Birchbox Has Been Acquired by Health Company FemTec

I sent an email to Birch Box regarding my 12-month subscription from September 2022 I have been emailing since September 2022 and still no response. I have only received one shipment which was September 2022. When I log into my account, which I cannot access anymore, I was able to see October 2022’s shipment pending. It is now March 2023 and still have not heard anything! I am very frustrated! How can a company go out of business and take money from their customers without sending the products they have paid for! Not sure what to do!

Since the last comment was 9 months ago, there should be an update here.
Birchbox has not changed all that much. From what I understand, they added a new “quiz” to help narrow down your beauty/skin issues. They did not have this in the past. Also, they decided to allow the customer to truly customize each month from full size to sample size. I just subscribed today from an IPSY subscription, which is falling apart and charging more for the chaos that is ensuing from it. People are jumping ship fast. This is an experiment to see if this one holds up.

I am completely annoyed with this. I do not want vitamins and peptides in my box, and I CERTAINLY won’t be giving them my personal health information. So gross. And so boring. I won’t be renewing in December.

The righteous thing for them to do, given that they’re changing the business into something else, would be to offer to buy out those current subscribers who don’t want to stay with it. But, the amount invested by subscribers was probably part of the valuation of the company when it was sold.

Oof. I was grandfathered in at the $10/ month rate. Just got an email that starting December 1st, my rate increases to $15. With so many unknowns (like am I getting a box of vitamins? A box with a health questionnaire?), I hit the cancel button so fast. If this new company is offering something that excites me, I can just resubscribe. I also find it odd that BB is still trying to lure new subscribers, the ads I’m seeing are stock images describing it as a beauty product box. Even though the company is saying they’re getting away from makeup & beauty products?

I cashed in my points just in case. They still have working coupons for 15% off any order amount (first15), 20% off of 35$ or more (insider20), 10$ off a purchase or 50$ or more (itsyourbday) and also one for 25% off a purchase of 75$ or more (shop25). And don’t forget to add on the free sample pack if you’re spending over 35$!
I always love their sales around Christmas time so we will see what happens this year!

Been a cotinuous member since May 2012. This will probably be the end. Not interested in personalized skincare which will come with higher prices.

Okay…why does the Birchbox website have NOTHING up to show up what’s going on with the November box and it’s now November? I want to make sure we are still getting our box this month. The site hasn’t been functional in days.

FemTec sounds like they ‘disrupted’ the sanitary napkin industry or something.

“ Later this year, FemTec Health will be announcing the company’s innovative consumer offering including the re-launch of Birchbox, shifting the focus from beauty product discovery to curated personalized skin and healthcare products utilizing the BiomeAI™ platform. FemTec Health currently has over 150 employees and is growing rapidly.”

Well…. Doesn’t that sound exciting for a “beauty box”🤣

MSA had a previous story about this that has now disappeared. I commented at the time and said “BB is dying… The new company is about artificial intelligence, not beauty items. They just want to collect information on people. Cash in your points, ladies!” (which I did the same day). The CEO responded to my comments and wrote the usual, “no, seriously, we are scientists, for real, and this is about beauty, not data collection.” Now that post and its comments are gone.

This new partnership sounds so boring. This is a big NO for me. Thank god my subscription ends with the month of November! No one wants you to “revolutionize” anything. All we wanted was a box of well-known beauty brand samples…not your own samples. I’m out.

Wow this is bad, if they last 6 months I will be shocked.

This sounds so “out there” for me. I don’t know what to think.

“The company will also ask subscribers to share personal health data”

Nope, no, no, hard no. That information is between me and my doctors. I had an annual that ran out in September; I didn’t renew and am now so glad I made that decision. Was waiting for a sale to use up points, but I’m getting the sense I should just hurry up and use them.

I’m an OG subscriber and could tell something was up. BB hasn’t been innovating, boxes feel repetitive & store is stale, offering few luxe or exciting brands. It’s also been months since they’ve had a sale. This Femtec situation is weird, I think they bought BB more for our names & data. I don’t want a personalized healthcare & vitamin subscription. They keep teasing a big reveal in November but I’m skeptical it’ll make me want to stay a subscriber. I’m thinking maybe I should cash in my points while they still have some products I can use. I also found the “women don’t know what products to use, when or how” statement really gross. Not getting off to a great start…

R.I.P., Birchbox…you were my first sub. I was an ACE and really enjoyed those perks and the boxes themselves. I decided not to renew my annual in September and I’m glad my intuition was on target. I’m a very discerning consumer and this takeover does not appeal to me in the least. They shall have none of my money.

This is too close to Goop. I’m waiting for Gwyneth to jump out with her probably-patented Magic Yoni Egg

“FemTec is also developing their own personal care and wellness lines…” LOL Ya right, it’s probably just more alibaba “beauty brands” they can stuff in boxes for pennies on the dollar.

And I QUOTE from the article about this acquisition, “Women don’t know what to use, when and how,” says Kim Capone, chief science officer, who previously worked at Johnson & Johnson,”…
They also say they “can’t wait to get their hands on this information” in regards to customers health info. That’s creepy to say the least.

Good thing they are taking over so we will finally have someone to tell women how to function properly. I don’t know how we’ve managed this long. 🙄😂

Soo Soo glad I didnt bote on the last subscription sale! My opinion purely, BUT this is NOT what I subscribed to Birchbox for. I wanted good, name brand samples of makeup and skincare. End of story. I can go get customized vitamins or whatever “womens health” needs I have elswhere as I have always.

I find that alot of companies are going into their business plans with out considering one of the main tenents of business- If you are going to do something worth doing, do it well. This just sounds like a bunch of keywords thrown around to try to be the end all do all site.

Hope I am wrong, but we’ve seen boxes go downhill after major changes less than this. lol Nice that she was able to sell the company AND sell all her stocks, nice time to bail out of a market that is dwindling. Great timing. lol

I don’t like the idea of this at all. Firstly people aren’t going to want to give their health information. People want beauty samples. That has nothing to do with healthcare. I don’t think people will be too happy. I just bought a 6mo subscription in October so I still have 5 boxes left on my sub.

I have a bunch of points saved up from swapping my boxes for points. Should I use these soon? I was hoping there would be a sale soon so I was holding on to them.

I just went into my account settings and switched off the auto renew, and I’m an ACE who has been with them since 2016. I have certainly noticed the dwindling selection of curated monthly boxes lately, but the one they did offer was usually pretty good. Even the lack of choice for November is fine with me, due to supply chain issues, etc. Although they didn’t mention that, maybe I’m assuming. But this latest statement, where the company is headed just seems odd to me. I don’t get it, so I’ll finish out my last few boxes and can always resub later if it looks promising. I’ve been waiting for MSA to mention this news since I got my email last week and again, had to go to Reddit for sub box speculation first. That was sad.

Anyone else find it kind of messed up that the CEO of a company called Femtec is a man?