Buying perfume? Beware!!!

Jimjams00_2

Yesterday my brother and I went shopping at Westfields Stratford to pick up the last remaining presents. He had to get some perfume for his wife, she had said she liked DKNY, Lacoste or Nina Ricci. We spent the next hour or so going to Boots, Superdrugs, John Lewis and The Fragrance Shop. Well the 50ml of each were around £46 to £50 with the most expensive, suprisingly, from Superdrugs. As money is a little bit scarce this year he wanted to get at least two presents for that kind of money. He opted for a Nina Ricci gift set £39 from Boots, not his first choice but he thought he could buy a little something extra to go with it.

On our way home we were going past his local Savers store. Curious to see their prices we went in, well all I can say is that we stood there with mouths open shocked to see prices a fraction of what we had seen. The DKNY Be Delicious 50ml was £19.99 :eek: Superdrug's price £48.99:mad::( Many of the perfumes that were priced at between £40 and £50 at Westfields were £19.99 in Savers. My brother was gutted and he said he felt fleeced. Especially when you consider that he could have brought his wife two of the perfumes that she likes for the price of one.

Now you ask why didn't my brother go in there first of all. Well this branch of Savers has only been opened for a week or two and he has been in there only once before. The other branches that we know of are not local and he just didn't think to go in.

So why is there such a big difference in prices? It's even more annoying when you consider that Superdrugs owns Savers. My advice is that if you need to get some perfume go to Savers!!!

swingaloo

Don't know if its the absolute truth or not but I had a friend who worked on a perfume counter at Debenhams.


She told me that the outlets which open to sell cut price perfume were selling imported and old stock. It is the genuine thing but perfume has a shelf life and when it gets close to the end of its life the outlets can buy it much cheaper than the new stock.

photome

swingaloo wrote: »

Don't know if its the absolute truth or not but I had a friend who worked on a perfume counter at Debenhams.


She told me that the outlets which open to sell cut price perfume were selling imported and old stock. It is the genuine thing but perfume has a shelf life and when it gets close to the end of its life the outlets can buy it much cheaper than the new stock.

How long is the shelf life

I have some after shave I bought 12 years ago ( I hardly ever use it) and it still smells and lasts the same today as it did back then

ariba10

photome wrote: »

How long is the shelf life

I have some after shave I bought 12 years ago ( I hardly ever use it) and it still smells and lasts the same today as it did back then

I read the first word of the last line as "Tastes".

I must have had to much of the Christmas Cheer.

tomtontom

So the warning is, do your research before buying?

clarryd

Your brother should take the perfume back to the shop that he purchased. He can use any excuse and then go to saver's and get the cheaper priced perfume and more of it.

I would be well peeved if it was me that paid more.

There was a market stall were I live last year that sold the fake perfumes and I thought no way will they smell anything like the reel deal, so I asked my niece to smell the Marc Jacobs copy and tell me what she thought, I had already smelt it and thought very very close to the real MJ Daisy. I then picked another bottle of perfume up and smelt it I didn't have a clue what it was supposed to be like but I really liked it so I bought both perfumes. I gave the MJ daisy copy to my daughter and she didn't know it wasn't the real stuff, but I did tell her once I gave her the packaging. I kept the other perfume for myself and have been using it all year, wish the stall would come back again this year as both perfumes cost £10.00 for 2 or £6.00 for one bottle. What a bargain, it just goes to show it doesn't have to be expensive to be nice.

shaun_from_Africa

clarryd wrote: »

Your brother should take the perfume back to the shop that he purchased. He can use any excuse and then go to saver's and get the cheaper priced perfume and more of it.

That's fine providing the store concerned will accept returns for a change of mind.
If they don't then there is no entitlement to return for a refund.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

OP. PM me and my mate in the Bell and Clanger will get your missers some real decent stuf for a fraction of what them stores can dream of.

TBeckett100

The idea is to google when you shop. I had the misfortune to buy the wife an £1100 bag from John Lewis only for it to be reduced 20% on black Friday. I spent the early hours of Black Friday repurchasing most of the presents I had bought saving £500.

When buying anything for Christmas, better to shop at a refund friendly shop and then be prepared to do the shopping twice.

TBeckett100

Interesting comment about the discounter selling old stock, you may have something there. I bought some Creed which was £120 a bottle, cheaper than anywhere else at the time. The smell wasn't as good as the tester which had my PA swooning when I intitially dabbed it on.

donnac2558

Okay, the truth.

Perfume is sent to the far east to be sold by the companies, sometimes it does not sell well and is returned to the west. This is called the Grey Market, and are bought wholesale by some shops and online retailers. Hence you might find Arabic writing on the box, they are sold on to customers cheaper than original price.

There is nothing wrong with these perfumes and age does not come into it if stored properly. Vintage, Vintage goes for big money one Ebay, because of reformulations etc. I have a bottle of pure parfum or extract as its called, Caron Fleurs de Rocaille, from the early 60s and its fabulous.

Creed, if you go to any of the perfume forums its all about the batch codes. It seems some batches are better than others, people actually search out particular batches before buying.