Where do people who sell (new) perfume on eBay get their supplies from ?

[catsmother]

I've sold a few unwanted bits and bobs on eBay before (CDs, unwanted perfume, clothes), and know that a lot of people do quite well (for example) reselling clothes they've bought in charity shops and/or car boot sales.

However, the people who sell perfume on a regular basis puzzle me and I wonder where they get their supplies from ? You see a lot of tester bottles for example, are they all knocked off and sold by dodgy cosmetic counter people ?! And the new stuff ..... how can they sell it and make a worthwhile profit when it often goes for a bargain price ? More to the point, where do these people get it (in large quantities often) in the first place ? ......... I can't believe it's all duty free, for example, 'cos it often sells for less than duty free prices.

Do I have to assume that if I get designer perfume from eBay it's either stolen, or fake ? Each perfume I've ever bought has seemed absolutely authentic to me.

Any ideas anyone ?

I actually just sold 2 bottles of perfume last week - they were presents that I knew I'd never use. They had just been sitting on my shelf gathering dust for months! But totally authentic.

I know what you mean about the listings you see for all the samples, I always wonder who's selling them. And who buys them when presumably you'd be able to get free samples from the beauty counters anyway....? there must be fake and/or stolen perfume getting sold too. All seems a bit dodgy, doesn't it?

I know someone who is Greek and buys a bunch in Greece w/Euros and then sells them on British Ebay.

Of course, whenever she goes to Greece, I give her money to buy me Chanel w/Euros, too. .

Works out about 10 quid cheaper.

I think it gets "lost" in the supply chain or its factored off when a promotion ends.

When i was little a lorry carrying sachets of talcum powder for insertion in magazines crashe into our front garden and shed its load...we had that talcum powder around the house for about ten years after!