Fragrancenet or Perfumania - Experiences?

[Shaveathon]

I was thinking of ordering a bunch of colognes and aftershaves. Perfumania.com's selection is somewhat lacking while Fragrancenet.com seems to have a larger choice. Both offer daily coupon codes for anywhere from 20% to 30% off.

Have you all add positive or negative experiences or both? I've read some reviews on various forums where some are happy while others write that they received stuff that's watered down. The reviews of Fragrancenet.com here are pretty harsh:

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/cosmetics/fragrancenet.html

I don't want to order and find I'm getting colognes that have scents that last for an hour whereas I remember them lasting for 10 hours. Can these sites be trusted?

 

[Silverirae]

Perfumania is legit. They have line 1500 stores and are distributers for most of the department stores. I've heard nothing but positives about fragrance net as well

 

[mio_cuggino]

I've never used either, but have been very satisfied with FragranceX.
I've ordered a few of times. All items were received in excellent condition, no leaks, no fakes, and very quickly (even considering the border crossing)
For what it's worth.
Good luck.

 

[Black Adder]

Fragrancenet is okay. Got 3 bottles of Penhaligon's from them for a good price. They use Fed Ex as a "go between" for shipping, and in this day and age of "I wanted this 2 DAYS AGO!" shipping can seem slow. I'll order from them again.

Can't comment on all the negative reviews from the Consumer Affairs link, but a lot of them are ludicrous, some are hiarious.

Don

 

[Shaveathon]

Fragrancenet is okay. Got 3 bottles of Penhaligon's from them for a good price. They use Fed Ex as a "go between" for shipping, and in this day and age of "I wanted this 2 DAYS AGO!" shipping can seem slow. I'll order from them again

Do you mean they used one of those ship "Fed Ex to local post office for delivery" options to save money? The only problems I have with shipping is that it doesn't sit in a heated Fed Ex or UPS truck, or local post office depot over a weekend before delivery on a Monday. The only thing I'm concerned with (as long as it doesn't take 2 weeks to ship) is that the fragrance is legit, and has the some longevity that I remember from my first bottle purchased from a major department store. Sometimes, these fragrances have been sold to another party, and the new owner has changed the formula for the worse and it can't be helped.

 

[Shaveathon]

From what I've been reading, Perfumania Holdings, owned by Quality King Distributors, has purchased alot of the older fragrances and has possible reformulated some of them. When that occurs, it's usually not for the better. Could that be why Perfumania's selection isn't as vast as Fragrancenet's? Does Perfumania concentrate on mainly selling what they own?

http://perfumaniaholdings.com/

 

[Silverirae]

Perfumania doesn't actually own the rights to reformulate any fragrance. They are merely distributors for fragrance houses. They may own exclusive rights to distribution of certain fragrances, but they have nothing to do with the production.

From what I've been reading, Perfumania Holdings, owned by Quality King Distributors, has purchased alot of the older fragrances and has possible reformulated some of them. When that occurs, it's usually not for the better. Could that be why Perfumania's selection isn't as vast as Fragrancenet's? Does Perfumania concentrate on mainly selling what they own?

http://perfumaniaholdings.com/

 

[Shaveathon]

Perfumania doesn't actually own the rights to reformulate any fragrance. They are merely distributors for fragrance houses. They may own exclusive rights to distribution of certain fragrances, but they have nothing to do with the production.

Perfumania, Parlux and Five Star Fragrances are subsidiariesof Perfumania Holdings. http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyProfile?symbol=PERF.O

Parlux is engaged in the manufacture (through sub-contractors), distribution and sale of Kenneth Cole, Shawn Carter, professionally known as Jay-Z, Paris Hilton, Jessica Simpson, Rihanna, Marc Ecko, Vince Camuto, Donald Trump and Ivanka Trump fragrances and related beauty products.

Five Star’s brands include Tommy Bahama, Isaac Mizrahi, Bijan, Gale Hayman, Michael Jordan, Pierre Cardin, Royal Copenhagen, Royal Secret, Vicky Tiel, XOXO, Snookie, Realm, Norell and the League Baseball clubs, and are sold through QFG, SOW’s consignment business and the Company’s retail stores.

Nice video production here:

http://perfumaniaholdings.com/fragrance-brands/parlux-five-star-fragrance

 

[Silverirae]

That's right when they merged with Parlux they got into the development side. That being said, they do not manufacture. It's still a fragrance house that creates, or makes the fragrance(the sub contractors ).

 

[bberg100]

I've ordered a couple items from Perfumania and was completely satisfied.

 

[Black Adder]

Do you mean they used one of those ship "Fed Ex to local post office for delivery" options to save money? The only thing I'm concerned with (as long as it doesn't take 2 weeks to ship) is that the fragrance is legit, and has the some longevity that I remember from my first bottle purchased from a major department store.

Yes to the Fed Ex thing. Shipping for me averaged 10 days.

All the bottles were legit, and in original packaging. Penhaligon's, as a line, doesn't last on me. This is chemistry, not some attempt on Fragrancenet's part to sell a fraudulent product. That's what I found funny about a lot of the reviews on the Consumer Affairs link.

Don

 

[mattya1ic]

I usually buy from Fragrancenet (mostly because I can get Guerlain or Creed for a decent price) or Luckyscent.com. Luckyscent is more niche but they have amazing samples!! Try before you buy!!

 

[JeffA]

I've used Fragrancenet a couple times and been happy. Checking the batch codes online the fragrance was current stock. I use the Shoprunner shipping option with them and even then I can't say it's your it's the fastest though.

 

[Shaveathon]

I've used Fragrancenet a couple times and been happy. Checking the batch codes online the fragrance was current stock. I use the Shoprunner shipping option with them and even then I can't say it's your it's the fastest though.

I keep hearing about shipping times. I'm starting to wonder if they actually have a warehouse for stock, or do they call around to distributors when they get orders. Is it possible that all these discount sellers like Fragrancenet, Fragrancex, Scentedmonkey, etc. operate from the same blueprint in that they just call the same central distributors as soon as orders come in?

 

[frstplce]

Is it possible that all these discount sellers like Fragrancenet, Fragrancex, Scentedmonkey, etc. operate from the same blueprint in that they just call the same central distributors as soon as orders come in?

I doubt it. My last order from Scented Monkey was ordered Oct. 12 and arrived Oct. 15. My absolute winner for speedy delivery lately though was Beautyspin.com. Ordered early Monday morning and a UPS truck dropped it at my door Tuesday early evening. Granted, they are in NJ and I'm in PA, but that is still impressive speed. I don't have any recent experience with the others to offer input.

 

[Musikmann]

The GF likes to hit the various Outlet Malls and invariably, there is a Perfumania there. They all have a good selection and you can sometimes find decent prices on select items. In one mall I was in recently there was also a Fragrantica and I was more impressed with that store; I have never looked for a website. I can't offer much in the way of online-only sites but the brick and mortars I mentioned seemed perfectly legitimate.

 

[Ad Astra]

Perfumania sent me a bunch of samples, and a discount card for next purchase when I ordered the $10 Tabac cologne.

Great service and they couldn't have made much ...


AA

 

[Shaveathon]

I doubt it. My last order from Scented Monkey was ordered Oct. 12 and arrived Oct. 15. My absolute winner for speedy delivery lately though was Beautyspin.com. Ordered early Monday morning and a UPS truck dropped it at my door Tuesday early evening. Granted, they are in NJ and I'm in PA, but that is still impressive speed. I don't have any recent experience with the others to offer input.

Never heard of Beautyspin so I will give them a look. I've read all kinds of things about Scented Monkey, but their prices on Proraso are incredible.

The GF likes to hit the various Outlet Malls and invariably, there is a Perfumania there. They all have a good selection and you can sometimes find decent prices on select items.

I'm going to have to go into the local Perfumania and see if the selection is better than what they have on their website. I think Retailmenot has a 20% off coupon for Perfumania retail stores.

Perfumania sent me a bunch of samples, and a discount card for next purchase when I ordered the $10 Tabac cologne.

I've seen that Tabac cologne on their site at the same price for quite some time, but I couldn't believe they could charge less than half of what most others charge for the same strength scent. I thought it must be older product that's been returned from department stores, but then again, many people would rather buy decades old colognes and EDT's because they've been sold and the new versions have been reformulated.

 

[mio_cuggino]

I've seen that Tabac cologne on their site at the same price for quite some time, but I couldn't believe they could charge less than half of what most others charge for the same strength scent. I thought it must be older product that's been returned from department stores, but then again, many people would rather buy decades old colognes and EDT's because they've been sold and the new versions have been reformulated.

I ordered the $10 Tabac and it was good.
If it's still there, I'd recommended it, for the price.
And the bottle is big enough that it can be an accent piece. Heck, you can use it for a bat.

 

[Shaveathon]

I doubt it. My last order from Scented Monkey was ordered Oct. 12 and arrived Oct. 15.

Have you ever ordered any Proraso from Scentedmonkey. Their prices are excellent. I started another thread on this in the general shaving forum as it covers all different types of products:

http://scentmonkey.com/search.php?oos=s&designer=Proraso