Why I Don’t Recommend Buying Sex Toys on Amazon
If you’ve ever been in the sex toy market, you’ve probably been looking for an opportunity to buy one through Amazon. Amazon tends to offer good prices on most products, and it’s especially tempting if you own Prime. Sex toys are a different matter: in fact, in most cases, it’s best to avoid Amazon altogether. That’s why.
You can get fake
Amazon has a known problem with counterfeiting certain product categories, including sex toys. Of all the things in the world that can be faked, sex toys can seem like a pretty weird thing to copy. It annoys me to think of some dude in China saying, “You know what, I’m tired of all those fake Michael Kors wallets. Let’s start making stainless steel anal plugs. “
Products from popular brands like njoy , Magic Wand , LELO , We-Vibe and Tenga were ripped off and sold as if they were legal on Amazon. I reached out to several people in the sex toy industry to get information from the inside out. Victoria Gutwein, Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Filthy Dirty , replied:
I think most people think that when they make a purchase on Amazon, the item comes from the Amazon warehouse and all sales channels are sanctioned. It just isn’t true. It is very easy for anyone to open an Amazon store and sell it on their website.
The problem is so serious that many sex toy companies are starting to resist. A sex toy spokesperson, who requested anonymity, said:
“[We] … are constantly fighting product counterfeiting and design theft … there is always a lawsuit against these low-cost factories, but [there was] little progress as they closed the shop and reopened somewhere else. “
Hitachi even addresses piracy in the FAQ section of its website and offers guidelines to help customers learn to recognize and avoid counterfeits . (By the way, my favorite review I came across while researching this article was taken from this fake Magic Wand list. “I didn’t get the Hitachi massager as shown in the picture … -2 stars for false advertising. … I, however, like the massager they sent me. “)
There are many ways to detect a counterfeit, but the shockingly low price is probably the biggest drawback. Sex toy manufacturers tend to be strict on their prices and don’t offer big discounts. This alleged set the Plug and the Pure to Njoy Njoy Sliquid Lube , for example, is sold at a discount of 66%. This alleged We-Vibe 4 is 59% off.
Fake sex toys can be unsafe
Some people don’t mind counterfeiting. After all, the worst thing that can happen to your fake wallet is that it wears out faster than the real one, or your snob colleague says it’s a fake. You only spent a fraction of the retail price, so who cares?
But with sex toys, everything is more complicated. The original toys that pirates copy are usually made of high quality materials such as stainless steel, medical grade silicone and glass. On the other hand, counterfeits are made from much cheaper materials of poor quality that can seriously harm your body . ( This horrifying story includes symptoms such as “severe headaches, nausea, lower back pain, and severe discomfort when urinating.”) You might think you are being smart about buying a body- safe , phthalate-free LELO just to get a toy. it ultimately makes you nauseous.
Your toy might die on arrival
Some pirates are so unscrupulous (or don’t know how to manufacture) that they ship out completely non-functional toys. In a colorful review of this (also colorful) LELO Gigi vibrator, one customer writes:
“I bought this product 6 months ago. When I opened it and loaded it, nothing came of it. Made several additional attempts, each time following the instructions … [Sellers] refuse to return the money. They will not take responsibility for a defective product and show respect for the (new) customer … I was trapped in a kafka-style nightmare. My only recourse is to alert other potential customers. “
They are not alone; A quick glance at online reviews revealed several evidence of defective sex toys.
If you purchase a two-tier product, you have no way out
Even with a significant discount, you will still fall somewhere in the $ 50 to $ 100 range for a fake toy. If your toy breaks or never works at all, you might end up with that money. Sex toys are privately owned purchases, making you particularly vulnerable to being robbed. In fact, most people don’t realize they’ve been tricked until they go directly to the manufacturer asking for a refund, only to find that the product is counterfeit. Companies like Hitachi or njoy may be sympathetic to your situation, but the manufacturers themselves cannot be held responsible for the toy you bought from the pirate. Your salesperson scum might leave you in the aforementioned Kafkaesque nightmare trying to return an item. Amazon also won’t offer refunds if you’ve purchased from a third-party seller .
Where to buy sex toys instead
The safest way to buy a sex toy is directly from the manufacturer or one of their approved sellers. My favorite online store is Filthy Dirty , and they go out of their way to educate their customers about the safety of sex toys. Good vibes and Smitten Kitten are good options too. Or try supporting a local sex shop for sex (there are so many good retailers these days that a simple Google search for that phrase should reveal something relatively close to you). You won’t get this tempting discount on Amazon, but you can be sure to get the safe, high-quality toy you originally wished for. You can also get a refund or exchange if something is wrong with your item.
If you must buy on Amazon
If you insist on shopping through Amazon, here are some guidelines to minimize your chances of being scammed:
- Research the seller. Pirates are smart, but they can be outsmarted. One of the easiest ways to find out if you are dealing with a Blackbeard wannabe is to go to the seller’s page. This aforementioned butt plug seems to be sold directly by njoy, but if you go to the seller’s page you will be taken to this bunch of nonsense. Astute readers may also notice that the salesperson calls himself “N’joy” instead of the properly formatted “njoy”. Likewise, I ended up on this We Vibe seller page and this one on Magic Wand.
- An attempt was made to contact the seller. Another trick is to try and contact the seller directly and ask questions about the product, the return policy, and their relationship with the manufacturer. The pirate probably won’t answer.
- Read reviews. Bless the daredevils who are willing to post public sex toy reviews on Amazon! Often fakes can be found through bad reviews.
- Please contact the manufacturer. Ask if Amazon is a safe place to buy their products and if they have their own sellers page on Amazon. For example, Minna Life does.
- If it looks good to be true, it probably is. Sorry guys, but quality sex toys are expensive.
Trust me, even if you have to save a few more weeks for a real deal, you’ll be happy you did. Beware everyone!