How to distinguish between an authentic and a fake fragrance??

Store & Marketplace Parfum / Fragrance
1

Hello,

You all know that many colognes and parfums could be very expensive, especially where I’m living (Quebec, Canada) as we pay 15% for tax! Well, there’s a place (you could say a mall but its not really nice looking; it looks like a legal black market to me) that sell things a bit cheaper than elsewhere. There’s a shop that sells fragrance but even though I never spent time looking there, I have some doubts that the fragrance he is selling might not be authentic. Therefore, I’m wondering if there’s a way to distinguish between a real and a fake one before buying it?

Also, I’m thinking about buying from ebay; there’s a seller who is selling colognes with “No Reserve” policy. For example, I’m currently looking at a “Jean paul gaultier - le male” auction, people may buy the 4.2Oz at around $30 (shipping included) , fragrancenet is selling a 4.2oz for $60 , I could name another example but you got the point. The seller never mentions anything about them being authentic. In addition, he states and I quote: “Perfume is shipped without metal can, which makes your package lighter, which saves you money on shipping!!” so is it fishy (in other words: stay away from that seller, the fragrance doesn’t come with original packaging and its illogically cheap) or is it a normal deal (dude, its from ebay…the place where you have a chance of getting stuff for unbelievable price)

I’m trying to find a cheap place (by cheap, I mean the cheap as possible) because I want to buy 2-3 high brand colognes (jean paul gaultier - Le Male, Gaultier2 and CK Chrome), but I dont want to spend like 210$ on them; thats why im thinking of going with ebay…but again…the problem is mentioned above.

2

Dupeing scents is popular on the internet. Alot of the Bath sites that I buy lotion from dupe all the time and frankly do a better job then the origonal.

Alot of the ladies love Pink Sugar. MMU makes a dupe that is spot on and a quarter of the price. You dont wear the bottle so no one knows its a dupe. I just got Ralph Lauren Rocks dupe from earthen treasures and I got to tell you with your eyes closed there is no way to know its not exactly the same. I dont want to pay for a name and thats basically what we are doing when we buy these expensive brands. Its not that there version is special or anything.

If you have your heart set on the origonal then dont buy from ebay, its just to risky. If you decide you would like to try a dupe research before you buy. There are perfume and cologne forums on the net you can check out simular to this one.

Tisha

3

Tisha’s right, dupes can sometimes be more appealing than the originals, though they vary greatly in quality.

If you do go with ebay (and I have many times, with never a problem) really check the seller’s feedback. To quickly find their negative/neutral feedback, use toolhaus.org. You just copy/paste in the seller’s ID and up pops a handy list of only negative/neutral feedback - much easier than wading through pages and pages of positives. If their stuff is fake, someone will call them out on it.

4

chinese dupe colognes by putting cat-piss in them… idk how that can be more appealing…

5

What I have done to save cash is buy new and boxed tester bottles from Ebay. I don’t know how or why the sellers have them but I am glad they do. I purchased Pink Sugar for 17.99 where it was more than twice that retail anywhere locally or online. The bottle looks and smells the same, just came with a tester sticker and capless.

6

I will buy from fragrance.net from now on. Especially when they have discount on the ones I buy.

By the way Carrie, the website is toolhaus.org :slight_smile: but thanks I have never heard of it before, its a useful site indeed.

7

Thanks for noticing my mistake, ShadowX - I fixed my post to reflect your correction.

8

Come on guys

lets give the seller on ebay the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he is selling the real deal. So why is there a big difference in prices?

Its down to microeconomics. Yes its economics, and i am going to give you a lesson.:smiley:

The guy in the shopping mall which is not so good looking, why is he seeling for less then the guy in the better looking shop.

Well 3 reasons,

  1. Costs, The guy in the not so good looking place probably has lower overheads, for example his rent for the shop is less, and other cost of running a business, so he can charge a little less.

  2. He thinks because of his shop not many people will come so he has to compete on price to attract business.

  3. Stock, the guy in the mall may be buying surplus stock that the manufacture has taking up space in the stock room, so they sold it cheap to this guy. A lot of firms do this at certain times of the year, clearance sales or what ever.

As for the guy on Ebay, this takes econimics to a global scale.

Manufacturers particulary multinational, have in the last 10 years began something called stratigic pricing. Manufacturers charge different prices for the same item to different countries. Every business operates to make a profit, so they will never sell unless there is profit.

So what effects the pricing, local competition, global competition, taxation, import tariffs of individual countries, import quotas. Plus most of all the cost of living. A person in Singapore may be able to live on $100 a month but a person in USA may not be able to, the cost of living is factored into the price of the goods sold.

So when on Ebay look at the country where the item is being sold from, and try to estimate if that is the right price for that country… just check on other websites that sell in that country, if it is far to low then it most likely is a rip off fake, if it is more or less similar then its likely your gonna get a bargain.

For example i bought $140 worth of DVDs on Amazon USA, which is around £70 including delivery, if i bought the same DVDs on Amazon UK i would have paid £140 which is $280 US. So shopping aroun has its benefits and often unusually low prices have a logical explaination.

And yes reducing packaging does make financial and economic sense, as couriers charge by weight, the less weight the less you pay for delivery.

9

Thanks Habib, that was interesting to read actually. I’m in major economics :stuck_out_tongue:

10

Your Welcome… i majored in Banking and finance with 2 semesters of economics thrown in by the sadistic faculty

11

Search amazon US for cologne and search ALL the listings as there are often multiple listings for the same product from various retailers. I bought my 3.3oz EDP Burberry London for $41 from amazon.com vs $45-72 (Sephora/Macy’s/Bloomies etc.) incl. shipping elsewhere.

Also check FragranceShop.com. they have really good prices.

And your shady mall sounds like my local wholesale/fake knock off center, Santee Alley, downtown L.A. . The frags tend to be real, but at near wholesale prices…still couldn’t beat Amazon in my case, though, and you have to pay for parking to get there.

edit: ok, those suggestions are not that great in price. I read somewhere that Creed and Chanel are the most faked frags on ebay, so maybe you are ok. as they said, check seller feedback, read the listing carefully, and ASK QUESTIONS! maybe it’s used or an aftershave? Make sure it is as described before you bid.

and here’s a guide on the subject!

eBay Guides - Tips to avoid buying fake perfume fragrance cologne

and a thread on the topic

eBay Forums: Fake perfume? …

12

Ok after some reading up on basenotes about fake fragrance on eBay. I can add another possibility for low ebay/swap meet prices.

One scam is not so much a scam as economics. Many fragrance houses sell the old unsalable juice cluttering up their warehouse, in huge quantity at deep discount, to wholesale outfits in areas of the world like the Middle East and Asia. These then sell to distributors who then sell to local distributors who sell to retailers, often the ebay, online deep discount outfits, swap meet vendors, and the like. They may not be aware of the age and quality issue, and the stuff is technically legit, though the original perfume house will call it off age and unusable (fragrances often spoil after a certain time). A telltale giveaway? A common tactic for those earlier in the wholesale chain is to file off the identification number etched into the glass bottle.

Example: Someone bought a Chanel frag from a reputable online seller, and noticed that it had an etched out area on the bottle. They got the serial number off the box (!) and called Chanel, who told him it was made in the late 90’s and not usable or salable any more. The retailer didn’t know what was up, just passed along their savings to the buyer, and it was real product from Chanel…just OLD!

The lesson from this is to:

  1. ONLY use PayPal on eBay, as they have buyer protection controls and you can cancel the charge if the seller won’t resolve the problem.

  2. check the packaging and bottle for any misspellings or irregularities, especially on the back and the fine print. Look for etched out or marked out areas on the bottle and box.

  3. Sniff against a sample from a department store, Sephora or other local retail outlets if possible. See if it’s at all stale, off, weak, or otherwise different.

Hey, if it is old but genuine, sometimes old juice can be in perfectly good condition if stored correctly, in which case you got yourself a great deal!

13

We authored an article addressing this issue on our blog. Have a look…

How to Stay Away from Fake Perfumes | Dollars and Scents

14

Do not buy LeMale from eBay at all. And some shady looking fragrance stores. There are at least TWO fake copies around. First, there is a regular exact looking copy made in either China or the far east. I have a big discount area near me with around 50 stores and most use fake copies (also some carry the regular product) and I have been told by a couple of them that the copies are so good now, they can’t even be sure of the copies or fakes. Then is the other that I know is sold on ebay that I bought to check out for about $25.00 and it’s even worse. It’s not even LeMale at all. It’s really a knock off product called “Blue” with the exact same looking bottle. This junk cost these stores $5 to $7 a bottle. In New York City these are selling for around $10. That’s regular retail price. Of course I got a fast refund from the seller on eBay and he knew I had him dead to right. While the bottle looks the same there are a few things to look for. They can sell this as a tester for $1 (start of bidding) and it goes for around $20-$30 at the end. No can, a slight different color blue bottle, the white stripes are darker, the fragrance is a bit different but very close (not bad) but it lasts for maybe 1-2 hours the most and here is the biggest one to look for with eBay (or others). LeMale has it’s normal information on the bottom of the bottle (ingraved in the bottle so you can’t remove it) BUT the “Blue” product has it’s own sticker that says Blue and you can remove it. The LeMale testers sold on eBay come with no sticker on the bottom of the bottle (a bit sticky too). So you have two fake producs to worry about. The real 4.2oz is sold in the big stores for about $78. But you can but that on line and in some fragrance stores for $51 and up. Don’t pay any less than this or you will get a fake. Most good discount fragrance stores around me and online are at $59.99 and up. Look for $51-$60 range for this item and from a place you might trust and it should be real. I paid $51 and $52 the last two times I bought LeMale 4.2oz spray. And here is where we all can get caught. I walked by a store near me a few days ago and stopped in and they had LeMale for $25.00 I knew the type store it was so the price didn’t upset me. I just laughed as I walked out. Some of these stores are real smart. They take a fake and sell it for around $50 so you think it’s high enough to be real and you could get stuck. Also always charge this on a credit card AND get a reciept. If you do that, and the product is over $50, you still save $28 (about) from the big stores and you get the real deal. Good luck.
Skip

15

I am not sure if the prices are good but this is from one of my reliable distributors for certain daily products to more high end stuffs.

They have fragrance too, check out www.acmamall.com . It is cheap to buy from my area but you got to check out shipping for yours.

16

I’d highly recommend getting sample vials from a place like Fragrance.net of all the ones you’re interested in to be available for sniff testing. Samples seem to be pretty fresh, my guess being that their turnover rate is pretty high so product doesn’t have time to sit and get stale. Samples are cheap, ranging from around $3 to $5, and your only risk is using one up because you like it so much before you get the chance to compare it to one being sold at your market. :wink:

17

I have to say Ebay is full with non authentic perfumes, but what when the price is good and the sense is same,can’t see the difference