The OFFICIAL Fragrance Split Discussion Thread

[blazingazn]

I agree with this maybe just ease up and finish one successfully first before starting all these splits. Green irish tweed is very popular...

Originally Posted by CologneReview

I'm not trying to be rude here, but have you completed a single split? I've seen you post 5+ and haven't seen any feedback of people joining, receiving their split or anything.
Sent from my Nexus S

 

[whodini]

Maybe I'm new to this culture but I don't understand the taboo about decants. People are going to want xxx product but maybe don't want to receive as much as a split. Personally, I prefer having several 10-20ml bottles that I rotate through rather than entire bottles that I might not get through.

BillyD may be legit but I haven't seen any completed transactions and that makes me really nervous.

 

[Rosenberg]

Originally Posted by blazingazn

I agree with this maybe just ease up and finish one successfully first before starting all these splits.

Green irish tweed is very popular...





Sent from my Nexus S

I'm not sure he's doing "splits" really. I think he just buys **** he wants and offers to sell other people decants for the amounts he's willing to part with. I'm under the impression he buys this stuff regardless if anyone else wants in or not, but I could be wrong.

 

[BillyD]

i´m trying to find a scent ya´ll want so i can start somewhere, and i thought i´d put the apom with it, as i had the chance to buy it cheaper and someone could want a decant then

all the others are not bought yet, only the apom is already here

i understand that i am new so i am offering some splits i thought people would like them

 

[Rosenberg]

Originally Posted by BillyD

i´m trying to find a scent ya´ll want so i can start somewhere, and i thought i´d put the apom with it, as i had the chance to buy it cheaper and someone could want a decant then

all the others are not bought yet, only the apom is already here

i understand that i am new so i am offering some splits i thought people would like them

The Aqua Universalis was pretty tempting

 

[BillyD]

i just read somewhere the unversalis forte has a huge sillage and and longlivety, and huge sillage is must have for me, so i think i´ll buy it next week

 

[Thomas]

Originally Posted by Notreknip

Temporary derail warning:

I've sort of chatted with Rambo about this in the past but I'm still not sure I get how a split is different from offering up multiple decants. For example, could I not just list every fragrance I own personally and "split" up the remnant juice that I don't want/need - even over an extended period of time? I'd never do this of course, at least not in this thread, but undoubtedly this is a totally efficient way to get/give juice as needed. Not trying ruin a great thing by any means, but have we ever really established that selling decants is "off-limits"? It seems implied around here that this is taboo, but it is occurring here and there. Thoughts? To me, a split occurs when juice is purchased retroactively after receiving funds from interested parties. Is anything other than this scenario wrong on some level? That is a totally serious question. Even if, for some reason, we want to avoid overtly decanting for the purpose of sale on SF, I almost feel like we should have a thread (somewhere) where everyone lists what they are willing to give and what they want, with size indications as necessary. After that, discussions can exist in public or private depending on what is permitted. Am I crazy? Somebody please tell me the history on this issue. I'm pretty certain there is no SF history per se. Is this just a Basenotes issue that we really need not be worried about because of our relatively small presence here at SF? Teach me. I'm confused. (...)

Originally Posted by whodini

Maybe I'm new to this culture but I don't understand the taboo about decants. People are going to want xxx product but maybe don't want to receive as much as a split. Personally, I prefer having several 10-20ml bottles that I rotate through rather than entire bottles that I might not get through. (...)
Hmmm, I'm not the last word on this sort of thing, but I'll give you my observations. Basenotes allows splits down to 50ml, and anything under that is a decant (which is verboten). Decants in general have a bad reputation, stemming from a few (or a lot of) bad apples on ebay. The scenario varies, but the general idea is [seller] offers decants from Rare and Priceless scent on Ebay. People fall over each other to win the auction, and the scent arrives, and it's...probably not Rare and Priceless scent, but because it's an unknown quantity - the dupe works, at least part of the time. Well, you get the picture. Fake Chanels, fake vintage Guerlains, etc. etc. So LVMH saw Irreparable Harm being done to their brand, and persuaded Ebay, basenotes, et al. to stop allowing decant sales, and splits were likewise affected. But, the base issue behind decants - and the second-hand marked in general - remains: Are you really getting what you asked/paid/swapped for? Splits are, at least relatively speaking, verifiable in that you're getting a new bottle of something that can be objectively and easily compared against other new bottles. Decants aren't always so reliable, particularly if you're getting into vintage. Speaking of vintage: even legit bottles from trusted sellers/partners can be questionable. I've tossed two bottles from people who have been trustworthy, but the scents themselves had faded. The other, more obvious, taboo against decants is that if 5 people want [SCENT], then [COMPANY] then will typically sell 5 bottles of [SCENT]. Splitting the bottle into 5 portions of 20 ml means [COMPANY] only sells one bottle, which is economically sound from a consumer standpoint, but sucks if you're [COMPANY]. Basenotes, et al. really don't want to bite the hand that feeds them the good stuff, so to speak.

 

[bandrus1]

Originally Posted by Thomas

Hmmm, I'm not the last word on this sort of thing, but I'll give you my observations. Basenotes allows splits down to 50ml, and anything under that is a decant (which is verboten). Decants in general have a bad reputation, stemming from a few (or a lot of) bad apples on ebay.

The scenario varies, but the general idea is [seller] offers decants from Rare and Priceless scent on Ebay. People fall over each other to win the auction, and the scent arrives, and it's...probably not Rare and Priceless scent, but because it's an unknown quantity - the dupe works, at least part of the time. Well, you get the picture. Fake Chanels, fake vintage Guerlains, etc. etc.

So LVMH saw Irreparable Harm being done to their brand, and persuaded Ebay, basenotes, et al. to stop allowing decant sales, and splits were likewise affected. But, the base issue behind decants - and the second-hand marked in general - remains: Are you really getting what you asked/paid/swapped for? Splits are, at least relatively speaking, verifiable in that you're getting a new bottle of something that can be objectively and easily compared against other new bottles. Decants aren't always so reliable, particularly if you're getting into vintage.

Speaking of vintage: even legit bottles from trusted sellers/partners can be questionable. I've tossed two bottles from people who have been trustworthy, but the scents themselves had faded.

The other, more obvious, taboo against decants is that if 5 people want [SCENT], then [COMPANY] then will typically sell 5 bottles of [SCENT]. Splitting the bottle into 5 portions of 20 ml means [COMPANY] only sells one bottle, which is economically sound from a consumer standpoint, but sucks if you're [COMPANY]. Basenotes, et al. really don't want to bite the hand that feeds them the good stuff, so to speak.

I can speak for myself that of the dozen or so splits I have got off here and other places I would have never bought a full bottle. And that probably goes for most of us. So the company sells 1 or 2 VS 0

 

[Master-Classter]

^^ +1 there. for me, the reasons to do a decant split are that the juice is: - only available in large quantities (100ml, 200ml bottles, etc) - so potent that nobody needs 50ml, 10-30ml is more than enough to last a lifetime - high priced, but available in large amounts (250ml flacons) so the $/ml cost goes way down when the volume is doubled or tripled from a single bottle purchase Also: - some people have a price cap, so they want however much juice they can get for the $X they'll spend on any one frag - some people need more than a 2ml sample to decide if they like it or not - some people have such large collections (you know who you are) that even 10-30ml is probably more than enough instead of 50-100ml. - the actual bottles (le labo?) suck, so who cares if you just get the juice in an atomizer? at least that's the reason why I do the splits... now why not just do wardrobe decant sales? 1. Quality control - If it's fresh new bottle, I know it's legit and fresh juice, rather than not knowing the previous owner history, storage temps, etc. 2. Reliability - if there's 5 of us in a split, the person will have that many more people to answer to. So they'll have to do the split properly, mail everything out at once, and be legit. If it's just one decant being sold, the seller might take forever to get it mailed or forget, one buyer might get screwed and has no power to complain. 5 pissed off people can get someone banned. 3. Mentality - There's a difference between a post for a split and everyone jumping in on it and than all talking about it in the SOTD thread versus just long lists of what's available from everyone to sell posted up for all eternity. It's more fun to jump in while the going's hot before it closes.

 

[Thomas]

Originally Posted by bandrus1

I can speak for myself that of the dozen or so splits I have got off here and other places I would have never bought a full bottle. And that probably goes for most of us. So the company sells 1 or 2 VS 0
That's fair enough. Some people have a better grasp of what they want or will use and can exercise discipline accordingly. That said, for each one of you rational-types, it's probably fair to say that there's a person who says "I want it, and if a full bottle is the price of entry, then I'm in - no matter whether I'll use it up or not". This (disclosure time) has been my mentality - for the most part - for a while now. I'm now well into SABLE territory until I off-load a few (dozen) bottles).

 

[BillyD]

Hey Guys, i have the chance to buy the MFK - Cologne Pour Le Soir for 150$
But i´ll have to agree till the weekend
I think this one is good to start, so you guys see i am legit

The 6,5oz (200ml) bottle is $150
This split will be 3 ways for 1,7oz (50ml) each.
Decant supplies + shipping will be $10. Shipping via Registered Airmail from Germany

so : 47,5$ per split (150/4 = 37,5$ + 10$ shipping + decant)

Payment via Paypal standard payment or gift if you're feeling generous. PM me to sign up.

1.
2.
3.

 

[GreenFrog]

any amouage splits?

 

[Rambo]

Originally Posted by Notreknip

Temporary derail warning:

I've sort of chatted with Rambo about this in the past but I'm still not sure I get how a split is different from offering up multiple decants. For example, could I not just list every fragrance I own personally and "split" up the remnant juice that I don't want/need - even over an extended period of time? I'd never do this of course, at least not in this thread, but undoubtedly this is a totally efficient way to get/give juice as needed. Not trying ruin a great thing by any means, but have we ever really established that selling decants is "off-limits"? It seems implied around here that this is taboo, but it is occurring here and there. Thoughts? To me, a split occurs when juice is purchased retroactively after receiving funds from interested parties. Is anything other than this scenario wrong on some level? That is a totally serious question. Even if, for some reason, we want to avoid overtly decanting for the purpose of sale on SF, I almost feel like we should have a thread (somewhere) where everyone lists what they are willing to give and what they want, with size indications as necessary. After that, discussions can exist in public or private depending on what is permitted. Am I crazy? Somebody please tell me the history on this issue. I'm pretty certain there is no SF history per se. Is this just a Basenotes issue that we really need not be worried about because of our relatively small presence here at SF? Teach me. I'm confused. Edit: (TL;DR) I have so much stuff that I'd love to share/sell and I'm sure people out there would like some of it. I'm sure people have juice available to give that I'd love to buy. Aside from the Swap Box thing that isn't great at handling anything larger than 2mL samples, how can we make this happen?
This is a good explanation from T-Rex:

Originally Posted by Thomas

Hmmm, I'm not the last word on this sort of thing, but I'll give you my observations. Basenotes allows splits down to 50ml, and anything under that is a decant (which is verboten). Decants in general have a bad reputation, stemming from a few (or a lot of) bad apples on ebay. The scenario varies, but the general idea is [seller] offers decants from Rare and Priceless scent on Ebay. People fall over each other to win the auction, and the scent arrives, and it's...probably not Rare and Priceless scent, but because it's an unknown quantity - the dupe works, at least part of the time. Well, you get the picture. Fake Chanels, fake vintage Guerlains, etc. etc. So LVMH saw Irreparable Harm being done to their brand, and persuaded Ebay, basenotes, et al. to stop allowing decant sales, and splits were likewise affected. But, the base issue behind decants - and the second-hand marked in general - remains: Are you really getting what you asked/paid/swapped for? Splits are, at least relatively speaking, verifiable in that you're getting a new bottle of something that can be objectively and easily compared against other new bottles. Decants aren't always so reliable, particularly if you're getting into vintage. Speaking of vintage: even legit bottles from trusted sellers/partners can be questionable. I've tossed two bottles from people who have been trustworthy, but the scents themselves had faded. The other, more obvious, taboo against decants is that if 5 people want [SCENT], then [COMPANY] then will typically sell 5 bottles of [SCENT]. Splitting the bottle into 5 portions of 20 ml means [COMPANY] only sells one bottle, which is economically sound from a consumer standpoint, but sucks if you're [COMPANY]. Basenotes, et al. really don't want to bite the hand that feeds them the good stuff, so to speak.
I thought it was Bond who put the smack down on Basenotes?

 

[Rambo]

Just to add: Technically, we could all sell our decants and or splits, but there would be no telling if or when J and SF would get the smack down from one of the companies involved, thus possibly shuttering this thing we've got going here. When I tell everyone not to sell their own decants I'm just airing on the side of caution.

On the other hand, I am myself selling a few decants that I bought and no longer want, so I don't exactly know how that would shake out. Who's to say whether one's decant was purchased from another split, or was created by one's self? The waters tend to get a but murky here.

 

[Rambo]

For anybody who's interested - I've PM'ed Billy a few times and he seems like a straight shooter. He's from overseas and English isn't his first language. If he had a scent that I was interested in I'd give him a go.