Some of you may be aware of my anger at Aramis (probably my favourite house) going back on their original announcement last year and deciding not to release Havana as part of the Gentlemens Collection here in the UK. Despite several e-mails to Estee Lauder, I've not had a single reply, which has made things even more frustrating. It was recently starting to get to a point where I was ready to consider taking the customs risk and shelling out on shipping and asking a kindly US based BNer (wooznib was pretty much ready to go - thanks wooznib) to box one up and send it over. But something else happened...
I've been buying from eBay for about 10 years now, but in all that time I've never won an auction. Not one. Usually I'm sniped at the last second by literally a few pennies, or the bidding quickly goes way beyond what is sensible and what I'm prepared to pay. Last week I spotted a UK seller with a gift set, still boxed, of the original Havana - 100ml EDT and 100ml ASB. BIN for £80, or bid away from £30. What the hell I thought - let's watch it and see how the bidding goes. Things were initially looking good - several days in and there was only one bid, so I kept watching and planned to bid a few minutes before the end of the auction (handily the auction was due to finish when I'd normally be on lunch at work) and then have another bid for a few pounds more ready in another page. But then disaster struck - a work meeting which I had to attend could only take place on one day. You guessed it - the last day of the auction. To make matters worse I'd be in a room with no PC, let alone internet connection, and my mobile...well, let's just say no one thought you could get the internet on a mobile phone when I bought it.
Auction lost, as far as I was concerned. But, for the sheer hell of it, the morning of the meeting and auction finish I put on a max bid of £45 - roughly what a bottle of the new Havana would cost (give or take) - cos if you don't play, you don't win right? Imagine my surprise when, later that evening at home, I fired up the laptop and logged on to see that I'd won the chuffing original Havana set, for £45!!!! And the other person bidding against me gave up at £45 - £1 and he could've won it!
So, today, I got home to a rectangular shaped package. Yes sir, the Havana box has arrived. £45 is perhaps more than I was hoping, but at least it wasn't the £80 BIN price and at least I wasn't around during the end of the auction when I could've easily ended up either chickening out or bidding as much as £60. So I think £45 is a good price considering it's the set - the box it came in looked new, the EDT was sprayed once by the seller (he apparently quickly realised it wasn't his bag) and the ASB not used at all. And I remember liking it when I originally smelt it in the 90s (though, stupidly, I never got a bottle of it for some reason, despite already being an Aramis fan), but I had forgotten just how good a frag it is. Amazing juice.
I'm a happy man this evening, with a bottle of the original Havana to my name.
I've been buying from eBay for about 10 years now, but in all that time I've never won an auction. Not one. Usually I'm sniped at the last second by literally a few pennies, or the bidding quickly goes way beyond what is sensible and what I'm prepared to pay. Last week I spotted a UK seller with a gift set, still boxed, of the original Havana - 100ml EDT and 100ml ASB. BIN for £80, or bid away from £30. What the hell I thought - let's watch it and see how the bidding goes. Things were initially looking good - several days in and there was only one bid, so I kept watching and planned to bid a few minutes before the end of the auction (handily the auction was due to finish when I'd normally be on lunch at work) and then have another bid for a few pounds more ready in another page. But then disaster struck - a work meeting which I had to attend could only take place on one day. You guessed it - the last day of the auction. To make matters worse I'd be in a room with no PC, let alone internet connection, and my mobile...well, let's just say no one thought you could get the internet on a mobile phone when I bought it.
Auction lost, as far as I was concerned. But, for the sheer hell of it, the morning of the meeting and auction finish I put on a max bid of £45 - roughly what a bottle of the new Havana would cost (give or take) - cos if you don't play, you don't win right? Imagine my surprise when, later that evening at home, I fired up the laptop and logged on to see that I'd won the chuffing original Havana set, for £45!!!! And the other person bidding against me gave up at £45 - £1 and he could've won it!
So, today, I got home to a rectangular shaped package. Yes sir, the Havana box has arrived. £45 is perhaps more than I was hoping, but at least it wasn't the £80 BIN price and at least I wasn't around during the end of the auction when I could've easily ended up either chickening out or bidding as much as £60. So I think £45 is a good price considering it's the set - the box it came in looked new, the EDT was sprayed once by the seller (he apparently quickly realised it wasn't his bag) and the ASB not used at all. And I remember liking it when I originally smelt it in the 90s (though, stupidly, I never got a bottle of it for some reason, despite already being an Aramis fan), but I had forgotten just how good a frag it is. Amazing juice.
I'm a happy man this evening, with a bottle of the original Havana to my name.
That or I've lost my touch!
