Latest update: September 2023 | by globaleyez GmbH

Test Purchases on Wish

 

 

Everyone has a “signature scent”. But fragrances can be expensive, especially the ones by well-known fashion designers. It’s little wonder people are turning to shopping platforms like Wish to find a cheaper alternative. But if you order cheaper products, are they really authentic?

 

Find out all you need to know about Wish

Ordering perfume from Wish

We picked a perfume by Thierry Mulger, Alien, to put to the test. When you browse this perfume on Wish, you will find that there are a number of perfumes available, but they are all different prices. It’s easy to assume that the lower priced ones are not authentic, and the higher priced ones are, but is that the case?

 

Wish used to be famous for only offering counterfeit products, and very cheap generic products. But now they have become more famous, especially with their increase in TV advertising, they do offer the real product in some instances. The trouble is, it’s hard for the customer to tell whether the product is genuine or not. Would you know an authentic fragrance from a dupe?

 

Screenshot of parfumes listed for search term "Alien" on Wish.com

 
How easy is it to order from Wish?

Ordering from Wish is really simple. You can sign in using a Facebook account, and then just add in card details when you make your first purchase. One of the things we found was that the cheaper products had a really long shipping time, so perhaps this is one of the compromises?

 

Screenshot of Items in Cart on Wish.com with a parfume listed on "Alien"

 

We placed the order on the 18th of February, so as you can see this shipping time is a full month. We also made an order for one of the more expensive Alien perfumes on sale, which could be an authentic one due to the higher price.

 

Screenshot of Items in Cart on Wish.com with expensive parfume listed on "Alien"

 

As you can see the more expensive product has a slightly shorter shipping time.

How long did it take to receive the perfume?

The perfume took quite a while to be delivered.  The order was placed on the 18th of February 2020 and then the delivery date got pushed back from the 16th of March to the 23rd, and got delivered on the 21st. Due to the coronavirus pandemic this might not have been the fault of the seller. As the seller was from China it was inevitable it would take a bit longer than usual with all of this going on in the world.

 

Considering there are many other sellers and e-Commerce sites that could deliver more quickly, it might not have been worth the wait just to save some money if we needed the perfume for a set date. The item took a while to come.

Screenshot of item details for perfume listed for "Alien" on Wish.com

 
Where did the perfume come from?

The perfume came from a seller called SUNQUANA, in Guangdong in China. If you visit this sellers page you will see that they seem to specialise in fragrances. The shipping was very cheap for an item that had come from so far away, and only cost £5.

 

It’s hard to tell whether a perfume is real or not when browsing online, but if the shop sells a number of different perfumes by different designers, it could be quite easy to be fooled into thinking this is a proper third-party seller of the fragrance.

 
What did we receive?

There was text on the packaging that looked legitimate. We received a fairly well-packaged perfume. There wasn’t anything to outwardly suggest this perfume was not authentic.

 

Like many other fragrances, this had quite a nice box came packed in cellophane. However when you take a closer look at the outer box, you can see that the image quality is terrible. It looks very much like the seller has taken an image from the internet and printed it onto the box, in a very low quality. The outer packaging has terrible image quality once you get close-up.

 

When it came to the bottle, it was again very close to an authentic version of the product. The spray mechanism seemed to be broken, but it did follow the way an authentic Alien perfume would have their spray bottle work exactly. It broke quite easily, which is perhaps a sign that this perfume bottle was made very cheaply.

 

While at quick look, everything seems to be in order, there are some very strong suggestions this is not authentic. First of all, as previously mentioned, the spray mechanism broke straight away. Secondly, although this does smell similar, it is not exactly the same.

 

Also, even though this is advertised as “Eau de Parfum” which usually lasts a long time, the fragrance goes very quickly, which is another indicator this was very cheaply made.

 

Image of text on packaging of perfume ordered by Wish.com

 

Image of bottle and packaging of parfume ordered by Wish.com

 

Image of bottle and spray mechanism of parfume ordered by Wish.com

 

Is the product authentic?

It’s hard to tell if the product is authentic or not, as the packaging looks very authentic. However, the price and the actual quality of the product received make it quite clear this is not authentic, although it is a very good fake.

 

To the naked eye, browsing online, this would look like a perfectly legitimate version of the perfume. But it isn't until you dig a little deeper you realise there are some things that highlight this would have been made on a very low budget, which is how the seller can afford to sell it for such a small fraction of the usual price.

 
This could very easily be your product, and people could think fakes like this are the real product they are receiving from you. This is why it is vital to ensure you have a digital brand protection strategy.