Long gone those times when departments stores gave away bags of samples with (and sometimes even without) a purchase. And most niche brands know better than to part with free samples (sometimes even with the purchase). Samples became a commodity, and in most cases we have to pay for them.
Saturday Question #207:
What Would You Consider a Fair Perfume Sampling Offer?
Free samples with a purchase? Free for S&H? Discount for a future purchase? Some other arrangement?
My Answer
All brands, mass-market and niche, should shower paying clients with free samples. Samples can be small (0.7ml – 1.5 ml), and preferably they should have some correlation to what the customer bought. But in general, who is in a better position to be a returning customer if not the one who had already paid for something else? Instead, most stores became extremely stingy with samples, which miraculously find their way to eBay instead (that’s where I bought all those samples on the photo below).
With testing perfumes without a purchase, for brands that do not have significant store presence, it is harder. I realize that brands cannot just hand over free samples: people will abuse that, and the samples would end up at the same location as their mass-market brethren. But I also do not understand when brands charge 2-3 times more per ml for a tiny sample: how else are customers supposed to decide whether they want to buy perfumes from brands they aren’t familiar with?! $40-$75 (and more!) for a set of samples, most of which won’t be even finished (since most people would not like and want to wear all 5-7-10 perfumes in the line).
What do I see as a fair solution? An ability to choose 3-5 small free spray samples with minimal (if any) bells and whistles in packaging, and pay just for the delivery. The ratio of the perfume one gets to how much the delivery costs should be such that it wouldn’t make sense to abuse the system. Another possible solution would be deducting the full price of a discovery set (minus the delivery cost) from the future full bottle purchase: don’t sell me for $45 (+S&H) 12-15 ml of perfumes most of which I won’t even like offering a $25 discount later if I pay a full price for a $200+ bottle.
How about you?
Undina's Looking Glass 
There are some houses that do offer the full sample cost to be redeemed against a full bottle. The draw back? It’s often a time limited offer. So you must redeem it say within 3 months of purchasing the sample set.
I don’t know about anyone else but it can take longer than that to know if I really want to own a fragrance.
The fabulous saintecellier.com offers samples from their inventory & send a % off code with the samples. When buying a bottle costing £200 it’s a brilliant offer
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I agree that 3 months isn’t enough. At least, for perfumistas with large collections. It’s not like we’re trying to find and buy a single perfume. It takes time to get to know perfume from a sample and decide that it is unique enough to be added to our collections.
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Hey Undina and crew,
I really love buying from the perfume department story style shop like Fragrance & Art or First In Fragrance because they always send an interesting selection of samples with an order. We have a particular distributor here in Oz called Libertine who send 10 niche samples with every niche purchase, they even let you choose and if they’re available you get that. Very cool.
Honestly though, if I really want something then I pay for it. The world has changed.
Portia x
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If I really want something, I’ll also pay for it. The issue is that I don’t know if I want most of the brands I test recently. And it seems wrong to pay much for samples of a brand I’m not familiar with: since I know A LOT of brands, shouldn’t it be in the new brands’ interest to let me know them without spending too much?
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Yes
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Back in the day, I remember paying $3-$5 for most samples in the .07ml to 1ml range. While a good number remain at this price point, many are double the price or more. I guess it depends on how much you know about a perfume, and your interest in it, to pay $10 or $15 for a sample. Some would argue that it’s worth the minimal investment to avoid wasting hundreds of dollars. With these small type individual sample purchases, there is usually no incentive or discount of your next purchase.
I just placed an order with Serge Lutens for two perfumes. I got the chance to choose four free samples as part of the purchase. Some brands work their samples this way, and some send samples without you having the opportunity to make a choice. And then there’s the flip side, there are brands that don’t offer samples at all, either part of the check out process or as a separate option.
I use my retail sources to secure samples of perfumes I’m interested in without paying for them. If I cannot find them this way, I’ll purchase the sample, but will scrutinize the asking price. Sometimes I decide it just not worth the price the brand is asking.
It would be great if when you order samples from a brand that they simply offer a discount on your purchase. Some do, and some don’t.
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I feel fine paying $4-5 for a handmade sample from a company that either sells multiple brands or built a business around selling decants: this is how they’re making money, and I have a chance to try multiple brands at once by my choice. But when buying manufacturer samples from a brand who is in business of selling full bottles of their perfumes, I don’t consider fair if in addition to paying quite steep price for a bottle, I’m also expected to cover the process of me finding that bottle to buy. Make gift sets with 5-10 ml bottles and sell them at a markup. But selling 1-2 ml samples in a set without allowing me to redeem the price if I buy a bottle doesn’t seem fair.
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I agree, Undina.
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I’m still not willing to buy samples that come to more than $5 per mL, with a few exceptions. Come to think of it, the few times I’ve bought a sample for over $10, it was something I’d tried in store already and really liked. I like Luckyscent’s system of offering essentially 1 free sample per $20 of purchase of anything.
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I like what Luckyscent does about samples, it feels fair.
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I am happy with the 3-5 free samples I get From places like Luckyscent or Fumerie. I no longer buy sample sets as often I only like one or none of the perfumes. If I am very very interested in something I might pay for a single expensive sample. I intensely dislike the ones that limit the time you have to redeem the discount. I want to take my time to decide especially at today’s prices.
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I agree! And I find this time limit on the discount redemption ingenuine: even when I like something AND have a budget, it takes me months and months to decide on a FB purchase. I can only imagine how hard it would be for someone who tries to find perfume worth splurging on and then saving money to buy a bottle. Robbing them of the discount isn’t nice.
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Hello, Rusty!
Such an interesting question. Samples make me buy more. I remember buying something, and being given a sample of Annick Goutal’s Chevrefeuille. I was blown away by the scent-I had no idea anything from a bottle could smell sooooo good. And I remember when Frederic Malle first came out in Canada-only available at Holt’s in Vancouver, and for some reason they did not ship. A friend got me samples and they were huge-4 ml , I think. Enough time to really get attached.
Since the margins are very healthy for the perfume houses I think you should be able to buy a sample set for about 25$, and have it redeemable within one year on a full bottle. I think people still appreciate being treated well. When the company iWork for has a new automotive grease we get to give out tubes of it. The cost of the product is less than 3$ can, and people get to use it and decide if they like it. They always like it, and they really appreciate the offer. I think it’s all part and parcel of offering a beautiful, quality product. I remember buying two of the Ormande Jayne sample sets-shipping was free, and it cost about 25$. It was in a beautiful package, so beautiful it would make a fantastic gift to give. And that’s what OJ is all about-a beautiful experience, even if you can’t come to their store. Sometimes perfume is aspirational and this is the manufacturer’s chance to invite you into their world and feel like you’re a part of it.
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I also bought several perfumes because I was given a sample.
Sample sets might be more expensive than $25 (if perfume costs more) – as long as it is redeemable. But there is no good reason to charge more per ml than a ml of the same perfume costs in the largest available size. Don’t allow more than 1-2 per address, charge shipping, but don’t make money on selling samples for your brand’s perfumes.
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I like the shops that give you a discount for the price of the samples when you buy a full bottle. I agree, though, that they often don’t give you enough time to make a decision on the fragrance. Anything more than $5 for a decent sized sample is generally too much for me.
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I’m with you (and others) on the redemption time: it needs to be not less than a year.
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I wish more companies would allow the customer a choice of samples for a sample set. I find sample sets are usually too expensive anyway (the presentation is often very nice, but also adds to the cost). These days I usually buy samples sold online by people who decant from bottles in their own collection. I just started testing Tauer L’Air des Alpes Suisse this way, the cost is then around 18 dollars for a 3 ml spray sample.
For unknown to me scents, I don’t want to pay much more than 5-6 dollars (the NOK is very weak now, so it may not give a totally correct idea of what I’m willing to pay). I find brands should include 3-4 samples if you buy a full size bottle. Too many people blind buy and it isn’t something the brands should expect us to do. Going only by the list of notes or the description in PR material hardly ever works for me.
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