Have you ever been tempted to enter one of those stores in the mall that sells perfume at a discounted price or purchase on the internet from ebay or other discount sites? I know I sure have! I wanted to personally share my first hand experiences with these so called "perfume discounters". In today's market we are always looking for the best deal, especially due to our current recession if thats what you want to call it. Let's face it, we are all in a bit of a financial slump and we are looking to save money anyway we can especially on luxury items.

This said I started my search for my favorite perfume, Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue. It is a heavenly fragrance with citrus undertones, I always wear this and have been for a while. So being a ebay conosouir I decided to purchase a bottle. I checked all feedback, remarks from other customers, all was well. I purchased the normally $85 dollar bottle for $50. The next few days I recieved the item. It looked good and was in the proper packaging however when I sprayed the contents it smelled of rubbing alcohol. There was no scent at all! I reported the seller and my money was refunded by paypal after some haggeling with the seller who claimed it was "100% authentic". FYI if you must advertise that something is 100% authentic it must be a fake.

My second attempt at purchasing Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue led me to yet another person trying to rip me off. I went to my local mall to purchase the scent and entered a store something like "Perfume Wholesale", may I also add this place was not American owned. I asked if they had any Light Blue and he replied, "Yes, one last bottle I will give you a discount". I opened the bottle and sprayed it and it was a little off. The sleazy salesman said it smells different on other people. I then proceded to pull out a real bottle in my purse that I carry for emergencies, held it up to the bottle in the store and the liquid was not even the same shade. The guys eyes were huge, and I told him this product is obviously fake! He was BUSTED and I am currently reporting them to the Better Business Bureau.

So girls, my best advise when purchasing fragrances is to do so in a department store. There you know it is authentic. In the long run the amount of time you spend returning the items and complaining to higher authorities equals the amount you would spend in the department stores.

Finally I would like to offer some tips to prevent yourself from falling subject to a scam. When you are on ebay never purchase items in Hong Kong, China, Thailand, or India. These almost always are counterfit items. If there are no bids on any of the seller's items there is a reason. Look at feedback, do not look only at the percent look at the remarks. There will always be a few negative, the remarks will usually state "sold me a fake item". If the seller sells massive quantities 2000 plus, there is usually a little something fishy. Read the fine print, many ebay auctions are misleading, it may say something like "not affiliated with D&G". If you are in a store, look for people who are American and knowledgable, there are many illegal immigrants who bring products that are counterfit from their countries. They come here on a 6 month work visa and return to their country with our hard earned money. I hope this advise finds some women and we can stop falling subject to these scam artists!

Learn more about this author, Lindsey Patton.
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