A Sephora customer claims that you can get banned from the store for returning too many items.
Anna Pothier (@anna.ev.pothier) is known for her beauty content and has almost 29,000 followers who are fans of her makeup tips and product recommendations.
She posted a TikTok from her car as she was about to go into a Sephora location to return an eye shadow palette from Makeup by Mario and explained why she was nervous to go inside.
“Ever since I found out that you can get banned from returning things at Sephora, I get stressed out every time that I need to return something,” she says.
“Granted, I don’t think I’m one of their like high-profile shoppers,” Pothier adds, saying, “I don’t think they’re out to get me. I have probably, this year, bought like 10 things from Sephora. That being said, I think I’ve returned probably like five of them.”
However, she admits, as a percentage, she’s taken back about 50% of the things she’s bought.
She also says that if an item costs $10, she’s much less likely to return it, but if it costs $50, like the Makeup By Mario eye shadow palette she’s holding, she’s going to take it back if she doesn’t like the product.
“But once I found out that you can get banned from returning if you return too often, I get … anxiety. Every time she scans out [an item], I’m just ready for something to print out and tell me that I can’t.”
At the end of the video, the Sephora customer comes out of the store with a return receipt in hand, happily saying, “OK, I did not get banned.”
In the caption, Pothier wrote that the possible ban “Lowkey makes me nervous just shopping and trying something new.”
Her video received over 296,000 views. Some viewers agreed that the potential ban also made them anxious about shopping at the store, while a number of viewers who claimed to have worked at Sephora told Pothier she had nothing to worry about.
“As a former employee, it’s only if you’re buying and returning like… daily/weekly,” one viewer reassured.
“I used to work at Sephora and even though I know you only get banned for returning an astronomical amount, I still get anxious every time I make a return,” someone else shared.
@anna.ev.pothier Lowkey makes me nervous just shopping and trying something new #sephora #sephorashopping #returning ♬ original sound – Anna
One viewer just urged the beauty content creator to buy products more intentionally so as to reduce waste.
“Girl if you’re returning half of what you’re buying – you’re not fully thinking it through. Make sure you get what you fully love, not just something to try. You’ll save time and effort to return,” they wrote.
Sephora’s returns and exchanges policy states that if customers “are not completely satisfied with a Sephora purchase or gift for any reason, [they can] return new or gently used products for a full refund to [their] original method of payment if returned within 30 days of purchase.” The only stipulation is that the customer needs to present proof of purchase in order to complete the return.
But just how many products does a customer have to return in order for a ban to take effect? The company offers no clear guidelines about the number of products that can be returned per purchase or over a period of time.
As a result, a number of shoppers have taken to the comments section of Sephora’s Beauty Insider Community page to vent their frustrations about being suddenly cut off from the store.
One person says she often buys items online, tries them at home, and returns them if they don’t work. She says she was recently issued a ban after trying to return a lipstick.
Another shares she returns about a third of the items she purchases and was also recently issued a return warning. A third claims on her last visit she was handed a receipt saying that she was “banned from making any returns for 365 days due to ‘excessive returns’.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Pothier and Sephora via email for further comment.
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