Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Lookfantastic launches its Indian site--but wait, is that really good news?

Being a skin sleuth, I'm always on the lookout for great value in skincare/makeup, especially when I'm stalking browsing online shopping destinations for beauty products. A discovery I made yesterday was the Indian site of lookfantastic.com, a UK-based shopping site for hair and beauty products.


Now, you'd imagine me squealing in delight when I chanced upon the Indian counterpart of the popular website. My initial thought was that finally, we Indians can now access some of the most coveted beauty brands like Alpha H, Aromatherapy Associates, Eve Lom, Elemis, Omorovicza and others right here in India. No more stalking the international site.

The Indian website also says this proudly, "Bringing Lookfantastic to India'. Surely, this must be a godsend to us.

Sadly, not all things that appear promising in the beginning turn out so. And here's where I got down to some serious sleuthing. A comparison between the two sites. Warning: nerdiness ahead!


Lookfantastic UK
Lookfantastic India
Free worldwide delivery if you make a purchase over GBP 50, which thanks to Brexit is now INR 4518.

Free worldwide delivery if you make a purchase over INR 6,000. So, wouldn’t it make more sense to purchase from the international site? Just saying…

If you are spending less than GBP 50, the tracked cost for India is GBP 9.99, translating to INR 902.

If you are spending less than INR 6,000, the tracked cost is INR 1,000. So, there’s no clear advantage over the international site.
Prices are listed as prescribed by the brands
Same here, except that in some of the large-format Indian departmental stores like Lifestyle, Shoppers Stop etc., you’d find the same products for a lesser price! For instance, the Elizabeth Arden Eight-Hour Skin Protectant is priced on this website for INR 2,592 whereas the last time I checked in Sephora, Mumbai, it was priced at INR 1,800 or thereabouts. How is that even possible?!

Delivery times are listed as per UK delivery timelines


Same here, which baffles me because international delivery to India takes much longer, and longer still if the order gets stuck in customs. However, the wording on the Indian site regarding shipping/delivery is identical to the international site.

Which brings me to the false impression one gets that when you are shopping from the Indian site, you are getting the product from within India, hence, in a quicker timeframe. Not true! Your order will still be delivered to you from the UK, which beats the purpose of the Indian site.

Reviews—the all-important factor, next to price, that makes a buyer click ‘Add to Cart’. The reviews are left by international buyers, naturally as it is an international site.
Same here, which is logical to an extent, except that when buyers comment on shipping/delivery times, they are talking about their own countries.  
Indian buyers need to take this into account when reading the reviews that are automatically replicated from the international site onto the Indian site.

You get almost any brand that you can think of here, especially convenient when you are looking for specific products that are not yet released in India. For instance, the Clinique Take the Day Off Cleansing Oil, which I have had my eyes on for a very long time.

You don’t see all of the brands listed on the international site here. I was so hoping to see the Clinique Take the Day Off Cleansing Oil on the Indian site.

You can buy fragrances from the UK site. I had my eyes on the much-talked about Chloe.
No mention of fragrances here

The only good part about this whole branching out initiative is that your orders, be it on the international site or the Indian one, are synchronised so you can have a uniform record of everything that you do. If anyone can give me a valid reason as to why I should buy from Lookfantastic India, as opposed to Lookfantastic International, I'm all ears! For now, I'll stick to the international site, thank you!

Thanks for making it this far.

Have a lovely day!

60 comments:

  1. I ordered shampoos and conditioners worth 7.2k and landed up paying 4k as customs. Even though shipping above 6k was free, they charged me for freight. I waited for a week. Spoke at customs and tried to pull few strings also. They say nothing can be reversed after the bill of entry has been issued. Works out to be very expensive.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello there! I'm sorry to hear you had to shell out so much dough as customs duty. Believe me, I've been there, done that! Yes, customs is a tricky affair no matter which country you live in. I have learnt the hard way that in India, anything imported above Rs. 2k is charged with customs duty. This was told to me personally by a Customs Officer. In spite of this, on another occasion, I was charged with customs duty for a package with a value of Rs. 1800. It beats me what the processes are at our Customs offices. Now, as a rule of thumb, I try to limit my purchases upto Rs. 2k. If it spills over that, I'm prepared to pay for customs. A tip for all of us: do not fall for offers of free shipping over some xx amount, as invariably you end up paying a lot more as customs duty. Better idea would be to order in smaller quantities limiting up to Rs. 2k per order even if you have to pay shipping. The shipping fee would still be much less than an unpredictable customs charge. Hope this helps. :)

      Delete
    2. Hi Shraddha,
      I ordered products totalling to 1495/- do I need to pay custom charges too?
      Thanks in advance.

      Delete
    3. Hi.. did u pay custom charges for this order? If yes how much..please let me knoe

      Delete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi shradda
    Can u tell me that custom charges apply on retail price or discounted price.
    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi,
      It applies on the retail price, at least from what I have seen in my experience. Hope this helps!

      Delete
  4. Hi..I purchased products worth 7k and the custom charges turned out to be around 3k.. I totally regret for my choice. I should have read this blog before purchasing. After knowing about the custom charges I wanted to return the products to the seller and so wrote an email to look fantastic and they replied that they would refund the money only if products reach in pristine condition and that they can't guarantee that.. I couldn't risk 7k for 3k so I had to pay for customs..
    I hope my experience helps someone before making their choice..
    I'd say don't go for this as the custom charges are unpredictable.
    By the way, did anybody return their goods because of customs? If did, did u get a full refund?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I ordered pixi products worth rupees 13600 from pixi uk, after one week of wait my parcel reached to Mumbai custom department, thn they called me for custom duty n it was 10500 approx I shouted n said I don’t want it, I’ll not pay 10500 for 13600 products so tht lady who was on ph said okay u can cancel it if u don’t want, I agree n asked about my refund she told me to ask my seller, I emailed them (so many to communicate) n thn finally I got my full refund in my bank account after one month almost. One thing I want to say tht lady from uk samaaya (the beauty consultant department) she was so polite n helpful. She always replied to my email. Last PLZ DNT BUY ON INTERNATIONAL SITE CUS CUSTOM DUTY IS 70% n if u hv ur bill for paying thn it reduced by 40% n it’s necessary u hv to paid.

      Delete
    2. I ordered pixi products worth rupees 13600 from pixi uk, after one week of wait my parcel reached to Mumbai custom department, thn they called me for custom duty n it was 10500 approx I shouted n said I don’t want it, I’ll not pay 10500 for 13600 products so tht lady who was on ph said okay u can cancel it if u don’t want, I agree n asked about my refund she told me to ask my seller, I emailed them (so many to communicate) n thn finally I got my full refund in my bank account after one month almost. One thing I want to say tht lady from uk samaaya (the beauty consultant department) she was so polite n helpful. She always replied to my email. Last PLZ DNT BUY ON INTERNATIONAL SITE CUS CUSTOM DUTY IS 70% n if u hv ur bill for paying thn it reduced by 40% n it’s necessary u hv to paid.

      Delete
  5. Thanks for sharing this information. Fully help Me... Online Shopping Store

    ReplyDelete
  6. Look fantastic is actually cheating customers. Indian people pls pls don’t buy anything from their website . They would initially give you attractive offers on valued products such as kerastase and purology which would definitely draw your attention. They use Indian domain look fantastic.co.in with Indian flag too,so your mindset is wow they are in India now. Later when u buy products with ₹500 shipping charge which is still ok as websites like body shop also charge the same, so u continue with your payment and u feel happy as u have got tremendous discount on the valued products.
    Later the next morning , u shall receive message from their courier partner to submit govt I’d proof which nowhere is mentioned on their website and the message states that you will receive your products only if u submit KYC (any govt.id proof)with us .so basically u are stucked and first thing would come in your mind to contact them and to your surprise they don’t have any customer care contact number or live chat option is also disabled .so there is one window where u can write the message and they reply at their convenience to u.By this time u don’t leave with any option as u have already paid and hence u submit your I’d proof with courier company . And then u would also come with one more surprise by their courier company to pay you custom charges and you are cheated and the web reply through their website are just apologies and u are in helpless stage.

    Please please don’t order anything from the website and they are cheating and misguiding big time

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So so true the same thing happened with me too..do not buy any products for lookfantastic.com

      Delete
    2. I have gone through the same...felt helpless FOR 7K order had to pay 500 for tracking, 3k for customs and 500 for NOC.

      Delete
  7. Hi there. I wish i could have read this before. I am seriously dissapointed shopping there. Now i got a custom clearance bill and i have no idea where to pay it. There is no valid number either to contact them. Any idea???

    ReplyDelete
  8. I am planning on buying something from this site(only one for now, since i don't trust this site). With shipping charges of around Rs.500, my total payment is Rs.1058. I have no problem submitting a govt. ID proof, but I'm confused about the courier company custom charges mentioned in another review here. Could someone please help out?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So if your order is just 1058. They won't chagre you customs. They shouldn't technically. Unless your original price is something much higher and you got it on a mega sale or something. So the customs duty, either you are asked to pay online, you should receive a mail from the Indian customs office stating so. Or the courier person collects the custom duty

      Delete
  9. Good u let us know about the custom charges . Earlier i used to order from Dubai, where there was no charges, all the more the product reaches in almost 2 or 3 days. In India , it seems to be an hassle . I was about to place an order for Rs.6000, good I saw this

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hi from which dubai site did you order?? did you never have to pay any custom charges while ordering from that dubai site???

      Delete
  10. If I order products worth Rs 2000, apart from the shipping charges do I have to pay any charges?

    ReplyDelete
  11. I would like to thank you for the efforts you have made in writing this article. I am hoping the same best work from you in the future as well. In fact your creative writing abilities has inspired me to start my own BlogEngine blog now. Really the blogging is spreading its wings rapidly. Your write up is a fine example of it.
    ส่ง พัสดุ ไป จีน

    ReplyDelete
  12. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  13. While shipping to India from USA you need to be aware of the courier charges that will be applied while sending your package.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thanks a lot guys.. U have saved me. I was about to place an order for 7000..thank u sooo much... Now could anyone please suggest where to buy international products from in India?

    ReplyDelete
  15. I wanted to order look fantastic because I've ordered from this site in UAE a lot. But the problem is Indian customs always making things difficult for us. If price of the items is less 2000. They don't charge customs. Custom rates go from 20%-42%. 42% is highest they go. Even if they do charge us that tax. Turns out it's still cheaper for me to continue buying. But the only problem is Indian customs are slow as fuck. And the people are really lazy. So customs clearance can take a while. So my suggestion is if after adding 42% tax. Your product seems way cheaper than originally getting form the in the Indian market. You can buy there. And if you have patience. But if like the prices are nearly similar. Get it here

    ReplyDelete
  16. Also. The tracked pricing is 550. Not 1000. And the benefit of Indian domain is that the products they do sell, they know it shouldn't be rejected by Indian customs. Like it's somehow been indirectly approved

    ReplyDelete
  17. PPOBOX price finder is a tool to find ppobox courier charges from India to UK. For more details please visit ppobox.com.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I ordered an item worth Rs.3069.Do I have to pay custom charges and if so how much do I have to pay?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Did u recive ur products?

      Delete
    2. Hi,how much did you pay for customs and how long it takes for delivery. Please do reply me

      Delete
  19. Hi, I want to order from this website. My order is coming to be 1507 and If I take the standard delivery, I am not being charged 500/- for shipping. Will I still be asked to pay for custom charges?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I also want to know the same.

      Delete
    2. Most probably they won't ask you to pay customs as the price is less than 2000

      Delete
  20. I ordered some products worth 1498 on may 6th without any shipping charges nd No tracking..Still I didn't get it..Also not sure how much would be customs

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello,I am stuck in the similar situation. I had placed an order on 14 June and it says the order will be delivered between 24 to 2 July.
      May I know when was your order supposed to be delivered?

      Delete
    2. Hi did you guys receive your products as it’s July 9th

      Delete
    3. Hi did you guys receive your products as it’s July 9th

      Delete
    4. Have you got ur products? Pls reply I too have ordered from lookfantastic

      Delete
  21. Have you got ur products? Pls reply I too have ordered from lookfantastic

    ReplyDelete
  22. I am still waiting for my orders.

    ReplyDelete
  23. It's been more tan a month since I ordered..Still i didn't get my order... Not sure if it is due to the lockdown..
    When did you order?

    ReplyDelete
  24. I ordered some pixi products from Lookfastantic india site of rs approx 4500/- ... On 22 April 2020.. But still I didn't get my parcel.. I sent them so many mails.. But They replaying me same save para..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How much did you paid for customs? Pls rply, i too ordered for 3500. And pls tell me how long do they take to deliever it?

      Delete
    2. My order is of 2790. How much custom will I have to pay?

      Delete
  25. 😯I have ordered on 29 may, waiting for my orders. Mailed them regarding delivery they asked me to wait till 4 th August.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Hello everyone, afterrafter all these comments I'm a bit worried coz I have also ordered a product worth 1645 on July 7th and I haven't received my product yet. I had chosen standard delivery and everytime I wrote a mail asking whereabouts of my product they say that they also don't have any tracking details of my order. Reading about custom charges, I also don't want to take any risk and want to cancel my order. Can I do so?? Will I get my refund ??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey you can cancel you order and they will refund you total amount. Dont worry! I got my whole refund

      Delete
  27. I waited for one month and asked about the status of my order...They gave 2 options 1.replacemebt 2.refund..I opted for refund.ge next day money got credited in my account
    So wait for a month..If u didn't receive it they will ask you too

    ReplyDelete
  28. I think it is a fraud site.

    I have ordered products in Feb 2020 and nothing had come till Aug 2020. Three is no cash on delivery. I have already paid via credit card.

    I have written emails to them. And finally they have sent me some form which I have to fill and send back so that they can 'investigate' what happened to my products.

    ReplyDelete
  29. I too have mailed them abt my order and they gave refund or replacement option. I opted for replacement of my product and got emial that they have shipped through Dhl courier. I am worried that DHL may charge some additional charges on my courier now.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Hi, i have placed an azelic acid which costs me around 540 INR. Do i need to pay customs and delivery charge? Please help me out :(

    ReplyDelete
  31. Hi, i have placed an azelic acid which costs me around 540 INR. Do i need to pay customs and delivery charge? Please help me out :(

    ReplyDelete
  32. October 2020 : anyone ordered from this site recently? What are the custom charges you payed? I heard custom charges are 77% now. And If i order below 1000 rupees, would it be free of custom charges? How much time did it take for delivery?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. After reading up everything seems like it’s months of waiting plus many hidden charges

      Delete
  33. I had ordered NuFACE Trinity Facial Toning Device vide order no 262745468 on 21st of December 2020 and was supposed to receive the product by 31st of December. I sent them a message on 7th Jan, 21 but was asked to wait.

    Again I mailed them on 20.01.21 and was informed the following, "Thank you for getting in touch about your order. Unfortunately i can see that this order is being returned to us. Please advise if you would prefer a refund or replacement so we can get this processed for you. I apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused. If there is anything else that we can do, then please do not hesitate to get in touch and a member of our team will be happy to help. Kind regards, Millie lookfantastic Customer Service Team"
    Frustrated and disappointed, on 21.01.21 I Requested them to initiate a refund asap but the amount was only refunded on 8th February 2021.

    This means that for more than one month they kept my funds and did not provide me the materials.

    I once again placed order no 268135151 on 21.01.21 for the same product and as per my account the delivery was to be completed by 02.02.21.

    However I did not receive my package by the promised date.

    On enquiry, by mail dt 04.02.21 I was informed the following: "I am sorry to see that your shipment is being returned to our warehouse, the reason has not been noted for this, I can appreciate how frustrating this must be for yourself and I would be more than happy to arrange the items to be resent or refunded for you. Which of these options would you prefer?"

    On 08.02.21 I wrote to them "This is the second time my order has been not delivered which is extremely disappointing and raises questions on your reliability. Kindly re-send the items without any further delay."

    On 08.02.21 Lookfantastic had promised a speedy replacement.

    By a mail dated 11.02.21 they informed me that the order has been shipped and should reach me by 18th February, 2021.

    As the order did not reach me by 2nd of March 2021 and nor was there any news from their side. feeling frustrated, disappointed and cheated I wrote to them again.

    On 03.03.21 I was informed the following," Thank you for getting in touch.
    Your replacement order has also been returned by the courier unfortunately. Please could you confirm whether you'd like a refund or replacement for your items? If there is anything else that we can do, then please do not hesitate to get in touch and a member of our team will be happy to help. Kind regards, Jess"

    I feel that LOOKFANTASIC India is unable to deliver the items they are taking orders for. You pay in advance and they keep your funds, do not update you and do not send you anything in the hope that you may forget and they may pocket your money.

    Beware of such frauds!!

    ReplyDelete
  34. I placed my order almost a month back. Except for a confirmatory mail,I try to contact them but the mail keeps bouncing back.
    Can anyone help me with their customer service Mail Id?
    This will be the last time,I will order from lookfantastic.

    ReplyDelete
  35. I placed my order almost a month back. Except for a confirmatory mail,I try to contact them but the mail keeps bouncing back.
    Can anyone help me with their customer service Mail Id?
    This will be the last time,I will order from lookfantastic.

    ReplyDelete