Perfume costs 2 million VND, sold for 25,000 VND, still has a traceable barcode

Not only counterfeiting the packaging and logo, a series of fake perfume bottles being sold on the market can also have their barcodes traced. Notably, a bottle of perfume, although only bought for 25,000 VND, after tracing the barcode, is still worth nearly 2 million VND.

Barcode scanning at ease

Posing as a perfume buyer at a cosmetics store in Kim Bien market, the reporter was introduced to two perfumes, Acquadi Gio and Gucci. Due to an acquaintance’s recommendation, the reporter bought two bottles of the perfume for 50,000 VND.

"Here I sell hand-carried goods. Because I don't have to spend money on premises, I sell them at such a cheap price. You can take the goods and sell them freely. You can introduce to customers that these are genuine products and have barcodes so that customers can check them easily. Since this is your first purchase, I will sell them at a fixed price of 25,000 VND/bottle. If you buy more in the future, I will lower the price. You can sell them at the online price or discount a few hundred thousand VND for customers according to the barcode to make a quick profit," said Ms. M. - a trader at Kim Bien market.

Barcodes to distinguish genuine from fake goods are also counterfeited very sophisticatedly by small traders.

To test, the reporter used barcode scanning software on the two perfume bottles above and the results were beyond imagination. After scanning the barcode, the Gucci bottle purchased for 25,000 VND had a listed price of 1,512,000 VND and the Aquadi Gio bottle had a price of 1,860,000 VND (?!).

As a result, if customers are not knowledgeable about perfume, they will have to buy poor quality perfumes at prices dozens of times higher.

Two bottles of perfume cost 25,000 VND/bottle and are sold by retailers for 500,000 - 700,000 VND.

After checking the barcodes of the two perfume bottles above, the price showed up to be nearly 2 million VND.

"When you buy from me, you can freely check the origin by barcode. However, since I'm new to the market, I'll say that I'm new to the market and give customers a 50% discount compared to the barcode to reassure them. In addition, I can apply a buy 2 get 1 free program. Don't worry, selling perfume is always profitable, selling 1 bottle a day is a big profit," said Ms. T. (perfume shop in District 10).

Not only the above store, many perfume businesses in Ho Chi Minh City also commit to selling genuine products and customers can freely trace the origin of the barcode. This makes it even more difficult for consumers to distinguish fake products.

Prone to dermatitis, skin burns

Explaining the current situation of super cheap perfumes, Mr. Pham Van Huynh (chemical expert) said: "In fact, the above perfumes are only made from alcohol, chemicals and essential oils. Depending on the scent, the production facilities extract specific doses of essential oils. If following this method, it only costs 5-7 thousand VND to produce 100ml of perfume. When making large quantities, it can be cheaper. Therefore, establishments selling perfumes for a few tens of thousands of VND after calculating packaging costs still have a profit."

Dr. Van The Trung (dermatology specialist in Ho Chi Minh City) warns that using perfumes of unknown origin can lead to chronic dermatitis. Every year, the country receives thousands of cases of allergies to fake perfumes, mild cases of skin darkening, severe cases of ulcers.

Fake perfumes are mainly made from essential oils and alcohol.

"Fake perfumes often contain active ingredients such as urine, bacteria, anti-scaling chemicals, alcohol and Eau de Perfume... These chemicals are dangerous for users. The areas where dermatitis occurs when in contact with perfume are the wrists, behind the ears, nape of the neck, and neck. After healing, these areas may leave dark spots or scars, because these are very sensitive areas to chemicals. Many patients experience irritation such as burning and redness of the skin... Sometimes, red rashes, swelling and blisters can form," said Dr. Trung.

According to Dr. Trung, to avoid buying fake perfumes, consumers should note: fake perfumes are designed to be identical in name, label, style and have a very similar smell to real perfumes. Therefore, to minimize the risk of buying fake products, consumers should be careful.

Using fake perfumes can lead to acute dermatitis or ulcers.

To avoid counterfeit goods, customers should buy from reputable places and ask for invoices and import documents. Look carefully at the color of the perfume box and bottle, font, sharpness, spelling and grammar errors. The code on the box and the real perfume bottle must have the same number.

Next, you need to check the color and transparency of the glass bottle. Real perfume has a clear shape, lines, thickness of the bottle as well as embossed or sunken letters, there is always a shockproof layer surrounding the bottle, besides, the glass must be clear, thin and free of air bubbles. On the packaging of real perfume bottles, there are often special symbols: expiration date, recycling image or prohibition symbols for the product, fake products will not have these symbols or if they do, they will not be clear.

Real perfume has full information printed on the bottom of the bottle such as concentration, capacity, perfume name, manufacturer. Real perfume has clear clarity and usually does not have any residue inside. Based on price, real perfume, even in mini bottles, will cost around 500 thousand VND to 1 million VND.

According to VNN