I have been a Via Trading customer since 2009 and have made three transactions with them which I will try to detail in this entry.
The first lot I got contained items dated in the 90s and products without labels (white pots with violet something in it). I tried to sell some of the more decent items just to break even. My mistake was keeping mum and not complaining about it.
I must have such a short attention span because I bought from them again the year after that. I bought two lots from them and I will be fair and say that one lot was good and it did well, but the other one was again a really bad lot. There were no expiration dates on it but just the smell you get after you open the box tells you that they have long been expired. I called to complain about it and I didn't really appreciate how my account manager (at that time), Luis, handled my complaint. He said that with the price I paid I shouldn't really expect much. Two things that came to my mind when he said that: 1) I have bought cheaper items in the past (10-15 cents each) from other liquidators but never had that problem; 2) He hinted at an awareness that the lot is not a good one. I asked to speak with his manager. I spoke with Orlando and he gave me a store credit because he said they don't give refunds. The store credit has some interesting conditions, mind you: We will honor a store credit of $XXX dollars. Please note that depending on the order the amount will vary. We may or may not be able to apply to full credit on one order. But we will honor the full amount in multiple orders if necessary. This means I have to return again and again and again to finally get my money back.
With the store credit given to me, I had no choice but to take my business to their company again around May of this year. I found something I wanted to buy and I have made peace with the fact that only a fraction of my store credit will be accepted. I called my new account manager, Shaun, to ask him how much I have to purchase to get the maximum amount of the store credit and at least to know what my best options were. Apparently, new doesn't mean better. This guy just didn't know how to listen. I explained to him in so many words, in the clearest of ways what I wanted to happen and he didn't understand (or he refused to understand?).in my frustration, I just decided to call the next day and asked to speak to a Senior Manager. I got Jenny and she understood me from the get go and I was able to finalize my order. She even gave me the full store credit even with just one transaction and suggested lots which I might be interested in.
I bought two lots: one was a mixed lot and the other was a lot of one item of the same kind. I took time of going through the mixed lot to check for damaged and expired items. For the second lot, I just pulled a couple of items, saw they're ok, and didn't bother going through the rest before I packed them to send it to my country. Which was my mistake.
When it arrived and I did a more thorough inventory and went through the items from the 2nd lot I saw that there's MOLD on the make up! It was just disgusting, I couldn't believe it. I was hoping that it's just a fraction of the lot but after I went through them one by one more than 50% had mold. I didn't bother selling the rest which didn't have mold for fear that my customers would have a bad reaction to it and sue me. I didn't go to them anymore because the few times I went to them to complain about something I just felt they weren't receptive to it until you get to a Senior Manager. And besides, what are they going to give me, their joke of a store credit? To lure me to buy from them again? No, thanks.
So my tip, search further. Find other liquidators. I do my business with two other companies and so far I'm happy with them. I have to say though that this is only in reference to their cosmetics, I don't know anything about their other items.
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