Can Mary Kay Consultants Return Products for Refund or Replacement?
Written by L J on July 4, 2008 – 5:04 pm -A reader named Mary contacted me with this interesting question:
After reading info about the talc in Mary Kay and the dangers of it, will Mary Kay take my used products back and give me a refund? I’ve only see the product replacement online. I just ordered several of the new “mineral” eye colors and have been using them. Will they take them back? Where on Mary Kay In Touch do I request a refund?
I thought this was a good question. After all, Mary Kay Consultants are customers of the Company too. Its biggest customer, in fact.
Some former and current Consultants have told me, however, that Mary Kay Inc. doesn’t consider the Consultant to be a customer. Apparently Mary Kay Inc. frowns upon, perhaps actually disallows, the return of a Consultant’s personal-use products. As a result, many Consultants have used one of their customer’s names or that of a family member on the Product Replacement form.
Perhaps the Consultant is expected to write off the cost of such products, chalking it up as a loss for their business, just as they do with the full-size products that they are encouraged to use as demonstrators at classes and appointments.
Can Mary Kay Consultants return products that they try and don’t like? Can they take advantage of the 100% satisfaction guarantee that Mary Kay promises? I don’t know.
Tags: Consultants Return, mary kay consultants, mary kay return policy, satisfaction guarantee
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Lipstick on 
Tam on
July 4th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Why not return them under your sister/ mother / best friends name so you’d be guaranteed to get the replacement - I’d be sure to tell (whoever’s name your using) what you are doing but I have heard consultants are not customers.
July 4th, 2008 at 11:37 pm
When I was a Consultant I went ahead and did replacements for myself… using my own name… they never questioned me.
July 5th, 2008 at 9:30 am
I had heard that you could not return products for replacement for yourself, so I always used either a friends name, a good customer’s name or my Mom (with their permission of course). One time made up a name and used it.
I have seen posts of people who used their pet’s name for a personal return!
July 6th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
When I was a consultant, I tried using my own name at first. I received an email from MK asking me to call them about an issue w/ my product replacement order. When I called their 1-800 number, I was told that product replacements were for customers, not for consultants. I was taken aback by this, but they weren’t going to change their policy on account of my argument. So, instead of arguing, back on the computer I went, and entered my mom’s name. She said she didn’t mind if MK ever called her to confirm the return/exchange. My replacement products arrived within a week.
July 12th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
I had this same problem right before I sent back my inventory and two months after I joined. The only time I never had trouble was when I used some other person’s name for myself. This past time I was told we were only supposed to use samples and the lady was snaky and rude. She said we are not traditional customers and we have excess to samples…use them. I joined to be a customer at half price….lies.
July 26th, 2008 at 1:49 am
just wondering sarah, did you not get product at half-price? i know you have to order $200 wholesale in order to do that, but i have and know lots of women who have and we all received it for half-off.
July 26th, 2008 at 11:28 am
A consultant is suppose to know what is in the product before selling it to the customer anyway. That is why Mary Kay Inc has a product information guide, hardcopy and online. You can also call the company. Consultants should run there business like a business and take care of the customer. If you can not take care of yourself as a consultant then, how are you taking care of the customer? If the product does not have a sample package you can order, then granted the only way you will know if you like the product is if you use it. If you don’t the product, then use it as a demo, if possible. Some things you can’t use like the cleansing bars.
July 28th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Thanks for the advice. My problem is that I was able to use the products ok, then I developed an allergy to them. I’m not sure what happened, but the eye shadows started to really irritate my eyes. It had not been a problem before, but it seemed to happen suddenly. I didn’t change anything, other than got some of the new colors. I had been using the new colors just fine, then they just reacted. Now, I can’t even use the eyeliners. They make me itch, too! And they’re the same ones that I had been using since I started using MK. I had been using it for about 4 months when I suddenly developed my allergy. Again…thanks.
July 31st, 2008 at 12:27 am
lisa, i’m having a hard time figuring out what you meant when you as Sarah if she got her produt for 1/2 price? Whatever you pay for the product, you still are a customer.
It doesn’t make sense that Mk expects consultants to use samples for personal use to avoid returning a product, but yet they expect you to honor the 100% satisifaction for a customer who “tried before she bought” decided she didn’t like it after all and now wants to return it.
A customer is a consumer of products purchased whether they were 1/2 price or not!
If I sell to a customer at less than retail, it doesn’t limit their right to return the product for a replacement at full retail.
July 31st, 2008 at 1:10 pm
sarah had said she had “joined to be a customer at half-price - lies!”, so i was wondering why she didn’t get her product at half-price.
July 31st, 2008 at 4:03 pm
I believe she meant the lie was being considered a customer.
August 1st, 2008 at 5:14 am
Lipstick, agreed, I believe that’s what Sarah meant. Recruiters will use that line about signing up just to get 50% off, but not mention that your personal return/exchange privileges are lost once you become a consultant. My peeve here is that MK doesn’t disclose this upfront when you sign up, you have to dig for the info in places you don’t have access to until after signing on.
MK doesn’t consider a consultant their customer when it comes to honoring the 100% customer satisfaction guarantee, although consultants are MK’s only group of people purchasing directly from MK. That would technically make them MK’s customers, no?