Post eBay Fragrance Seller Feedback here!

[gupts]

I am so irritated. Fragrance Alley who is also known as Fashion Scents on EBAY sold me fake perfume. They are taking it back for refund and as we speak item is in transit - but I am upset as I thought I had found a genuine seller. I bought a 30ml EDP of Paloma Picasso and as soon as I opened it - I knew. Bottle was all black - and very shoddy spray job. Gold name 'Paloma Picasso' was very poor printing quality and the lid didn't fit on correctly.I sprayed the juice - and it didn't blow my head off like the original does.

I am paranoid now as I also got in same transaction - 50ml EDP Caron Parfum Sacre and 100ml EDT Caron Eau de Reglisse. They smell pretty good - and bottles look/feel original and came in boxes and sealed cellophane. I am just REALLY pissed off as whenever I spray them - I am 2nd guessing myself if they are REAL!!

Fragrance Alley/Fashion Scents are OK to take item back and refund/credit but I have paid the shipping at this stage and it is 20% restocking fee. Was thinking maybe some Ebay sellers slip in a fake now and then when they can or do they sometimes get duped too? They have not questioned me at all about my concerns - just send it on back. I'd get a replacement if I knew they wouldn't stiff me on that item too!

Bloody bastards!!! I'm OK paying full price and shipping to OZ - just give me the real stuff. Thank god for The Perfumed Court and other decanters who will be honest and will charge you genuine prices for genuine stuff.

O.K. Whingeing button has now been turned off :-)

I hope you are not paying restocking fees for the fake that they are willing to take back.

Infact i was contemplating making a purchase of Erolfa & GIT testers from Fragrance alley/Fashion Scents but was undecided if i wanted the bigger 4oz retail bottles or the 2oz testers. This seller on ebay has 110,000 + positive feedback and its just horrendous to know that he is selling fakes too.
For me any seller with such high feedback was someone i could blindly trust but obviously it isnt the case anymore.

I wish you could leave negative feedback for them but it wouldnt really do any good for you coz in any case these unscruplous sellers leave negative retaliatory feedback. Besides he has got such a high number of +ve feedback, it wouldnt really bring out the truth to any unwary buyers.
So i guess the best thing for you is to hope to get your money back and be cautious henceforth.

Thanks for bringing this out and letting us know. Ofcourse the title is surely something that made me pull towards this thread. So its all good.


gupts

[jrd4t]

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience, but I'm having a hard time accepting that it was fake.. perhaps just a different design? Different batch? I've tried many of the same fragrance from different places (i.e. Sephora, then Macy's, etc) and thought they smelled completely different. I've ordered from Fragrance Alley on occasion and had good luck. If I'm not mistaken, the all black bottle of that is from a special edition line of that fragrance... might be worth researching.
I have a hard time seeing a fake being made for a $40 1oz bottle. The economy of scale just isn't there for a counterfeiter to make something at that price point that doesn't have the demand like Green Irish Tweed, etc (where the fake issues are with the 4oz bottle).
Just my two cents.

[Sudsy]

Nice post but your title needs a little work. Consider cleaning it up a little...


Best regards,
Mike

Sorry Mike but it's totally an Aussie expression & in my opinion doesn't need any cleaning up because to an Aussie it's not offensive. My 2 cents!!
You'd have to be here to understand, and I'm actually a Canadian transplant but I get it.
What ozkat said!

[scentemental]

I've had nothing but bad experiences with Fragrance Alley aka Fashion Scents.

One of their "specialties" is to list fragrances they don't have in stock, take your money, and then keep you hanging while they "source" the fragrance.

Another one of their specialties is not answering emails.

Everyone would be well advised to avoid doing any business with them.

A large eBay seller with whom I've had nothing but excellent experiences is Fragrance Express. They're honest, reliable, and for such a large operation quite good at answering emails. A follow up email is always advisable, though. You can trust them to have things in stock that are listed and to accurately list their stock.

Again, avoid Fragrance Alley like the plague.

scentemental

P.S. People who love to tell people what they can say and can't say give me the shits. It's okay; I am an Aussie also.

[Gumoosh]

P.S. People who love to tell people what they can say and can't say give me the shits. It's okay; I am an Aussie also.

Thanks for the support guys! Next I will write 'Give me the poos' or 'puts a darkie in my pants'. Sorry for any offense - very common in OZ - more so than 'I am pissed' which means drunk here.

Haven't as yet raised restocking issue yet with Fragrance . I will wait to see what they say when they get the bottle back.

[thenmarcher]

This is very interesting...I just received my order of Hermes Jardin En Med and it seems ok...but now I have to wonder...BUT I live here in LA so I'll just take a nice little drive and confront them in person if there are any issues. I've been in their store many times.

TNMA

[Mikey Q]

No offense intended. Please disregard my judgment. If the administrators of the site are comfortable with "SHITS" in the title of a thread seen by guests who might be considering further participation (or not) here as they make their assessments as to what kind of place this is and what kind of people hang out here, it's certainly not my place to tell anyone what they should or shouldn't do.

My apologies, I was out of line.


Best regards,
Mike

[Tomer]

Yeah eBay is famous for fake sellers, while eBay don't really do anything about it. I was sold fake electronics also. Better off purchasing from a reputable online retailer [a real business, not a seller]

Good luck!
- Tomer

[tvlampboy]

I can highly recommend YouSmellMarvelous, creedirect and allshewants.

[akshay03]

I have had a good experience with beauty_by_mimi - bought a Creed BdP tester and seems to be the real deal.

[sunshowers]

Hello all! I've been reading threads about your experiences with counterfeit scents and bad sellers, and was thinking about how my overall love affair with ebay has soured over the years. I used to LOVE ebay, and shopped compulsively on it for everything... until I had a few negative experiences getting scammed and ripped off. Now I don't use it unless I really need something that is impossible for me to find elsewhere.

My biggest beef with ebay has to be the ridiculous feedback system. It is totally prejudiced against buyers! Like someone mentioned in one of the threads about sellers of counterfeit fragrances, a regular ebayer is like a scrawny little kid in a playground full of overgrown bullies with all these Power Sellers - these sellers easily rack up thousands of feedback ratings within months, so your negative is like a drop in a bucket. Meanwhile, one retaliatory negative can knock huge percentages off your rating that you've spent years building. Most regular ebayers can't afford more than a couple of negatives, so the risk of getting retaliatory feedback is so great that no one wants to pipe up.

And if the seller accumulates enough bad feedback before getting enough good feedback, they just reincarnate under a new name, and voila, a clean slate!

I know that I've given a few positives that weren't deserved. When I realized that other innocent buyers were relying on my ratings, I decided to suck it up and start giving out those neutrals and negatives. Some sellers, seeing that you haven't left good feedback, just won't leave you anything - even if you did EVERYTHING right - and that's pretty much the best you can hope for!

I left this one person a neutral, because you don't pay for 2-3 day shipping only to have the seller let the package sit there for a week before schlepping their lazy ass to the post office (I checked the postmark, and had paid immediately upon winning the item through Paypal, so I know it wasn't a question of waiting for the payment to clear). Next thing I know, I have a nice red NEGATIVE sitting in my feedback box - my first and only one after years of being a good ebayer. The only saving grace is that this seller's English is nearly incomprehensible so she sounds like a stark raving idiot.

If I could say a few things to the people in charge of ebay, I'd tell them that ebay is a boon for thieves and scam artists, and shame on them for looking the other way. It should be MUCH more difficult to become a seller on ebay, there has to be some mechanism preventing one person from setting up hundreds of accounts so that they can rip of thousands of people and disappear with nothing to lose. And that's just it... sellers have so little to lose, and buyers have so much! A seller doesn't have to part with anything until they've gotten everything they want from the buyer (your hard earned money), then the buyer is just left hanging with nothing but their good faith that the seller made them an honest deal.

That is precisely what makes the feedback system so unfair. There is such a huge power imbalance favoring the sellers, and the fact that it's so much easier for sellers to abuse the system (and so little that a buyer can do to recoup their losses). Have you noticed that the difference between an honest seller's feedback and a scammer's is usually only a couple of percentage points? It's perfect proof that the system is completely flawed. I had to learn that the hard way after getting burned despite never buying from anyone with feedback less than 97%, and now I won't buy from anyone who has less than 99% - anything less than that from a Power Seller usually indicates that there's something shady going on. I'll elaborate on that if anybody wishes.

What changes would I like to see? Feedback should be weighted accordingly to reflect this power imbalance. Or alternatively, make it so that the seller will only have 36 hours after the payment clears to leave feedback, so that they don't get to wait and see what the buyer leaves for them*. As far as I'm concerned, if I gave prompt payment for the item my obligation is complete - and that's all the seller is entitled to. By allowing sellers to post feedback after buyers do, ebay is allowing the sellers to extort buyers for *more* than they're entitled. That's simply reprehensible.

*(Obviously with this method, the buyer would have to pay through Paypal so that ebay could ascertain the payment date - I don't see how it would work with other methods of payment, but those other methods are unsafe anyway)

It's a damn shame, because there are some sellers on ebay who are just wonderful and I'd hate to see them getting wound up in red tape, but as with all things, a few bad apples spoil the bunch... and this bunch has been long overdue for some tougher rules. But then again, ebay's management probably already know all this and don't want to change a thing because they're filthy stinking rich from the piles of commission they make off all the thieves and scam artists.

What are your beefs with ebay? Are you an avid user? What changes would you like to see? Sellers, what is your point of view? I'm curious to see if anyone shares my thoughts, and if not, I'd like to see it from your perspective!

[MFfan310]

My beef with eBay is all the counterfeits going on.

Not just frags (which I have not touched due to all the horror stories), but everything from counterfeit Apple iPod chargers to Motorola Bluetooth headsets. Despite those incidents, my dad just keeps buying things off of eBay without warning... and I want to find a way to help him curtail his usage of eBay. Can anyone help?

[CologneJunkie]

I only use ebay for designer frags (from trusted sellers that I've had good experiences with), sample vials, plugs for my stretched earlobes, & (sealed & new-in-box) dietary supplements. When I pay via PayPal, I put in the notes: Auction won on [date, time}, payment submitted [date, time]. Immediate feedback would be appreciated. I've only done about 70 or so transactions in a span of about 7 or 8 years & I've never had a negative experience.

[tang]

I think some people will abuse the system no matter what side they're on... A lot of decent sellers have become gun-shy & wary of leaving feedback until they know the buyer is satisfied. I've also seen plenty of buyers with rotten feedback in the single digits who most certainly disappear and reappear under another alias to continue cheating sellers and tarnishing their rep just to be nasty.

Having perfect feedback (knock on wood) as a buyer & seller, my biggest pet peeve with feedback on eBay, MUA, and other places is the buyers and sellers who get their end and their feedback and don't bother reciprocating, when you know you rate a positive. It comes across as lazy and inconsiderate, to me.

[LiveJazz]

I received a fake jacket once, but I was asking for it. In hindsight, it was a newly set up seller from China with only about 10 transactions. Of course they had set up the account to rip people off! I'm sure that as soon as I left a negative feedback, they just shut it down and started a new seller account. Now I'm a lot more careful. If I'm not buying for a Powerseller with 98% or higher positive feedback, I make sure to personally contact the seller first and get some impression of what they're like. If nothing else, I can see their grammar. Which is surprisingly telling in many cases.

[play]

bought a FAKE Burberry BRIT from sheekproducts (paypal refunded for me) . This one sells everything fake. stay away from them.
--------------------------------------
don't ever buy from sheekproducts (guy's name is kyle mulberry).

This guy kyle mulberry his phone number(859)-519-6424 ebay id is sheekproducts
sells FAKE pefumes with maintaining acceptable customer rating

he even runs a website showing how to make money (by fooling people that is)
http://secret-biz.com/splash.php?u=kmulberry&a=&b=

any ideas about what we can do to stop this guy?

[muzicfreak2k3]

vast_exchange : I bought Versace Dreamer and it was quickly shipped, real fragrance and just great service.

poweredbyredull: DO NOT BUY FROM . This guy originally sent me the female version of Light Blue, and then after I sent the item back, he sent Light Blue pour homme, but it was blatently fake. Also, he never responded to e-mais, and i even requested his information from Ebay... and he ignored my phone calls. Only time he messaged me was when I left him negative feedback, threatening me to remove it. HORRIBLE SELLER !!

[Alicka61]

what would you do in my place? I bought pefume from German Ebayer dry-hannover, paid for it and never received the goods, now I see there was a negative feedback from last week and the seller has just removed it - didn´t know it is possible. Sure he has not responded to tens of my e-mails, seems lost agenda.

[Hoos]

I had an excellent buying experience with Legacy170. I purchased Bandit Pour Homme Light and Bandit EdT, with a sample of Troussardi Uomo. Bought on a Friday and received them on the Monday after. Fragrances were original (original boxes, still in cellophane, and unopened). The scents do not appear to be knockoffs - exactly as described by other Basenoters.

[Brielle87]

I will say, I never usually buy from 'stores' on ebay. But, 'my perfumes usa', was very proffesional, the product I received original, and they had great contact methods. I give them a thumbs-up.

[chengfun]

I just received my bottle of Nuits de Noho from eBay seller perfumevault, it smells genuine. I'm about to leave positive feedback.

I've checked their id on toolhaus.org, the only neutral/negative feedbacks are related to slow shipping.

Has anyone else bought from them before?

[Maxpower]

The only person I purchased a perfume from was http://myworld.ebay.com/coutureperfume

It was a very positive experience. I would purchase from him/her again.

It was a tester but it said it had no cap in the listing. I asked the seller why there was no cap and they told me it was a tester. So I got what I paid for (AdP Colonia Assoluta). It smells just like the sample I tried at the store so I believe it to be real. I hope it is real because I love the stuff and if it is a fake, I don't know how I am going to get another bottle of it.

[Bigsly]

Also, you can read the buying guides for fragrances on ebay. One of them, which you can find at:

http://reviews.ebay.com/FAKE-COLOGNE...AT:-1:SEARCH:5

lists the most commonly faked frags, which (according to this person) are:

Chanel (all perfumes)

Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male

Issey Miyake L'eau D'Issey

Armani Acqua di Gio

Armani Black Code (also known as Armani Code)

Creed Silver Mountain Water

Creed Green Irish Tweed

Sean John Unforgiveable

Christian Dior J'adore

Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue

Ralph Lauren Romance

Vera Wang Princess

[Stereotomy]

Ok, I'm confused.

When this seller only had (8) positive feedbacks, I thought 'Oh well, what the hell' and bought 4.0 oz of Silver Mountain Waiter for $40 USD.

It turned out to be Silver Frich Water, totally fake. It still had some blackcurrant notes in it, so I suspect it was heavily diluted. The seal under the sprayer was metal, not white plastic as with original Creed bottles. Definitely fake. I managed to get a full refund btw.

But now I'm checking this seller again, and now she has (38) positive feedback points, without any buyer complaining about fake Creeds! I mean, c'mon, $40 USD for 4.0 oz Creed? They're all fake!

So my question: what's going on here? Do you think the buyers can't distinguish a real Creed from a fake one?

[Futami]

Yes, I think most people dont know the difference and frankly out side of the actual juice they have the bottle and packaging pretty darn close.

Also what might happen is some people buy it, realize its a fake, get their money back and decide to leave positive feedback anyways. But more than likely I think people cant tell the difference.

I actually bought my 1st creed SMW from ebay. The sellar said she worked at Neiman's and got the SMW with here employee discount. She even had a picture of the receipt. Long story short it was a fake (wrong sprayer). I wouldn't have known if it wasn't for basenotes. I went to Neimans to compare and the juice wasnt even close. I got a full refund and now I rarely consider buying a creed on ebay. Scentiments or scentmonkey are the best bets for me. Or if its something I really want I get it at Neimans and just hit the Creed SA up for a bazzillion samples. LOL

[Mudassir]

I dont believe its just a matter of people not knowing these are fake. I've been to a part of NYC which thrives in fake perfumes. Almost all of the people who go there know fully well why they are going there. With these Ebay sellers, perhaps most of the people who are buying the fakes are perfectly okay with buying the fakes, and at that point it becomes a matter of customer service.

[Mudassir]

I am not sure how could someone even expect to get real ones for those kind of prices. Maybe once in a blue moon with some specific seller it might be understandable. But if those are selling for $35-40 with so many sellers for so long, I would blame the buyers leaving a negative feedback for getting a fake and being duped.

[s0me0nesmind1]

I'm starting to look for other ways to get niche fragrances for slightly cheaper and ebay comes to mind. However, I've been warned by you guys specifically with Creed's that there are lots of fakes on ebay. My question is - how easy is it to spot one? If they are selling fakes, I assume they do it often as a way to fool many people (what i mean is, not just doing it once). So will someone with 100+ Feedback all 100% have a chance of it being fake?

[Hoos]

If you do a search of the forums for "spotting" or "fake", you'll find an excellent article posted by one of the members on how to spot a Creed fake with photos and great advice. Some of which may only be possible once the bottle is in your hands.

Best rule of thumb: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

[auslander]

Has anyone bought anything from perfumefactory aka A Perfume Factory? I bought a bottle of Terre d'Hermes recently and I'm almost sure it's genuine.

http://stores.ebay.com/A-Perfume-Factory