Saturday, May 1, 2010

Transdesign phasing out OPI, OPI suing any etailer that still sells OPI

If you buy OPI from nail etailers you might want to hurry up and place some orders right away because... starting soon it will be more difficult to get OPI at decent prices.

You all probably know that I order from Transdesign.com a lot to get my nail polishes, they are affordable, even though I have to pay a lot for shipping to Canada, it's worth it for me because I can get collections early and get those hard to find polishes too. Well, apparently OPI is contacting etailers and asking them to not sell their products online and suing any that still do. This is going to leave a huge dent in their sales and will upset many nail bloggers for sure. Head2Toe, another nail etailer, has also removed all OPI from their site. 8ty8 has been phasing out OPI for some time, so it will just be a matter of time before it's all gone. Some nail bloggers are already saying they will stop posting nail pictures of new OPI polishes, case and point Swatchaholic.

I am disappointed in OPI's reaction in this, I mean, they are the biggest, most popular nail polish company and do they not want people buying their products? First Essie raises etailers prices now this...it's a sad day in polish-land. More than anything, this will affect international buyers, OPI is much more expensive overseas. I can get a bottle at my local salons for about $10, Trade Secret sells them for B1G150% from time to time.

Apparently etailers were mentioned in magazines and OPI caught wind of it, I am not sure on the entire story, just read about it today. Also there is talk that OPI was suing for copyright infringements, etailers use their logos on their sites.

If you go on Trandesign right now, you will see a note saying "OPI products liquidation. We are liquidate our entire OPI inventory. While supplies last." And they've raised their OPI prices to $5.24, and $4.49 for a select few. :(

UPDATE: Some more insights into what went down on another nail blogger's site, you can also read the lawsuit papers there too. OPI asked TD to remove all OPI logos off their site in 2009 and TD did not comply, also OPI is saying TD is removing the serial numbers off of the OPI polishes they are selling by shaving off part of the side of the bottle. I have noticed this in some of the bottles that I have purchased from them, but I thought the damage was just from how they stored them in their warehouse. I can understand why OPI is upset now, TD has no contact with them to sell their products. I think I will buy my polishes off amazon from now on.

What do you think of this?

5 comments:

Jane said... Best Blogger Tips

This is crazy! I get my OPI from amazon.com I wonder if that will be affected, hopefully not. Thanks for following!

Justine (Productrater) said... Best Blogger Tips

@Jane - I've been buying mine off amazon too, I can buy less at a time which is nice, whereas with TD it was a flat rate shipping so you had to buy x amount. I don't think amazon will be affected, since they don't primarily sell nail polish at discounted prices, I know marketplace people do but not as much as these etailers. The "suing" was mostly about copyright anyway, TD had no contract with OPI either, and they were apparently making the serial numbers on the bottles.

Justine (Productrater) said... Best Blogger Tips

edit: "marking" not making.

Unknown said... Best Blogger Tips

I live in Canada too and just found out this site not too long ago. Do you know how much does the shipping cost?

Justine (Productrater) said... Best Blogger Tips

@Vera - Hey, when I used to order from transdesign they had a flat rate shipping international charge of $18 for 9 bottles, so it was an excuse to order a lot of OPI all at once! ;) I am not sure if they've changed this since then.