How to Sell Fragrance Samples and Bottles on FragranceSwap

The FragranceSwap Subreddit is a fantastic resource for selling fragrances you don't want anymore. This can be anything from new or used bottles all the way down to tiny partially used fragrance samples! You can get money to spend on more fragrances (or whatever else you want), and someone else can get fragrances at a discount. It's a win-win situation for anyone into fragrance.

Before starting DecantPlanet, we sold thousands of decants on FragranceSwap. But it was a little intimidating to get started, and many people even within the fragrance community aren't aware of it. With that in mind, we've put together a guide for everything you need to know to sell on FragranceSwap!

Getting Started on FragranceSwap

Accounts under 30 days of age and/or with low karma won’t be allowed to post, but you can PM the mods with proof of references from other selling forums to get around even that.

Thread Titles Should Start With:

[WTB]
[WTS]
[WTT]
[GIFT]

These stand for Want to Buy, Want to Sell, Want to Trade, and Giveaways. If you're selling but also open to trades, you could do:

[WTS] [WTT]

Thread Titles Should End With:

(Decant)
(Bottle)

Depending on whether you're selling samples (decants) or bottles. If you're selling both, you can do:

(Decant) (Bottle)

Sample Thread Titles

Let's say you were selling samples of Yves Saint Laurent Babycat, Aesop Tacit, and Billie Eilish No. 3 Eau de Parfum.

Your thread title could look like this:

[WTS] Yves Saint Laurent Babycat, Aesop Tacit, Billie Eilish No. 3 EDP (Decant)

There's no need to put all of the info in the title. In fact, sometimes people are selling hundreds of samples and/or bottles in one post, so it would be virtually impossible. But people are more likely to click the thread if they see a fragrance name that they're looking for in the title when scrolling, so it's generally helpful to be more informative.

Let's say you were selling 50+ bottles by brands like Dior, Creed, Roja, Margiela, Maison Francis Kurkdjian, and Zoologist. Your thread title could look like this:

[WTS] Creed Aventus, Roja Elysium, Margiela By the Fireplace, and 50+ More! (Bottle)

ie: you wouldn't have to mention every brand on the list in the title. Simply indicating that there are many more makes people more likely to click to see the rest.

Thread Content

If you’re posting a thread for selling or trading, you have to include:

• A currency symbol somewhere in your post or it will automatically be deleted. (This is because they don’t want people posting anything for sale without a set price.)
• A link to pictures of the items you’re selling. Depending on your credibility/how long you’ve been part of the community, and how many things you’re selling, this is relaxed sometimes.

Make sure to note the exact size and amount of each fragrance you're selling. People regularly buy partially used fragrance samples, so it's okay if something isn't full to the top - as long as you're honest about how much is left in it. For example, say that you have a 2ml spray, and you've used about 50% of it already. In that case, you could reference it as "1ml." If it's a 2ml that you've only sprayed once or twice, you could say "2ml (only sprayed twice)."

For small sample sizes, it's also important to note if it's in a sample vial (dabber) vs an atomizer (with a spray).

If you're selling a used 100ml bottle after using about 10% of it, you could also say "100ml bottle, 90% full."

Here's an example of a thread we created!

Updating a Thread When Items Have Sold

Once all items from your thread have been sold, you can add a post under the thread saying “sold” (without the quotes) - that will automatically trigger a “sold” flair to be applied to the thread.

If you’re selling multiple items and only some have sold, you can edit the thread and do a strike-through of the items that have sold and/or put "sold" in parentheses.

Note: don’t delete references to items that have been sold, just make it clear that they're no longer available.

Payments

• If you have less than 15 buyer verifications, you have to be willing to take PayPal Goods & Services aka G&S (ie: you can’t try to force someone to mark it as a gift in order to avoid PayPal fees). Sometimes people will offer to mark it as a gift, but you can’t demand it upfront. You can add the PayPal fee to the total, but in general it’s considered not the best etiquette to do so.
• You can also accept Venmo.

The goods & services PayPal/Venmo fee is 2.9% plus 30 cents, per transaction.

Friends & Family aka "F&F" is the term for payments without the fee.

Shipping

You have to ship within 2 business days of accepting payment (barring extenuating circumstances). If you communicate it with the buyer, you can have up to a week if they’re okay with it.

After you've shipped, you should send the buyer the tracking number.

How to Package Fragrance Safely

Coming soon! We're working on a guide with a video tutorial on best practices for packaging fragrances to minimize damage.

Best Place to Buy a Shipping Label

PirateShip.com has the best deals (all completely legitimate), for USPS, UPS, and many of the other most popular shipping services in the US, as well as some international.

Otherwise, you can use shipping calculators on a shipping service provider's website.

Should You Ship Outside Your Country?

Often shipping outside of your country may require going out of the way to use a less common delivery service (such as, in the US, DHL), and enter a little bit of data on a customs form. It's also more likely for items to get damaged or leak in transit when they're going further.

However, you'll find more buyers if you're willing to ship more places, so it's a trade-off to consider.

Vetting Buyers

Buyers should comment on your thread before sending you a message or chat. Even just a simple post saying “pm” is sufficient. This is because the Reddit moderators added anti-scam features that can help automatically ban certain spam accounts - but if they don’t comment, they won’t get caught.

You can take it on a case by case basis though, if the person forgot to add a comment and their account looks trustworthy.

How to Know What Price to Sell For

Google the bottle or sample you’re trying to sell, and see what the average price is. If your bottle or sample is partially used, first subtract whatever % is used from the cost. Then take off another 10 to 40%.

If you take off too much it will look like a suspiciously good deal (especially if you’re not a longtime verified user). But if you take off too little, it’s not going to sell quickly.

You can also do deals, if you’re selling multiple things - for example: “spend x get free shipping” or “spend x get % off.”

Should You Use Your Existing Reddit Account?

Pros: it shows legitimacy, if you're using an account where people can see that you've been regularly active on Reddit for awhile and/or that you're using it for more than sales.

Cons: people from the FragranceSwap subreddit might find personal comments/info that you’d rather keep separate.

Ultimately, it comes down to personal preference about whether making a new fragrance-specific account or using your regular Reddit account works best for you.

Other Rules

• You can’t post the same listing within 72 hours. (Even if the wording is changed slightly - basically if you’re trying to sell the exact same bottles or samples as your last thread, wait at least 3 days before making a new thread again.)
• You need to have the items on hand before accepting payment. You can’t sell something just because you ordered it from a website and are expecting it to come in the mail soon.
• It should go without saying, but no fakes. Only sell authentic fragrances. (Clones etc are fine, it just needs to be the real fragrance brand/name that you're listing it as.)
• No bigotry.
• It’s not okay to harass other people about the prices they’re selling things for on their own threads, even if you personally feel it's overpriced.

Getting Verified

After a successful sale, ideally the buyer will leave a verification for you. They should leave a comment on your thread saying:

PerfumeBot Buy /u/[your username]

(With "your username" being the seller's username, aka you.)

You would then reply saying:

PerfumeBot Sale /u/[buyer's username]

A bot should automatically add a verification to your account if this is done correctly. You can also see the official Reddit post for more detail or troubleshooting.

Final Tips

• If your thread gets downvotes, don't worry! It doesn't automatically mean that you did anything wrong, or that your prices weren't good. There are people who, for some reason, go through and downvote every single post on FragranceSwap. It's been happening to everyone for years. But people will still be willing to buy from you even if your post doesn't have many upvotes!
• If you've recently posted a thread, try to check Reddit fairly regularly so you can respond quickly. (ie: ideally don't go 3 days without checking, which would leave people hanging who were trying to buy from you.)

We hope this guide helps - happy selling!