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Listings before and after they go live

Five photos, every time​

The sell form will not send a listing for review without all five photos:

  1. the front, flat;
  2. the front, in your hand;
  3. the side;
  4. the bottle base, where the batch code usually is. This photo is needed even when no batch code is visible;
  5. the top with the sprayer removed (nozzle off), showing the opening and the metal crimp.

The database refuses a listing without them too, so there is no way around it. While you add photos, the sell form checks each one for light, sharpness and size, and tells you how to fix a weak one. Typing the batch code in is optional; the photo is not. If you cannot take the sprayer off safely, the bottle stays as a private draft and cannot be published, even by our team. See Photos.

No new or sealed bottles​

ScentSell is for pre-owned bottles. Since 3 October 2026 the site refuses new, sealed and new-in-box listings: the sell form does not offer that condition, and the database rejects it if anyone tries. Listings made before that date were left up.

Why: fake perfume is common, and a sealed box is the easiest place to hide one. Nobody can check the liquid, the sprayer or the batch code through cellophane, so neither a buyer nor our team could tell what is inside. Opened bottles are welcome at any fill level.

The review queue​

Every new listing starts as pending review. Buyers cannot see it. Only our team can make a listing live; a seller cannot do it, and the database blocks any attempt.

When our team reviews a listing, we look at the photos, the fill level, the nozzle-off photo, the condition, the price for a pre-owned bottle, and whether the right perfume is matched. See Listing approval.

  • Approved: the listing goes live. If the seller has not set up payments yet, it stays hidden from buyers until they do.
  • Rejected: the seller must be given a reason; our team cannot reject without typing one. The seller is told in the app, by email and by phone notification.
  • Rejected as fake: the seller is warned.

The AI inspection​

Our team can ask an AI to go through a listing's photos with them. It produces an inspection report: what it can see of the batch code, the sprayer, the label and the packaging, which photos are missing, what extra evidence to ask for, and a checklist for the reviewer. It is told never to call a bottle genuine or fake and never to give a score. The decision is always our team's. Only our team sees the report.

After a listing goes live​

  • A seller's edit sends it back for review. If a seller changes what they are selling on an approved listing, such as the price, the photos or the description, it goes back to the queue and comes off the market until it is approved again.
  • One live listing per bottle. A seller cannot list the same perfume at the same size twice at once. Two different sellers listing the same perfume is fine.
  • Taking it down. Our team can take a listing down at any time, for example after a member reports a problem with it. See Reporting a problem.
  • When it sells, the listing leaves the market and the bottle leaves the seller's cabinet.