Beware Of The Perfume Scam
Products that command premium prices and that attract major online sales traffic inevitably fall foul to criminal and unethical practices. The demand for women's perfume coupled with the consumer's willingness to pay makes the perfume a popular target for the scammer.
If you are looking to shop perfumes online, beware of a multitude of perfume scams. They can be summarized in four categories.
1. Fake!
To buy perfume online takes a lot of trust. You need to trust what you are getting through the mail is the real deal and you don't even get to physically test and smell the perfume! There are lots of excellent online perfume stores that do the right thing and sell quality products with guarantees.
But it is easy to get scammed online when you don't know who sits behind the screen on the other side of the virtual shop perfumes online! Fake or counterfeit perfumes are specially aimed at designer brands so that the scammer can elicit a good markup on the product. They can sell the counterfeit product for 50% or less of the retail price of a real brand and still make a mint.
Fake perfumes are typically made with inferior ingredients that have been known to cause allergies, itching and even stain garments. If you've bought a fake perfume online, you will usually find out only when you receive the product. The scammers are getting good, packaging forgery and even scent mimicking are close to the real thing.
There have been many instances where good retailers have even been duped by counterfeit perfume! But if you discover allergies from use and that your perfume scent disappears quickly, you've been scammed!
As a guide, if an online deal seems too good (even on a reputable site like Ebay), it is too good to be real. Report the counterfeit to local authorities if the online shop has a local contact so that the scammer can be dealt with.
2. Real - but 'Topped up'.
Another scam trick is to take real perfume and dilute it with perfume spirit so that the scammer can get 10 bottles for the price of 1 - and then charge you for the actual price of a real one.
The scent of the perfume is likely to be identical to the real designer label, but again upon use, you will find that the perfume scent disappears quickly as it has been diluted and no longer holds the ratio of oils and ingredients that maintain the scent.
Again these "real but topped up" perfumes will typically come in real bottles with all the right packaging.
3. Real - but Stale.
Often online clearances (and even physical shop sales) will promote perfumes at significantly reduced prices. They will be real designer labels but most likely are last season's stock.
Perfumes are made with organic ingredient so do deteriorate especially if the storage practices are not up to standard. Light, heat and contamination can all affect perfume quality during storage. Stale perfume will not hold its scent and often will not smell like the real thing.
4. Marketing Scam!
This last category of scam is a subtle one but must be highlighted as it is a common practice. Perfumes are bottled and labeled in different intensities. Designer perfumes in concentrated form are the most expensive and have the highest purity of the original formulation - up to 20% pure is considered an excellent product.
These perfumes will have full essence of the fragrance and the user will only need to apply in small quantities to get the benefits of the distinct (and revered!) aroma. From concentrated perfume, the labeling goes to eau de perfume, eau de toilette, and eau de cologne - each category representing a diminished concentration of the original formulae.
If correctly labeled and used, most of these officially diluted perfumes will satisfy the discerning consumer. The scams occur happen when retailers (physical or online alike) misrepresents the quality and category of perfume - especially the designer brands - and continue to charge premium prices for them. Misleading marketing and advertising is possibly the biggest scam in the perfume industry - a lot of retailers engage in it.
In general, perfume scams are most prevalent in designer perfume brands as they command a premium price. If you have a soft spot for designer perfumes, always take precautions especially if you want to buy perfume online.
Obviously, shop at a reputable online site which has written and explicit guarantees! If you are still not sure about the genuine article that you've purchased, there are many specialist laboratory services that cater for perfume quality verification. For a small price and shipping costs, you can have your expensive bottle of perfume checked for authenticity.
Many online perfume retailers are offering this service and they will check quality points like labeling, bottle thickness, packaging, perfume color, perfume fragrance and scent longevity etc). You may decide to shop at online stores that have their own in house quality verification service.
That way, you will know for certain that the hard earned cash that you've spent acquiring that bottle of designer perfume has been well spent - and that the fragrance will last even longer than the impression you made to passing admirers.
If you are looking to shop perfumes online, beware of a multitude of perfume scams. They can be summarized in four categories.
1. Fake!
To buy perfume online takes a lot of trust. You need to trust what you are getting through the mail is the real deal and you don't even get to physically test and smell the perfume! There are lots of excellent online perfume stores that do the right thing and sell quality products with guarantees.
But it is easy to get scammed online when you don't know who sits behind the screen on the other side of the virtual shop perfumes online! Fake or counterfeit perfumes are specially aimed at designer brands so that the scammer can elicit a good markup on the product. They can sell the counterfeit product for 50% or less of the retail price of a real brand and still make a mint.
Fake perfumes are typically made with inferior ingredients that have been known to cause allergies, itching and even stain garments. If you've bought a fake perfume online, you will usually find out only when you receive the product. The scammers are getting good, packaging forgery and even scent mimicking are close to the real thing.
There have been many instances where good retailers have even been duped by counterfeit perfume! But if you discover allergies from use and that your perfume scent disappears quickly, you've been scammed!
As a guide, if an online deal seems too good (even on a reputable site like Ebay), it is too good to be real. Report the counterfeit to local authorities if the online shop has a local contact so that the scammer can be dealt with.
2. Real - but 'Topped up'.
Another scam trick is to take real perfume and dilute it with perfume spirit so that the scammer can get 10 bottles for the price of 1 - and then charge you for the actual price of a real one.
The scent of the perfume is likely to be identical to the real designer label, but again upon use, you will find that the perfume scent disappears quickly as it has been diluted and no longer holds the ratio of oils and ingredients that maintain the scent.
Again these "real but topped up" perfumes will typically come in real bottles with all the right packaging.
3. Real - but Stale.
Often online clearances (and even physical shop sales) will promote perfumes at significantly reduced prices. They will be real designer labels but most likely are last season's stock.
Perfumes are made with organic ingredient so do deteriorate especially if the storage practices are not up to standard. Light, heat and contamination can all affect perfume quality during storage. Stale perfume will not hold its scent and often will not smell like the real thing.
4. Marketing Scam!
This last category of scam is a subtle one but must be highlighted as it is a common practice. Perfumes are bottled and labeled in different intensities. Designer perfumes in concentrated form are the most expensive and have the highest purity of the original formulation - up to 20% pure is considered an excellent product.
These perfumes will have full essence of the fragrance and the user will only need to apply in small quantities to get the benefits of the distinct (and revered!) aroma. From concentrated perfume, the labeling goes to eau de perfume, eau de toilette, and eau de cologne - each category representing a diminished concentration of the original formulae.
If correctly labeled and used, most of these officially diluted perfumes will satisfy the discerning consumer. The scams occur happen when retailers (physical or online alike) misrepresents the quality and category of perfume - especially the designer brands - and continue to charge premium prices for them. Misleading marketing and advertising is possibly the biggest scam in the perfume industry - a lot of retailers engage in it.
In general, perfume scams are most prevalent in designer perfume brands as they command a premium price. If you have a soft spot for designer perfumes, always take precautions especially if you want to buy perfume online.
Obviously, shop at a reputable online site which has written and explicit guarantees! If you are still not sure about the genuine article that you've purchased, there are many specialist laboratory services that cater for perfume quality verification. For a small price and shipping costs, you can have your expensive bottle of perfume checked for authenticity.
Many online perfume retailers are offering this service and they will check quality points like labeling, bottle thickness, packaging, perfume color, perfume fragrance and scent longevity etc). You may decide to shop at online stores that have their own in house quality verification service.
That way, you will know for certain that the hard earned cash that you've spent acquiring that bottle of designer perfume has been well spent - and that the fragrance will last even longer than the impression you made to passing admirers.