Non Scents at Ebay
I decided to check the ‘Bay for some perfume that I intended to buy for someone and I wondered why the prices and bids were so low. When I clicked on the listing, I was greeted with this missive:
Dear User:
Unfortunately, access to this particular listing or item has been blocked due to a Paris commercial court decision that bans trade of certain authentic perfumes and cosmetic products on eBay because of French selective distribution laws. eBay is appealing this ruling but is nevertheless required to enforce it. We are blocking your viewing in an effort to comply with this court decision. Regrettably, in some cases, we may prevent users from accessing items that are not within the scope of the decision because of limitations on existing technology.
Thank You.
Hit the return button to return to the previous page.
According to Tamebay.com, the perfume ban is nothing new. I have been living under a rock. Kenzo, Guerlain, Christian Dior, Givenchy are the brands that were in question and were fighting Ebay to not be sold by unauthorized retailers back over the summer, when I and others I know were happy misting ourselves with very old, evaporating, and very stale scents and weren’t thinking about buying anything. This, apparently has since spread to other brands. In fact, every scent I clicked on was the same story. Just to find out if I was really going out of my mind, I even tried searching for “Avon” thinking Avon has their factory in the US, so certainly they would be an American product. Nope. Apparently someone else makes it who is in France, or more likely their system “limitations on existing technology.” Who knows how long it will last. Apparently, people are not paying attention, as it looks like they are still listing stuff that people cannot bid on or even see the detailed listings of.
If you are buying a fragrance this year for yourself or someone else, don’t think you can pass up the counter at the department store for a better price on Ebay. Oh, you’ll get a better price, but not one you can take advantage of. I guess this is a case of a bird in the hand.
Uncategorized | Comments (2)
2 Responses to “Non Scents at Ebay”
Leave a Reply
I would be careful about buying cologne on eBay. Generally I have been very happy with my purchases, but the one time I purchased a scent was disastrous. I purchased a lot of the classic Polo cologne in 4 small sample sizes. It only cost me $20 US and when they arrived, one bottle was leaking and they all had gone bad. Old Polo smells like Pine-sol. I communicated with the seller, who purchased the cologne from a warehouse. He had no idea how long it had been sitting there (!). I returned the shipment but was never refunded. Live and learn. That aside, I don’t know why the French government is dictating what North American’s can or cannot buy online. In Toronto there are dozen’s of discount perfume stores that sell items at 20 to 30% below the department store prices.
I don’t know why either. It is not anything like the cases Tiffany, et al, had with ebay. In that case, people were selling knockoffs, replicas, etc. I don’t think anyone is selling counterfeit perfume. Off condition, perhaps, but no one seems to be bottling their own stuff and passing it off as something else.