Chinese wholesaler selling fake Sacha product

SACHA Cosmetics founder Kama Maharaj says fake versions of the company's best-selling powder Buttercup are being sold on eBay and by a Chinese wholesaler.

"I mean it is plaguing us all over and then we have to go and battle," he complained.

He was speaking yesterday during the Republic Bank Ltd Trade Facilitation Summit at the Radisson Hotel, Port of Spain.

He said the foundation is sold for US$8 in TT and US$21.95 online, while those breaching his intellectual property were selling imitations of the "holy grail" product for US$4.

"Fake Buttercup. And they terrorise us.

"I think we finally kicked everybody on eBay," he said. "But we can't the guy in China to stop carrying it, the wholesaler. We battling them too. They breaching our intellectual property."

He said Sacha did not "wake up one morning" and invent Buttercup powder, but it took 40 years to develop and that is why it can be sold at a premium price.

"So it hurts us, you know."

He described the intellectual-property fight as a constant battle.

"Sometimes I wish we had just stuck with the original Sacha line, where everything sells okay, rather than one killer product that they are terrorising us over."