A mother made £80,000 from selling fake designer make-up on an online auction wesbite by importing counterfeit designer brands.

Amanda Cosburn, of Sycamore Way, Diss, sold the counterfeit goods through eBay using a business called Mandysbitsandbobs which was set up in April 2010.

But the 40-year-old was caught in an investigation by Norfolk Trading Standards.

Yesterday at Norwich Crown Court she was given an eight-week jail sentence suspended for two years and ordered to do 200 hours of unpaid work.

Cosburn admitted six charges of selling and possessing counterfeit products of top beauty brands such as Bobbi Brown and Mac.

Catherine Girvan, prosecuting, said that Cosburn had been buying the items from a website in China and then selling them on eBay.

Ms Girvan said the packaging on the products made them look genuine although some customers on eBay had posted negative feedback with one commenting that the make-up smelt like glue.

She said Cosburn had even got eBay to remove the negative comments by saying they were 'malicious' and described her operation as a 'deliberate deception'.

Ms Girvan said that as well as manufacturers and retailers losing out Cosburn's deception meant that unsuspecting buyers were purchasing make-up which might not have been properly tested unlike the genuine article.

Ian James, mitigating for the mother-of-two, said there had not been many complaints and she had used the make-up herself.

He said: 'People gave her some positive feedback and no-one said it had caused them any harm at all.'

Sentencing Cosburn, Judge Peter Jacobs said the main concern was for public safety as the items might not have been tested and people would use them on their eyes and lips.

Norfolk Trading Standards launched the investigation in September 2011 following a complaint.

A Trading Standards officer bought two Bobbi Brown mascaras for £5.99 and £3.20 and a Lancôme eye pencil for £1.20 from her eBay site.

The recommended retail price for both the mascaras was £19.50 but Cosburn purchased them for 75p each.

Officers then purchased a Mac mascara for £3.75 and a MAC brush for £5.50.

In December that year the officers, accompanied by police, seized over 2,200 cosmetic items from Cosburn's Diss home bearing the trademarks of mainly expensive brands.

Only 195 items were confirmed as being genuine and 275 items, with a value of £4,200, were sent to Mac, Bobbi Brown and Benefit who confirmed the items were counterfeit.

During the operation, a computer, paperwork, including PayPal and eBay receipts and invoices were seized.

In 12 months almost 100 comments and complaints about the make-up were made on the eBay site.

Authorities will now try to claw back some of the thousands of pounds made by Cosburn under the Proceeds of Crime Act.