Authenticate This COACH - **see first post for format**

[Vlad]

IMPORTANT READ-ME

Please post authenticity questions related to COACH in this thread. No PMs please.
For further information, please refer to the first post on page 1 of this thread.

Please follow the following requests:

• Before you submit a request for authentication, please search this thread to make sure that the item has not previously been authenticated by searching the seller ID and/or item number. This is not a thread to ask general questions about COACH, please refer to our main Coach forum for such information.
• Note that authenticators have the right to refuse any requests. This is a free service, but it is imperative that you help our authenticators by using the following format:
• FOR ITEMS LISTED ONLINE:
  Item:
  Listing number:
  Seller and site where listed
  Link:
  Comments:
  
  
• FOR ITEMS NOT LISTED ONLINE:
  Item:
  Where purchased or how obtained
  Comments:

BASIC PICTURES REQUIRED (but more may be requested): If necessary pictures are in the listing, it's not necessary to upload and duplicate them.

• Front of item
• Back of item
• Full clear and legible creed text and serial number
• Made in tags (when available)
• Measurements
• For bags with turnlock closures, show pictures of back of female side of turnlock
• For bags with magnetic snaps, show pictures of the male part of the snap so that the numbers and letters on it can be read
• If applicable, search interior of bag and/or pockets for small white tag with production information and include a picture of that.

Thank you and be safe!

 

[BeenBurned]

Too late for that, I'm afraid. She's taken the listing down.

Nope, she didn't take the listing down. Ebay removed it because it's fake.

 

[Andalucian]

Nope, she didn't take the listing down. Ebay removed it because it's fake.

Good to know. I hadn't reported it, so I figured it must have been on her end. Learning a lot tonight.

 

[ILoveVintage1]

I have recently fallen in love with the classic Coach bags. I am a beginner in buying Coach and bought two bags without properly verifying their authenticity. Now I'm getting nightmares that the bags may be fake I will be grateful if you can help to verify the bags. Thank you in advance

Items: The bags are East West Duffle and Penny purse
Link: Not available on Ebay since I already bought the items
Sellers: givetheladywhatshewants7 for the Penny (http://www.ebay.com/usr/givetheladywhatshewants7)
lajanny for the Duffle (http://www.ebay.com/usr/lajanny)

 

[ILoveVintage1]

.

 

[BeenBurned]

Am I nuts, or is this borough fake?

Item: Coach Borough Vermillion Bar Satchel
Listing number:161995159154
Seller: elpoophoe10
Link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Coach-Borou...159154?hash=item25b7a9f672:g:WeIAAOSwv9hW11gv
Comments: Everything about this just looks slightly off including the creed spacing. Plus the creeds I've seen in the authentic versions of this are black. Just wanted to double check since I've rarely come across fake Boroughs.

From what I've seen, the Borough bags are on par with Swagger bags with scary close fakes.

I don't believe the bag listed by elpoophoe10 is authentic. Other opinions are welcome.

This listing is for an authentic bag. The first image is a stock photo but the others are her own. In addition to the obvious creed differences, there are color differences (tan vs. gold) and lining fabric differences.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Coach-3...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

The creed on the left is elpoophoe10. The one on the right is on an authentic bag.

After looking more carefully at all of elpoophoe10 (interesting choice of name) listings, I'm convinced that the listing above if fake and other listings are either a mix of fake and authentic or all are fake.

Here's another of elpoophoe10 's listings:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Coach-Cora-...959912?hash=item236405d7e8:g:LrAAAOSwmmxW140g

I'm not comfortable with the creed and stitching:

To this listing (different color, same style bag):
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-COACH-B...hash=item35fc2e8866:m:mVyU7l6J5UzjpFN6N34alDA

 

[Coachvintage]

Too late for that, I'm afraid. She's taken the listing down.

Hi I am Coach Classics on Ebayer and this situation has escalated into one big mess. I have been selling absolutely 100% Coach bags on ebay for the past 13 years and have never had a problem until now. My feedback speaks for itself with over 1300 positive transactions. Anyway, I took a black Coach Vintage Court bag out of my own collection and decided to sell it on ebay. I never used it and it was a gift from my parents for Christmas way back. I thought it may have been the late 90's or 2000 but I'm not sure. My family are all Coach fans or were up until lately since Coach has cheapened their bags so much but that's another issue. Anyway, I only ever used a brown Court and my navy Court so decided to let it go. I'm a retired teacher and don't need the 30 some vintage bags that I have acquired throughout life. As far as Ebay, most of my items are the vintage ones. I sold my black Court a few days ago and the gal contacted me today to say she thought it was a fake because it didn't have an adjustable strap and various other small differences as to where piping overlapped etc. I assured her that it was real and that my family and I have always purchased our bags from the Coach retail store at Somerset Mall in Michigan. I told her she could send it back, no problem as I have a 14 day Money Back Guarantee. I have only ever had 2 returns and I refunded the shipping even though I didn't have to. I feel the customer comes first. I even phoned this customer to leave a message so that there was no chance of miscommunication. Well she decided to send the pictures of the bag to Purse Forum and got back to me to say that it was believed to be a fake. She said the numbers started with Bin. I had though it was B1N and there are some discrepancies that I have discovered about those numbers being used on fake bags. The picture of the patch was not good. I admit that. Sometimes it is so difficult to try and get the camera down in the bags that don't have linings. So Ebay pulled the listing. Another response from somone on Purse Forum is to look at the backpack bag which is still listed and how I covered the first part of the serial numbers are covered with Coach Classics. Yes I did do that because I had a couple of people call Coach and use those numbers to try to get replacement hangtags. I also had another person use my picture of the patch on his listing. Another bag is not showing the patch which I will add tomorrow. That bag was really hard to get a picture and I was going to come back to it and simply forgot it so I will take care of that. All and all I feel very sad over this situation and have never run into anything like this before. The Coach Court that I sold is a gorgeous bag with beautiful thick drum dyed leather. I have to wait til she sends it back to take a look at the patch as the picture I have is very blurry. But this is definitely a real Coach bag. I would never sell a counterfeit Coach. Those of you who are experts would definitely pass this bag if you could see it for real. Thanks for listening and I just wanted to clear this up before even more people jump to conclusions.

 

[RL Bernstein]

Here's Hyacinth's authentication and although Hyacinth seemed (at the time) to believe Coach erred in stamping the serial with the wrong style, my humble opinion is that this isn't a Coach error. I don't believe the bag is authentic.

ETA: This is another creed for a different month with different text on the creed, very different creed quality and stitching:

Sorry for the delayed posting, but experienced difficulties attaching photos...

Italian-made Madisons, I've more than a few of those in the shop and am happy to provide a selection of creed tag images spanning 1994 and 1995 for your records (sorry I don't have one for January 1995). From what I see, if these are indeed representative, the creed stamp was constant from 1994 through April of 1995 (with "Made in Italy" at the bottom). Then a new stamp was used starting in May 1995 (when "in Italy" migrated up into the body of the creed).

I trust that these add to your database.

 

[whateve]

Good to know. I hadn't reported it, so I figured it must have been on her end. Learning a lot tonight.

Before you return it, if you have to return it, please post a picture of the creed here. We'll keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn't relist it.

 

[whateve]

Hi I am Coach Classics on Ebayer and this situation has escalated into one big mess. I have been selling absolutely 100% Coach bags on ebay for the past 13 years and have never had a problem until now. My feedback speaks for itself with over 1300 positive transactions. Anyway, I took a black Coach Vintage Court bag out of my own collection and decided to sell it on ebay. I never used it and it was a gift from my parents for Christmas way back. I thought it may have been the late 90's or 2000 but I'm not sure. My family are all Coach fans or were up until lately since Coach has cheapened their bags so much but that's another issue. Anyway, I only ever used a brown Court and my navy Court so decided to let it go. I'm a retired teacher and don't need the 30 some vintage bags that I have acquired throughout life. As far as Ebay, most of my items are the vintage ones. I sold my black Court a few days ago and the gal contacted me today to say she thought it was a fake because it didn't have an adjustable strap and various other small differences as to where piping overlapped etc. I assured her that it was real and that my family and I have always purchased our bags from the Coach retail store at Somerset Mall in Michigan. I told her she could send it back, no problem as I have a 14 day Money Back Guarantee. I have only ever had 2 returns and I refunded the shipping even though I didn't have to. I feel the customer comes first. I even phoned this customer to leave a message so that there was no chance of miscommunication. Well she decided to send the pictures of the bag to Purse Forum and got back to me to say that it was believed to be a fake. She said the numbers started with Bin. I had though it was B1N and there are some discrepancies that I have discovered about those numbers being used on fake bags. The picture of the patch was not good. I admit that. Sometimes it is so difficult to try and get the camera down in the bags that don't have linings. So Ebay pulled the listing. Another response from somone on Purse Forum is to look at the backpack bag which is still listed and how I covered the first part of the serial numbers are covered with Coach Classics. Yes I did do that because I had a couple of people call Coach and use those numbers to try to get replacement hangtags. I also had another person use my picture of the patch on his listing. Another bag is not showing the patch which I will add tomorrow. That bag was really hard to get a picture and I was going to come back to it and simply forgot it so I will take care of that. All and all I feel very sad over this situation and have never run into anything like this before. The Coach Court that I sold is a gorgeous bag with beautiful thick drum dyed leather. I have to wait til she sends it back to take a look at the patch as the picture I have is very blurry. But this is definitely a real Coach bag. I would never sell a counterfeit Coach. Those of you who are experts would definitely pass this bag if you could see it for real. Thanks for listening and I just wanted to clear this up before even more people jump to conclusions.

Welcome to the forum! If you want, we can help you determine if all your listings are authentic but we need to see clear creed pictures. There is no reason to not show creed pictures in your listings. We usually recommend against buying from sellers who don't show a creed picture.

We are not jumping to conclusions. There is no valid creed that starts with BIN or B1N, ever. If your bag has a creed with that prefix, it is fake - no exceptions. I would like the buyer who is in possession of the bag to post a creed picture so we can be sure.

Are you going to honor your promise of double her money back if the bag is indeed counterfeit?

 

[whateve]

Sorry for the delayed posting, but experienced difficulties attaching photos...

Italian-made Madisons, I've more than a few of those in the shop and am happy to provide a selection of creed tag images spanning 1994 and 1995 for your records (sorry I don't have one for January 1995). From what I see, if these are indeed representative, the creed stamp was constant from 1994 through April of 1995 (with "Made in Italy" at the bottom). Then a new stamp was used starting in May 1995 (when "in Italy" migrated up into the body of the creed).

I trust that these add to your database.

Thanks for posting!

 

[quinna]

After looking more carefully at all of elpoophoe10 (interesting choice of name) listings, I'm convinced that the listing above if fake and other listings are either a mix of fake and authentic or all are fake.

Here's another of elpoophoe10 's listings:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Coach-Cora-...959912?hash=item236405d7e8:g:LrAAAOSwmmxW140g

I'm not comfortable with the creed and stitching:

To this listing (different color, same style bag):
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-COACH-B...hash=item35fc2e8866:m:mVyU7l6J5UzjpFN6N34alDA

Wow, I'm impressed that both were taken down so quickly!

 

[Andalucian]

Before you return it, if you have to return it, please post a picture of the creed here. We'll keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn't relist it.

I'll add photos this morning in a little bit. I think I'll be able to get clearer photos in natural light than I can right now.

 

[BeenBurned]

Hi I am Coach Classics on Ebayer and this situation has escalated into one big mess. I have been selling absolutely 100% Coach bags on ebay for the past 13 years and have never had a problem until now. My feedback speaks for itself with over 1300 positive transactions.

*Snip*

Another response from somone on Purse Forum is to look at the backpack bag which is still listed and how I covered the first part of the serial numbers are covered with Coach Classics. Yes I did do that because I had a couple of people call Coach and use those numbers to try to get replacement hangtags. I also had another person use my picture of the patch on his listing.

*snip*

I would never sell a counterfeit Coach. Those of you who are experts would definitely pass this bag if you could see it for real. Thanks for listening and I just wanted to clear this up before even more people jump to conclusions.

Welcome to the forum! If you want, we can help you determine if all your listings are authentic but we need to see clear creed pictures. There is no reason to not show creed pictures in your listings. We usually recommend against buying from sellers who don't show a creed picture.

We are not jumping to conclusions. There is no valid creed that starts with BIN or B1N, ever. If your bag has a creed with that prefix, it is fake - no exceptions. I would like the buyer who is in possession of the bag to post a creed picture so we can be sure.

Are you going to honor your promise of double her money back if the bag is indeed counterfeit?

Regarding your 100% feedback, while that's wonderful, the sad thing is that unlike your buyer of this bag, many buyers don't know about fakes, don't know TPF or other purse discussion boards and don't know they got fakes. So 100% feedback doesn't necessarily mean that 100% of what you've sold were authentic items. And without good listings, neither you nor we can determine that.

I was the one who mentioned that you put your watermark over the serial number in at least one of your listings.

So what if buyers get a hangtag from Coach? Why does that concern you? Your serial number has absolutely nothing to do with whether Coach sends hang tags as a service to its customers.

And if others steal your picture(s), report them but don't prevent your own buyers and authenticators from proving authenticity of your item! That's like cutting off your nose to spite your face!

And as Whateve asked, I also want to know whether your promise of "double your money back" will be honored or if that's an empty promise.

As an authenticator but also as a buyer and a seller, my advice to anyone who wants to resell items they didn't personally purchase directly from Coach or an authorized reseller department store is to have those items authenticated before listing them, something you clearly didn't do. And DO NOT REDACT information that is necessary for authenticating.

If you have other bags of which you weren't the original owner, I recommend ending those listings and verifying that the bags are legal.

Self-authenticating is dangerous for your reputation as well as for your ebay account because now that you're on ebay's radar, they'll be watching your listings more carefully.

 

[Catbird9]

I'll add photos this morning in a little bit. I think I'll be able to get clearer photos in natural light than I can right now.

Now that the listing has been removed, I can't wait to see that creed again.
:snack:

 

[Andalucian]

Okay, attempting to put some quickie photos up. These were taken by my phone. I need to get the camera out and take some better photos before anything is done with the bag, but I don't have time for that this morning, so this can at least get us started.

A couple of the creed:

There were also several quality issues I found interesting, but these two seemed particularly noteworthy (and easy to photograph). Not sure if they're necessarily significant, but I did think they were interesting. (Such an odd, prominent place to put that seam!)