Perfume Prices

[Josie]

I thought I'd share my experience of buying perfume this week in Playa Blanca. 

Just to recap for people who don't know this is one of my favorite topics, the Canaries and particularly Lanzarote are reputed to sell branded perfumes at the cheapest prices in Europe.  They can do so because the shops import them from non-European sources which are not bound by the manufacturers' reputed attempts (often successful) to  fix prices in the shops of Western Europe.

My favorite chain of shops in Lanzarote for good prices is Dalia.  They have shops in all of the resorts.  Like the other shops there is generally one price on the item and another price they will charge you at the till (if you ask for discount).  This time last year they weren't budging from the price shown on the product (which was normally far cheaper than UK prices anyway).

This year I bought 3 items and in addition to the discounted price shown on the goods, without asking they reduced the price further by another 15%.  One of the items was 100ml Dune EDT (Dior) which normally costs over 100 euros in France (where it comes from) and I think I'm getting a good deal if I buy it for 70 or under.  The price on the box was 68 and they put it through the till at 57 euros - not bad, and certainly a help with the exchange rate as it is for those of us who are based in the UK.

I've just checked with one of the discounted online perfume shops in the UK and the Dune price I paid is better than they can do especially once you factor in delivery charges, even at the current exchange rate.

With a bit of haggling you can probably do even better though you should watch out for shops which sell non-standard sizes of perfume which can make you think you are getting a better deal than you are.

Josie

[✈ Elle ☀]

Excellent, J!

And hopefully Bart will take note, and go and find me a bottle of Eden, as mine is dangerously low LOL!

[SARA Animal Shelter]

had my eyes opened ....

Always thought the perfumes here were copies.

[✈ Elle ☀]

Some are, Lynne... but you can get the real deal too.

[Josie]

I was sceptical Lynne when I first visited Gran Canaria with friends in 1996.  One afternoon they said let's go shopping and they took me straight to a perfume shop where they started haggling over brand name cosmetics and asking for freebies.  Both are a lot older than me and have been travelling the world in cruise ships and similar for years and are expert shoppers.  Make up is a particularly good deal and I often buy Clinique products here.

You can get ripped off though so you need to be very sure about what you're buying and if the price seems too good to be true then the goods are unlikely to be genuine.