Search for A313 and you will see prices that make little sense together. The same name appears on one marketplace at €10, at the official store for €24.95, and above €50 from sellers you have never heard of. We monitor the European market every week, with more than a hundred listings in view, and the gap between the cheapest and the most expensive offer is regularly five to one. This article explains where those differences come from, and how to read them before you buy.
One name, two different products
The first thing to know: two different products share the A313 name, and they sit in different price bands for a good reason.
A313 Pommade 200,000 UI is the French pharmacy classic. It comes in a cobalt-blue box marked "200,000 UI" and "POMMADE", it has a semi-transparent balm texture, and it is sold mainly through pharmacies in France, typically for around €11 to €20. For the European market, the genuine pommade carries the barcode EAN 3760245850712.
The official A313 range is the modern cosmetic line made by the same French house in Corbigny that makes the pommade. These are white tubes and bottles with the blue and teal A313 design. The A313 Cream with Retinol and Vitamin A, the best known product in the line, sells for €24.95 at the official store.
So when one listing says €12 and another says €24.95, you are often not looking at the same product at two prices. You are looking at two different products that share a name and a maker.
Why the same product still varies in price
Even within one product, European prices move around. A few patterns explain most of it.
- The French pharmacy anchor. Pharmacies in France sell the pommade at everyday prices, currently around €11 to €13. Resellers who buy there and reship across borders add their own margin on top, which is why the same tube can cost noticeably more in the Netherlands, Germany or Sweden.
- Parallel imports and grey-market sellers. Many marketplace listings come from sellers with no relationship to the maker or its official distribution. The product may be real, but you cannot see how it was stored, how old it is, or where it actually came from.
- Shared marketplace listings. On large marketplaces, several sellers share one listing. The price you see depends on which seller happens to hold the offer that day, which is why marketplace prices jump from week to week.
- Outliers in both directions. In recent weeks we have tracked offers below €10 and offers above €50 for products sold under the A313 name. Both extremes deserve a pause rather than a click.
When a low price is a warning
A bargain far below the French pharmacy price raises a simple question: how? The pommade has one maker, in Corbigny, and a known trade price. A price that undercuts French pharmacies by a wide margin usually means one of three things. It is a parallel import bought in bulk, it is old or poorly stored stock, or it is not the genuine product at all.
Counterfeit versions of the pommade do circulate. Typical signs are a purple-blue box instead of cobalt blue, an opaque white lotion instead of a semi-transparent balm, and cream texts presented as if they were the 200,000 UI pommade. Wholesale listings for "A313 cream" have also appeared on bulk trading platforms, which is not how a French pharmacy product is distributed. We keep a detailed guide on this: how to spot fake A313 and buy the authentic product.
What a fair price looks like
As a rule of thumb across Europe right now: the pommade sits around €11 to €20 through pharmacy channels, and the official A313 Cream with Retinol and Vitamin A sits at €24.95. A price close to those bands, from a seller who states where the product comes from, is normal. A price far below them is a risk you cannot see from the listing. A price far above them means you are paying a premium someone simply hopes you will not notice.
The simple way to be sure
Authenticity is the one thing a price tag cannot show you. Buying from the official distribution means the product comes straight from the maker in France, with normal storage and normal rotation, at a price that does not need decoding. If you want the modern range, you can see the A313 Cream with Retinol and Vitamin A here. If you prefer the pommade, buy it from a pharmacy you trust and check the box before you use it.
Prices will keep moving. What the product is, and where it truly comes from, should not.
