Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey,  or LVMH,  owns many of the world’s most expensive brands such as Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior.  A quick search of these terms on eBay would ,  until recently, bring up hundreds of items.  Most claimed to be authentic purses or clothing, however, LVMH claimed that 90% of these items were in fact fakes.  And now, a French court has ruled that eBay must pay $61 million in damages to LVMH.

First off…it’s really kind of depressing how desperate some shoppers are to have the “it” bag, that they would buy one sight unseen, of dubious provenance, on the internet.  At least get yourself down to Chinatown so you can see if you’re getting a good knockoff!  Or better yet, buy from an indie designer or make your own damn bag!

But when it comes to perfumes, I am torn.  On the one hand, if you want bargains, perfume discounter sites are much more reliable and offer great customer service.  I’m talking about sites like Scentiments, Fragrancenet, FragranceX, and Beauty Encounter (nee PerfumeBay, who ironically was sued by eBay).  If you don’t want to try a whole bottle, there are even sites that sell sample vials, such as The Perfumed Court, and Luckyscent.  And of course there are again all the independent perfumers!  I am disappointed that it’s no longer allowed to sell decants of perfume on eBay,  but there are plenty of other places such as Makeupalley and the aforementioned websites to share, swap, or buy.

So what do you think?  Have you gotten fakes on eBay when you thought you were getting the real thing?  Do you knowingly buy knockoffs (I’m thinking of those scary “if you like Opium” sprays at the Dollar Tree…)?  How about decanting - do you and your pals split up large bottles to extend your fragrance budget?

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