Frugal Friday: Where to buy...

For this Friday’s “Frugal Friday” recommendations, I wanted to share some personal recommendations with on-line purchasing.

When dealing with fragrances, I am generally not a big fan of purchasing on-line unless (a) there are no other or better options, (b) they provide a consumer-friendly return-policy, and (c) they stand behind their merchandise (which means dealing only with reputable distributors and avoiding counterfeiting at all costs). All three of the above would be the ideal circumstance, and two of my recent experiences managed to stand up to those litmus tests.

Drugstore.com: They also operate Beauty.com, so they’re one in the same operation. If you see a product on either of those sites, it’s the same retailer. I purchased a 90ml bottle of Oscar de la Renta Pour Lui to replace one that had been long emptied, and managed to find them on-line. The brick-and-mortar retail channel was tough for this fragrance, but there were no shortage of on-line retailers who had available stock. Drugstore was among the most reasonable, offered discount shipping options (one was no cost), and my purchase arrived within three days of order (so they didn’t choose the slowest shipping option available, a la Amazon). Follow-up on the purchase was proactive to ensure my satisfaction, and the seller offered no-questions-asked returns. Selection is not massive, though you’ll find a variety of old favorites and mass-market mainstays.

Walgreens. Yes. Walgreens. When ordering a bottle of Fahrenheit Absolute by Christian Dior, one indication of its poor availability was that it was relegated to the on-line retailing world. In turn, while I was determined to sample and review it, I also needed some reassurance that I could return it if it didn’t work out. Again, I might have saved a dollar or two elsewhere, but the true catch for Walgreens was not in saving a dollar or two on the Web. It was being able to seek out “coupon codes” for my purchase, which could range from $10 off a purchase over $50, or 20% off beauty and personal care. In the case of my purchase, taking $10 away from the price and offering free shipping made them the cheapest option. Two minutes of a keyword search in Google equals significant savings, so I’m not complaining.

As you may be aware from reading the review, it didn’t work out for me. While the fragrance experience was disappointing, the return experience wasn’t; you can return your purchase to any of thousands of Walgreens locations for a full refund. With no cost shipping, I’ve effectively tried a fragrance and lost nothing for the experience other than my time. Here again, selection isn’t massive (it’s roughly double the size of Drugstore.com), but they’re worth a look for finding mass-market entries and certain designer labels.

Noteworthy and “not-worthy”. Amidst the experiences I’ve had, one on which I’ve found myself stung once or twice has been — believe it or not — Amazon.com. Since Amazon is not the exclusive seller or supplier of products for its site, be wary of any reseller who doesn’t carry an absolutely sterling rating (and I qualify that as ‘consistently above 97%’). There will always be those who will never be satisfied, but that 3 out of 100 satisfaction rating to me suggests that the seller is ready to correct any issues to address legitimate concerns. My most recent experience involved a seller misrepresenting a splash as a “spray” on an item that has been discontinued — for me, an atomizer does make application much less fussy, so the lack of it while not a deal-breaker was a disappointment. In the past, I’ve also been contacted by misrepresenting third-party sellers offering bribes as an incentive to recant negative comments, so be aware that not all Amazon sellers are created equal, and some are downright shady. Amazon qualifies under “caveat emptor” or “not-worthy” versus noteworthy.

FragranceX.com, LuckyScent.com and a few other resellers have maintained a positive reputation for selling authentic products at fair to discount prices. Like any other purchase, do your research and check the reputation of the seller. Both of the above are resellers with whom I’ve transacted in the past and had positive interactions. Both retailers tend to deal with mass-market fragrances, designers scents, and certain luxury-line fragrances. As always, check what you are purchasing and whether this has the real possibility of not being authentic.

A few words of caution…

1. As much as I’ve been wary of Amazon (especially when Amazon is not the only retailer on their site), I am even more highly suspect of eBay. Often eBay sellers may be advertising “slightly used” or “95% full bottles” of a particular item, or items without box. Beware. The seller may be passing a diluted version of the product, or one that has been used with some of the contents replaced with water or alcohol, thereby changing the product dramatically.

2. Unnamed fragrance retailers, like the ones found in the mall. I don’t know many other ways of saying this but stay away.

What’s on tap for next week…

Enjoy your weekend, and happy hunting! We’ll be taking the weekend off and returning on Monday with more reviews. Hedre are a few previews of what’s on tap:

Tom Ford’s take on Amber from his Private Blend Collection…
Two Bond No. 9 New Yorks…
A head-to-head challenge between two fragrances that seem so similar yet retain different characters…
A Guerlain exclusive that nearly all of us missed by blinking…
Our review of a well-respected Santal, and whether it’s truly deserving of the accolades.

See you Monday!