08-08-2006, 08:43 AM
Quote: Buying at Auction and Saying Nothing
Imitation Perfumes on Ebay
Anyone buying at auction on ebay could, with a large probability, find that a forgery has fallen into their hands. This has been shown by a study by the Professor of Marketing at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz (Germany). For one month, individual auctions for particular perfumes were observed. Around 85% of the auctioned objects were forgeries, buyers receiving an original in merely 7% of cases..
About 250 auctions, at which a total of 256 products were on offer, were evaluated during the investigation. While the actual fragrance of the imitations often displayed only a minimal deviation from the original, the differences were clearly recognizable from other features. The weight of the bottle, the lettering used or the curvature in the bottom of the bottle pointed towards them being forgeries...
full article: http://www.markenbusiness.com/en/news.php?newsid=4026