GS and cracked the glass. I was standing right there and gave her my sympathy. She told me she didn't care because she was going to buy the iPhone4 the next day anyways. I told her I sell on eBay and would give her a 100$ bill right now for the phone. I showed her how to wipe everything and she gave me the phone right there. I found a guy on craigslist that could replace the glass (LCD still worked) for 35$. Total investment: 135$. Unlocked it myself for T-mobile used it for a few days for fun and sold it for 350$. By now everyone has seen that silly show where a few go around to storage unit auctions spend $500 on a unit and find $25,000 worth of gold coins or some other rare collectibles, give me a break. Yes, you could find grandma’s coin collection... I could also buy a lottery scratcher and win $25,000. Its a gamble and unless you know what you are doing its not worth it. I went to these before the show was aired and after. Before the show there was a smaller crowd of about 20-30 people bidding on units, I went recently and as I checked in on the list I noticed I was the 120Th person to check in! There were families there and everything, it was like a ****ing circus. I will not go back until that “treasure hunt” is over. Lucky for the commission based auctioneers, the prices on units were outrageous. Local auctions are another platform that has provided me with some great results. Do a google search to find some local auctions, these are usually bankruptcy liquidators. If its an online only auction attend the on site preview for better viewing of the items. I went to a Wireless Phone store auction and they had a display case with 18 phones up for grabs. The auction listed the phones as dummy non working phones, I noticed these were incorrectly listed and were in fact all real high end phones. I won all 18 phones for $98 and sold them for over $700. If I would not have attended the preview, someone else would have made that money.