Does Farmer's sell fake perfume?

Lwarmreptile on 28/12/2021 - 08:34

hi,

I've been on the lookout for Acqua di Gioia and my partner got me a bottle for Xmas from Farmer's (whom I thought could be trusted with legit perfume). Armani has always employed a way of knowing if the bottle is real by not being able to easily see the plastic stem through the glass. Because they've now changed the bottle to a green cap, I wondered if this was still the case. Every photo I see of it, you can't see the stem. In the one I got from Farmer's, you can clearly see the stem. I asked the question on Amazon if it was still being made where you CANNOT see the stem and someone answered that yes, that was true. So what's the deal here…does Farmer's sell knock offs? Pretty disappointed as it's the same price as the real stuff. Anybody have the same experience? TIA.

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Comments

  • moxpearl on 28/12/2021 - 08:48
    +2

    Plot Twist: Partner said they got it from Farmers, but actually ordered it from AliExpress :D

    • bigcheese on 28/12/2021 - 08:53

      I’m thinking that may move it closer to the ‘knock off’ category…

    • warmreptile on 28/12/2021 - 17:46

      lol no, not the case. I have the receipt and bag he brought home ;-)

  • Juju123 on 28/12/2021 - 09:05

    I have been thinking Chemist warehouse should be the one selling knock off fragrance seeing the price they charged..But so far all the fragrance I got from CW has been great…

  • Dunno on 28/12/2021 - 09:28

    It's also really common for purfume to be sold in different/cheaper packaging in different markets but is legit, hard to say without haiving knowledge of the fakes on the market.

    • warmreptile on 28/12/2021 - 17:48

      Yes, that's grey market stuff which I googled to find out just what it was all about. But from my understanding, they wouldn't have used a different bottle, just lowered the price so in essence, it's real stuff they just have to price it for the country. However, it's not like we live in a cheap country so I don't know that it'd be grey market stuff they're selling.

      • Nil Einne on 28/12/2021 - 19:47

        I know next to nothing about Armani perfurme but see no reason why it isn't possible different bottles have been used. This could be over time, or between different markets for a variety of reasons including to discourage parallel imports or make it easier for them to see when it's going on. It's something that manufacturers all over the world in a variety of fields do so I'm not sure I see a reason Armani isn't going to do it. I would note in this particular case, if Armani was well known for their old style bottle and packaging, one possibility is they tried a new bottle and packaging. They got a lot complaints about their new bottle and packaging and decided to go back to the old. Again while I know nothing about the perfurme market, very often photos on websites are not updated when packaging changes.

        • Nil Einne on 31/12/2021 - 15:26

          Reading the OP again I realise I misread. My initial reading was they use to make it impossible to see the stem thru the bottle which was also the case for the perfume bottle on hand but photos showed the stem awas actually visible for this bottle. (Suggesting perhaps knockoff manufacturers just assumed it would be like that and so did the same, or Armani may have changed it between production runs or markets.) Re-reading I realise now that photos show the stem isn't visible for this bottle either, but for some reason it is on the the one received. This does seem more odd, although I still wouldn't rule out it being different for some reason.

  • Bill on 28/12/2021 - 13:19

    Why would they be? No large multi-million dollar corporation is going to risk their reputation and massive fines to make a higher margin by selling fakes. With the amount of product sold, people would notice of they weren't sourcing from the real thing.

    What's more likely is someone buying a perfume and then replacing it with a fake then returning it for in-store credit. Farmers allows returns of perfumes.

    Also sometimes stores tell brands to make a product that's very similar but at a lower cost, Bunnings does this to have unique product numbers so you can't price beat, and make them seem cheaper as well.

    • warmreptile on 28/12/2021 - 17:54

      People may not know the difference between real and fake perfumes. In the case of Armani, I happened to know this but I'm not sure what other high priced perfumes do to discourage counterfeits. I was asking in case someone may have had this particular perfume or another one where there was proof of a fake vs. real. Just seems odd to me why they'd charge so much and the bottle is very obviously not "real." The one way I may be able to tell is to go look at the others and see if the serial number is the same on each box! Although fakes still use the serial number thing too, so that's not a great way of knowing.

      The chances that someone returned a fake and he happened to get it is unlikely. I saw the same perfume (not in box) at my local op shop recently and could see the stem through it. They didn't know where it came from (store-wise). I immediately saw it was a fake but was shocked to see the one from Farmers looked exactly the same.

    • Nil Einne on 28/12/2021 - 19:50
      +1

      Returns is one possibility, probably the most likely one. It's a particular problem in the electronic space with Amazon and NewEgg and others in the US who allow returns on pretty much anything since someone may return a different CPU or different SSD or whatever and their staff can't tell the difference or sometimes it's in a box. You even get stuff like shucked HDs which are returned with something else in the case.

      Another possibility is it is fake but not knowingly. Depending on the length and who is involved, it's possible for fakes to make it into the supply chain. Given the kind of company Farmers is, they're likely dealing fairly closely if not directly with Armani which makes it less likely, but I still wouldn't rule it out especially given we are a very small market.

      • warmreptile on 29/12/2021 - 07:13

        Thanks for your comments. Yeah the box was sealed in plastic so again, I really doubt it was a case of being returned as I saw another one locally where I could see the stem as well. It could very well be a case of grey market selling to Farmer's. I'd never get the truth from them if I asked. Armani didn't have anywhere in NZ listed on their website as having a presence although that doesn't mean much. It could've just been the physical store they were referring to.

        I tried looking at a chain pharmacy to see if they had a tester out but they didn't. Haha, I'll get to the bottom of this one day!!

  • huffboy on 28/12/2021 - 17:59

    Just return it if you have doubts and get another one. IMO, farmers is a big corporation - they wouldn't knowingly sell fakes. Their primary business is selling jewelry where reputation is very important.

    • warmreptile on 28/12/2021 - 18:05

      Unfortunately I've already opened and used it.

      • huffboy on 28/12/2021 - 18:13

        ah… reach out to Armani and see what they have to say?

        • warmreptile on 28/12/2021 - 18:16

          Yes, I have…won't hold my breath though lol Will update here if I do hear anything back though!

  • maxsnz on 29/12/2021 - 07:56

    Armani fragrance and beauty is made and distributed by L'Oreal. Just give their Auckland office a call to ask

    • warmreptile on 29/12/2021 - 08:29

      ahh interesting, ok thanks!

      • Nil Einne on 31/12/2021 - 15:28

        Do keep us updated if possible. It may take a while due to Christmas and it's the sort of query which may need to be passed around so they can be sure. But I'd be surprised if Armani/L'Oreal isn't interested in possible fakes coming from Farmers.

  • shadako on 02/01/2022 - 02:33

    So I think perfumes are similar to sunglasses. A few big companies own the major brands. They are exacting with quality and have different grades. So the cheaper ones are usually weaker or different packaging for different markets.

    • warmreptile on 02/01/2022 - 07:41

      Ahh ok thanks for your insight!

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