Danish consumer counsil: Wish.com’s products violate EU law

Danish Consumer Council THINK Chemicals says shopping cosmetic products in the online shop Wish.com is problematic. The main problem is that customers often don’t know what’s in the products they buy through this popular online store.

The Danish consumer council THINK Chemicals (Tænk Kemi) ordered 39 different cosmetic products from Wish.com, an online shop that sells many goods that are produced in and shipped from China.

‘Products are of doubtful quality’

“In many case, products from these types of websites have, however, in the Consumer Council’s studies, proven to be of doubtful quality”, THINK Chemicals writes. “In addition, products from these websites may have problems meeting legal and security requirements from the EU.”

In the European Union, manufacturers of cosmetic products such as creams, deodorants or mascara are legally required to include an ingredient list, so consumers can see, for example, if there are perfumes in the product.

54% of products didn’t show ingredients

Out of 39 purchase products, 21 of them didn’t have the required ingredient list. And a cream of Nivea even wasn’t allowed to sell in the EU, although this product did have an ingredient list. But it contained two allergenic substances (methylisothiazolinone and methylchloroisothiazolinone) that have been banned in, among other things, creams since February of last year. The product is similar to the classic blue Nivea tin, which can be found in lots of markets across Europe, but here it’s without those two allergenic substances.

‘Can’t recommend to buy cosmetics on Wish.com’

“As a starting point, we can’t recommend you to purchase personal care products and cosmetics on Wish.com”, Stine Müller from THINK Chemicals say. “Many of the products do not comply with the European cosmetics rules as they don’t list the ingredients. Therefore, as a consumer, you have no idea what it is you’re buying.”

Wish has become very popular among consumers and is currently the fifth most popular online store in Denmark, data from the Danish Internet Trade Association shows. In other countries across Europe, Wish is also a very popular online shopping destination. In Germany for example, it’s ranked fourth, even before Otto or Zalando.