TikTok, for better or for worse, has been giving adult pleasure products a MOMENT. With a bit less content restriction than other social media and streaming platforms (or at least more ways around it), many marketers have taken to TikTok to advertise, review, and rave about their favorite new sex toys. That means a previously taboo topic is much more in the mainstream. More people are laying eyes on these luxurious little mechanical pleasure providers and learning about them than ever before.
That also means more and more stores are trying to cash in on the popularity of sex toys by offering them for sale, even if that store isn’t a place that would typically carry sex toys. I’ve given my computer & phone more than a few side-eyes and confused dog head tilts when I see ads for sex toys pop up from sites like Ulta, CVS, Walmart, Amazon, Shein, and TEMU. I’ve even had some toys pop up as “things you might be interested in” on DOORDASH. That’s right…you can Doordash a sex toy. Convenient? Yes. Kinda weird and privacy-invasion-y? Also yes.
Read on for the potential risks of buying your big splurgey sex toys and adult stocking stuffers from shady or non-specialty stores & websites, and how you can shop smart instead to avoid any disappointing bedroom unboxing videos.
Risk #1: Counterfeits and Knock-offs:
There are a lot of well-known brands and models of coveted, high-end sex toys. While the reputable brands that make these popular toys do everything they can to protect their trade secrets, there are always going to be companies out there making cheap, potentially dangerous lookalikes to try and make a few bucks. They build them in shady overseas factories for pennies on the dollar compared to what the real versions cost to produce, and then offload them to resellers that have a way to remain anonymous and untraceable. Unfortunately, websites like Amazon & AliExpress can give them that cover.
From a buyer’s perspective, the saying, “If the deal seems too good to be true, it probably is.” definitely applies here. If you see a toy that normally retails for $150 for sale on a site like Amazon or Groupon for $60, that’s a red flag. Most luxury sex toy manufacturers actually set a minimum price that their toys can be advertised and sold for anywhere, so if an online mass market retailer or big box store is selling it for substantially less than that, it’s likely not the real thing. If you receive a counterfeit toy, and you can immediately TELL it’s counterfeit, you might at least feel disappointed and ripped off. Some fakes are pretty well faked though; it might not always be easy to tell. This means you could be using a cheap knock-off toy without knowing, which may come with even bigger risks, like…
Risk #2: Poor Quality Toys
We get it…luxury, name-brand sex toys are EXPENSIVE. But one of the main reasons they cost what they do is because of the extensive research & development that goes into making not only a nice product, but a SAFE product. As devices you use on (and IN) the most intimate parts of your body, it is crucial for sex toys to be made from body-safe materials. When you order a toy from a mass online retailer or discount shop, you can’t necessarily trace the source and guarantee it’s real (more on that later!). Unfortunately in some cases, that means there’s no guarantee it’s safe or healthy to use in or on your body.
Some potentially dangerous features that may be present in cheap, poorly made sex toys could include, but are not limited to:
- Rough or sharp seams, joints, or openings that can scratch, poke, cut, or pinch you.
- Porous or deeply textured finishes that can harbor microbes even with proper cleaning.
- Undisclosed ingredients, such as latex, which you may be allergic to.
- Unstable, unsafe-for-the-body materials that may leach oily residues, irritating plasticizers, or dangerous phthalates with use.
- Shoddy motors or batteries that may overheat, smoke, smell, burn out too soon, not charge correctly, or can even be fire hazards.
- Missing pieces (attachments/chargers/storage bags often included with luxury toys) and/or a lack of a manual (in English) or any sort of helpful instructions for use.
- Insufficient packaging (read: a “nice, new” dildo wrapped in nothing but a crinkly, non-sealed cellophane bag with no label or logo). Who knows where that thing is coming from or where it has been?!?
What’s worse, that sus packaging may be because they are, in fact…
Risk #3: USED Toys
Yes, you read that right. I’ll give you a minute to throw up in your mouth. You back now? OK!
Sadly, it is true that when you order a sex toy or intimate product from Amazon or any other mass market online retailer that doesn’t specialize in selling sex toys, you may receive a used one. Eww!
Let’s talk return policies. When you’re buying clothes, a TV, furniture, or a vacuum, you want a nice, flexible policy; one that’s easy to adhere to and will refund you or replace your item if you don’t like it for pretty much any reason. When it comes to buying sex toys, however, you actually want to make sure the retailer has a firm NO RETURN policy! In the U.S., it’s actually illegal to accept returns of lingerie & intimate novelties. Unfortunately, by operating anonymously and from different countries, sellers on Amazon, TEMU, Wish, AliExpress, Shein, and the like can get around this loophole.
Illustrative story time!
Let’s say Suzy orders a fancy new Rabbit Company vibrator from one of *those* sites, and finds out upon receiving it that it’s not quite what she hoped for. The website has a nice, lenient return policy, so she contacts them, and the seller has to accept her return. Suzy sticks it back in the box, sends it back, and gets her refund. It doesn’t matter if she used it or not; the seller may not ask, or may not even notice if it was used. Well, that seller doesn’t just want to be out the profit they should make on that item. This means they won’t throw the product away even though it was at least handled and possibly used by another person. They wrap it back up nicely, put a new seal on the box, and try again with the next unsuspecting victim. See where we’re going with this?
While it may seem a bit harsh or inconvenient, proper, legitimate online & storefront retailers of adult products such as LoversLane.com have strict “No returns, No exchanges” policies on all intimate products. This is due to federal health codes, and more importantly, for YOUR safety. That being said, we want you to be happy with what you buy, so we also have a great customer service department that will help you reach a resolution should you receive an item that is damaged or defective.
While it’s always a good rule of thumb to clean your toys thoroughly before and after each use, including before your first use, you still DEFINITELY want to be confident that you are the only person who has ever used it. Seriously, if you wouldn’t buy questionably “new” sex toys from a stranger on Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist, don’t buy them from big box store websites like Amazon or Walmart, especially because of…
Risk #4: Third-Party Sellers
Remember earlier when I mentioned that you couldn’t necessarily trace the source of your item if you buy from a big, non-specialty website like Amazon? This is because of how some of these websites register third-party sellers. These sellers are free to sell all sorts of items of their choosing on the big brand’s platform, and with the big brand’s policies to cover them. However, with little to no accountability for the quality or legitimacy of the products these hucksters actually sell, they can get away with a lot, and blame it all on Amazon if they get caught.
MORE Illustrative story time! 🙂
For simplicity’s sake, we’ll talk about how this goes down with a little story about a duplicitous Amazon seller, Vi Brator. He just opened up his new Amazon storefront, ‘Vi’s Buys’, and plans to offer everything from brand-name socks to rice cookers to discontinued perfumes. Basically whatever he can get his hands on for cheap and flip for a big profit. So Vi figures, sex toys are popular, right? “Why not sell some sex toys?”
After all, Vi has some sources overseas for some “high quality” counterfeit sex toys. He found a company that makes convincing enough fakes, all modeled after the luxury brand, Lelo. He buys them for $7 a piece, so he makes a huge profit no matter what ‘reasonable price’ he sells them for. Since Vi doesn’t own a store or his own website, he doesn’t have a way to anonymously sell these fake toys. So, he signs up to be a seller on Amazon. The important thing he clicks here when signing up is “Fulfillment through Amazon”. This means that, instead of shipping products directly to the buyers himself, Vi ships all of his fake toys, in whatever level of faked packaging they come in, to Amazon. They all have labels and SKU numbers which make them appear to be the real deal, at least as far as their digital scanners & overworked warehouse employees are concerned. So the Amazon warehouse gets Vi’s package and scans in the first ten items, which are all (falsely) labeled as being the Lelo Gigi 2 Vibrator, so the Amazon employee adds these to the bin with all of the OTHER Lelo Gigi 2 vibrators they have on hand.
Shortly after Vi’s toys were received by an Amazon location, Jill places an order on Amazon for a Lelo Gigi 2. It’s $149, which seems to be the standard going price (she’s done her research, after all). Now, while many of the toys in that bin may have been the real thing, the picker filling her order just grabs the first one he sees out of the bin, because they’re all the same thing, right? So now Jill has paid the cost of the real item, but she gets one of Vi’s cheapo counterfeits. If Vi never gets caught, he keeps making his money and the racket continues.
See how easy that is? Vi gets rich and Jill gets screwed. until she sees that she can RETURN it…that’s where that part of the story comes in! And she didn’t even venture into the thicket of the “See what’s available from other sellers” when shopping for her item. Once Vi shipped his fakes to Amazon, Amazon officially becomes the seller, and there’s no way of telling the difference. Walmart and some other online stores have similar policies, so Amazon isn’t alone in this problem. Now, getting a third-party seller’s items may not be a big deal when we’re talking about books, Bluetooth speakers, or ice cube trays, but sex toys? No thank you, please.
So, What Can You Do?
Luckily, this problem has an easy solution. At least until online big box stores and mass retailers like Amazon implement MUCH better policies on who can provide products for sale on their websites…we recommend simply not shopping for sex toys on those sites.
Why Buy from Lover’s Lane?
Genuine stores devoted to the adult lingerie & pleasure products industry such as Lover’s Lane have direct relationships with the manufacturers & distributors of all the toys and products we sell. We are even among the elite crowd of authorized retailers of high-end, reputable brands like Lelo, Lovehoney Group (Womanizer & We-Vibe), B-Vibe, and CalExotics. Many of those brands offer great warranty coverage against defects or damage, but only if the item is legit. If you buy from elsewhere and get an imitator, you might be SOL.
We also guarantee those products, as well as all of our own brands. Romance specialists will test a toy for you in-store before you take it home. Online, our customer service team will help you get a replacement should you receive one that doesn’t work in a web order.
The products we sell come directly from the manufacturers to our ONE distribution center, and then on to either A) Our retail stores, or B) You, the buyer. This means there’s no middle man, no risk of counterfeit, unsafe, or used (yuck!) intimate products. As a general rule, if you don’t order your sex toys & lubes from a website where you can also order dog food, drain cleaner, digital food scales, and DVDs, you should be good to go! Â If you’re concerned about privacy and discretion, our policies are some of the best…no need to bury your purchases in a huge Amazon purchase for fear of embarrassment…selling pleasure is all we do, and we make sure it stays your business alone! Click the heading of this section if you need more information on why Lover’s Lane is a safe bet for buying all your sexy essentials.
If Lover’s Lane or the manufacturer’s direct website doesn’t carry exactly what you’re looking for, do your homework! Look for other store websites and companies that specialize in sex toys, and shop only where you know you’ll get exactly what you order. Before you buy from any questionable sites, make sure you read reviews, ratings, and any Better Business Bureau reports, if available. When it comes to your sexual health AND the quality of your orgasms, you don’t want to risk getting less (or more) than what you bargained for!
