High End purses
Certain brands of purses, such as Coach, Chanel, and Louis Vuitton are both highly faked and highly priced at the thrift stores. They are also often put behind or inside a counter and therefore difficult to inspect without some additional trouble. Many other brands like Fossil and Dooney & Bourke are also frequently marked up, even though their resale value usually doesn't warrant it. If you buy high-end purses, it's usually best to be very familiar with them if paying marked up prices, and fakes are not allowed on eBay.
Before buying a high end label purse, look for the usual signs of counterfeiting. Splitting leather, flaking leather, and bad stitching are easy giveaways to fake items. Other ways to tell fakes include the lining (many brands have a signature lining), country of manufacture, and hardware (should be good quality and often includes signature or certain brand). One of trickier giveaways is the style or an element of the copied style is wrong (for example, Louis Vuitton Cerises purse pattern in a bag style they never made of it). Logos and patterns with the wrong colors, placement, or direction are also clues.
There are many guides online to checking for an item's authenticity published online. They vary in usefulness and quality. When I can't find enough on a particular brand, I make use of the Authenticate This! forum on purseblog.com. Registration is required to post an item.
Certain brands of purses, such as Coach, Chanel, and Louis Vuitton are both highly faked and highly priced at the thrift stores. They are also often put behind or inside a counter and therefore difficult to inspect without some additional trouble. Many other brands like Fossil and Dooney & Bourke are also frequently marked up, even though their resale value usually doesn't warrant it. If you buy high-end purses, it's usually best to be very familiar with them if paying marked up prices, and fakes are not allowed on eBay.
Before buying a high end label purse, look for the usual signs of counterfeiting. Splitting leather, flaking leather, and bad stitching are easy giveaways to fake items. Other ways to tell fakes include the lining (many brands have a signature lining), country of manufacture, and hardware (should be good quality and often includes signature or certain brand). One of trickier giveaways is the style or an element of the copied style is wrong (for example, Louis Vuitton Cerises purse pattern in a bag style they never made of it). Logos and patterns with the wrong colors, placement, or direction are also clues.
There are many guides online to checking for an item's authenticity published online. They vary in usefulness and quality. When I can't find enough on a particular brand, I make use of the Authenticate This! forum on purseblog.com. Registration is required to post an item.
