I <3 you!!

Thank you Mika! <3

Thank you as well, Suzanne! Wow.. I had no idea that OPI is made in the Netherlands. *shocked*

Great article.
I’m italian, and here a decent assortment of colour’s choice in nail polishes is like not just unicorn pee, but unicorn breathe: rarefied and uncatchable.

I think OPI will regret this decision when the see how much customers they’ll lose. I won’t be buying their polish either if I have to pay €14 ( $18 ) for one bottle. They have a grat product, but it’s not THAT great.
Ill twitter your article.

I TOTALLY agree with everything you said. Seriously. If I can’t get OPI from etailers, I won’t buy OPI. Sorry. It’s not worth it – like you said, Nubar, China Glaze, Color Club, Diamond Cosmetics etc are all cheaper, and they aren’t any worse quality. It used to be alright if you ordered OPI and paid for international shipping – it still works out to a relatively decent price per bottle, but not any more.

And I TOTALLY agree that OPI is overpriced here. In the UK its 9.99GBP. Pay like 6 GBP more, and you can buy Chanel, which is 16GBP here. Heck, if I passed over Chanel because of the price because it wasn’t worth it, you can bet I’m definitely going to pass over 10GBP OPIs. (And the rest of Europe has it worse, I know!) And if you think European prices are bad, wait til you see how much it costs in Asia. One OPI in Singapore is almost 30SGD, which is like 20USD.

In short – nail polish is not a NEED, it’s a want. We don’t pay so much for something we merely WANT, even if it’s a strong lemming. And especially not when they have competitors who are just as good in quality and colour range, and cheaper in price.

Oh my where will all this end?! OPI hunting down e-tailers, US e-tailers that cannot send polish outside the US without charging alot for the “dangerous goods”…

Is it only US customers that will have pretty polishes from known brand from now on?!

I’m with you in the boycott!

Hi everyone. I live in Portugal and I am starting my OPI collection. I have seven so far. I was very sad when I read this, because just as you said a bottle of OPI here costs almost 16€. Now in the US people make a lot more money than here, so imagine what a restricted range of the portuguese women can actually buy this polish if they go ahead with this. I am sure that OPI does not want their polishes used by an elite of people only, this in Europe, of course, because in the US almost everybody if not everybody can have them. Great article

Thank you for this post darling, I didnt know about that because I’m not very into OPI’s nail polishes since they are so expensive… Here in Canada, when you find one in a store, you have to expect to pay about 15$ a bottle. That is ridiculous when you think you can get them online for half of the price.

Well, no more OPI for me, and that’s sad because I just started acrylic nails and I bought the OPI absolute system. After that I will change for sure!

Their loss is other brands’ gain. I won’t be buying any more OPIs. Polish is a little luxury that I allow myself, but at those prices I’d rather not buy any. I can’t justify being that extravagant.

YES! I think exactly like you.. where is to sign? I completely support your boycot starting NOW

Couldn’t agree more with your post. OPI is $20 in Australia and before I discovered the online sellers I never owned one. If no-one sells it online for a reasonable price I won’t be buying any more. I am so angry about all this that I think I’ll be boycotting them too, even though other brands don’t seem to last as long on my nails.

this e-tailer thing is getting ridiculous. transdesign stopped shipping via usps, essie pulled the prices up to $8, china glaze doesn’t ship internationally. now this. what’s happening?
I’m just thankful I have friends now in the USA, who help me get my hands on the polishes. Because otherwise, I couldn’t…
The OPI costs 21 EUR here aswell, plus they only have the old collections and boring colors. =/

I apologise for swearing, but A-FUCKING-MEN. I live in Australia which probably gets the worst of all the international price hikes, so I feel your pain and then some I hope they dont sue ebayers, because now I feel like just buying a tonne of OPI from ebay to piss them off.

OOhrah Baby! Get some!

I AGREE 100% THIS IS WRONG. AND THEY WILL LOOSE ALL THEIR CUSTOMERS. BUT I HAVE A QUESTION IS THIS HAPPENING TO ALL E-TAILORS OR JUST TRANSDESGIN?

You said everything I felt before even reading your post! while I understand OPI may feel that etailers selling to the general public at discount is “cheapening” their brand– because this is how I am seeing things— perhaps they need to rethink their pricing and marketing strategy. Nail polish blogging has been BIG business for them with about as much free publicity as you can get internationally. As an American, I don’t feel it is fair that they are charging way too much overseas even given import tax & other fees. I understand the retailer has to make their profit, too. But it’s even overpriced IMO here, too. But, how many trips do we consumers have to pay for so Suzi can continue to get her inspirations? I understand it’s hard economic times all around, but how dare OPI bite the hands that’s feeding them. BTW, great job on OPI’s price increase in the past couple of years. I’m sure that really had nothing to do with materials or production cost, but just the ability to do so because nail polish blogging got so popular to increase sales.

This is ridiculous. I can say honestly that if they remove OPI from e-tailers I will never own another bottle of it. I can’t afford to pay $8-9 a bottle (and I feel bad for you with your prices!) for a polish. It also isn’t available for sale anywhere near me, so no. I don’t find their polish to even be as nice as some of the other companies in the first place, the $5 price tag is even too much for me most of the time and now the greed? Well, I won’t be buying the Shrek collection like I planned.

I didn’t know about that ! That’s a bad new, the prices in EU are totally crazy … I live in Belgium, I don’t even know if we have OPI here but I came to France to buy some at 16 – 18 €
If they are not sold online anymore, I won’t buy OPI for sure, I need to get fun from my nail passion and wear as much colors as possible !
Thanks for your article !

This is so …ah…I couldn’t discribe what it is. I fell in love whith the Shrek collection an ordered them today. And now all was cancelled.

Transdesgin just say they don’t ship hazardous items via USPS. So it is also not possible to buy any CG or Essies there….

I was thinking about opening an online store, but for the OPIs I guess I’ll have to go by requests, and see if y wholesaler has what people are looking for if anyone would even think about purchasing from that crackpot company.

I mean really $27 in Norway?!?! This company is not like Chanel who is already pricey, and only makes a limited number of colors at a time. They are pumping out colors all the time!

I am so disappointed, and that says a lot.

Wow, I didn’t know about this whole drama! I can’t believe! The only reason I have few OPI bottles is because they’re much cheaper on eBay. Here they cost exactly $20 which id way overpriced!

How did this drama even started in the first place?

Hi!

I’m new to reading your blog, but I can’t agree with you (and apparently everyone else) more! I live in the US (OPI = $8 USD) and I STILL look online to see if I can find it before I buy in-store. If my drugstores have a “rare” or popular color that’s usually sold out online, of course I’ll get it. Any other case, I buy from etailers.

Even before I found myself unemployed, I’ve always been one to do my own nails. As much as I would love a professional manicure, I can’t justify the cost because it’s one of those things I know I can do myself. Plus, my “nails” time doubles as my “me” time, which I value greatly the more mature I become.

I hate the fact that OPI wants etailers to stop carrying their products. My aunt, who served as my fashion-savvy role model as I was growing up, taught me how to really “do” my nails when I was about 10 (I’m 22, now). She always uses OPI, so I soon became their next poster-child. That’s 12 years of almost exclusive OPI use. And, whenever someone asks what the color is, I always give OPI a shameless plug (See, OPI? I’m HELPING you!).

When it comes down to it, the price markup is evident when etailers like 8ty8beauty can sell OPI for $4.48 a bottle (they’re obviously making something off that, so you KNOW they bought it direct for even less). I’m not going to pay $8 for something I can get for $4.50ish. And, now that I know that the wholesale price can’t possibly be CLOSE to $8…Well…I don’t like feeling ripped off, so if OPI stops being sold online, I likely won’t be buying any more, ever.

I’m fine with that, too. Other companies like Zoya and China Glaze have fabulous colors, great quality, and can be found for incredibly low prices online. In fact, the only thing that’s kept me buying OPI for so long is brand loyalty. So in this case, change isn’t a bad thing.

BTW, I’ve never lived overseas long enough to notice the HUGE price difference between the US and international market- holy crap! I feel bad for not wanting to pay $8 for something others are apparently shelling out WAY over twice as much for! I apologize to everyone overseas for complaining; I hope you don’t think less of me.

I’m sorry, OPI, but pressuring etailers to quit selling your products disgusts me. The WORLD economy right now is fragile at best- you should be more focused on keeping customers, not pushing us away. The company already has a solid reputation for selling luxury goods, there’s no need to further the exclusivity of your market.

The least you could do is send out complimentary ice packs to your loyal users, whom you are brutally slapping in the face by doing this.

Sorry for that long-winded rant. I love your blog! You rock!

Love and polish,

Melissa

UNICORN PEE?!?! Ahahahahahha. Great post. I wasn’t aware of this drama. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Wow, that’s pretty fucked up of them. I work at a salon that sells OPI (along with China Glaze, Essie, a few others) and I’m always like “OPI = buy online, cheaper.” Now, screw that, guess this’ll definitely restrict my OPI purchases, sucks too though, they have some pretty awesome colors when they try. But damn, the price differences for Europe and here in the US, wow, that’s unacceptable.

I have been mostly a lurker here but just had to say my piece.

Though I have do access to polishes in the US, I am actually outside of the US for most of the year and rely on etailers to get my quick polish fix.

I could definitely buy retail plus around $2 per bottle of shipping since I know the fuel (for airplanes) does not come cheap and that bottles are really heavy.

But to go all out in copyright infringement and in the end discouraging sales of your product….I just don’t get it! Online is the way to go, brands! Online! Not the other way around!

Have you heard about the new color in the upcoming collection:

Suzi Says Sue ‘Em?

Seriously, I agree. China Glaze from now on.

I am so glad you posted this rant. I really surprises me for OPI to want to stop etailers from selling their products online. After I found on TD, 8ty8b & VNS, I haven’t gotten OPI for its regular $8 price because it’s outrageous. I recently found that both VNS and TD are selling Essie’s for $8 now rather than its $4. I don’t know the reason why but now I’m starting to believe that it’s similar to OPI and what they want. VNS states that they have special prices for professional and student technicans. OPI would not realize how much money they are going to lose if all the online bloggers began to stop buying OPI because they want etailers not to sell them anymore. I’m really disappointed because it means that I’m limited in resources to get different nail polishes. I rely on these etailers to get China Glaze, OPI, Essie and other brands. In my neighborhood, they do not sell China Glaze at all. And the nail supply I go to, I now found out that they’ve been faking their Essie’s because one of an online user who goes there saw them multiple times pouring nail polish into Essie bottles. I’m losing all hope for etailers and my hobby for nail polish :\

I can see how this could affect you a lot. The prices between products from the US and Europe is crazy. I spent last summer in Switzerland so I could visit my boyfriend and it hurt my eyes when I looked at the prices of things. It was really hard for me to purchase stuff I needed when I knew I could get it for half the price back home.

Wow, really? That is very sad. They’re going to lose a huge customer base, and for what? They are going to regret that decision.

I am not cheap. But I am not stupid either. I cannot justify spending 15 euros on a bottle of OPI when I know that I am paying twice the normal asking price in the US. Etailers make it possible for me to have access to brands I can’t get here or find almost impossible to find. The china glazes I’ve found in my city are from collections that came out two or three years ago and they just carry a few colours. International shipping is a necessary evil, but I can live with that. I know my stash would be much bigger if I didn’t have to shell out 20 dollars every time I place an order. But OPI, are you kidding me? 15 euros for something that is made HERE in Europe? No thanks. I’m planning my first RBL haul. If I have to dish out some big money, I’ll go for the Holy Grail in nail polish. And there are other wonderful brands out there that have excellent customer service. Kim Snyder at Overall Beauty is incredible and the BB Couture polishes she carries are the bomb. There are more fish in the sea. I’ll just go fish in other waters.

Totally agree. First with the Transdesign’s outraging increase in shipping fee and now with OPI’s unbelievable move we worldwide polish lovers will suffer. It seems so ugly to me that a major polish brand dismisses the power of the bloggers and global polish fans, to be able to keep their prices high and control distribution. Such an archaic action. Before they even think of starting an action like that they should have provided a solid distribution overseas with acceptable prices. (OPI retails for around 23 USD here in Turkey and a few lonely bottles can be found in dark, dusty shelves of Sephora. A great image boost for OPI!

As an influential polish blogger I would love you to send this letter to OPI so they know how we international customers feel. Maybe they would come to their senses.

> (…) we do have bigger bottles (7, 8 and 10 ml) as well in the Essence perm line and their limited editions and they retail for 1,75 EUR.

In Italy, they’re €1,29 the small ones and €1,99 the bigger ones.
And some collections will not be released here (the “Crazy about color”, for example…)
Bah.

Very well said!
I was aware of the drama and it had been bugging me for a few days but I didn’t know where to start, well, you’ve nailed it perfectly!
Too bad for OPI if they lose a big section of their regular customers, hell, I’m NEVER going to spend 16eur on an OPI when I can get a Chanel for 20 (which I never will as well)!
Essence, Catrice, Glam Nails…here I come

This sucks so hard.
I’ve been wanting Merry Midnight from VNS, and now I can’t have it.
I hate you, OPI!!

I don’t know why they would even do this.
If they thought the etailers were hurting them now, we’ll see how bad they feel at their next quarterly financial meeting.
Nobody’s gonna pay 8.50 for a bajillion reds SUZI.

Thank you Carinae for your great blog post!

This really clears some things up. I must admit as a nail polish lover who buys a lot of nail polishes and so depends on a good and reasonable price I still wouldn’t stop buying OPI at etailers even after knowing this. The need for reasonable priced OPI nail polishes is there and because OPI couldn’t and didn’t wanted to fulfill this need etailers selling OPI became so big and successful.

I am really concerned from where I should get OPI polishes now because even if OPI would realise how much they need licensed etailers or an own online store – they surely wouldn’t ship international.
I refuse to pay German retail for a bottle of OPI because I think 16 EUR is ridiculous and almost nasty so it is also kind of OPI’s own fault with their mediocre distribution and outrageous international price policy that etailers made so much business with selling OPI online.

Very good post.

I have always bought my OPIs from transdesign because I live in Spain and OPI is not distributed here. The etailers were my only way of getting those polishes, even if I were willing to pay a higher price to buy them from a store (which I’m not).

Good news for china Glaze, I guess… back to being my favorite brand!

I agree completely with your position here. Your blog is one of my favorites, and I won’t be missing OPI very much as long as you go on giving us insights of the many wonderful polishes in the world.

S.

I’m still angry as they still will sell their bottles at crazy prices in Europe.
The fact that they are made in Europe makes me even more mad !!
I said good bye to OPI, that was for good.

The price of an OPI polish is around 16USD in an authorized dealer in HK. There are some shops selling OPI with only 8USD which are not the authorized dealer. But it still much expensive to buy in HK i love to shop in Transdesign. I make an order once every month. It’s so sad that they are not selling OPI anymore.

Can anyone confirm that Transdesign are not shipping with small flatrate box anymore? Because I made an order around 20th April, at that time they still shipped with the small flatrate box. If they are not offering this shipping option I have to go back to eBay again=( but my friend told me there were lots of fake polish on eBay.

Maybe I should stick with china glaze and color club later on..hahahha

sai I am very sorry but yes Transdesign is no longer shipping international orders with nail polishes with USPS. From now on they only ship international with UPS whichs costs are calculated by weight. For example for 19 polishes it would be around $120 just for shipping plus $40 for the shipping of hazardous goods.

Times are bad for international nail polish lovers.

Lucky you, sai!

I think this whole “we don’t ship nail polishes because they are hazardous goods” by USPS is a bit overstated anyhow.
Nail polishes don’t think: Hmm.. what about inflaming now?.. I am kinda bored.
Textiles or paper are flammable as well. I am not an expert and of course I could be wrong but safely packed.. should be ok, right?

OPI is NOT manufactured in the Netherlands!!! We have a officiel distributor for Holland. I pay for one OPI polish € 17,00.

I couldn’t agree more!!!!

This price differences makes me ill. I have never bought OPI in Norway and I never will.

It makes me so happy to finally see someone addressing this problem, thank you!

Well said. I definitely won’t buy OPI after this. They’re around 17EUR here which is ridiculous. That sucks, really.

I won’t buy it anymore if I can’t get it online.

The retail price here in New Zealand is double what I pay online. I would pay retail if it were superior to other brands but in my opinion it isn’t – I have huge issues with it chipping on natural nails. I only buy it because it has the best colour selection. At the end of the day it’s only nail polish so it’s definitely something that I can cut out of my budget!

OPI came to my country a couple of years back and i did not owe a single one until i started buying from etailers. Retail shops here are charging $23 (Singapore dollars) which is twice/thrice of what i can get online.
Im not the richest person around and even if i were, i dont think i can bring myself to knowingly get ripped off for a bottle of liquid which probably costs a buck to produce.

People here in my country are just getting ripped off for everything we purchase. From food to clothes. A top here is gonna cost you at least $40-$50 for high street brands.
I recently went shopping in NY and Spain and now i cant bring myself to buy anything from here. I do all my shopping online because everything’s cheaper. Even the biggest sale here cannot compare with whatever small time sales i can get at Macy’s in NY. If there’re any sales here, its from 10 – 40%, and its usually scrummy sections with oversized clothes. And even after discount, the clothes are just barely worth the money.
I went to Barcelona last year and after currency conversion, the Zara in my country still charges 50% more than what i saw in Spain.
It’s fucking ridiculous. I mean, dont kid us about shipping, big companies like Zara/OPI ought to ship cheaply since they’re shipped in bulk.

I feel that if a company ought to alter it’s prices according to the economy (if they are still making decent profit) so that people can comfortably buy a product without feeling a burn.
The thought of how many % the distributors to retailers are earning from exploiting OPI’s “exclusivity” makes me sick. They’re making like what 20 bucks per bottle?

I just feel so frustrated that online shopping is not an option now for OPI. But that doesnt mean im gonna go running to retail shops here.
Look OPI, if you dont make your products affordable, even people like me who love your polishes are just gonna find a cheaper alternative. Many people internationally are just gonna hop over to the next best product that’s worth our $.

To swatchaholic: i hope you can recommend other brands with good formulas to us! And hopefully with a good brush, hahaha.
My friends and i dont know much about other nail polish brands, i have a couple of China Glaze, but they dont distribute any other major nail polish brands apart from Sally Hansen and OPI here. Even then, the colour choices are really limited, so we’re looking for other brands that we can get online!

I loved this post! I felt that you managed to sum up exactly my recent frustrations in a much more elegant and funny way than I managed to do Greetings from a fellow international (ex?) OPI-buyer

Thanks for the post, very informative.

You mention Zoya as one of the brands you can purchase on line from Europe… I have never been able to find Zoya anywhere on-line for international shipping!.. Where do you find Zoya on-line?
Thanks!

Way to go! On this article. I run a online business selling nail polish in Singapore, because of this ridiculous policy set by OPI might have to close down my business because Singaporean just loooove OPI.

We face the same problem, OPI are ridiculously expensive and prices are marked up at least 150% at about USD14. I am going to recommend China Glaze or Orly to my friends from now on.

Thanks for always providing us with informative article.

Thank you all for your comments!

StyxaT: I only can buy Zoya on ebay too because they are not available in Germany.

Other brand which I think have the same quality as OPI or even better are: China Glaze, Zoya (love their brush!! but its small which is good because my nails are not big), Misa, Orly, Color Club.
Of course with all these brands as an international customer you have the same problem: you have to buy them overseas.
I like some Essie nail polishes too but they retail for 13 EUR here which is way too much as well.

Hi, I agree with you. I’ll try OPI that I have but won’t buy new one !! In France, 18-20$ per bottle is too expensive even for a good polish, Color club or CG are enough good !!
I see in your wish list a lot of OPI, it’s a pity for you

Yes, OPI is a US-based company (North Hollywood CA), and the polishes sold here are made in the US. I could not find details on the manufacturing locations on their web site to see if they may also have overseas plants. For their policy on retail sales being restricted to salons, though you may want to go to OPI.COM —”About OPI” tab—”Diversion”. They are asking people to report any retail stores other than salons that sell OPI, as a matter of fact.

NP collectors that want to ask them to reconsider their policies not to allow ANY authorized sales over the internet, can write Suzi directly at the address on their site. She has a blog too!

20 euros in austria…

Yes, but although there are sales tax tax and import duties/cost, that still doesn’t explain the _extreme_ price difference.

I didn’t even know this was going on, wow! I find that strange because I follow & read quite a few nail blogs.

It all makes sense now, though. I was browsing for some OPI’s because I only had a few in my collection, and couldn’t find them on head2toebeauty. I wound up ordering a ton from TD without knowing why they were getting rid of OPI.

I feel horrible for you that they’re so expensive! I order mine online as well, as I can’t justify spending even $9 for a bottle of polish. (I won’t even order the $8 Essie bottles from head2toe.) I know shipping can be brutal too, as I’ve ordered stuff from the UK before.

I have definitely noticed the same as Jamie; several of the huge bloggers seems to have ignored the issue completely. Of course bloggers can chose to write about whatever they want, but this is a huge deal in the nail polish community right now, and it does strike me as slightly strange that some of the biggest bloggers haven’t written a single word about it..

I’m in the United States and I can still say that if I can’t purchase OPI from transdesign anymore than I will never again buy a bottle of OPI nailpolish.

UGH i TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU!!!!! OPI charges £10 for a bottle of regular polish and £18 for designer series. it’s so upsetting, i used to buy OPI all the time…but not anymore. i’ll still buy it discounted on ebay but nowhere else.

xo
sara

I read a post on another site that OPI is threatening to sue bloggers? That just seems totally weird — does anybody know anything about this?

If I can’t buy OPI’s at discount prices anymore, I won’t buy them at all. I like some of the colors a lot, but not for 16,– € (more then 20,– US$), as they are here in Germany. OPI wants to be exclusive? Fine with me! One of the excluded is me, then . I can live with that, there are many fish in the sea…

What? :O Uhm.. what? *speechless*
Thank you for the info, Vesna!

OMG!!
Wow.. I am shocked.

Today I saw the new huge OPI counter at the Cologne Douglas. It is right where the NARS counter used to be before they left Germany.
I gave the counter the evil eye, Vesna!

And what can you do if you live in a country where OPI is not even for sale on stores? I live in Brazil, and it is extremely rare to find an OPI live at a store. The only way people buy it is from internet, because they don’t export here. This means that their customer’s number will for sure narrow internationally. I’d assume that’s bad business, isn’t it?