Big Money Selling Perfume Bottles on eBay | Queen

‘What’s that Smell? It’s the Scent of Money!‘
by Lynn Dralle, The Queen of Auctions

What in the world is this article about? It’s about selling perfume, empty perfume bottles, men’s cologne and other bathroom items on eBay. This is a frequently overlooked category and I just couldn’t resist writing about it!

Here are my five top tips:

1. Never pass by the bathroom at estate sales (I know, I know, this is a little weird).

I was at an estate sale last week. In the bathroom there was a huge amount of vintage perfume and cologne bottles. They were priced starting at 50 cents and they went all the way up to $20.00.

The $20.00 bottle was a Lamborghini cologne/after shave in a leather case that was made in France and England.

Here is that bottle.

2.     Buy in Bulk

By the way, I didn’t pay $20.00 for that bottle. I made a pile of all of the pieces I was interested in. I asked the man holding the sale to please make me a better bulk price. I ended up getting all the miniatures for $2.00 each (instead of $3.00 each), most of the men’s colognes for $1.00 each and the Lamborghini pieces for about $12.00 each. Grand total for this pile was $76.00.

Please keep in mind that buying in bulk spreads out your risk. As you can see in the pile above I got about 27 pieces for that $76.00 investment. That is only $2.81 each.

3.     Miniature perfumes are a good bet

There are quite a few collectors for miniature perfume bottles. Remember this Kobako Perfume from story #10 in my first 100 Best Book that sold for $278.00? Wow!

One of the miniatures that I bought at the estate sale last week also sold for a nice price. Check it out here.

4.     Men’s cologne, after shave and soap on a rope sell better than you may think

My mom’s really good friend Kay Faulkner (Live Boot Camp Graduate) is always telling us that Men’s stuff can sell much better than Women’s stuff on eBay.

I think we have validation with that Jovan Musk Oil After Shave (shown in the introduction) that sold for a small fortune!

Also, check out what this Faberge Soap on a Rope sold for! Do you remember this stuff? What a trip down memory lane.

The listing is here.

5.     Vintage, New and even Empty can all sell well

Memory lane leads us to this section. Vintage really does sell well in perfume and cologne because people are trying to purchase their childhoods or memories. Nothing brings back a memory better than a certain scent.

Because these items that I was selling were vintage, notice how I worded the listing descriptions so that I wasn’t taking responsibility for how the liquid would actually smell!

Check out the description on this bottle of men’s cologne that also sold for quite a bit.

See this listing here.

Newer perfumes and colognes can also sell really well. My mom bought an entire box full of bathroom items at a garage sale out here for $5.00. She sold one of the full newer perfumes for $57.00.

As an ending note, empty perfume bottles can be very collectible. Many perfume bottle collectors are looking for figural bottles that may have been made by Lalique, Baccarat and other famous makers as works of art.

Check out this amazing figural perfume bottle that recently sold on eBay for over $2,500. I want to find one of these!!! See the auction here.

(Thanks to the eBay store Collectibilities for letting us use their photo!)

In conclusion, my $76.00 investment turned out great! I sold $282.50 worth of these colognes/perfumes/aftershaves at auction. I have another $359.82 listed in my eBay store at fixed prices with the Or Best Offer Feature. $642.32 total (let’s hope)!

Do not pass by the Bathroom! I hope you have some scores to share with me soon.