Posts
I recently had a specific issue come up regarding a
seller/store on Amazon.
What was happening without my knowledge was this: Said person stole
my photos and listings of my products and put them in their store on Amazon-
listing only 1 available. If a
customer had purchased the listing, the store seller would then have purchased
from my shop and changed his address to the address of the customer- thus
making me the unaware drop shipper. The prices of my products were inflated at
least 3 times the original price. This also involved many other Etsy stores,
mine was not the only one affected. I am thankful for those that caught it and
notified me.
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| Advertisement: "Lady Friz at her Toilet . In an hour or two she will be handsome enough. - sold by W. Humphrey N. 227 Strand" |
Selling
Beauty in the 18th century wasn’t an easy task. Beauty products had
become so popular, that it created a vast market with sellers competing for
clients, to be the “best” and to come up with recipes that cured everything or
made anything it was applied to “beautiful” or at least “feel beautiful”. To be
able to say you sell to royalty was the tip-top and if you could get that far
and have the crown incorporated into your advertisements, then you had no
problem getting business. But there was a darker side of the trade which
involved, stealing and copying.
Those
selling beauty used various methods to stand out promising satisfaction, or
putting instructions on the package. We have documentation from letters that
shows just how concerned with customer satisfaction the makers and sellers of
cosmetics were. Mme. Sadous a manufacture of rouge wanted to make sure
her products were properly applied and satisfaction was had, so she would many times
be seen at her customers homes, demonstrating her products.[1]
Others like Mr. Maille would advertise that his rouge could travel across the
ocean and not run- even in the hottest weather. [2]
Others guaranteed their rouge would last for 10 years. One cosmetic
maker went over the top and promised to receive no money until his clients were
satisfied.
By 1742, fixed prices started appearing
in the advertising of beauty to reassure clients of quality. This meant no more
bartering. Now, a customer would know how much a pot of rouge cost from a specific manufacture. The price also told
the “quality” of the rouge. Now customers knew what to expect when they arrived
in the shop. It is documented that Mr. Collin sold his jars of rouge at
different prices depending on the quality of the packaging. So the wealthy and
the poor could have the same rouge- the difference being whether it was sold in
a porcelain container for 24 livres ( 1 Gold Coin or roughly $96.00 modern US dollars) or plain
crockery for 6 livres. ( 1 Silver Coin or roughly $24.00 modern US dollars)[3]
The
use of homemade cosmetics was so widespread that those who had actual
storefronts needed to make their products seem “better” than their homemade counterparts.
They used advertising and started naming their products after culturally
recognized symbols that promoted taste and beauty. [4]With
that said it is important to note that manufactures stayed away from political
issues and those in primary positions. So you would never have cologne named
Eau de Marie Antoinette. Think instead of a rouge named, “La Fleur De La Jeunesse” or “The Bloom of Youth”.
With
all this, the fear and reality of being copied was mainstream- so much so that
in advertising business’s would warn clients’ to beware of falsifications. Widow Dupre’ who sold rouge for the
Queen and her court warned the public that, “There is sold daily in Paris and
the provinces rouge marked and numbered as coming from my factory that can only
harm my favorably established reputation, seeing that these different sellers
or makers falsify my rouge or make it themselves with harmful ingredients.” She
tried to combat the counterfeiting by signing her packages.[5]
This attempt to authenticate products is even seen in this 1906 “Harmless
Toilet Powder” container in my personal collection.
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| LaBlanche Face Powder. Ben levy Co. 1906. Personal collection of LBCC Historical |
One
gentleman who made and sold eau de Cologne (which
has a fascinating history- maybe for another blog post) promised his clients
that his Cologne would only be sold by one specific outlet in Paris. [6]Mme
Josse made it clear “ that she has authorized no one either in Paris nor in the
provinces to distribute her rouge, which would only be sold in her store.”
Eventually she changed her mind and by 1781 she had set up one authorized
Parisian outlet. [7] After this
little incident with Amazon, I can sympathize with these historical sellers.
It’s something that has been around for centuries and I am sure it won’t stop
anytime soon.
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| Advertisement: Printed for Robt. Sayer, Printseller in Fleet Street 1760 (Lewis Walpole Library) |
So
in the light of the situation, I am going to take the advice of those in the 18th
century.
I
will always keep you alert if I am made aware of those trying to counterfeit my
products. I feel like I’m being a bit like Mme. Josse here, but I have
authorized no one to distribute my historical products. Therefore, the only
place as of now you will find my products is in my ETSY store, or if we are
traveling and have set up shop. If you should see someone selling products
that resemble mine in any way, be warned, they are counterfeit. If such time
arrives in-which I choose to authorize other outlets, I promise to keep
you, my customers informed.
[1] Journal des
dames 20 Dec 1815
[2] Ruscelii,
Secrets du Seigneur Alexis Piedmontais, 569.
[3] Goulin,
Medecin des homes 411, 412.
[4] Selling
Beauty, Martin, 67.
[5] Oldendorff,
Traite’ anatomique, 25.
[6] Selling
Beauty, Martin, 67.
[7] Dupont fe
L’ain, Etudes medicales sur les quatre ages de la vie, 170.
