How it works
Bottles from collectors, bought on Reddit.
r/fragranceswap is a Reddit community where people sell, buy, and trade fragrances with each other: full bottles they’ve moved on from, partly used bottles, and small decants. FragranceSwap reads every post, works out what each bottle is and what it’s going for, and points out the good deals. The deal itself always happens on Reddit, directly with the seller. FragranceSwap never handles money or bottles, and isn’t affiliated with Reddit or the sub’s moderators.
Buying a bottle, step by step
2Message the seller, then comment “Chat”
Tap Message seller: it opens Reddit with a message about that bottle ready to send. Then comment “Chat” on the post, the sub’s way of saying “I messaged you”: sellers often miss messages from strangers, and many go in comment order. Some sellers ask for the comment before the message; the listing says so when they do. You need a Reddit account.
3Check the bottle
Ask for anything you need: a timestamp photo, the fill level, the batch code, whether the box is included. Look at the seller’s flair (their confirmed trades) and post history.
4Pay with PayPal Goods & Services
G&S gives you PayPal’s buyer protection. The sub requires it when the seller has fewer than 15 confirmed sales, and buyers who pay those sellers any other way can be banned. Shipping is paid with the bottle, before it ships.
5Receive it, then confirm the deal
Sellers are expected to ship within about two days. Once it arrives, confirm the trade in the comments of the original post as the sub’s flair system describes, so both of you get credit.
Staying safe
- Never pay Friends & Family, Venmo, Zelle, or crypto to a seller you don’t know. They have no buyer protection.
- Check the seller. Flair, account age, and post history tell you a lot; search their name on the Universal Scammer List.
- Ask for a fresh timestamp if the post’s photos are old or don’t show the username.
- Be wary of prices that seem too good, especially for popular bottles. FragranceSwap marks implausibly low prices “Unusually low — verify before paying”.
- Fakes exist. Compare batch codes and photos with known bottles; r/CologneCheck can help.
- Report problems to the sub’s moderators through modmail, with screenshots.
What the terms mean
Posts and people
- WTS
- Want to sell. A post offering fragrances for sale.
- WTB
- Want to buy. Someone looking for a fragrance; sellers reply if they have it.
- WTT
- Want to trade. Bottles offered in exchange for other bottles, often alongside a sale ([WTS][WTT]).
- “Chat” comment
- A buyer comments “Chat” (or “PM’d”) on a post after messaging the seller, so the seller notices the message and knows who asked first.
- Timestamp
- A photo of the bottles with a note showing the seller’s Reddit username and the date. It shows the seller has the bottles in hand right now.
- Flair
- The trade count shown next to a username on the sub. It grows when both sides confirm a deal in the comments of the original post, so it works as a track record.
Bottles
- Full bottle
- A bottle sold in its original packaging or as a bottle, close to full.
- Partial
- A used bottle with some fragrance gone. The seller says how full it is (for example “~80%” or “85/100 ml”).
- Decant
- Fragrance transferred from a full bottle into a small atomizer (usually 2–10 ml), a cheap way to try something.
- Sample
- A small vial, often the brand’s own 1–2 ml sample.
- BNIB
- Brand new in box: unused and still sealed in its cellophane.
- Tester
- A bottle made for store counters: the same fragrance, usually in a plain box or none, often without a cap. Cheaper than retail packaging.
- FP / BO
- Full presentation (bottle with its box and cap) versus bottle only (no box).
- Batch code
- The production code printed on the bottle and box. Buyers use it to check age and authenticity.
Paying and shipping
- G&S
- PayPal Goods & Services: payment with PayPal’s buyer protection. Required on the sub for sellers with fewer than 15 confirmed sales.
- F&F
- PayPal Friends & Family: no buyer protection. Never pay a seller you don’t know this way; the sub bans it for newer sellers.
- Shipped
- The price includes shipping. Otherwise the seller adds shipping to the price.
- CONUS
- The contiguous United States: the seller ships within the US but not to Alaska, Hawaii, or abroad.
- OBO
- Or best offer. Not allowed on r/fragranceswap: every listing needs a fixed price.
- USL
- The Universal Scammer List (universalscammerlist.com), shared by trading subs. Check a username there before paying.
FragranceSwap’s numbers
- % under market
- How far an ask is below what this bottle usually goes for: the typical ask for the same fragrance and size on the sub (when there are at least two), a retailer’s price, or the brand’s list price (MSRP). Partials and decants are compared per ml.
- Comps
- Comparable asks: other listings of the same fragrance, type, and size from the last 90 days. More comps make a price comparison more reliable.
- MSRP and street price
- MSRP is the brand’s list price. Street price is what retailers actually sell it for, usually less.
Selling
To post on r/fragranceswap your Reddit account needs to be at least 90 days old with 100+ comment karma. Posts follow a set format (the title starts with [WTS] and ends with (Bottle) or (Decant), with photos, prices, and sizes), and posts that don’t are removed automatically.
FragranceSwap’s seller tools show what a bottle is going for and how fast it sells. The post builder writes a post in the required format, checks it against the sub’s rules, and opens Reddit for you to post it yourself. Signed-in sellers get one free photo scan that fills in the bottles from a picture.
Using FragranceSwap
- Deals are asks clearly under the usual price for that bottle (see % under market), ranked by how much evidence backs the discount. New posts show up within a few minutes.
- Watch a fragrance (sign in with Reddit) to get an alert when a matching bottle is listed, and optionally an email the moment a good deal appears. Good deals go fast.
- Save listings to come back to them.
- Listing details are read from the posts automatically and can be wrong. Always confirm the details with the seller, and use “Report a parsing error” on a listing when something’s off.