Ever ordered a beauty product online and thought something was off? I’ve been there, so I sent 12 suspicious buys from third-party sellers on Amazon, eBay, Shein and Walmart to a lab. Turns out all were counterfeit, expired, used or problematic.

Take the Amazon-sold Rhode Peptide Lip Treatment: it was longer, a different shade, had typos and two-tone labels, felt lighter despite being bigger (maybe underfilled), and had bloating that could mean microbial growth. A spectrometer test found its chemical makeup was 20% different from the official version—definitely unsafe.

Have you had a sketchy online beauty experience? Trusted your gut or used it anyway? Share your stories!