I was on basenotes last night and was reading one of the stickeys and starting april 15 basenotes is not going to have decants listed on the site from what I understood as well as ebay not sure on the date for ebay. The reason is that the perfume industry is cracking down on what people can do with their cologne. Most of the folks doing the decants make no profit what so ever they provide a service that the industry doesn't or not that well. It just doesn't make since but what can you do. Just wanted to give those a heads up that may not have known it. It just pisses me off because I'm just starting out and the decants were an awesome way to do a test without breaking the bank on a large bottle until you know it's the right thing for your body chemistry.
Decants on basenotes and ebay not allowed anymore.
- Thread starter azazel19
- Start date
Now folks will just have to sell a bottle/atomizer/etc that just happens to be filled with <insert scent of choice> and make a disclaimer about said contents.
I guess they can sell it as almost empty. 
Ebay sellers do likewise with pipe tobacco or cigars. They sell the 'collectible' tin or box, or the atomizer for use with almost any scent, just happens to be filled right now with whatever. May not work on Basenotes, but ebay will continue strong.
You see it happen with booze as well.
Seems like this might backfire for the cologne conglomerates. Since I've been reading B&B, I've bought several decants either here or on basenotes and then ended up buying a couple of hundred bucks worth of colognes as a result. Without the decants, I wouldn't have taken the risk of buying a full bottle having made mistakes in the past. A quick spray in a shopping mall store is not sufficient to make a good decision on a $50-75 cologne purchase.
Decant sellers on BN have already set up a Yahoo group to facilitate their sales. At least one is "giving" decants away and charging high "shipping" costs. I wonder if this has implications for the B&B decant club and for Scotto's operation. . . .
jim
jim
I suspect that the void will be filled. Nature hates a vacuum.
It may take a few months, but I read over at Basenotes that
4 large eBay decant sellers will be jointly putting up their own site.
I strongly associate myself with those comments that this is stupid.
I have bought many bottles after trying decants.
It may take a few months, but I read over at Basenotes that
4 large eBay decant sellers will be jointly putting up their own site.
I strongly associate myself with those comments that this is stupid.
I have bought many bottles after trying decants.
Once I purchase a product from a company, it is no longer theirs, and they have no right to tell me what to do with it. If I want to sell or trade it to a willing party in a manner that conforms to the law (ie: no copyright issues, age restrictions, shipping concerns, etc.), it's none of their business.
Well said Ouch.
Regards, Todd
Regards, Todd
Yup. It's just a business with more money than another being a bully. I'm pretty sure if BN stood up to the industry, they'd be fine. But they probably don't have the money to put up the fight. Not sure why ebay wouldn't be willing to fight seeing as they're going to lose money due to less auctions being posted.
Doubtless they hope you'll just spring for the whole bottle! But I agree, one wants to sample before committing to a big bottle that can be well over $100 for the good stuff.
I had seen some members post that Scotto wasn't doing samples anymore ... mind you that was about a week after he sent me my samples, so I don't even know if that's still going!
He is not doing cream samples for a while - see this post
http://www.badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=2251
but decants are apparently still available. He's got a good selection, good prices and does an overall great job.
jim
Wow, is this asinine. I have a planned buy of Trafalgar EDT, which I would never have contemplated without first getting a sample from Scotto and trying it out.
(Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer, don't play one on TV, and didn't even sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night.)
Understand your feelings, but the question is whether decants do or do not conform to the law.
Fragarance manufacturers have protection under trademark and copyright laws. In that sense, they do have rights to protect themselves from someone selling their products in an unauthorized manner.
Creating a true counterfeit product is obviously against the law. It is clear why fragarance houses would take action to protect themselves against counterfeiters.
Repackaging the original product into non-original containers is not so clear (to me). The manufacturer would be concerend because someone is selling a product with their brand name, but with unknown quality standards.
This model also creates an easy opportunity for cheap knock-off counterfeits. Consumers could easily be duped.
Personally... I'd hate to see decants go away. I've tried a number of fragarances that way. I bought full bottles of the ones I liked. Even when I own a big bottle, decants are great for travel use.
Yeah, checking the 'samples' thread would have been a quick solution for me. I got samples from Scotto earlier this year, and appreciate the work that he puts into this project.
