Thank you BB for taking the time to explain this to me. I had no clue on authentication and you've helped 100%. Google isn't the best source of Fake VS real. Lol
If you read the six Salearea
Coach Guides posted here and pinned to the top of the Coach Shopping Forum pages (which I strongly recommend) you'll see that I don't ever recommend using Google to find out if something's genuine.
The second Guide that discusses all those "authenticity guides" talks about one of the reasons, and
why so many "rules" found in internet guides are completely useless::
PAGE 2 THE CENTERED C RULE or THE C'S ARE PERFECTLY STRAIGHT RULE MOSTLY true, with plenty of exceptions. The center seam or a line down the front of a bag with Signature or Op Art C's should usually divide it into 2 halves that are mirror images of each other. But: Sometimes the back isn't...
forum.purseblog.com
"THE "IF YOU CAN'T FIND IT ON GOOGLE OR ON COACH'S WEBSITE, IT'S FAKE" RULE
This one just doesn't make sense. First of all, Google is a Search Engine. It picks up anything fed into it, real or fake. Second, Google was only started in around 1999, if memory serves. So trying to find something on Google that may have been made and sold before Google even existed (or in some cases, before the INTERNET even existed) is an exercise in futility. Even with newer items, unless they've been posted someplace on the 'net other than Coach's website, Google won't pick them up.
Second, Coach has only had a website for about the same time, maybe less. They no longer have any public archive of older styles or style numbers, and the ONLY things on their website are items CURRENTLY IN STOCK IN THE COUNTRY WHERE THE WEBSITE IS LOCATED and available for sale. So that makes maybe a few hundred current items you may be able to find on their website, versus everything else made or sold in the last 60-plus years that ISN'T there. So what does searching Coach - or Google - prove? Anyone who uses either one to determine authenticity is pretty much wasting their time."
And of course there's the related problem - how do you know that ANY of the articles found through links on Google are correct ??? No one corrects them (or any other misinformation found on Google) so all you're finding is a bunch of contradictory and possibly dangerous information that's almost always wrong and often 15 or more years out of date. And pages from Coach's website are usually NOT available through Google.
Where Google CAN be useful is if you enter a serial number such as "coach NT-4903" and most of the first links on the Google list leads to sites, pages or especially posts here at tPF that state the serial number is fake or "always fake". Finding something like
that on Google usually indicates a serious problem with that particular serial number - DON'T ignore it. Read the links and if they're from a legitimate source like tPF, take the warnings seriously.
ETA - I'm not sure where or what that "Real vs Fake" site or page you mentioned is located. I've never heard of it, what is it? But I have a short temper, and sites with bad information or that claim that One Rule Fits All just mess with my blood pressure.
