I've been a "small time" collector of Louis Vuitton,
Gucci and
Prada for years but my collection is quite small given my financial constraints. A few weeks ago I decided (against my better judgement and loyalty to authentic purses)to purchase a black canvas Gucci Belt Bag from a seller on ebay. Before making the purchase, I thoroughly read the guarantee of authenticity (which gave me a false sense of hope that this item would be authentic) as well as the return policy.
I received the bag yesterday and upon opening it I was able to immediately recognize it as a fake (although a pretty good one). I pulled up the same item on Gucci's website and visually dissected every detail I could. Although the bag in my hand looked just like the pic on Gucci's website, I could tell that something wasn't right. One thing that looked ever suspicious to me was that the zipper on the back of the bag had Gucci stamped into it. I know some authentic Gucci bags do have this type of zipper but it did not sit well with me. I immediately sent an email to the ebay seller notifying her that I would be sending the bag back, she has agreed to accept the bag and refund my money.
Today I went to the Gucci boutique in
Nordstrom and I found the same exact bag as my little fake one. I purchased the bag and I'm going to take it home and compare it to my fake. I can tell you this right now. My fake came with a the controlatto card that reads "1234567890", my new authentic bag also came with a the controlatto card reads "1234567890". So what is the purpose of the controlatto card anyway? Also, what is the purpose of putting serial numbers on your products if you will not authenticate the products? What are the serial numbers and the controlatto cards for?