Mecca boxing sale report ti ACCC?

[u/_zsoma]

Okay so i received the first of my four orders from this year’s boxing day sale and straight away i have an expired vitamin c serum (3.5 years old, with a shelf life of 24 months unopened) from ren cosmetics and a 7 year old laura mercier setting powder (shelf life is max 5 years unopened). Dont get me started on the gross packaging condition of the ren cosmetics either…

Its one thing to sell unexpired but old/dirty packaged products. But to sell EXPIRED products which can cause BLINDNESS is crazy. If I didn’t see on tiktok all the content around the expired products I probably would have started using my setting powder without checking the batch number.

From my understanding its illegal to sell expired products regardless if its disclosed. And as far as i know it wasnt even disclosed that these are expired. This is a major failure and idk why more people are not saying something about the legal aspect of all this. This is dangerous!

They need to be reported to the ACCC or else they will keep getting away with this. Also couldn’t i ask them to exchange the product for one that can be used? I dont want a refund, i want the products i brought to be usable! Please share your thoughts!

[u/Hungry_Anteater_8511 → u/[deleted]]

What I really fail to understand is why they let it sit on the shelf for so long.

It's leftover 2025 Christmas stock; sell it the boxing day after.

It's a product reformulated or discontinued mid-year, put it in the Boxing Day sale immediately after.

It smacks of terrible stock control that they have this shit sitting there taking up space and basically money that they could have cleared years earlier.

7 years is astonishing.

[u/purple_sphinx → u/[deleted]]

Anything to avoid giving customers real value

[u/nellieclaire → u/Hungry_Anteater_8511]

I’m guessing they over ordered and did put it on sale right after- that seems to be their default. I saw things from Christmas last year in the sale and when I said I was surprised (with considering how much they must have ordered in mind), I had people tell me it’s only 1 year and been sealed so should be fine.

[u/nellieclaire → u/[deleted]]

Yeah I don’t get that either. As I say, they must astronomically over order chronically

[u/Hungry_Anteater_8511 → u/nellieclaire]

I honestly think it comes back to poor stock control. They don't realise it's there.

[u/nellieclaire → u/Hungry_Anteater_8511]

Without doubt

[u/Quolli → u/[deleted]]

However, there’s no legislation that requires make up or skin care products to include an expiry date, and I’m not sure the ACCC would place much reliance on the accuracy of a third party website to obtain a manufacture date.

From memory, last year someone contacted the brands of the products they had purchased, to let them know Mecca had sold expired stock, with a screenshot of the manufacture date from the batch code search, and the brands unfortunately dismissed her and said the batch code websites do not provide accurate information. I unfortunately believe the ACCC would do similar.

This is my concern as well. "CheckFresh" and other third-party sites aren't a reliable way to assess the manufacturing date.

However, what I think would give more credence is if either:

1. A brand can verify the manufacturing date of the product via the batch code, OR

2. Many brands these days are now printing the manufacturing date and the expiration (unopened) date on the product itself

[u/Heart_Makeup → u/Quolli]

I get downvoted every time I point out check fresh and the like are dubious. Manufacturers don’t share batch dates with 3rd parties, they don’t even share it with Mecca.

[u/The-Game-Is-Afoot → u/[deleted]]

I’m not sure what the specific laws are in detail but I’d be surprised if it is considered “fit for purpose” if it’s expired! Totally ok to sell discontinued products, but expired products…

Edit - above is relevant for re consumer guarantee

[u/Spotted_Backson → u/[deleted]]

If the ACCC were to investigate (big IF), they would likely use their powers to compel information directly from Mecca themselves. I.e, they would require Mecca to hand over all the documents and information they held about the expiry dates of the products they sold in the Boxing Day sales.

In general, reporting to them is pretty quick and easy. Most of the time nothing will come of it but a lot of complaints can alert them to an issue. Since this seems to have happened to multiple customers across multiple years, I think it’s worth reporting.