Step1
Look to see if your Louis Vuitton Monogram Canvas purse comes with a yellow authenticity card, a tag or canvas sample swatch attached anywhere to the item. Louis Vuitton has never used a yellow card, nor has it ever attached tags or canvas swatches to any item in any of their lines. If your purse has any of these items, it’s a fake.
Step2
Look at the handle of your purse. Louis Vuitton never covers the handle with tissue paper or plastic.
Step3
Look at the leather details on the purse. It should be a pinkish-flesh color when new and a light, honey brown when aged. It should never be yellow or dark brown. Any leather trim will also have yellow stitching.
Step4
Check to see if your purse has a base or bottom that has been sewn on. Authentic Louis Vuitton purses are made from one single, unbroken piece of leather or canvas.
Step5
Look very closely at the seams of the purse. Are any of the “LV” monogram symbols cut off? Louis Vuitton never cuts into the “LV” on a monogram canvas item. Regardless of where the individual monogram symbols appear on an item, they should all be whole. One possible exception is on the Ellipse.
Step6
Turn the handbag around and look at the back. The monogram symbols should be upside down. If they’re not, the bag is not an authentic Louis Vuitton Monogram Canvas.

Having you own source for research is a valuable tool in any field.

Older catalogs will allow you to study discontinued styles.

Particularly for the Monogram Canvas collection,  that has been produced the longest by the company,  you will find

Vuitton catalogs to be a “Can’t Live Without”.

Here are five (5) major things to look for when buying a designer knock-off and tips for spotting a spoof.

1. STITCHING
Stitching can be a dead giveaway. Inconsistent stitching and sloppy construction in less visible areas, such as the underside of the bag or inside pockets, are details to look for immediately. Authentic designer bags tack on an extra zero on that price tag due to extra, carefully-crafted construction. They cost more because they are built more complexly. Counterfeit products usually do not have the care of construction that the real item has. If the construction looks simplistic, it’s likely to be a phony.

2. MATERIALS
Many fakes are no longer made of PVC but of reasonably good leather, even lambskin; however, they are seldom as good as the materials labels like Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Coach would use. Fake purses tend to be stiff and often have some sort of discoloration. When dealing with replica leather handbags, make sure the leather does not have an uneven look that is consistent. Also, people generally assume designer bags should be lined, which is why many replicas are lined. But, on the contrary, real purses are not.

3. THE LABEL
Look for any kind of misspelling – at all -  on labels and tags. In any quality product, the label is stitched in, but in Gucci counterfeits (for example), a cheap hand tag will hang from the handle. Look at authentic purses online, and study the real tags. That way, it will be easier to spot the fake labels. Fake labels are generally cheaply made, unclear in impression, and has a lesser quality of stitching (and the attachment of the label). Two examples: for one, sometimes cheaply replicated Coach bags will include tags with misspelled and run-on words; secondly, Burberry bags will often be stamped “Burberrys” instead of “Burberry – London” in gold or silver on one side.

4. PACKAGING
Typically online bags or used bags do not have the original packaging, so this isn’t much help.  However, if an online seller is advertising new packaging, be sure to check it out.  Luxury retailers put a great deal of care into packaging their products. This includes the works: tissues, wrapping paper, shopping bags, these extra touches are usually part of a real transaction. Look for items that have their original packaging. It’s important that the box or bag the item comes in is neither too big nor too small, and is of the same brand as the purse you are purchasing. Makers of luxury goods seldom cram things into boxes or flimsy dust bags. Most luxury dust bags are made of thicker, soft cotton and flannel. Smaller items, like wristlets or wallets, will usually come in boxes.

5. DETAILS
Everybody knows that details can make or break a dress; well, the same goes for purses. The intricity of threads, leathers, fabrics, metals and stamping make a luxury bag what it is and should be…expensive. Most luxury items don’t just come with authenticity cards; they also come with a product booklet with details on the details. Key things to look for when it comes to details: make sure the handles are of equal length, the logo is straight and firmly fastened, the details of the bag match up, and that the zippers are in full working order.

This can apply to all handbags, but specifically: Coach, DKNY, Kenneth Cole, Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, Fendi, Gucci, Prada, and Armani.

We sell many purses, all authentic.  Please check out Our Store to see what we have.  It changes every day!

Early handbags ware more functional rather than being a fashion statement. They were typically small circular cut pieces of material that normally had a leather strap. The leather strap was sewn around the circumference of the handbag to maintain its’ strength and security.
 
Ancient pouches were used by men to hold coins and other valuables. Frequently men tied this pouch near a sword on their safekeeping and added protection. These can be seen in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. Pouches were more likely to be considered a man’ item. Women had less need to carry pouches because they were not normally wealthy enough to require one.
 
Today handbags are a standard fashion accessory. Most women will normally have their favourite handbag and carry them with pride and are always wanting to show their handbag to others and have a chat about handbags generally. Even men will carry a form of handbag which they likewise take pride in.

Handbags began to become popular in the later part of the medieval and renaissance period of the sixteenth century. Handbags, which were larger in size, were worn by diagonally carrying them across the body by both sexes. These handbags were particularly considered important by travellers. The wealth or status of the carrier was normally shown by the adornment of jewelry. The seventeenth century saw more variety in handbags; they became smaller in size and took on a variety of complex shapes, embroidery made them more decorative.

The eighteenth century saw the use of reticules. Reticules was the name given to handbags. Reticules became a fashion statement. The functional element of handbags although remaining important started to give way to the design of the handbag in reasons why people chose a particular handbag for their wardrobe. Fashion magazines were primarily responsible for making handbags a fashion statement as they began to comment on the best handbags to use for specific events, occasions and locations. This led to the need to have different handbags for different conditions. Handbags remained functional but not just as travellers carry bag but to carry other personal items including a fan, perfume, smelling salts and make-up.

The term handbag rather than reticule began to be used in the early part of the twentieth century. Initially the term referred to a man’s travelling bag but in time the term handbag referred to a larger bag used by women. Each decade of the twentieth century saw developments in the fashion of handbags. In the 1920s women carried a variety of handbags that did not necessarily match clothing. The war years of the 1940s saw the necessity to use a variety of materials due to lack of traditional resources and plastic and wood became popular. The 1950s saw the increase of designer fashion. Some special designers gained reputation for creating handbags that were outstanding being both beautiful and elegant in their appearance. Popular designers include Chanel, Hermes, Louis Vuitton and Prada.

The last half of the twentieth century has seen progress in technology and the introduction of new materials and textiles for handbags including waterproof canvas, space age synethics and faux reptile skin. Improvement of manufacturing processes also meant that handbags could be produced at a lower cost, allowing people to buy beautiful handbags at affordable prices. Some designer handbags nevertheless can still cost in the thousands of dollars. A price some women will pay for the prestige of having a unique handbag that their friends and other potential admirers do not have.
 
The history of handbags comes full circle. At first handbags were used by men, and then women took handbags as a fashion statement. Now there has been a return to men’s fashion and increasingly men are wanting to have a handbag that matches their male ego and at the same time their new age image.

AmandaKing

It’s scairy spending 400 dollars to buy a bag from someone you don’t know. I know a lot about hand bags and can pretty much spot a fake very quickly. here’s some of the things to do.

1. when you see one you are interested in on ebay, open a new window on your computer. Google the discription. Take a look at what comes up. There are many web sites that sell fake bags very similar to the real thing. And there will be sites you know you can trust, where you can find a discription and photo of the real deal. next….
A. compare the fakes that come up, compare the real things. One thing thats important to look at is size. Sizes are ALWAYS a little off in fakes.
B. Next, compare the materials. The COLOR, MATERIAL and SHEEN are always a little off. especialy the color and texture of leathers. The balanciaga motorcycle bag is a great example of this. The fake
ones and turquise ones I have seen have never been the right colors. I can tell from a block away in real life. And the TEXTURE and COLOR is always a little off.
C. Make sure the bag you are researching does not come up on a million fake bag sites. This is REALLY IMPORTANT. If it does and the dimensions, fabric, texture and color are exactly the same, then
I’m sorry the bag is a fake. Fakes just arent that good. They are not the same as the real thing.

2. JUST BECAUSE IT COMES WITH A PURSE BAG WITH THE DESIGNERS NAME ON IT DOES NOT MAKE IT REAL. It’s easy to get those bags. Counterfit ones, from friends, I think you can even buy them online.

3. LOOK AT THE STITCHING QUALITY.This is really important. Great bags have great quality stitching. I have a few Marni bags that break on the hardware parts frequently BUT the STITCHING is amazing. As is the QUALITY OF THE LEATHER.

4. EVEN DESIGNER BAGS THAT ARE MASS PRODUCED AND NOT RARE, HAVE A SPECIAL LOOK TO THEM. It’s kind of like art. When you see the good stuff it does something to you. Make sure you get that feeling when you look at it.

5.Try to email the designers company with a link to the item. They will know right away. They will also want to help because fake bags really hurt their business.

6. If you can, Bring your laptop to a store that sells the brand of purse in it. Show someone who has been working at the store a long time, a picture of the bag or a copy of the discription.
A. I sold a great pair of Louis Vuitton shoes the other day. One of the bidders asked me to show a sales recipt. I no longer had it and I bought that pair in Europe. But I told her I would bring them into the Louis Vuitton store and have the store manager write a note on Lv stationary with the stores number and her name on it to authenticate them. Sellers want to sell. If the item is expensive, Let them do the leg work. I would have totally done it. After I offered to, They didn’t take me up on it.
B. When I first started selling on ebay a few weeks ago, i was worried noone was going to buy my stuff. It’s all designer, and I didnt have much of a rating, so how could they trust it? On ebay, they have services you can buy that will authenticate your items. when I tried that route, I found those services to only be for Coins, Beenie Babies, and baseball cards. I was bummed. Luckly, people trusted me anyway and I’ve sold 7 pairs of shoes so far. 3 to the same buyer!
The moral of both those stories is, There are ways, if you take the time, to authenticate things, as buyers and sellers.

7. If you want a fake bag then obviously, any PRADA bag without the words authentic or auth in it’s discription and only going for 20 dollars and is sold by someone with no rating is a fake. A leather handbag by a great designer will never be posted with out a reserve for less then 100 dollars. At least I would never. The reason is this, great bags are an investment. Keep them in good condition because they will be collectors items in the future. Or you can resell them. Great bags have great quality with very little maintenence they will last forever. Gucci bags, Hermes bags, LV bags from the 70’s are selling for much more then the were originaly. So it is an investment.

Purses and shoes are important. They add a lot of flavor to an outfit. I hope this is a good guide! It’s my first one. Happy Hunting Ladies and Gents!

Jennycola’s “How to sell an Authentic Designer bag on Ebay” guide

I’m Jenny and I’ve been a seller on ebay since 1999. This guide is about protecting the honest seller who wants to sell an authentic designer bag from bad buyers and from ebay. Ebay has been cracking down on fakes (which is great) but they are also taking down lots of authentic items and suspending good accounts. Buyers sometimes dispute authenticity or use fraudulent methods to get your bag for free. Hopefully, my guide will protect you against these terrible things!

Table of contents

1. Make sure you have an authentic item
2. Pictures, pictures pictures! & Watermarking
3. Title and Pricing
4. Security tagging
5. Restrict buyers on ebay
6. Restrict payment on paypal
7. Follow ebay seller protection rules!
8. More tips

1. Make sure you have an authentic item

Here’s a checklist that everyone should make sure they have on hand

• Receipt (This proves nothing to the buyer, because fake receipts are all over ebay, but it’s good to have on hand to show ebay in case they pull your item)
• If you are not the first owner, did you buy it from a reputable seller? You can find authenticators on places such as the Purse Forum (forum.purseblog.com) or Caroldiva.com , the founder of Mypoupette. (mypoupette.com may take up to 3 weeks, and lately lots of people have trouble with them not returning emails.)…and some retailers will even authenticate for you. This is useful if you just inherited a closetful of bags and want to sell them but are not sure of authenticity. Once you are sure your item is authentic, you can claim it is authentic (again, claims of authenticity proves nothing to the buyer, but lack of a claim is suspect.)

If your listing gets removed by ebay:
1. Do NOT relist it until you get ebay approval. Relisting may cause your account to be suspended.
2. Gather up your pictures and receipt and anything else that proves authenticity, like an email from Carol, and send this information to ebay.
3. Wait patiently. In the meantime, you may or may not sell other designer things depending on ebay’s restrictions. If you suddenly go from not selling any designer bags to 10, ebay will most likely put a hold on your account while they make sure you are legit.
4. Keep bugging ebay.
5. If you get suspended, search on google for ebay phone numbers (gethuman.com) and talk to someone to resolve this.
6. What if you need to sell the bags because you are short on money? To bypass the ebay’s temporarily hold on listing new items, you can list on ebay through auctiva.

 2. Pictures, pictures pictures! & Watermarking

You want to take as many pictures as possible.
You want to show the authenticity, the condition of the bag, and the color and design. Showing condition involves showing the often-worn areas such as straps and corners. Showing authenticity often means showing the logo and datecode.

But Ebay charges so much for pictures!!

• Your designer bag is worth hundreds or thousands. Spending $1.55 on pictures is very little in comparison.
• If you need more pictures than ebay provides, or think that the ebay pictures are too small (see my pictures above, haha), you need to find your own hosting. I have my own website that I use to host, so my actual auction with the LV bag above had much bigger pictures. You can use
• photobucket
• auctiva (free up to 10)
• google’s piccaso
• more! search them, they are free!
• To add a picture, in the item description, choose html format and type in <img src=”http://www.WhereeverYouHostedThePicture/Picture”>

Take a picture in a well-lit area. Ideally, do not flash, as this makes the bag look like a different color and makes it look cheaper. If you are selling quite a few things on ebay, it would be wise to invest in a tripod. Many tripods on ebay go for $10 or less.

See the example below:
 


Notice that every single picture I took has been watermarked. The fastest way to watermark if you are taking a lot of pictures is with Adobe photoshop. You can download a trial of this software at adobe.com

**Adobe photoshop watermarking instructions:**
1. Open a photo in photoshop and click on the text tool 2. Your goal is to creat a new “Action”, which is an automated series of instructions, for photoshop to remember and save. Under “Actions” toolbar, click the “new action” button, which is shaped like a piece of paper, on the bottom of the “action” toolbox. You can name it “watermark” or your desired name.
3. You are ready to record your actions:
4. Click somewhere on the photo and start typing (eg Jennycola) and press enter, space, etc until you have typed your watermark a few times spaced the way you want it. Change the text size and color as desired.
5. Go to Layer –> Layer style –> Blending options, and choose 50% opacity for the “opacity” and “fill opacity”.
6. Click the red circle “stop recording” button under the actions toolbox.
7. Now, for all your pictures, you just need to click on your action “watermark” and click the triangle “play” button and voila, your picture will be watermarked!!

If you do not have photoshop, you can go to any image-editing program and use the text tool to write your watermark, but it will be more tedius and not as pretty. It’s fine if you only anticipate selling 1 or 2 items, though.

3. Title and Pricing

This is the best tool I found to optimize your ebay title:
Optimize your Title, click here!
For example, when you type in “Louis Vuitton Speedy 30″, the title optimizer will suggest words like “Authentic” “Monogram” and “bag”

Why is pricing important?

• You don’t want to lose too much money

1. You can start your auction at a price at which you’re willing to let go the bag.
2. You can set a reserve price. This may discourage some buyers, but is common enough when a designer bag is involved
3. Use buy-it-now (I recommend this!) with best offer. Sellers with less than 10 feedback in my opinion should either verify their ID with $5 (search verify on ebay) or simply buy stuff and wait till their feedback is higher. Please see section 8. Buy-it-now gives sellers a peace of mind and heightened security if you use “immediate payment required.”

• You want your product to sell (don’t price too high), yet not too low (if you have a very low BIN, for example, people will become suspicious.

1. Research your item by searching online to find the current MSRP. You can go to the brand’s site, check the website of an online retailer like bloomingdale’s, nordstrom, or net-a-porter and eluxury.
2. Another thing you should do is search for your item on ebay, and search the completed listings (search options are on the left). You need to sign in to search for completed listings. If you see super-low prices for your item being sold, don’t worry! These might be fake! Click on the item and study the sold prices for AUTHENTIC items only. Please also note that a similar bag might sell for a lot more or less depending on season, color, and condition!

4. Security tagging

There are some buyers who try to take advantage of a naive seller. They buy an item that is authentic, and try to return a fake one! If you don’t accept returns, they may take a claim to ebay saying that your item was fake! They usually do not win this if you have plenty of pictures, but it is a pain to prove. One way of preventing the buyer “switch-a-bag” fraud is to have a security tag. The buyer will not be able to claim that their bag is yours unless it has the security tag on it. So, what is a security tag? Some sellers just put a paper loop with their signature on it at the place where it’s taped together, so a buyer can’t take it off and put it on another bag without changing it or ruining it. Others opt for more sophisticated “party bands” that have a unique design. Take a picture of this “Security band” on the bag before it’s sent, so you have proof of how it originally looked like.
Another thing: Don’t say “100% authentic or 3x your money back!”…Please, we don’t need that much assurance. This just helps invite dishonest buyers who may want your 3x the money.

5. Restrict buyers on ebay

There is no fool-proof way to make sure your buyer will pay up, but this is a step that I suggest everyone take to increase their chances.

• Block bad buyers: This is for people you’ve had bad experiences with in the past. Go there and block them now! On that page, you can also cancel bids and if your item is super expensive, like a birkin bag, I suggest you go to that link and set up a pre-approved bidder list
• Set up buyer requirements: Go here to restrict your bidders to those who have positive feedback! Don’t let those with -2 feedback win your items!

To add buyer requirements to your listings:

1. In My eBay, under the My Account column, click the “Preferences” link.
2. In the Seller Preferences section, click the “Edit” link. The Buyer Requirements page opens.
3. Select your buyer requirements. These include blocking buyers who:
4. Are registered in countries to which you don’t ship
5. Have a negative feedback score
6. Have received Unpaid Item strikes
7. Are currently winning or have bought ‘1-100′ of your items in the last 10 days
8. Do not have a PayPal account
9. Click the Submit button to save your requirements.

6. Restrict payment on paypal

I suggest everyone take this step as well. Restrict your buyers to those who have a confirmed paypal account!

1. Sign into paypal
2. Go to My account (top left)–>Profile (top right)–>Payment receiving preferences (on right column)
3. Select your requirements. These include blocking buyers who:

• Are registered in countries to which you don’t ship
• Who do not have a confirmed address
• Who try to pay in a foreign currency

To fully take advantage of these blocking precautions and not have to relist an item, you’d have to list your item with buy-it-now and require immediate payment. That way, if someone BIN and tries to pay with an unconfirmed address, the listing will not end.

So what’s so bad about unconfirmed addresses? Usually, they are okay, but if someone breaks into someone’s paypal account and buys your bag, they will want to ship to a different, unconfirmed address, not the address of the person who actually owns the paypal account. Months later, the poor person whose account got hacked will try to get their money bag and file a chargeback. When you ship to an unconfirmed address, paypal will not protect you!.

7. Follow ebay/paypal seller protection rules!

Make sure you track and insure your package and have done all the following (notice that I am talking about paypal protection. If you use money order or check, you need to wait 1-2 weeks for clearance. If you wait 5 days, some fake MO’s even get cleared. Beware. If you ship after 7 days, you don’t get protection. You have no protection if the buyer files a claim.):
Read the following: Ebay’s summary on seller protection
 I’ve listed them here:

1. Seller has a Verified Business or Premier account. The seller’s account must be attached to a bank account that is confirmed through PayPal’s Verification process. When you are a Verified seller, not only are you more protected, but you also increase your credibility and appeal with buyers. Verifying your seller account is free and easy to do. Learn more about Verification

2. Item is shipped to an eligible address. For your transaction to qualify, you must ship the item to an eligible address. PayPal is continually working to increase the number of eligible buyer addresses. To determine shipping address eligibility, refer to the shipping address area of your Transaction Details page.

3. Item is a tangible good. (You’re all set for this one!) Only physical goods are covered by the Seller Protection Policy. Intangible goods, such as services or items delivered electronically (e.g., software, MP3s, eBooks), are not covered.

4. Proof of delivery. To file a claim under the Seller Protection Policy, we’ll need a copy of the shipment record. Always retain proof that the item was delivered to the address on the Transaction Details page. Acceptable proof of delivery varies by country. Please refer to the Seller Protection Policy for details.

5. Signature receipt for valuable items. Chances are, for designer bags you will NEED this! For items with a value of $250.00 USD or more, in addition to proof of delivery, you should provide proof of signature from the recipient. This proves that the item was delivered to the buyer. Many carrier companies offer these proof of delivery services.

6. Item sent in a timely manner. To be covered, the item must be shipped within 7 days of receiving payment. A special note regarding international shipping.

Currently not all countries and regions are covered by the Seller Protection Policy. Please visit the Seller Protection Policy page to learn more.

8. More tips

If you follow all these instructions, you should have no problems! This is of course not 100%, especially if you are a new seller (newly registered, with that little shiny symbol next to your ID), or if you have very few feedback (<20). If you have no feedback, I suggest you familiarize yourself with ebay a bit and buy a couple of things before plunging in and selling a designer bag. The lower your feedback, the less buyer protection ebay will give (now the minimum they give is $200, which is not enough for a designer bag), and buyers will be more wary. Fear not, and sell some small things first. You have a designer bag, and it will not depreciate that much till you sell it later! Some have asked “Is it worth it to join something like ALVA or Mypoupette?” I believe that Alva is a closed group that is invite only, and only after being established in that community do you get the ALVA emblem. As for Mypoupette (you may see sellers who advertise themselves as MPRS, or my poupette recommended sellers), the $49 application fee and $99 annual fee is something you need to contemplate if you are willing to spend. If you sell a LOT of bags, it having the MPRS may help. I say “may help” because lately mypoupette MPRS reputation has been declining as more MPRS are approved yet not monitored by mypoupette after approval. (for reference, please search google).

In conclusion, here are some definite NO-NO’s:

1. Do not meet your buyer in person for your own safety! Okay, unless she happened to be your coworker or something
2. Do not leave positive feedback before the transaction is over! It is subjective exactly when the “Transaction is over”, but I believe it is after your buyer receives the item, is satisfied, and leave positive feedback. I once had a buyer threaten to leave negative feedback unless I gave him $60, after he received the perfectly good item!
3. Do not save money by shipping 2 items together unless they paid for them together
4. Do not be caught without proof of doing everything right in the transaction. Save all emails, etc, about the transaction.
5. Do not be intimidated by buyers. Buyers who accused you of a fake item and cannot be convinced should be blocked from bidding and reported to ebay for harassment.

If you found this guide helpful, please vote so others can find this guide! Thanks!
 

I  HATE  FAKES!

There is nothing worse that saving up your hard earned money, and finally investing in that georgous new designer bag or purse, only to find out you’ve been ripped off by a fake!  There are so many fakes on Ebay unfortunately.  Id hazard a guess at 95%. 

THINGS  TO  LOOK  OUT  FOR

• 
  Sellers with very little feedback
  
• 
  Sellers who are continuously selling expensive bags and purses
  
• 
  Obviously, negative feedback
  
• 
  Sellers who cant provide a receipt, or a reason why they dont have one

DO  YOUR  RESEARCH – DO  THIS  BEFORE  YOU  BUY!

• 
  There are many websites available that can help you with determining if your new purchase is a fake
  
• 
  Check out the things to look for e.g. serial numbers and where the product is usually made to see if they match up
  
• 
  Dont be afraid to contact previous buyers and ask them if they are really happy witht their purchase

PICK  THE  ITEM  UP  IF  POSSIBLE

Its alot easier to get your money back if you havent handed it over yet!  Go and check the product out before you pay for it.  ALWAYS be wary of sellers who wont allow you to pick up or check out the item.

EMAIL  EMAIL  EMAIL  SOME  MORE

Ask lots of questions.  Never ever be afraid to ask questions.  Email them 20 times if you have to.  And if you dont get the answers you wan, or the seller is being evasive – DONT  BUY.  If the seller doesnt ever bother to return your email – DONT  BUY!

Finally – if you are thinking of spending upwards of $700 on Ebay – why not consider saving that little bit extra and buying directly from the real store.  It may cost you a bit more, but at least you know youve got what youve paid for.

There is nothing worse than seeing someone with an obvious fake, and just knowing that they have no idea!

There are many signs, noted marks on handbags that a seller should show pictures of, describe or have guaranteed for a handbag.  If a handbag is 100% Authentic, it should always be guaranteed or your full money back so that you have that satisfaction of knowing that your handbag is indeed 100% Authentic.  There are many marks on a Coach, Louis Vuitton & Gucci handbag that will show it’s authenticity. 

On all Coach, Louis Vuitton & Gucci handbags there are many key important factors that all of these handbags have.  There is always a leather tag inside of the bag that has a ID number.  If your handbag doesn’t have a tag with an id, your handbag is most likely fake.  This ID tag is marked as a real bag from one of the designers. 

Secondly, all 3 of these trademarked handbags (Coach, Louis Vuitton, & Gucci) usually do not come with plastic wrapped around the handles and/or handbag.  That is usually red flag and indicator that it was imported from China or a foreign country and is a replica handbag. 

Thirdly, feel your handbag, you will know leather from fake leather.  If you question the texture, take it to a shoe shop or any designer store.  They will be more then happy to help you out and access the quality of your handbag.  Last but not least, is your handbag purchased from someone with a good feedback rating?  If they most likely have any negative feedbacks, this also is a red flag they are possibly selling knockoffs.  If they are selling the handbag and it is out of a boutique or from China, this is yet another red flag it is a knockoff. 

If your Gucci or Louis Vuitton handbag comes with tags hanging from the handle this is also an indicator it is a knockoff.  A 100% confident seller will show the proof of payment from the designer store or have a 100% guarantee for when you purchase.

Sellers on eBay are required to sell only authentic goods. Sadly, there are many people who will not only sell counterfit or fake items (which I refer to as replicas), but who will go to great lengths to trick you into thinking that they are authentic. In this guide, I will help you determine the difference between an authentic or replica handbag.

Let me begin by telling you about me and where I come from. I have spent an immense number of hours on the internet, admiring and researching high end designer handbags. I have sold a small number of bags, both authentic and replica, on the internet. After the time I have spent researching handbags, I have come to recognize many signs that an item is a replica that most people would overlook.

First of all, check the location of the seller, which is posted in the auction. In many, BUT NOT ALL, cases, sellers from Asia are selling replica bags. The reason behind this is that countries in this area have very unspecific intellectual property laws, so factories which manufacture replica products are very prevalent. Sellers from China, Korea and Singapore are especially dangerous.

Also, it is important to check the wrapping of the bag in the picture. Paper around buckles, plastic over handles, and square tags of material hanging from a strap are all telltale signs of a replica. Brand new bags from the boutiques never have any wrapping around them UNLESS THE BAG WAS SPECIAL ORDERED. Special-ordered bags are typically the newest “It” bags, like the Louis Vuitton Speedy 30 was a few years ago. In contrast, the Louis Vuitton Cabas Mezzo is hardly ever special ordered because it is a classic. Get a very clear answer from the seller when it comes to the circumstances of purchasing the bag.

If the seller says the bag is from the internet, ask them which website. Websites usually leave the wrapping on bags, however there are very few websites that sell authentic bags from high end designers. eLuxury is the most prevalent one, also the websites of department stores (Neiman Marcus, Saks, Macy’s, etc) will sell authentic bags. When these websites do have wrapping on their items, the handles are covered in tissue paper/plastic and buckles are covered in blue plastic adhesive. Additionally, the squares of leather that hang from straps are only on replicas.

Finally, it is important to do research on what the bag should look like. If there is a store in your area that carries the bag that you look for, take a trip and look at the ones that are carried. Pay close attention to exact colors, the way seams meet, stamps in the leather, markings on hardware. If you are not able to go to a store where authentic bags are sold, try eLuxury or the manufacturer website. Another option is looking up auctions that are verified by mypoupette or other authenticity verification service. Not all authentic bags are verified by these services, but nearly all bags verified by these services are authentic. Take a close look at the pictures provided, even keep watch of the auction.

An authentic bag should always have a dustbag, authenticity/care cards, and sometimes a reciept. However, these are also counterfitted, so do not rely on these as the sole verification source.

The final red flag to look out for is sellers who sell large numbers OF THE SAME ITEM. This is different from sellers who sell alot of the same BRAND. For example, a person who has 25 Louis Vuitton speedy 30 handbags is very suspicious, while a seller who has 50 Louis Vuitton handbags that are 30 different styles is much more legitimate. Sellers who do wholesale are always selling replicas; wholesale meaning that they have large numbers of the same item that they sell at a large discount (over 50%).

The most important thing, when buying a high end designer bag, is to do research, find a reputable seller, ask questions, and be comfortable with your purchase. Never rush into a sale (don’t quickly read over an auction then bid right before it ends) and always ask any questions you have before bidding. The world of high fashion is full of excitement and glamour, and do not settle for anything less than what you want.