.jpg "Raiders of the Lost Scent")
Buying and selling vintage perfumes: what must be known and what must be done.
Please note: this is not a guide for professional sellers or buyers. It is intended for collectors and enthusiasts seeking to navigate the vintage perfume market.
Buying and selling perfumes is not inherently difficult, but it does require due diligence. Transactions involving contemporary fragrances (those that are readily available) are generally straightforward. By contrast, the vintage perfume market is considerably more complex and shaped by additional variables, including condition, rarity, collectibility, and storage history. A clear understanding of these factors is essential to avoid unpleasant surprises or potential complications.
One of the most striking aspects of buying and selling vintage perfumes is how unexpectedly complex transactions can become. These challenges typically stem from communication breakdowns, mismatched personalities, and differing expectations between sellers and buyers. In principle, the process should be straightforward: a perfume is offered at a stated price; if the buyer agrees, the purchase is completed. That should be the end of the matter.
In practice, however, this rarely happens. There are so many variables at play that acquiring vintage perfumes can sometimes become a genuine challenge.
Let me be clear: purchasing a bottle at a flea market places the buyer at a significant advantage. You can ask to handle the bottle, examine it from every angle, assess the color of the liquid, inspect the labels, and note any imperfections in the glass. If a box is present, it can likewise be carefully examined on all sides. With even a modest level of experience, it is usually possible to determine whether a perfume is authentic or counterfeit (and at flea markets, the vast majority of sellers offer genuine items). For these reasons, buying vintage perfumes at flea markets offers undeniable advantages.
However, the bulk of buying and selling today happens online, and this is where the real problems begin.
First thing to know: the people you deal with.
Vintage perfume sellers.
Vintage perfume SELLERS generally fall into FIVE categories:
1) Those who do not know what they are selling. They have come across old perfume bottles at home, have little or no understanding of their value, and offer them for sale, along with pots and pans, old calendars, children's toys, at flea markets or online, without much consideration.
2) The “calm and imperturbable” seller. He sells vintage perfumes as well as other goods. He shows no particular enthusiasm; his manner is consistently restrained, and he deals with customers in a formal, professional way. In certain respects, he is the preferred salesperson.
3) Those who just want to do business and earn money. They assume that all vintage perfumes are “rare” or akin to liquid gold, and consequently list both truly exceptional fragrances and entirely insignificant ones at uniformly inflated prices. Whatever they sell is "extraordinary", "exceptional", "extremely rare". The customer is frequently regarded as unintelligent and viewed primarily as a source to be exploited for profit.
4) The sellers who enjoy dealing with perfumes. They are experts who price their items thoughtfully -whether high or low- based on an informed assessment of quality and value. They can distinguish truly significant perfumes from the rest. They are not driven by an obsession with profit; for them, buying and selling is almost a source of enjoyment. Unfortunately, such sellers are rare.
5) Those who pretend not to know what they are selling. They portray themselves as individuals who openly admit that, at a fundamental level, they lack any real understanding of perfumes. In reality, they have very clear ideas. They feign ignorance of the fragrances in an attempt to confuse the buyer. They list high-value perfumes almost nonchalantly, without a stated price (or with a vague “make an offer and we’ll discuss it”), feigning ignorance while waiting for interested buyers to surface. Once contact is made, they engage in a game of cat and mouse -raising prices, disappearing, claiming competing offers- in short, employing every sales tactic in the book. They resemble anglers casting a line and waiting patiently for the prey to bite.
To complicate matters further, many of these personality traits overlap, so one often finds oneself dealing with individuals who embody characteristics of different categories.
Vintage perfume buyers.
BUYERS of vintage perfumes may likewise be classified into five categories, albeit of a different nature:
1-The first category consists of those who seek out an old perfume because it evokes the scent worn by a mother, father, or grandmother. That fragrance is no longer in production, and they pursue its vintage version as a way of reconnecting with a cherished memory.
2-The second category is the perfume collector. These individuals are often highly cultured and financially comfortable, and they collect perfumes purely for the intellectual, aesthetic, and emotional pleasure of collecting.
3-The third category is the speculator. These are astute individuals with strong business instincts who have recognized that certain vintage perfumes will continue to appreciate in value over time. Quietly and methodically, they acquire perfumes at low prices, with the intention of reselling them later for substantial profit.
4-The fourth category, perhaps the most problematic of all, are "the sharks". These are people who roam the market with calculated indifference, attempting to acquire perfumes for next to nothing, always hoping to secure the deal of a lifetime. Aggressive and noisy, they lose all restraint the moment they believe they have spotted a bargain, behaving in a manner that is frankly embarrassing.
5-The fifth category is that of the time-wasters. They present themselves as great experts, claim to be refined connoisseurs, and constantly seek to show off, boasting of wealth and expertise they do not in fact possess. They ask questions, they pretend to be interested. They register for auctions, place bids on four or five perfumes at a time, and ultimately purchase nothing. These individuals approach a seller, make an offer, say they need time to think it over, and then disappear. In the process, however, they succeed in wasting everyone’s time.
This brief overview is intended to provide a general understanding of the types of individuals one may encounter during the transaction. It's important to know who you're dealing with, because that way you can know how to behave.
After that, we have to clearly understand what are the greatest concerns for the buyer and seller. If we manage to grasp this properly, we are already halfway there, and everything will become much easier.
Vintage perfumes concerns.
The primary concerns for a perfume buyer are, first, authenticity and, when purchasing online based solely on photographs, whether the fragrance received truly matches what was represented in the images and description. Sellers must be fully aware that these are the buyer’s foremost concerns and, accordingly, must ensure that the product delivered meets those expectations and leaves the buyer satisfied.
How are these concepts applied in practice? Let’s look at some examples.
The seller must provide the most thorough description possible, not of the fragrance itself, but of the condition of the item being sold. Detailing top, middle, and base notes is largely irrelevant; far more important is stating whether the item is new or used, whether it shows any imperfections, whether it remains sealed, the condition of the box, the batch code, dimensions (height and width), and the presence of labels or stickers. If the bottle is a "spray" and the box has been opened, the seller should also specify whether the spray mechanism is functional.
Important: there must be numerous photographs of the perfume; one or two images are not sufficient. The buyer should have as complete an overview as possible of what they are looking at. Photographs must be “honest”. Dark, poorly lit, or (worse) blurred images should not be used. Perfume bottles must always be photographed in an upright position, never laid down, as this would make it impossible to determine how much fragrance remains in the bottle.
If there is any imperfection or defect, it must be photographed and explicitly mentioned.
The seller should clearly state whether the fragrance is new or used and must explicitly confirm that it is authentic. In any case, the seller should be willing to accept the return of the item.
Extremely important: the seller must clearly state that all photographs shown accurately depict the specific item being offered for sale. Unfortunately, there have been numerous cases in which images of different boxes or bottles were used, misleading buyers into assuming that all photographs referred to the same item. A clear and effective sales statement is: “What you see in the photos is exactly what you will receive.”
The buyers is in a trickier spot: they’re the one putting up the money, and they don’t want to get ripped off.
One thing that must be clear is shipping. Too often, shipping costs are unclear, yet this is information the buyer absolutely needs to know. Therefore, the seller must be careful to specify the shipping cost all the way to the buyer’s address.
One issue that frequently arises concerns the possibility of making offers. If a seller explicitly states “price non-negotiable,” no lower offers should be made, period. If the seller does not clearly indicate that the price is fixed, an offer may be attempted, but it should never be more than 20% below the asking price. In other words, if an item is listed at 100, a prospective buyer should not offer less than 80. This is simply a matter of courtesy.
Tip for buyers: Do not rush into purchasing the perfume. Contact the seller first to ensure that they are responsive. A trustworthy seller will always reply and will be willing to answer reasonable questions.
Vintage Perfumes Scams.
Let us now examine the most common scams and fraudulent practices.
The best guarantee is, of course, a certificate of authenticity, as is common with works of art. But how many sellers actually provide perfumes accompanied by a certificate issued by an expert? Yet, in reality, this would be an excellent practice. The buyer would have assurance that the perfume is genuine, and the certificate of authenticity would increase the value of the item, making resale and preservation of its value much easier.
Shipping. Now, a dishonest buyer might claim to have received a package containing a different item, thus keeping the valuable perfume. Conversely, a dishonest seller might send a worthless item while keeping the valuable perfume (assuming they actually possess it, and it wasn’t a scam from the start). To be safe, however, it is important to send items via tracked shipping, ensuring proof of delivery. Once again, it becomes clear how important it is to buy from sellers with an excellent reputation.
A good piece of advice for buyers: purchase only if you are absolutely sure of what you are doing. If you have doubts, walk away. If the perfume is inexpensive, you may take the risk. If the perfume is very expensive, you must be completely certain of what you are buying before spending your money.
Final considerations.
-GUY LAROCHE perfumes (here)
-CACHAREL perfumes ( here )
-ROCHAS perfumes (here)
Google+
No comments:
Post a Comment
Keep in mind that it is nearly impossible to determine whether a perfume is authentic or fake, based on the description alone. It is extremely difficult to tell, even with photographs. Fake or counterfeit perfume manufacturers have reached such a high level of sophistication that it is impossible to determine the authenticity of a perfume without actually holding it in your hands.