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#466
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#468
Hyacinth said:
Another number for The Fakes List:

0974-534 has shown up on at least 2 fake Willis Bags but the fake number can show up on any style. The construction details on the fakes have been near-perfect but the creed stamp in any bag with this number needs to be examined by an expert in older Coaches :

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/topic/Shoes-Purses-And/Real-Coach-Purses/520218641#1280366275801

(Sigh) I have personal experience with this one. :-s
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Hyacinth, it's not just Willis bags with the fake serial number.

I did a bit of research and found several different styles with the same fake number:

http://cgi.ebay.com/COACH-BLACK-LEATHER-PURSE-0974-534-EUC-/220644329160

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180531841584

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/clo/1813984277.html

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120584835652#ht_500wt_928
 
#469
Good catch, BB! I spotted the first Ebay one but there was no pic of the creed. The other creeds have some variations in some of the smaller details but they all have the same basic mistakes. They seem to be mostly stamped from different dies since there are differences in the Coach logos, and the "Made in USA" line is placed and spaced differently on some, but they must have all been inspired by the same original bag.

And a few are much more accurate in the details of the bags. There'd be no way to tell mine is fake if not for the creed, everything else is right on the money, except for the design of the inside pocket.

ETA - Crikey, I just Googled the number and there are a TON of them out there! Some may be duplicates of the same listing though.
 
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#472
I received a second chance offer on this purse, which I really like, but the person who bought it on buy it now, gave negative feedback and said it was a fake and not real leather. I Googled serial number, and didn't show up on any fake Coach lists, so I am not sure if I want to accept it. The purse looks real, but I'm not an expert. Help?

The serial number is no-co4u-1202, btw

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250672588555&ssPageName=STRK:MESOX:IT
 
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#473
zebrastripe said:
I received a second chance offer on this purse, which I really like, but the person who bought it on buy it now, gave negative feedback and said it was a fake and not real leather. I Googled serial number, and didn't show up on any fake Coach lists, so I am not sure if I want to accept it. The purse looks real, but I'm not an expert. Help?

The serial number is no-co4u-1202, btw

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250672588555&ssPageName=STRK:MESOX:IT
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The bag is fake and the person who negged the seller did you and future buyers a favor in warning you.

Do not buy from purpledinsaur.

Even though a serial number doesn't show up in a google search doesn't mean that it's not fake, nor does it mean that the bag it's on isn't fake.

In fact, you'll NEVER find an authentic Coach bag with that serial number because the style number, 1202 isn't even a bag.

Please report the seller's listing.

1202 is a refill for a Coach planner.
 

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#474
BeenBurned said:
The bag is fake and the person who negged the seller did you and future buyers a favor in warning you.

Do not buy from purpledinsaur.

Even though a serial number doesn't show up in a google search doesn't mean that it's not fake, nor does it mean that the bag it's on isn't fake.

In fact, you'll NEVER find an authentic Coach bag with that serial number because the style number, 1202 isn't even a bag.

Please report the seller's listing.

1202 is a refill for a Coach planner.
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Thank you so much! :)
 
#476
Interesting article on counterfeits from the August 1st edition of the New York Times. I'll try posting several different links since sometimes the Times requires registration to read their stories:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/business/economy/01knockoff.html?ref=todayspaper

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/b...ff.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&pagewanted=print


"Economic Indicator: Even Cheaper Knockoffs

In this economy, even counterfeiters are trading down.


After years of knocking off luxury products like $2,800 Louis Vuitton handbags, criminals are discovering there is money to be made in faking the more ordinary — like $295 Kooba bags and $140 Ugg boots. In California, the authorities recently seized a shipment of counterfeit Angel Soft toilet paper.

The shift in the counterfeiting industry, which costs American businesses an estimated $200 billion a year, plays to recession-weary customers looking for downmarket deals, the authorities say. And it has been fueled in part by factories sitting idle in China. Almost 80 percent of the seized counterfeit goods in the United States last year were produced in China, where the downturn in legitimate exports during the recession left many factories looking for goods — in some cases, any goods — to produce.

“If there is demand, there will be supply,” said John Spink, associate director of the Anti-Counterfeiting and Product Protection Program at Michigan State University. In China, he said, “It’s all of a sudden them saying, ‘We have low capacity. What can we make?’ ”

The answer is increasingly knockoffs of lesser-known brands, which are easy to sell on the Internet, can be priced higher than obvious fakes, and avoid the aggressive programs by the big luxury brands to protect their labels, retail companies and customs enforcement officials say.

The results: Faux Samantha Thavasa bags for $113 and Ed Hardy hoodie sweatshirts for $82.50. And, bizarrely, imitations that are more expensive than the real ones: In 2007, Anya Hindmarch sold canvas totes that said “I’m Not a Plastic Bag” for $15. Now fakes are available on the Web for $99.

“If it’s making money over here in the U.S., it’s going to be reverse-engineered or made overseas,” said Jonathan Erece, a trade enforcement coordinator for United States Customs and Border Protection in Long Beach, Calif. “It’s like a cat-and-mouse game.”

The traders in mid-price fakes are employing another new trick: by pricing the counterfeits close to retail prices — which they can do when the original product is not too expensive — they entice unsuspecting buyers. Any savvy shopper, for example, knows a Louis Vuitton bag selling for $100 cannot be the real thing. But when NeimanMarcus.com, an authorized retailer for Kooba bags, sells them for $295, and a small Web site sells them for $190, a deal-hunting consumer could think she has scored a bargain. (She hasn’t. The $190 bag is a fake.)

“If the price points are somewhat close, some consumers get duped into believing they’re getting a real product,” said Robert Barchiesi, president of the International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition, a trade group. “They might be looking for a bargain, but a bargain to buy real goods.”

The counterfeiters are also lifting photos and text from legitimate Web sites, further fooling some shoppers.

“The consumer is blind as to the source of the product,” said Leah Evert-Burks, director of brand protection for Ugg Australia’s parent company, the Deckers Outdoor Corporation. “Counterfeit Web sites go up pretty easily, and counterfeiters will copy our stock photos, the text of our Web site, so it will look and feel like” the company site, she said.

While all of it is illegal, the authorities do not publish statistics on what brands’ products are being counterfeited. But designers and trade experts said the downmarket trend in counterfeiting became more noticeable over the last year, as counterfeiters got more inventive. The field is big: the total value of counterfeit goods seized by United States customs officials increased by more than 25 percent each year from 2005 to 2008, using the government’s fiscal calendar. In fiscal 2009, as imports over all dropped by 25 percent, the value of counterfeit products seized dropped by only 4 percent to $260.7 million.

The official statistics capture only a piece of the problem, companies and experts say, because so many counterfeiters market directly to customers on the Internet and many of those sales go undetected by the authorities.

“Online is much harder” to patrol and enforce, said Todd Kahn, general counsel for Coach, the handbag and accessories company... "


Check the links for the rest of the article.
 
#479
Daelilly said:
I saw one the other day. It was very pretty. The lady said it was a Coach. I have never heard of it. I would like one if it is true. Very practical for my job (teacher).
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Do you mean a Herringbone fabric? They made a few back in the early 2000s but I don't remember seeing any recently There was one small bag in a black & white wool herringbone called a Girlie Herringbone from around 2000 but I can't remember any others right now, especially in a Tote style. Maybe someone else will remember a newer one - it looks like someone in the Coach Shopping forum posted some photos.
 
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#480
Daelilly said:
I saw one the other day. It was very pretty. The lady said it was a Coach. I have never heard of it. I would like one if it is true. Very practical for my job (teacher).
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Hyacinth said:
Do you mean a Herringbone fabric? They made a few back in the early 2000s but I don't remember seeing any recently There was one small bag in a black & white wool herringbone called a Girlie Herringbone from around 2000 but I can't remember any others right now, especially in a Tote style. Maybe someone else will remember a newer one - it looks like someone in the Coach Shopping forum posted some photos.
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This item looks like Coach may be brought back one of the older styles. The bags in the following listings are from 2007 but the fabric is identical to the older ones. Style number for this tote is 11216.

Three different colors:

http://cgi.ebay.com/COACH-Herringbo...dbag-Tote-/170522543730?pt=US_CSA_WH_Handbags

http://cgi.ebay.com/NWT-COACH-HAMPT...BAG-11216-/200446948617?pt=US_CSA_WH_Handbags

http://cgi.ebay.com/COACH-HAMPTON-L...-WRISTLET-/230502658083?pt=US_CSA_WH_Handbags
 
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