A few pointers on spotting a fake Murakami Speedy 30:

Speedy’s do NOT come with

1. 
   

   Luggage tag



2. 
   

   Genuine leather/fabric swatch.



3. 
   

   A hanging price/product tags from the handles



4. 
   

   An authentication card.

They have date codes, not serial numbers. Fakes can also have these date codes. Just because it has one, doesn’t make it authentic. Counterfeiters can duplicate the LV receipts just as well as the handbag so don’t get excited just because there’s a picture of a receipt.

Characteristics:

• 
  

  On the front pocket of the purse, the flap has 2 flowers on each side; these flowers should stretch from the stitching to the top of the flap. There should be no white canvas under or over these flowers.



• 
  

  The brass feet should NOT COVER ANY of the LV’s.



• 
  

  The leather tag that hangs off the end of the zipper should have stitching that come down to a V and be right in the center (but not touching) the R with the circle around it.



• 
  

  The same tag as mentioned above, should have the #30 on the bottom engraved in the leather and should have no color.



• 
  

  The Pocket on the front of the purse is a perfect square, each side should measure 4 1/4 inch on each side.



• 
  

  The LV’s on the purse can only be in these colors: Deep Yellow, Deep Pink, Purple, Fuchsia, Black, (CRAYOLA) Green, Dark Blue, Light Blue, Chartreuse Yellow. NONE OF THE LV LETTERS THEMSELVES SHOULD EVER BE RED!! THE LITTLE STARS YES, NOT THE LV’S, OR THAT PUTRID LIME GREEN.



• 
  

  The LV’s should all align horizontally on the purse across the pocket

BEFORE you buy an expensive designer name handbag, you can forward the item number to an online resource, mypoupette.com to verify authenticity and weed out fakes. The site charges only $5 per request for LOUIS VUITTON items and up to $15 for other designers!

While the listing is active, you send the Ebay listing number to mypoupette.com and they will review the listing and photos and determine with the information given if the bag is authentic or a fake!

Many respectable sellers of LOUIS VUITTON will register their bags with mypoupette.com prior to listing the item. Although nothing stope them from making the claim, while truly not being registered, mypoupette.com is user friendly and will allow you to verify if the Seller is officially endorsed as a mypupette.com seller. DON”T TAKE THE SELLERS WORD FOR IT! Research it yourself.

I will try my best to give you some information on how to buy a Authentic Louis Vuitton item on ebay.

Look for a seller w/ good feedback,perferably 25 or more positive feedbacks. If the seller has any negative feedbacks read the complaint & throughly look over the listing. If not just look over the past 5 – 10 items seller has sold. If past listings were for Louis Vuitton items or other high end designer items, the greater chance of this item you are watching to be authentic.

Check to see if the seller includes where & when the item was purchased, the receipt, the tags, care booklet, dustbag, or shopping bag. The more included the greater the chance of this item is authentic usually.

To be continued & revised soon. Thanks for reading.

I have been researching, coveting, drooling over Louis Vuitton since that first now infamous Newlyweds episode where Jessica Simpson takes her white Multicolor Speedy 30 camping with her and her now ex-husband Nick Lachey back in 2002.  Or was it 2003? Anyway……

It saddens me and infuriates me to see the amount of fakes sold on ebay to honest, unsuspecting people who could just do a little research (like I did) to arm themselves against being scammed.

So I thought I would write this quick little guide to hopefully enlighten some people out there, and save them from spending good money on bad fakes!

I am the proud owner of five AUTHENTIC Louis Vuitton bags, one AUTHENTIC Louis Vuitton scarf, and one AUTHENTIC Louis Vuitton Wallet, one AUTHENTIC Louis Vuitton change purse.  Five items I purchased from Louis Vuitton boutiques, three from My Poupette sellers on Ebay.

I own a black multicolor Speedy 30, purchased in Oct.’05 from the Louis Vuitton store downtown where I live.  I purchased in Sept.’07 a Hampstead bag from the LV store in downtown Montreal when I was visiting family, and then in Jan. ‘08 I purchased the gorgeous Summit Drive bag (in Red Vernis) again from the Montreal LV store when I was back for a family reunion. I also own a white multicolor Koala wallet, purchased from the Louis Vuitton store in Banff, Alberta, and the Monogram Homme coin purse also purchased from the LV store downtown in my city.

From MyPoupette resellers, I have successfully purchased a Louis Vuitton Vernis Bedford bag, a Louis Vuitton white multicolor mini sac HL and a vintage Louis Vuitton circle pattern head scarf.

If you can’t afford to buy directly from a Louis Vuitton boutique (and lets face it, not many of us can. I have a very, very generous husband who saved up for two years to be able to buy me my black multicolor Speedy 30 for my 30th birthday last year!!) the absolute BEST thing you can do for yourself is this:

1. Have patience and ONLY buy from sellers that are registered as My Poupette resellers. They have gone through an extensive screening and application process to fullfill the strict requirements necessary to be able to list themselves as My Poupette resellers.  Check it out on mypoupette.com and read all about it.  It’s an extremely helpful website, and I learned a lot from it.

I say to HAVE PATIENCE, also because you don’t want to rashly bid on something without doing your research, only to find you’ve been scammed.  Decide on what bag you’ve just got to have, and then wait for it to be offered up for sale on ebay by a MyPoupette reseller. Sooner or later, it will be. Trust me.

Unfortunately there is a lot of FRAUD and fake items on ebay.  You have to be careful, if you are unsure- don’t do it.  If you have a gut feeling telling you something is not right, don’t do it.  Ebay does as much as they can to prevent honest people from being scammed, and to allow honest people to sell good, quality authentic items- but when it comes right down to it, its “Buyer Beware”.  If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.  Personally, I am not willing to take a chance on an unknown seller, and I would not buy used LV from anyone unless they are a member of  the My Poupette group (or ALVA as well) because that is the only way I can have piece of mind that my ebay purchase WAS authentic.

Here are a couple of things you can easily spot to tell it its a fake:

1.Price. Real LV is expensive, so if theres a Speedy 30 being offered up for a Buy It Now (BIN) price of $150.00, its FAKE. Speedy 30’s retail for $2000.00 CDN new, so even if it’s $600.00 BIN, it’s FAKE.

2. Was it ever really made by Louis Vuitton? This one kills me every time.  For example: the Cherry Blossom Line (be it pink flowers on brown monogram canvas, or pink flowers on pink monogram canvas) was ONLY ever made in 3 styles of bags:   the Papillon, the Retro and the Pochette.  THAT’S IT!! So when you see a “100% Authentic, NEW, Cherry Blossom Speedy 30″ or a “100% Authenticity guaranteed cherry blossom mini sac” or anything that is NOT the Papillon, Retro or Pochette- IT’S FAKE!

Of course, there are small leather goods like wallets, coin holders, keychains, belts etc.. that WERE made in cherry blossom pattern, so again- DO YOUR RESEARCH! If it was never manufactured by LV, it’s fake and you don’t want it.

Another example: white and black multicolor canvas have also NEVER been made in the Papillon style.

3. If the picture shows paper or plastic tags ATTACHED to the bag, either by string or plastic holders, it’s fake! LV does not attach tags to their merchandise. Ever. Also, if you see a small, round plastic ‘disc’ style tag with LV on it attached to the merchandise, its FAKE. LV would never use something so tacky.

4. If the dust cover (mostly for wallets and small goods) has ROUNDED edges, its FAKE.

5. Tissue, or plastic wrapped around the handles/hardware- FAKE.

6. Read the sellers feedback, look at the pics of previous items they’ve sold.  If the seller has private feedback, and you can’t read it- BEWARE! They are hiding something. If the bidders identity is kept private, BEWARE! I’ve always suspected sellers do this so they can bid against you, and up the price you pay, thus increasing their profits.

7. Know what the item you are looking at is supposed to look like. Again, and I really can’t stress this enough- DO YOUR RESEARCH. Check out mypoupette.com, louisvuitton.com and other guides on ebay.  There are 33 colors on an Authentic White or Black Multicolor speedy 30 (and all multicolor items) but did you know that there are NEVER any yellow LV’s?  or red LV’s??  If you are looking at wallets, you should know that inside the wallet where it says “Louis Vuitton  PARIS Made in France” it’s never stamped onto the material in black or gold ink, it’s EMBOSSED- pressed right into the material, so it never comes off, flakes off, fades away.

Louis Vuitton is very symmetrical in appearance.  There is a pattern to it’s monogram pattern, and it does not vary. Know the size of the pattern too, and that on wallets the LV and monogram flowers etc are SMALL.  Not so large they take up half the wallet and get cut off on edges.

8. Authenticity cards DO NOT EXIST. Most of the time, in ebay auction pics they are bright yellow. Sometimes they are a more muted yellow, or even cream in appearance, but know that LV doesn’t provide authenticity cards with merchandise purchased from an LV store. I know, I bought two items from LV stores.  Don’t be fooled by the inclusion of items such as auththenticity cards, care booklets, dust covers, receipts, envelopes etc. All that stuff can be faked easily by anyone with a good computer and decent printer or sewing machine, in the case of dustcovers.  Even packaging- boxes and bags- can be faked. It shouldn’t be the deciding factor about whether you are going to bid.

9. What’s in the bag? Again- do your research!! Is it mushroomy alcantra suede in the bag? Should it be brown canvas? Raspberry alcantra suede? If the inside doesn’t match with what it’s supposed to be, it’s a huge sign that the outside- the entire bag- is fake!  LV wouldn’t sell inferior merchandise. Know if there’s supposed to be a patch inside, or a keyring, or whether it should have a zippered pocket or just a pouch. Know where the date code is supposed to be- is it there?  Is it embossed into the material, or is it stamped with black or gold ink?  The date code in my Speedy 30 is barely visible- it took me forever to spot it.  It’s not something that’s obvious.

10. Louis Vuitton does not wholesale. They do not offer up factory “seconds” at discounted prices. NO ONE, not celebrities, not billionaires, not even the Queen of England would be able to “make a deal” with the Louis Vuitton factories to purchase at wholesale/discount prices.  It just doesn’t happen. Ever.  So any ebay listing, any website stating they have done just that is LYING to you. It’s simply not true because it’s just not possible. Don’t believe them, don’t bid, and save yourself the hassle.

Honestly- the best advice I can give you is to know what you are looking at, know what you are looking for, do as much research as possible about the bag you are interested in.  If you must buy from ebay, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE  buy from a My Poupette seller. It may take a little longer for you to come across the bag you want at the price you want, and YES, you will be buying used, but it’s worth the piece of mind to know that maybe you spent $800.00 on a used LV bag, but it’s authentic. It’s real.  You’ll have a great bag for a great price, and the satisfaction of knowing when people look at you and at the bag they’ll be thinking “what a great Louis Vuitton, I’m so jealous!”  Instead of “oh, look, nice fake”.

I hope this has been helpful! Have a great day!

A Guide to Purchasing a Louis Vuitton Denim Monogram Speedy

Part 2

8. The exterior of the bag should not have rolled leather trim around the sides of the bag.  It should have rolled denim monogram fabric trim.  The denim monogram speedy with the red alligator trim does have the red alligator trim around the sides – but not this bag. 

9. The interior of the Louis Vuitton BLUE Denim Monogram Speedy should be a soft gold man made suede fabric. Louis Vuitton has since come out with two other colors of the Denim Speedy – Pink and Green; the linings of the pink and green bags must match the color of the bag — and should not have the gold lining the denim blue speedy has.   The interior has only ONE open pocket – NOT a zippered pocket.  It should have a leather embossed tag sewn to the outside of the open pocket.  The embossed leather tag that is sewn to the interior of the bag should have 30 stitches close to the edge - not 26 like most of the fake bags I’ve seen listed on ebay.  The tag should look like this one:

NOT this one!

Additionally the interior should not have a cell phone pocket!

10. If you see this yellow card commonly known as the AUTHENTICITY CARD, or if it is referred to in the description , then it is not an authentic Louis Vuitton Denim Monogram Speedy.  Louis Vuitton NEVER includes authenticity cards with any of their products. Also those little brown or olive green envelopes NEVER come with authentic Louis Vuitton denim speedy bags — or any Louis Vuitton bag PERIOD!!  Those little envelopes ONLY come with knock-offs.

11.  The date code is embossed (pressed) into the fabric of the interior pocket.  It should not be dark enough to plainly see.  In fact it is very hard to take a picture of a date code.  It should never be stamped in a colored ink.  The date code consists of two letters (which indicate the factory the purse was manufactured in) followed by four numbers.  The four numbers indicate the month and year the bag was manufactured – numbers 1 and 3 are the month and 2 and 4 are the year.  So if you see a date code that ends with a 4 or a number lower than 0035 (March of 2005 is when the bags were first manufactured) it cannot be a real denim speedy.  Also remember that the first few months the Denim Speedy was sold to people on waiting lists.  If you happen to come across a BRAND NEW Denim Speedy with a date code of SP0035 make sure the seller did NOT just purchase this bag.  I bought my bag in July of 2005 and the date code was SP0075 — the bag went from the factory right to the store!!  You would not find a Denim Speedy in a Louis Vuitton boutique with an “old” date code.

12. Remember this bag retails for OVER $1400 AND THE PRICE KEEPS GOING UP!.   If you see a new bag listed at a very low price with no reserve then it is probably not real.  If the seller has a buy it now for just a few hundred dollars – it is not authentic!  Louis Vuitton does not discount, especially brand new bags. They never go on sale.  If the seller has a receipt – tell the seller you will be calling the store the receipt comes from to verify that bag was purchased at that store.  Receipts are often sold with fake bags.  You can also buy software to make your own receipt.  Whole kits are available complete with paper.  So please be very careful.  If the seller is only using a stock photo from the Louis Vuitton website or pictures of a celebrity carrying this bag – then the bag you will be getting most likely will be a knock-off.  A seller should prove to you the bidder that they are selling an authentic Louis Vuitton Denim Speedy by posting pictures of the bag they are selling. 

A Guide to Purchasing a Louis Vuitton Denim Monogram Speedy

Part 1

I know how frustrating it is to wonder if that auction you are looking at is for an authentic designer bag or not.  Since Louis Vuitton introduced the Denim Monogram Line a few months ago; ebay has been over run by fake denim monogram bags like this one:

Here are a few things to look for before purchasing a Louis Vuitton Denim Monogram Bag on eBay!

1. Make sure none of the LV’s are cut off along the sides or top of the bag;

2. Look at the picture – if it does not look like it is made from distressed denim (like a nice worn pair of jeans) then it is not authentic. There are many fakes made from dark blue canvas with what looks like the logos simply printed on the fabric.

3. On the exterior of the bag check around the edges of the pockets – they should be more distressed than the rest of the bag like this:

4. The interior of the pocket should have the denim monogram fabric lining the interior of the pocket; the flap of the pocket should have a lining of plain denim fabric – same for the bottom and sides of the pocket.  The lock should only have the Louis Vuitton Registered Trademark engraved between the two screws.  When you open the clasp there should be NOTHING engraved on the lower part of the lock. The part of the lock’s hardware that is inside the pocket should have four 6 pt. screws as follows:

5. Now check the pattern of the logos between the two front pockets.  Every authentic Denim Monogram that I’ve seen, including mine has NO LV logos between the two front pockets — this is ONLY for the Speedy; additionally the logos should not be in a straight column;

6. Check out the zipper leaf on both sides of the bag.  These should both be completely blank. There should be NOTHING embossed on top of or underneath the zipper leaf – especially the #30!  This is a zipper leaf of a fake denim monogram speedy:

                  < Fake                                   

 Authentic >  

7. Louis Vuitton never wraps their hardware in paper or attaches tags to their bags.  If you see any tags, especially a fabric, leather or paper tag with a plastic disc with the LV logo imprinted on it – the bag is not authentic.

No go to Part 2

Part 3