hey friends Ashton here again with Jin
sense today we have something a little
bit different we don't have a fragrance
review we don't have a fragrance pickup
or a top 10 list anything like that I'm
actually going to be giving some tips on
purchasing fragrances specifically
through eBay in the future I might make
some videos about how I source
fragrances how I pick them up on the
cheap different things like that but
specifically this time we're going to be
looking at purchasing safely on eBay
because it seems like a lot of people
especially people starting out are
afraid of buying fragrances on eBay
they're afraid that they're going to get
screwed that they're going to get
something counterfeit etcetera etcetera
so I'll just go into some of the things
that I look at personally some things
that you can look at some things you can
do to educate yourself and so on yeah so
let's go ahead and jump right into it
the first thing you need to do is to
know your seller if it's one of the
large perfume or cologne dealers like
fragrance net scented monkey lily direct
one of their eBay stores then you're
fine you're going to get the exact same
thing as you would get through their
actual website it gets a little more
tricky when you get into the smaller
dealers and the individual sellers who
are either moving just one or two
bottles or have you know anywhere
between 10 and 50 bottles listed that's
where it starts to get a little more
tricky because usually those are the
dealers who are going to buy up kind of
a bulk amount of counterfeits and try to
pass them off to people that are
unsuspecting so what you need to do is
start digging into the listing the
pictures and feedback to kind of paint a
picture on whether what you're
purchasing would be counterfeit or
legitimate so we'll go into each one of
those different things give you some
pointers and things to look at and look
for
and that will give you kind of some
ammunition to use as you shop for things
on eBay to go along with checking the
seller you should also check their
feedback should be obvious but it's
worth bringing up you should check their
feedback do a ctrl F and search and see
if anybody has noted anything as being
authentic or legitimate see how many
people say that also check the negative
feedback negative feedback isn't always
super useful but if nobody is mentioning
something as authentic and they're just
leaving canned positive responses they
may just be doing that as soon as they
buy the fragrance if other people are
leaving negative feedback saying it's
not authentic and it seems like a
legitimate feedback instead of just
somebody that's you know pissed off then
you can take that into account like I
said that isn't always foolproof just
because there are all kinds of people on
a fragrance Nets eBay saying that things
are run authentic or not legitimate when
in reality they are they just don't like
the fragrance or maybe they don't
remember how it smells or it's been
reformulated whatever but if something
worth checking out if lots of people say
that they're getting authentic things
and it appears like a seller that's on
the up-and-up
then that is a good thing and that
should not raise any red flags you
should know your product before you
actually purchase it what I mean by that
is you should be able to look online do
some reading and see how the product
should be delivered to you also if
possible go and check it out in person
maybe make mental notes of how
everything should appear for example if
you were buying blue deschanel you
should know it has a magnetic cap you
should know that the cap will align
itself if you twist it like so you
should know that there is a Chanel logo
on the inside of the cap and you should
know the batch code is etched on the
bottle rather than being on the bottom
like lots of bottles will be little
things like that can help you pick out a
non authentic counterfeit piece pretty
quickly sometimes there are also videos
on
YouTube that will specify specific
brands and show you counterfeits
compared to legitimate bottles I know
there are some poor Sabah's among lots
of other commonly counterfeited colognes
another thing you can do is go onto the
frantic ax and base notes forums there
are always people asking on there hey is
this legitimate hey is this authentic
and then they'll provide pictures people
will give feedback and tell you whether
it is or is not legit so oftentimes if
you purchase something and maybe you're
a little bit apprehensive where you
think that you've bought something
that's a possible fake or counterfeit
you can just go to google and type in I
don't know fake Thierry Mugler pure malt
and I'm sure it will pull up different
threads from the fragran tuga and base
notes forums where people will really go
into detail on whether something is fake
or authentic so that's one thing that
you can do if you purchase a fragrance
if you're not 100% sure that it's
authentic or not you can just go to
google type in the name of whatever
fragrance you bought and put fake or
counterfeit something like that and it
will definitely pull those forms up and
you can do a little reading you get a
better idea of whether what you have is
legit or fake it's really important
though not to be paranoid when you buy
something on eBay I know a lot of people
will purchase something on eBay and it
will convince themselves that it's fake
before they even actually receive the
product that doesn't really do any good
for anybody so if you're going to
purchase from eBay kind of keep an
unbiased opinion until you actually
receive the product if you work yourself
up and you make yourself think that it's
going to be fake before you've ever seen
it then even if it's 100% legitimate
you're going to convince yourself that
it's no good and then that's just going
to cause issues if you're the type of
person that maybe
get a little more apprehensive paranoid
worked up on things it may be better
just to leave the bay alone
and shop through fragrance net or beauty
spin or if you want to just go pay full
retail and then you will have no worries
whatsoever common things to check on a
cologne or perfume purchase or the box
the bottle the cap the batch code and
the smell itself the graphics sometimes
on counterfeit boxes are not very good
if you look at them really closely
they'll have a lot of pixelation and
sometimes will even have misspelled
words on the back that you would
actually have to really look for
sometimes parfum will be misspelled
alcohol will be misspelled different
things like that
that's not super common but I have seen
it badge codes used to be the thing that
everybody would say to check it's like
check for the batch code check for the
batch code if there's one there then
you're good if there's not then you know
it's not good so the batch code in case
you are unaware is something that a
manufacturer will put on a cologne or
perfume bottle that gives the date of
manufacture for that fragrance and there
are a couple websites that you can go to
check them online check fresh I believe
is one check cosmetic is another so for
example this blue Deschanel
has a batch code of eight five to zero
so I could go into one of those websites
I could select Chanel put in eight five
to zero and it will tell me when this
bottle of blue de Chanel was
manufactured a lot of times badge codes
are on sticker on the bottom of the
bottle and also the badge code on the
bottle should match the batch code on
the box which is usually imprinted or
written on the bottom of the box now
sometimes if you purchase a bottle from
a gray market retailer like fragrance
net they'll remove the bag
code that doesn't mean that it's fake
but sometimes with Bray market products
that will happen if you want more
information on that you can just google
it it will pull everything up that you
need the the issue though is that
counterfeiters have caught on and they
will take legitimate badge codes and put
those on counterfeit bottles so that's
one thing that you can check and on
occasion you may find one that's a fake
batch code or one that doesn't match up
with when the fragrance was actually
made things like that and that will tip
you off but a lot of times they'll use
authentic badge codes now so that's not
something that will always tell you
whether it's real or fake
now like I said that the best thing you
can do is to make yourself really aware
of what you're purchasing how it should
look
etc etc a lot of times the inside of a
legitimate box will look different than
the inside of a fake box so that is
going to bring me to this I purchased
this Escada magnetism just a little over
a week ago on eBay
the seller had only the Box listed still
sealed and the only thing that you could
see was just this as I'm holding it up
here and I was thinking at the time that
this is probably 70/30 fake with the 70
being fake and 30 real and it does turn
out that it is a fake so we're going to
take just a quick look at this and I'll
point out a couple things I don't have
an authentic bottle of magnetism with me
at the moment so that's unfortunate but
I can just show a couple things here
that tipped me off pretty quickly that
this was no bueno alright let's go ahead
and check this out really quickly so the
box is actually reflective which is
pretty nice you wouldn't be able to tell
right away that it's not good
on the inside it's just this
cheap really flimsy corrugated cardboard
that doesn't have anything to really
hold the bottle in place so the bottle
just kind of bangs around on the inside
of the box and that's what happened here
this one is dinged up really badly and
if you look at where it says it's gotta
here that's actually just a really cheap
sticker that's thrown on you'll see that
the A's are not even really the same
shape the first one is very wide and the
second one is kind of crooked and more
narrow the D is kind of warped and
pressed in the EES kind of bolded with
the S pushed up close to it and the S is
not bolded it's just kind of a mess
honestly it doesn't look good at all and
if you look pretty closely here you can
actually see that it's just a sticker
thrown on there ya see not good not good
and this bottle it looks like crap but
that is how it came new out of the box
and you'll notice there is no sticker no
batch code there is nothing there is
also kind of like warping around the
bottle like around any of the edges
right through here none of this is
smooth all of it is kind of rough which
is another thing to look for in
counterfeit bottles legitimate bottles
usually have very smooth edging and a
lot of times there is no discernible
place where the bottle is fused together
but in counterfeit bottles very often
like down the side here right down
through here sometimes at the top there
will be very noticeable places where the
glass comes together and is kind of
fused and it doesn't look very good you
can easily feel it running your finger
over it and that's another telltale sign
of a counterfeit bottle alright just a
few more quick tips
if you see something on eBay that is
from Russia Romania Bulgaria Ukraine any
of those areas there's a 99.9% chance
it's fake don't buy those there's a
reason that they have creats listed for
like $40 and Tom Ford's listed for 100
mils for like $100 or less it's because
they're all fake you're not getting a
sick deal because it's from Eastern
Europe it's just completely fake
don't don't ever purchase those I
touched on this earlier but another
thing that you can do to help protect
yourself is to become familiar with the
scent either by Adi Kant from somebody
by a sample a carded sample or go into
an actual cologne or perfume store like
Sephora and get a sample to go use it
frequently enough that you can pick out
the scent pretty quickly that way you're
really familiar with it and then when
you purchase the fragrance assuming that
there's not like a reformulation that
you're getting you should be able to
tell pretty quickly whether it's
legitimate or counterfeit and this is
just a tip in terms of purchasing
fragrances in general not counterfeit
versus legit if you're looking for a
specific fragrance especially if it's
one that's a little higher on the price
range the best thing that you can do is
be patient because eBay is constantly
adding and having things taken away by
people listing and purchasing things so
if what you want is up there now but you
think the price is not so great then be
patient and be consistent search every
single day if you can search multiple
times a day for that specific fragrance
or size or whatever it is that you're
looking for and then when you find one
that is a price that you like
you should try to verify by checking the
sellers feedback the pictures available
to you how you think the product should
look based off of what you've read and
seen all of those things and as long as
it's legitimate you should you should
spring and purchase it basically right
away it's kind of contradictory saying
that you should be patient and then
purchase something the second that you
see it but that's really how eBay works
in my experience every time that you
find a great fragrance or one that
you're looking for and you find it for a
great price and it's a legitimate
release it's not a counterfeit you need
to jump on it as soon as possible and I
mean that literally as soon as possible
there have been times that I have found
fantastic deals on really really nice or
even rare or discontinued fragrances and
I've added it to my cart and thought
about it and came back 15 minutes later
or a couple hours later and it's gone
and then you don't see it for that price
again for months or ever so if you have
the funds available and it's something
authentic and it's something you want
you need to get past that kind of
threshold of being wishy-washy on
whether to buy or not and just buy it if
it's something that you really want I've
kind of learned that the hard way there
were a couple of times that fragrance
Ned everybody's favorite retailer put
some some fantastic amazing deals on
their eBay account that I will probably
never ever see again and because I did
not pull the trigger immediately they
were gone within 10-15 minutes that's
just the name of the game that's how it
is
so it's not great advice in terms of
your financial planning but if you find
something that
amazing view you need to buy it right
away that's that's just how it is and
honestly that goes for beauty spin and
their clearance priced items fragrance
net and their unboxed items any any of
those things the beauty spin also just a
quick tip which is kind of an aside they
constantly change their clearance items
they seem to do it every and it is kind
of random but every week or so and
sometimes they will put very expensive
nice fragrances up for really great
prices I know that I got a still sealed
I'm washed sunshine man when that was
pretty much new for like a hundred and
fifteen dollars and 100 mil bottle
they have bonds that they'll put up for
like 60 70 dollars sometimes Monty halls
for $50 Matt Serra's for $50 they seem
to do that about once every week to week
and a half and it's completely random
you never know what they're going to put
up there but once they put it on
clearance they could leave it there for
months or they could leave it there for
12 hours I've seen both they've had the
mark Buxton collection on clearance for
like three months and though they'll
have a mint Sara
they had odd cafe for like $50 and it
was there for like 12 hours or something
so either you jump on it or you don't
get it at a discount it's whatever I did
want to just bring up quickly that
testers are not always safe it used to
be that people thought if you wanted
something legitimate you could just buy
a tester and that counterfeiters would
never mess with testers but they caught
on to that and now there are fake
testers everywhere for example the Tom
Ford private blend never ever ever ever
came with white tester boxes but you
will find testers of the Tom Ford
private blend all over ebay coming in
white boxes and every single one of them
is fake
all of them so that is unfortunate
counterfeiters usually do go for 100 mil
and larger size bottles they don't
usually mess with 50 mils here are a
couple of pictures of fakes that I
searched for literally a minute on eBay
and pulled so a fake Crede it comes with
a little sleeve that goes over the box
every single Crede fragrance that you
see on eBay that comes with the sleeve
is fake and for that matter just about
every fragrance that you see on eBay
that comes with the sleeve over the box
is fake if you go into Sephora or
Nordstrom or any store that carries all
kinds of fragrances you'll notice that
none of them have those sleeves it's
something the counterfeiters do to try
to make it look fancier I don't know why
here's a fake Tom Ford Black Orchid this
one from Bulgaria it has the white
tester box which is fake and then
another fake Tom Ford private blend if
you ever ever ever see private blend
bottles like this they are always always
always fake 100 + whole bottles for Tom
Ford's private blend are not like the
normal 50 mil size only made longer the
actual legitimate bottle is wider I
don't know why they went with the
different bottle shape that doesn't
exist but whatever man so yeah if you're
looking at buying a tester that's
completely fine there are tons and tons
of legitimate testers out there and you
can save a lot of money doing so most of
the time if I'm going to go with the
tester I make sure that it's from a
seller that is a legitimate established
fragrance dealer I usually don't go buy
testers from people who have like 6
bottles on sale it just seems a little
shifty if you kind of vet them out and
it seems ok to you then go for it that's
just my own personal preference if I'm
going for a tester then I'm usually just
going to buy from somebody who is a
fairly well-established fragrance dealer
alright guys that's all I've got I know
that this ran long if you have any
toons go ahead and leave them in the
comments section or shoot me a message
and I will get back with you if you have
any questions about a purchase let me
know and I will try to assist any way
that I can one good thing about buying
for eBay is if you get something
counterfeit you can return it for a
refund and that is a full refund where
the seller will actually have to pay
shipping according to their own policy
if you get something counterfeit you're
supposed to destroy it and then get a
refund but they don't follow their own
policy they will make you return it
anyway because eBay does not give a crap
hacking the day I used to actually see
all the fake Creed's fake Tom Ford's
fake everything and I would report them
to eBay and they did not care they just
leave it up there because they're still
making money and lots and lots of people
get screwed on that every single day for
that matter I'm going to have to return
this and the guy that I bought this from
can take it and relist it for probably
you know $60 and it will sell within a
day and someone out there will end up
getting screwed and I personally called
eBay and point it out all the ways they
they can tell that this is fake and said
you guys realize that when I return this
he can just relist it and someone out
there is going to get screwed and five
other people have already purchased this
from him and each one of them have
already been duped and eBay just replied
to me on the phone and said well what
you should do is just return it and
you'll get a refund and if you want you
can leave him feedback but we see that
he already got some positive feedback
which I will show here so you should
just return it so this guy will probably
relist this and someone out there will
be screwed don't let it be you this guy
I have some of the feedbacks
screenshotted I'll post them somewhere
but he is selling mainly Chanel's this
magnetism and a few other
desirable designers and that's why I
thought that it was a fake from the
beginning because most people are not
going to be selling ten of eight
different Chanel's and then a couple
discontinued fragrances that screams out
counterfeiter but the box actually on
this looks really nice so I took a
chance with it the second I opened it I
knew it was fake and everyone buying
those Chanel's is getting screwed and
that's a real shame but eBay does not
care really much at all they'll help you
get a refund when you return it but
outside of that they know that there are
all kinds of counterfeiting products
being sold there and they just they do
it they don't care you're on your own
there so yeah if you're going to buy
anything especially anything worth some
money
look up the product extensively before
you purchase it just to save yourself
some headache and Chanel's like this
dude is selling are always in high
demand so they get counterfeited like
crazy Chanel your Tom Ford Creed
um wash even they get counterfeited like
crazy so check them out beforehand make
yourself aware of what you're purchasing
make sure that you check the person
you're buying from and of course comes
to worse if you buy on eBay which will
occasionally happen you can just return
it and get your money back so that's all
I've got for you guys thank you for
watching this really long video like
comment subscribe I'll see you guys next
time
you