Question:
So I'm thinking of investing in some of Divine's L'Homme de Coeur. I found the 50ml vaporizer on Luckyscent for $115. I then went to Divine's website, where the exact same bottle was 75 Euro. At today's exchange rate ($1.3227/Euro), that is almost exactly $100.
So, that's a pretty considerable markup for Luckyscent to make. I would expect some price increase just because Luckyscent needs to make money somehow, but a 15% markup is just not smart, especially considering that people can easily buy direct from Divine for much less.
Even if we assume that Luckyscent changed their prices to hedge against expected foreign exchange losses from importing with a weak dollar (which is actually reasonable, considering how the $ has been faring lately), $115 still takes it a bit too far. I'd look at the prices of some fragrances from US based houses for comparison, but I don't think Luckyscent caries ANYTHING made in the US.
Is this a fluke that only applies to Divine, or are other fragrances also this expensive on Luckyscent? Does anyone regularly buy there? What are your experiences? One time I did buy samples there...shipment was lightning fast and customer service was very nice. But still, I've never NOT encountered nice customer service when buying scents, so I'm not willing to forgive them for trying to rip me off me just yet.

Answer:
And yet if you look at it a different way it is Divine that is really ripping people off since it is the manufacturer its "markup" almost surely exceeds Luckyscent's.

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Originally Posted by Tuner_Watson And yet if you look at it a different way it is Divine that is really ripping people off since it is the manufacturer its "markup" almost surely exceeds Luckyscent's. Very true...they have the ability to set the base market price wherever they want. But you expect that from a niche house like Divine, and there's really nothing anyone can do about it. For a middleman like Luckyscent to increase prices that much is as bad for them (since it takes like 2 more mourse clicks for us to buy from Divine directly) as it is for us.

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Have you figured the shipping cost and time from Europe.............?

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Originally Posted by Lightninrod Have you figured the shipping cost and time from Europe.............? Might I add US custom duties and taxes.........
When a retailer or e-tailer like Luckyscent and Aedes etc etc, put their prices on they don't calculate what the retail price should be, it is determined by a distributor for that country or by the company themselves. The wholesale price for these stores are based on what the retail for that product is.
Again I am only talking about niche products, not the mainstream products, which are abundant in the grey market.

Answer:
Originally Posted by maisonstinky Might I add US custom duties and taxes.........
When a retailer or e-tailer like Luckyscent and Aedes etc etc, put their prices on they don't calculate what the retail price should be, it is determined by a distributor for that country or by the company themselves. The wholesale price for these stores are based on what the retail for that product is.
Again I am only talking about niche products, not the mainstream products, which are abundant in the grey market.
Absolutely! When talking about the difference of $15 it is mostly about what is called the "Landed Cost". When importing there are a pile of costs involved. Yout not only have the basic transportation charge but you pay the freight forwarder on the origin end to prepare your export documents and file your export declaration and do the leg work of arranging all legs of the transport from the factory/warehouse to the shoppe. You'll also have to pay brokerage on the import side to a customs broker who files your import paperwork plus whatever customs charges are assessed.
For a "smaller" importer this can get expensive because they are paying ex/im fees on every single shipment no matter how small it is.....a service fee that nice folks like me charge nice folks like you. My export service & handling fee for an air shipment starts somewhere around $75 (add $25 more if it's dangerous goods) and for ocean shipments I don't talk to a small exporter for less than $175 (plus $25 or so if it's dangerous goods). This is just for me arranging the shipment and doing the export filing & compliance checks - it does not include the freight.

Answer:
Originally Posted by maisonstinky Might I add US custom duties and taxes.........
When a retailer or e-tailer like Luckyscent and Aedes etc etc, put their prices on they don't calculate what the retail price should be, it is determined by a distributor for that country or by the company themselves. The wholesale price for these stores are based on what the retail for that product is.
Again I am only talking about niche products, not the mainstream products, which are abundant in the grey market. I suppose you guys are right...it just seems like someone in the process would try to make the prices line up just to keep people like me from asking these kinds of questions.
I guess I didn't really think about shipping though. I wonder how much less money it is to ship w/in the US from Luckyscent instead of from Divine? I doubt the difference is $15 though.
Are there tarriffs on fragrances here?

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jaelyn, excellent information. I always wondered why the costs were so different. My weird experience was with Andy Tauer's fragrance. I saw that it was lots cheaper on his website and so I placed the order...however, the shipping more than made up for the difference between his site and Luckyscent. It was worth it but I do love Luckyscent! Love you too VJ!!!

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I bought l'homme sage and l'homme de coeur direct from Divine's website mostly because of lucky's high price. A single 50 ml atomizer of just one scent from luckyscent was $124 shipping included.
From Divine, I got two 60 ml bottles - that cost $172 including shipping. It took about 10 days to arrive by priority mail from France, but would have been faster if it weren't for two weekends being included in that time period.
I decided to buy right from Divine because it was the better bargain, but their service was so perfect, bottles wrapped stylishly, packaged with obvious care, hand-written note, with samples of all their scents (including more of the two I just bought), the buying experience alone was enough to encourage buying directly from Divine also. (note there are no email confirmations/invoices sent to you from the website though - it's a bit primitive.) Luckyscent has done well for me with prompt, efficient service, but efficiency isn't the same kind of service as polished personal attention.
It was by far my best fragrance buy - couldn't have been better. Both of Divine's men's fragrances are five-stars to me.

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Luckyscent has to recoup some of the money THEY had to pay for shipping.
I imagine they buy some of these fragrances by the case. The heavier and bulkier the case, the more the shipping cost.
Either way, they are going to make the money back.
S
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By the way, what is Divine's website URL?
S