What a fake CREED looks like????!Great Pics.!!GREEN FRICH TWEED,Yes FRICH

[Bloom]

I just got a fake SMW off ebay, bought before I was a member here and knew better. The "about creed" attachment thats in the box was only in arabic and no other languages, from what I here thats a warning sign of a fake. Also the bottle is of poor worksmanship. I contacted the seller and he told me to prove it was a fake, then I contacted ebay and they told me it was between the seller and I. So I emailed Creed with pictures and they said they would forward it to their legal department. Sucks.

I'm in the same boat as you. Bought what I thought was brand new, real SMW off eBay, only to receive it and discover that not only was it a fake, but it was also only halfway full. I contacted the seller, and he's supposedly going to send me another one, but at this point, I wish he'd just refund my money. The packaging does not have the Creed logo embossed all over the box like they do in the stores, and the inner paperwork is all in Arabic as well. Lastly, there is absolutely no sillage or evolving nature about the fragrance. Live and learn I guess.

[dav-here]

Has there ever been any reports of fake Creeds in 2.5 ounce bottles? Or have all the fake Creeds been in the 4.0 ounce size?

[Burglar]

Hey guys.
I just received my Neroli Sauvage from ebay germany.
The box looks quite like my Bois du Portugal which I buyed at a local creed dealer.
The only strange things are that the yellow label isn't like material on my BdP box. It's just a plastic label. The other thing I noticed that there is no paper in it with photos of the creeds.
Maybe because it is from 2005 (labelled in the field on the back) ?!
Is that enough information for you to spot it as fake or do you need any other information?!
Please let me know and thanks in advance.

[Indie_Guy]

Hey guys.
I just received my Neroli Sauvage from ebay germany.
The box looks quite like my Bois du Portugal which I buyed at a local creed dealer.
The only strange things are that the yellow label isn't like material on my BdP box. It's just a plastic label. The other thing I noticed that there is no paper in it with photos of the creeds.
Maybe because it is from 2005 (labelled in the field on the back) ?!
Is that enough information for you to spot it as fake or do you need any other information?!
Please let me know and thanks in advance.

Hey, it sounds like the real thing. The sticker on the Neroli Sauvage is a smooth yellow sticker-- it's not like the suedelike paper stickers that some of the boxes have. You're fine.

[hirch_duckfinder]

Yup, sounds real to me. Enjoy!

[Burglar]

thank you guys. now i'm happy
It's from 2005 though, but the seller had 100% good votes. over 20000+ and only 2- (and that's for delivery to wrong adress).
Nice forum I lurked a while. That's why I came to Neroli Sauvage :-)

[dav-here]

Good for you, Burglar! And welcome to Basenotes!!
--------------------------------------
And I ask again, is it safe to assume that the only fake Creeds found thus far have been 4.0 oz. size bottles and not 2.5 oz. size bottles?

[jrd4t]

i took a bunch of pictures of VIW the other day just to post to compare bottle parts, etc. seems like this thread is pretty cool now so won't going to post here after all. if anyone wants any high-res pics of box/bottle/insert etc of a bottle from neiman marcus, feel free to drop me a note

[sisco]

Speaking of eBay sellers, does anyone here any experience with the seller "perfumestationus"?

I'm looking to get myself a bottle of MI shipped to Canada...harder task then it may seem. Scentiments does not ship to Canada, Scented Monkey doesn't have any 4 oz bottles, and PerfumeNet only has flacons in stock!

So, anyone have experience with this seller? They seem to be fairly reputable based on their feedback profile...would love to have a first person recommendation though if possible!

Otherwise, other then creedirect (mentioned multiple times but doesn't have any MI at the moment) are there any other eBay merchants you've had success with?

[mnaonbn]

Wonderful and informative thread. Although I didn’t make my way through all of it, at the risk of repeating something someone else might have said, I’d like to add my two cents. I am with all of you who have disdain for counterfeiters; I think they’re scavengers and scum! But from a less emotional and more rational/objective viewpoint, these counterfeiters would not even exist if there weren’t a demand for what they’re selling at the price they’re selling it. What I’m trying to say, without sounding too accusatory, is that those of us who have a love of fragrances that exceeds our willingness to spend adequately for them are creating a market where fakes not only exist but flourish. Another Basenoter said it well when he/she wrote, “There is value in security.”

The good news about the scenario I’ve laid out is that we, as consumers, have great power in this market. We can indeed put an end to fakes if we withhold our business from counterfeiters to begin with, instead of getting ripped off first, then reporting them (on this site, or eBay, etc.), only to have them crop up again with another pseudonym. We love fragrances, so let’s honor that with respect for the great companies that make them (Creed), the authorized distributors that supply them (USA—International Cosmetics and Perfumes Inc.), the genuine retailers that sell them (Neiman Marcus), and the high but fitting prices that accompany them. It is indeed a matter of what you value. I for one work hard for my money, save that money, make sacrifices along the way, and make informed purchases. It’s just worth it to me to have that kind of assurance and power over my own money.

[akshay03]

Sorry if I'm reviving a dead topic, but I have pretty much come to the conclusion that the GIT I bought from eBay half a year ago is fake.

I have tried to take some pics. I apologize since the camera I used isn't that great quality.

As you can kinda make out, the "Green Frich Tweed" is present.


The cap has been scratched, but that's my fault, since I dropped it once. However, I don't know how easy thse things are to scratch, so...


The top of the cap:


You can also see that the Creed logo on the front of the bottle isn't shiny, but kinda blends in with the rest of the bottle. I removed the sprayer (it has the Creed logo on top of it and is black) and I noticed that the nozzle is not in the center, so looks like another one of those cheap ones. The center shaft after removing the nozzle is also an off-white plastic with a hint of orange.

Now the box is your standard fake that has been mentioned here. It also came with the Arabic slip of paper. I'm 99% sure my bottle is a fake. The actual juice is kinda decent, but I don't know what the real GIT smells like, so... The sillage is pretty bad and it doesn't last that long on me. What do you guys think?

Thanks!

[GAIVS IVLIVS CAESAR]

If it says "Green Frich Tweed" it's got to be fake.

Meanwhile I just bought 4oz GIT used on ebay from someone for $25 Buy It Now and it was actually real!

Only buy GIT on ebay if it's USED or a tester, and ask the seller for large photos. No one would be selling GIT for $50 or less new unopened.

[creedfan1138]

Awesome thread, guys. I think I've learned more from this thread than I have on the internet in past 14 years! Wow, and you've really got my eyes wide open at the stores and markets. I just recently bought some GIT and EROLFA the other day, and I got them for such a steal I wonder now if they might be counterfeit.

Again, awesome post and keep fighting the good frag fight!

[akshay03]

Today I went to Neiman Marcus to get to the bottom of this. Sure enough, my eBayed bottle is a total fake. And by total I mean NOTHING ALIKE. I don't consider myself very nose-savvy, but I could tell pretty clearly that the juice in the bottle at NM was nothing like the juice in my bottle. The NM bottle had more richness, more depth, whereas mine, while not smelling bad, smelled synthetic and only lasted one hour tops.

I bought the 1 oz bottle at NM (practically only for reference) and plan to buy a bigger bottle via Scentiments or some trusted online dealer. This way, I can compare it when it comes in and judge the authenticity (the biggest problem was that I had never smelled GIT before so I had no clue what it was supposed to smell like).

Thanks for this thread!

[Circa1905]

This is what fake Creed looks like:

[nsamadi]

LOL..this thread should be a sticky..it's legendary!!!

BTW, I would be more into Creed's if it weren't for my SMW smelling like Sour Milk.

I'm planning to buy Original Vetiver for the Spring/Summer....from a official supplier.

[kbe]

LOL..this thread should be a sticky..it's legendary!!!

BTW, I would be more into Creed's if it weren't for my SMW smelling like Sour Milk.

I'm planning to buy Original Vetiver for the Spring/Summer....from a official supplier.

If I were only to be allowed one Creed out of the ones in my wardrobe, , it would be Bois du Portugal by a far margin,

[creedfan1138]

oh boy. i think i got a fake GIT. it stinks. Smells like a foul mixture of alcohol and ambergris. but the box is a pretty good fake. It even says "Green Irish Tweed" on the front. The bottle, besides being clear, seems authentic enough, too.

but there is no CREED emblem emblazoned all over the box, and it is missing most of the writing on the back.

If I can post pics, I will.

I bought this bottle (75 mL) for $45 the other day at an Ecuadorian parfumeria. The price should have been my first clue. I also bought a questionable bottle of EROLFA at the same price. they had a few more CREED "fragrances" there but no testers.

More and more I think about it, I think I got taken. I'll also post a pic of me stark raving mad about it, too.

[SlimPickins]

http://static.flickr.com/51/152659561_3e455eab0d.jpg

Angry creedfan...

[clgnafcnado]

Santa is giving me a 4.2 TABAROME from fragrancenet.com, basenoters is it a safe buy??? I've
purchased from them b4 but never a Creed.

[heythatslife]

Fragrancenet.com is safe, as far as I know. A lot of other BNers use it.

[creedfan1138]

I don't know whether you're interested or not, but I finally found closure with my recent dubious CREED purchases and thought I'd share my experience:

As it turns out after a great deal of research, pacing the floor, smelling this and that, and talking with perfume merchants, I have concluded I do in fact have the genuine Creed fragrances I intended to purchase.

What had me concerned was that many of the minor details of the packaging outlined in the beginning of this thread differed greatly from the packaging of the fragrances I bought.

What I found was the thickness of the paper of the inserts varied greatly from box to box. There were even spelling errors on some of them. The boxes i have lack the CREED Logo embellishments that are usually stamped all over them. Even the information on the backs of the boxes I bought seemed incredibly scant compared to the boxes shown here. My GIT bottle is clear, not black.

My GIT, however, bore no blatant spelling error such as "Frich", and all the fragrances themselves seemed to be exactly what they were advertised to be. GIT smelled like GIT (the ambergris, I think, initially threw me off), EROLFA smelled delightfully like EROLFA, and SMW bore its sweet signature scent. My bottles showed no evidence of tampering, and possessed what I thought were the original caps or some damn good forgeries.

On the bottoms of the bottles, too, the CREED logo is stamped into the glass along with the words MADE IN FRANCE. I'd be curious to see how many counterfeiters take pains to forge something that can be so easily overlooked.

So the lesson I have learned and would like to pass on is this:

CREED fragrances aren't minted like money and there are apparently variations to the packaging that might make even a seasoned aficionado slightly suspicious. The most important thing is to ask questions. Find out where the retailer gets their supplies if you doubt them. The one here gets theirs from France, England, and even the Middle East. Confirm that you are purchasing from a viable and trusted source, especially etailers. The people here were almost insulted that I would ask, but if I'm buying CREED or even Hugo Boss, I want to feel confident that I'm getting what I am paying for. If they're legitimate purveyors, they would most likely jump at the chance to assure you they only sell the real mcCoys as the people here did.

Take note of the genuine article. Since we know forgeries exist, we have to be that much more savvy when we're juice hunting. Get to know what to look for. Dodgy printing, signs of tampering, or bad juice while not always the indications of a fake usually tend to point that way when these discrepancies are stacked up on top of each other.

I thought my GIT was a bad batch when I initially smelled it. I eventually figured out that it was GIT by first spritzing the air with a cheap tester to sort of calibrate things. After a few moments of growing used to the tester, I sprayed myself with the GIT in question which revealed itself to be overwhelmingly authentic, compared to the bear piss I spritzed moments earlier.

Another dead giveaway to authenticity: all my CREEDs are at their strongest for only a few hours. While we all know the cheap crap seems to last all day.

So this was a learning experience. Like shopping for a car. I know what I want, i now know what to look for, and feel better for gaining the knowledge that will prevent me from getting ripped off.

[zeram1]

Were you ever able to find a "lot #" either on the bottle itself, or on the box itself?

[creedfan1138]

no Lot # on the boxes nor the bottles, however, I went back tonight and the manager insists wholeheartedly she imports the stuff straight out of France, which may account for the subtly different arrangement of text on the box. Regardless, I am firmly convinced that this is the genuine article.

Tonight, on a whim, I purchased a bottle each of Vanisia and Fantasia de Fleurs and compared their scents to what's been described on this website and others. Absolutely authentic. I mean, I don't know how close the fakirs come to forging these aromas, but in spite of the strange packaging, these are all indubitably CREED fragrances. They possess all the depth, complexity and sophistication that only a CREED would have. Particularly the classic elegance of the Fantasia de Fleurs, which, I can now say, I think might be difficult to even fake.

[s550]

I have purchased several bottles from Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue that did not have the date stamped on the back. There are serial numbers on the box and on the bottle with the last two numbers representing the date it was bottled (i.e. 05,06,07). The serial numbers should be the same on the box and bottle (obviously). I know none of my bottles are counterfeit. Maybe they stamp the box with the date outside of the U.S.? I don't think the stamping on the box is important in deciphering counterfeit Creeds. The obvious misspellings and quality of the bottle and packing are better indications. Personally I would never purchase from ebay. The amount you save can't justify being tricked into paying for bad batches, old batches, half-used bottles or worse, fakes. As for the person who purchased a possible counterfeit from a (European I think) department store, some customers cannot be trusted. It's probably easy for someone to buy a real Creed and return a counterfeit for a full refund. Most high-end department stores are told not to give customers a difficult time with returning merchandise, so I'm sure an attendant wouldn't think twice to make sure the Creed was genuine. This post is good though, makes you think twice before buying!

[Ron199]

So that we can protect ourselves from this type of thing, why don't we list the sellers that we know are good in the off topic section, so we can keep this type of thing from happening to one another! We collectively have alot of purchasing power, let's use it wisely!

[irrbloss]

I just got my Bois du Portugal and want to know if it's fake or not. Both the box and the bottle is very well-made, I have compared it to my GIT (which I know is real). The only thing I can find different is the MILLESIME-text on the bottle. On my GIT the letters have more spacing (se picture). Also the "sprayer" has a little fewer dents than my GIT. What worries me most is the spacing of the MILLESIME-text, I have not seen it on any other Creed-bottle...

See picture

[ohhmygod]

I think its real ... (i cant explain why its real sorry lol)

But the box is real.

[crispy]

I just got my Bois du Portugal and want to know if it's fake or not. Both the box and the bottle is very well-made, I have compared it to my GIT (which I know is real). The only thing I can find different is the MILLESIME-text on the bottle. On my GIT the letters have more spacing (se picture). Also the "sprayer" has a little fewer dents than my GIT. What worries me most is the spacing of the MILLESIME-text, I have not seen it on any other Creed-bottle...

That looks exactly the same as the bottle I recently purchased (including the box) from NM. Looks real enough to me. =)

[blah114]

Thanks for this post. It makes me wonder about online stuff. Is scentiments.com reputable? I hope so, because that has been where I've been buying my Creeds from.. that and perfumedcourt..I think my GIT looks like the fake one, above, but smells like GIT I smelled in a dept store.

[kharisma92]

These are the photos,thank God I'm very good at spotting fakes,the minute I saw the box I knew it's a fake.,,lol...ok let's get down to business,I'll show you all the small details that make the difference.

One thing I'd like to say beware of people selling only the bottle cos the bottle's hard to spot as a fake,has only a couple minor faults with the most important one beeing-as my fellow basenoter Perfeectfeet put it ''One piece molded cap (all black), smaller (shorter) sprayer than creed uses, does not have that long, quality-feeling spray to it''


Notice Green Frich Tweed..)))and there is also a comma after PARIS which shouldn't be there and the name and Creed logo should be surrounded by a golden concavity not white.





Now let's go on to spelling mistakes,enir instead of tenir,not full stop after DENAT!





More spelling mistakes,absoluts instead of absolu,vanile-vanille,etrares instead of et rares(means 'and rare')and again comma after Paris!
Also no Year stamped!





Also the overall quality of the box is poor,it's thinner,easier to bend and the stemes,CREED logos are not as visible as on the authentic ones!



Not sure about this one but it should have had two stemes on the sides of CRRED logo,with the exception of 30 ml sizes.


The cap should have had the steme in a different colour,golden if I'm not mistaken,and also the cap it's made out of a single piece of plastic.

Notice the difference:


Also the lid is smaller than the usual!


It also has a different screwing cap which doesn't even fit preoperly(probably cheaper and easier to make)you can see the difference and the bottle is not entirely coloured in black.



It also has a small brochure written in arabic,haven't got a problem with this apart from the fact that there was no regular brochure in it with the four languages.



The quality of the paper here is poorer and you can see for yourselves that that is thinner!


The lid and the cap have no interior plastic material for better spraying and fitting.



Some more images

Golden stem on the box?????????????????????



Now..the juice,it smells like a perfume, not GIT more like Cool Water,no sillage ,pretty linear,definately no ambergris,therefore I;m inclined to believe that the these guys are actually pouring Cool Water in it.That's my oppinion.
Also this explains why many ebayers sell 4 FL OZ GITs with no cap,no original box.It's easiest one to make probably and I also noticed the end pipe is coloured in an orange colour,or brownish red,something like that anyway(I'm not very good at describing colours) and also the lid on the atomizer hasn't got that tiny hole right in the middle it's more like top left.
you can't really see in this pic but it worth the mention

Maybe this explains all these discussions about similarities between GIT and CW,well I don't know,but what I do know is that I won't be surprised to find out that many basenoters have used fake Creed without their knowledge so far
I will have to get a refund for mine and I will still buy from ebay Creed but only from my trusted sellers,I bought this one cos it was so cheap..lol))however I'll never buy the black bottle again unless I pay retail price.

It seems that fake bottles are only the ones that come in the 120 ml -4.2 fl oz size!

I hope this helps.


I have posted this thread because I really appreciate the friendly and kindness attitude of the basenoters and therefore we deserve to enjoy true frags and not counterfeits or fakes!

Update:
I got a refund from PayPal,the seller no longer trades on ebay,or so it seems,I got a SL-Arabie instead,very happy with it!Incredible sillage and longevity.

I bought 2 fake bottles off of ebay 1 was GIT spelled green Irich Tweed and SMW. I was skeptic because each bottle was $50 per bottle. I examined the bottles and compared them to Authentic bottles of Creed upon receiveing and there were flaws that were hard to spot unless you Know Creed products. GIT did smell exactly like coolwater and SMV smelled alot like CK one. I'll send pics of my fakes so that all of my extended family here on basenotes can beware. Oh yea i did confront the seller and he refunded my money. these guys were real con artist. their feedback was 99.9% positive feedback(We have to be careful)
The only places I will buy creed from on the web is Fragrancenet,Theperfumespot,perfumepro,perfumebay. These places I have found to be very reputable. Please share if you know of anymore solid websites that sells Creed.

[blah114]

I checked my Creeds.. I consider scentiments.com to be reputable. Their GIT I bought from them is real.... I am responding to kharisma92's post. I highly recommend scentiments.com, but need to check out fragrance.net

[irrbloss]

Please share if you know of anymore solid websites that sells Creed.

If my BdP is real (I think it is, it got the "Creed-note" in it, ambergris maybe?) I guess you can add strawberrynet.com to your list. Anyone else here who ordered Creed from Strawberrynet and can confirm they're not selling fakes?

[RichmondR]

I recently purchased some Himalaya from Fragrancenet.com -- 4 oz. size. Although the juice smells authentic and identical to a legitimate Creed sample vial, the lot number had been ground off the bottle and removed from the box, and the date was missing as well. The sprayer is identical to the sprayer on a 4 oz. bottle of GIT I recently acquired from Neiman Marcus (both are a slightly shiny black metal), and the Himalaya silver cap has a two tone effect with a shiny chrome logo in the middle of the cap.

So, from all indications I have an authentic bottle, but I find it somewhat annoying that Fragrancenet (and, from what I gather, some other online retailers) is selling boxes and bottles that have been modified without indicating that on their website. I relatively new at this, and maybe this is the compromise that needs to be made to get Creed at a nice discount, but without the lot numbers, it is impossible to know how old the bottle is.

Two questions:

1. Has anyone located Himalaya at a discount internet retailer that doesn't have lot number references removed?
2. Is the lot number that big of a deal anyways?

Thanks

[lasta]

If it smells good it's no big deal. My favourite Creed (and the only one I've kept in my collection) is Erolfa and it doesn't even have a code let alone ground off.

[gupts]

Two questions:

1. Has anyone located Himalaya at a discount internet retailer that doesn't have lot number references removed?
2. Is the lot number that big of a deal anyways?

Thanks

Its not uncommon to find the lot no grounded off from fragrance bottle's base and/or from boxes. I believe this is done to prevent the trackdown of who sold this bottle because the bottle may have not been meant to be sold by this seller.

Yep what 'lasta' said above...as long as your Himalaya smells like the way it should...all is good.

gupts

[skyhye0808]

scentedmonkey.com....i've gotten 2 bottles, a GIT and an Erolfa from them and both have been 100% authentic, with the date still on the box, and shipped to my house in like 2 days.

[Kevin Guyer]

Thank god I didn't buy the bottle on ebay that was on close inspection labeled Green Irish Tw*t.

[knightowl]

This tired old thread keeps regurgitating...mods, please put it out of its misery!!!!

Buy your Creeds at retail and stop the endless whining!!!

[Kevin Guyer]

This tired old thread keeps regurgitating...mods, please put it out of its misery!!!!

Buy your Creeds at retail and stop the endless whining!!!

Can we slip them an ExLax?

[RichmondR]

Thanks for the responses so far. I agree that the best likely way to avoid the issue is to buy from an authorized retailer, but the primary purpose of this thread appears to be to spot non-authentic Creed, and one is more likely to have concerns about that when buying from a non-authorized retailer. Anyone who buys a $240 bottle of GIT off of Ebay for $50 is asking for trouble. A point that had already been raised earlier in this thread was that serial numbers were being ground off bottles, so I thought I would raise that issue in the context of how important, if at all, is it to be able to see the lot number when you buy Creed cologne. I guess I could have started another thread, but I dont think I was whining raising that issue here nor am I a twit, if that was the implication (smile).

Thinking about the issue further, as to the issue of authenticity, the fact that someone went to the trouble to grind off the lot number may, in fact, be evidence that the product IS authentic. After all, why remove something that would better indicate that the product is real unless your greater concern is tracking distribution of legitimate product? It seems, then, that lot number removal apparently has more to do with improper distribution, and not conterfeiting.

[jmarlow277]

does anyone know about the authenticity of beautyandscents.com ?

[AZsmells]

So last week I was at the mall at one of the family owned perfume stores. I was browsing through the Creeds and I saw Green Frich Tweed! I couldn't believe it as it looked pretty legit and they had a large selection of Creeds. I didn't bother trying it out but was just shocked to see it.

[somethinpositiv]

I got an Arabic bottle as well, genuine but "Grey Market".

[kbe]

I got an Arabic bottle as well, genuine but "Grey Market".

My GIT box has some Arabic on it also and is definitely the real thing.

[greendragon]

So last week I was at the mall at one of the family owned perfume stores. I was browsing through the Creeds and I saw Green Frich Tweed! I couldn't believe it as it looked pretty legit and they had a large selection of Creeds. I didn't bother trying it out but was just shocked to see it.

I sure hope you told them that it was a fake....

[Michael Picasso]

Thanks for the responses so far. I agree that the best likely way to avoid the issue is to buy from an authorized retailer, but the primary purpose of this thread appears to be to spot non-authentic Creed, and one is more likely to have concerns about that when buying from a non-authorized retailer. Anyone who buys a $240 bottle of GIT off of Ebay for $50 is asking for trouble. A point that had already been raised earlier in this thread was that serial numbers were being ground off bottles, so I thought I would raise that issue in the context of how important, if at all, is it to be able to see the lot number when you buy Creed cologne. I guess I could have started another thread, but I dont think I was whining raising that issue here nor am I a twit, if that was the implication (smile).

Thinking about the issue further, as to the issue of authenticity, the fact that someone went to the trouble to grind off the lot number may, in fact, be evidence that the product IS authentic. After all, why remove something that would better indicate that the product is real unless your greater concern is tracking distribution of legitimate product? It seems, then, that lot number removal apparently has more to do with improper distribution, and not conterfeiting.

Spot On!!!

[DULLAH]

Rest easy, the real deal Frich is back in effect...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Green-Irish-Twee...QQcmdZViewItem

...and the price is right!

[zztopp]

This has got to be the most useful, annoying and legendary Basenotes thread ever ..

[narcus]

Thinking about the issue further, as to the issue of authenticity, the fact that someone went to the trouble to grind off the lot number may, in fact, be evidence that the product IS authentic. After all, why remove something that would better indicate that the product is real unless your greater concern is tracking distribution of legitimate product? It seems, then, that lot number removal apparently has more to do with improper distribution, and not conterfeiting.

It's common practice practice within the perfume and cosmetics market. If a brand owner wants to control prices all over the world, they have to control trade channels all the way down to the "licensed dealer" bound by strangling contracts. Serial numbers serve the purpose of identifying most end products from automobiles to watches, software, and perfume. It is a known fact, that world players sell their goods at different prices in different regions of the world, and these tend to be highest in Europe and North America. It can therefore be profitable for a merchant to buy (genuine) Chanel 5, or Bois de P (fictitious examples) in Dakkar rather than in Paris or New York (the place where he wants to sell it) Such 're-imports' are considered illegal in some countries and legal in others.But it's harder to trace that down, if product identifiers are removed. But when the same players who want to control everything use the very same channels to get rid of their overproduction, things become really messy. I am sure that more than one noble brand is involved. (Visible product identifiers (S-numbers) are out, I hear. They use invisible print inside the box, or under the product label so removal becomes more difficult. I just bought a genuine Etro perfume, unlabeled, but in its unsealed box).

Rest easy, the real deal Frich is back in effect...
http://cgi.ebay.com/Green-Irish-Twee...QQcmdZViewItem
...and the price is right!

I would be very surprised if Creed themselves didn't know more about this and all other matters they allow to happen. Believe it or not, at the same time Creed disallows the import of 1 oz bottles by the one and only licensed importer for Switzerland. I think that's an ugly abuse of commercial freedom !

By the way, aren't we in the midst of a fragrance industry discussion here ?

[fredricktoo]

They won't go away. It's has been years now that this has been an issue since these boxes continue to show up in the market place. I knew I got beat before I found out about the printing errors. My Green Frich Tweed had a leak where the metal met the glass on the bottle. Hand tightening stopped the leak. There is no evidence of another of Creeds fragrances showing up. Maybe because it's not as easy as it is to substitute Cool Water. And maybe the easy substitution is why Creed refuses to answer or acknowledge any calls or email about this.

I wonder how they would react to a massive counterfeiting of MI. The Saudi king for whom it was originally concocted probably would not see the flattery in copying his fragrance to be sold in flea markets.

[play]

I NEED EVERYONE'S OPINION ABOUT THIS.
should i keep it or send it back?

Just got this SMW tester (comes without box) from scentiments.com today. I called scentiments, but they claim that it is 100% authentic and also added that they buy everything from a reputed source eversince they were in business.
i'm 99% sure that it is fake because it looks and smells just like a fake one i had from ebay (refunded by paypal)

from the back of the bottle. says "item not for sale" and there's a sticker in arabic


the hole is in lower right corner of the nozzle


very cheap (kind of like the soda bottle seal) looking sealing of nozzle to bottle


this thing is black with interior mechanism part in transparent plastic

[madvillain]

definitely looks fake..

[play]

anyone here who bought their creed testers from scentiments.com?

how does your tester look like?

[s130178]

defenitly fake the proper ones have a silver sprayer and silver seal not black
looks exactly like the fake one i bought when i was a newbie to creeds
my goodness the juice in them bottles smell so awful too lol

I NEED EVERYONE'S OPINION ABOUT THIS.
should i keep it or send it back?

Just got this SMW tester (comes without box) from scentiments.com today. I called scentiments, but they claim that it is 100% authentic and also added that they buy everything from a reputed source eversince they were in business.
i'm 99% sure that it is fake because it looks and smells just like a fake one i had from ebay (refunded by paypal)

from the back of the bottle. says "item not for sale" and there's a sticker in arabic


the hole is in lower right corner of the nozzle


very cheap (kind of like the soda bottle seal) looking sealing of nozzle to bottle


this thing is black with interior mechanism part in transparent plastic

[ohhmygod]

Looks very fake, the neck of the sprayer should be "fat" not "skinny"

[somethinpositiv]

The Arabic brings to mind a bottle of GIT that I have, which is real but Gray Market from Dubai. However, if it smells like a fake you got off of eBay, than that's all you need to know. Personally, I don't think it could be determined that it's fake based on the bottle, because to me that looks like it's intended for Middle East distribution. However, it's the juice that counts, and you can't fake SMW well, and if the juice smells sharp and offputting like the eBay fakes, than that's all you need to know.
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You know what, I take that back. I didn't look at the pictures close enough. Why does SMW have a black sprayer??? Maybe the original silver seal was broken and the bottle was filled with fake juice, and a black sprayer was put on instead??? Very fake indeed...

[Maz24]

That does look pretty fake...

[nsamadi]

When those "who sells authentic creed" threads pop up on the broads...Scentiments is know to stock the real stuff and recommend by many here....so I'm assuming it might be real because of that.

But also be aware, some bottles are packaged differently for Middle Eastern distribution. I also think Montale packages their products (different bottles as well) for their Arab releases.

[s130178]

im wondering if some cheeky sod had a fake one and bought one from scentiments only to return a fake one back to them?
its a possibility as that bottle really is fake no doubts about it

When those "who sells authentic creed" threads pop up on the broads...Scentiments is know to stock the real stuff and recommend by many here....so I'm assuming it might be real because of that.

But also be aware, some bottles are packaged differently for Middle Eastern distribution. I also think Montale packages their products (different bottles as well) for their Arab releases.