Maybe they are stolen and have been fenced? Both those items would be easy to steal from stores.

The perfume seller did have many to sell, like 50 or something and 40 had already been sold. A stolen case?

I've read that there are counterfeit knockoff goods on eBay, expensive handbags for instance, and health & beauty products. Would you be able to tell? I think it's big business.

eBay is not a place I trust anymore. There is downright dishonesty. They have had a lot of bad and unprofessional sellers enter the marketplace more recent years. It's hit or miss, imo. Shipping has gotten too high and sellers often pad profits there which they are not supposed to do.

The photography is so inaccurate and it is not uncommon for a seller to "forget" to mention or "not notice" a defect. Or freak out and blame you if you contact them about it! lol

The place just gives me the creeps anymore. Like Craigs List.

I guess a case could be stolen, but I think with that amt of goods that counterfeit is more likely.

Here is a link that might be useful: counterfeit perfume on ebay

I don't think it's counterfeit, it smells exactly like the real thing and I am very familiar with what to look for, hence the magnifying glass, and the uber examination.
I see ebay as a big garage sale, of sorts, and actually have only had good experiences. I've bought a lot of stuff there. It doesn't frighten me in the least. There are certain precautions to follow, however.
I just was wondering....

I saw a news story the other day about stolen goods on eBay. Evidently it is a huge problem.

Items could be stolen, they could be from an estate, or they could be from overstock or outlet and purchased with an employee discount. I've seen some high end items for a song at Tuesday Morning. If I worked there, I would get first pick and have my employee discount. I knew a woman whose daughter worked at a Ralph Lauren outlet. My goodness, she found some amazing bargains because she got first pick of arriving items.

I see sales on eBay where the sellers aren't trying to get market value, but rather are trying to clear items out fast after a family member has died. Since the sellers have no investment in the item, every dollar is profit to them.

A little bit off-topic, but several years ago there was a home burglary ring operating in my county. They would take everything in a home, not just valuable items, and sell the items at swap meets. They didn't care if they were selling items too cheaply because it was all profit to them.

after our house was burglarized about 10 or so yrs ago, the police told us that burglars sit with the stolen stuff for 1-2 months and them hit ebay. pawn shops had become a thing of the past even then.

Oh great. Now burglars are willing to take anything for selling on eBay. So much for not having much of interest! lol

I heard talk that eBay is dead. Not busy like it was in the past.

I didn't read the responses but saw a documentary a few weeks ago that exposed how freight theft is a big contributor to low prices on eBay. Trailers full of products are stolen and the sold super cheap

Very interesting and not surprising. Freight theft certainly would explain a lot.

yes, i have also heard about freight theft being rather common... especially with cosmetics. met someone in a diner a few years ago who told me he 'get me' cheap mac products because he knew of someone with a theft connection...

Busy - that's awful! Why would he assume you would knowingly buy stolen products???!!!

I don't buy make-up, perfume, etc. off ebay. I am not that trusting. I don't want to take a chance on something being tampered with.

I think there are probably stolen items on ebay but I also think there is probably alot of overstock, etc.

I still buy off ebay but I am very careful. I always check feedback and will buy from those with only the highest ratings.

The only time I've had an issue on ebay was a seller who took quite some time to get an item to me. I later found out he had a very sick relative (his mother if I remember). I recently had an incident on Etsy - I had bought a bead for a charm bracelet and didn't receive it. I contacted the seller and one morning I work to two emails from her. The first one said she'd mailed in on such and such date and I should have received it. It was mailed USPS. The second one said she'd thought about it and decided she would just refund my money. She was hoping the bead might still show up. It still hasn't. I appreciate sellers like that.

tina

My DD bought Carolina Herrera 212 for me for Christmas from Amazon and it does not smell like 212; I can't tell I have it on; no one else can smell it on me; leaves no residual fragrance on my clothing. We think it is either old or counterfeit. I know my 212 as I purchased it several times in the past from Macy's or other department stores. I know we are talking about ebay vs Amazon, but a lot of "distributors" sell through Amazon, so I think the same concept would apply.

I'm not knowledgeable about expiration dates of colognes and how it effects them, but I do know that make-up can be effected by expiration dates. But that doesn't mean every time you purchase a toiletry or make-up from ebay, it is going to be bad. I just think a lot of overstock ends up in the hands of ebay sellers.

Tuesday, that's too bad, you may have a fake but perfumes do not get old. Vintage perfumes are preferred by many as the manufacturers change the formulas over the years - to less desirable smells and having little to do with the original scent.
Often to save money using synthetics often because certain key ingredients are now banned.
They ride on the name recognition alone.

Is it possible that what you have is a cologne or edt and you have purchased parfum before? Huge differences and often I do not like the edt of a fragrance at all.

Here is a good article about identifying fakes:

1. Look at the outer packaging.
If your bottle came shrink wrapped pay attention to the quality of the wrapping. It should fit cleanly and snugly around the box and be made of clear, unwrinkled high-quality cellophane. If the box of perfume did not come shrink wrapped, don't worry, some sellers remove the shrink wrap prior to selling. The next things you can look for are on the boxes themselves. Look up the fragrance online and compare the box you have with the pictures of the ones online to see if yours looks similar. If there's a design element out of place, the font used is different or the box you have looks like it's a much lower quality then be suspicious. Real boxes should have nice sharp corners, and be made of high quality paper. If the box is flimsy or fits the bottle poorly then be suspicious. Next, check the spelling and grammar on the box. If anything is misspelled, that is a tell-tale sign that you have a fake.

2. Look at the bottle.
Real perfume bottles are detailed and made of high-quality glass with specific design elements to make them unique and easy to identify. If your fragrance bottle has visible faults in the glass, isn’t made of the materials it should be, has a defective sprayer, or lacks the usual markings in the right places (brand name, fragrance name, logos, serial numbers, lot numbers) then be very suspicious. If it looks shoddy, then it's probably fake. Similar to the boxes, also check the grammar and spelling. Look up images of real bottles online and pay attention to the fine details. For example, some fake bottles of Chanel Coco Mademoiselle lack some of the key, minor, details that the real bottles exhibit.

3. The fragrance.
Real perfume liquid should be crystal clear. There should be nothing swimming in there like sediment. If you’ve got cloudy perfume, or perfume that has mysterious little bits and pieces in it then be very suspicious and whatever you do, do not spray it on yourself. You do not know what chemicals went into composing it, you also may not know if it is fake or just simply expired.
Real fragrances are complex and have three layers, top notes, middle notes, and base notes. Most counterfeits won’t smell like the real thing. They may smell similar but have a flat, one-dimensional quality to them. Or they might smell completely different from what you remember. If you suspect you have a fake, head to a department store and try to spray some of the real stuff onto a scent blotter (the paper strips some stores provide people to test fragrances on), then go home and spray your suspected fake on another blotter and compare the two. Again, do not spray it on yourself if you think you have a fake.

4. Look for the lot (control) number.
This one is less reliable than the three above because some counterfeiters have gotten very good at duping the bottles and packaging. All higher end perfumes have lot numbers on them. Depending on the company, the location of these numbers may vary and change over time as fragrance houses try to outsmart the counterfeiters. What you should look for is a three to four digit number, usually located on the bottom of the bottle of perfume either etched into the glass, inked onto the glass, or on the sticker itself. Sometimes you can find these lightly etched in to the glass on the side of the bottle, and sometimes lightly etched on the sprayer nozzle. There's a number of other places you can find these too so keep an eye out. When you find this number, compare it to the number that is usually embossed, printed, or lightly etched on the box the bottle came in (usually you can find this in the same place the barcode is located on the box). These two numbers should match. If they do not match, someone may be selling you a fake. If you can't even find the lot number, be very suspicious but don't jump to conclusions based on this alone as you may just be overlooking them.
Source(s):
http://that-smell.com/2010/05/04/the-dan…

All I have is the bottles and I will check when I am home - packaging was discarded immediately.

We have always used the Eau de Toilette spray - $94.00 is EXPENSIVE for my family. For those not familiar with 212, there two small angled bottles inside the outer container. See attached Macy's link.

The next time I am at Macy's or Sephora, I am going to go in the store perfume-free and try their samples and see if it is any better. Believe me, I am very familiar with this product from my daughter's college years - it was her go-to cologne and I "borrowed" it.

She was home this past weekend and tried mine and agreed it was not like what she had used in the past. In fact, I bought her a gift set a couple of years ago from that she loved and it was fine.

It is not a big deal! If I purchase in the future, it will be from a reputable dept. store.

I'll have to smell that sometime, the notes look like what I love and the perfumer is Alberto Morillas, the creator of my favorite scents.

I remember hearing a story on NPR awhile ago that said, nowadays, when stores go out of business you just don't see the massive markups like 75% off because these "liquidation" companies come in and buy everything for a deep discount (including shelves and racks). The out-of-business stores love it because they don't have to lift a finger to move everything out because the liquidators do all the work. Then most of the inventory gets sold on Ebay for much cheaper than retail.

tina, i guess he hoped the idea of cheap mac eyeliner would be worth it to me...!! (i learned to try to avoid sitting near him some time ago! tho haven't seen him around at all for awhile....)