I just had my first item authenticated by A4U. Love their service and will definitely choose them again.
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I've got mixed reviews....
First, I don't think they actually know if it's real/fake. They are simply looking for business. For my $1,000 fake dior jacket, I literally had to do the work. Send pics of what a real vs. fake tag looks like. Send pics on how a real jacket has straight stitching, and the fake has crooked stitching. I could of sent the report to paypal myself (because authenticate4u.com literally copied and pasted my email) but paypal required a "third party".
The last time I tried to use them, they told me they'd do it. After a week of no response, I get a two word response "sorry, busy", than another week of no response. I had their paypal email and thought I'd send them the fee for the service just to you know push them into doing it. Instead I just get a refund and no response lol. So, they never did the 3rd claim after telling me for more than two weeks they would. But at least they didn't take my money.
But just wondering why are you using their service? ebay/paypal got rid of requiring these documents
I want to leave feedback for Authenticate4u.com i think they are very professional and always replied really quick 1-2 day turn around for me ans I think some items that are harder to determine may take a bit longer for others? but i trust their expertise 100% on weather the item is authentic or not.
Hi is there any chance Authenticate4U was wrong on authenticating? Im newbie with authenticTor.. I dont know what service to use to authenticate 18 series above.. Please appreciate some input
I'm not sure I understand what you need help with, but A4U was wrong authenticating a bag for me. It was a vintage Hermès Kelly that they declared as fake, and after a lot of to-ing and fro-ing and getting second opinions (Bababebi had no doubts that it was authentic) the only way to be sure was sending it for spa. It came back without issue after a rather stressful seven or so months of waiting, so clearly they were wrong. The whole incident was rather stressful and unpleasant. I've thought a lot about whether or not to share this here since I've had enough stress around it as it is, but I think everyone should be clear that thinking anyone is infallible is risky (especially when as a customer you don't know who the authenticator(s) actually is(are)).
I completely agree with you. Even with the very best authenticators, using the very best photographs provided, authentication is at best, an inexact science. The only honest to God way to verify authenticity is to do what you did: send the item to the original design house. I say this as one of the long time Prada AT authenticators. On more than one occasion, I've recommended sending Prada items to Prada in Milan. I've been pleased that in my case, the item came back from Prada with the same opinion as I had provided.
I do not agree with this. Authentication with comparison of proper photographic examples that show the correct detail is a very exact business if the authenticator knows what they are doing. It is a more exact method than human in person examination which is fallible and unreliable, unless backed up by photographic comparisons.
It is well known that some brand manufacturers are not well versed in the quality of the latest fakes, and that the staff reviewing the bags insufficiently trained about what to look for. Some fakes are very sophisticated, and it is not really the business of the original manufacturer to follow the advances in the fakes. These days sending a bag to a manufacturer is not proof of authenticity. It is a shame.
I do not agree with this. Authentication with comparison of proper photographic examples that show the correct detail is a very exact business if the authenticator knows what they are doing. It is a more exact method than human in person examination which is fallible and unreliable, unless backed up by photographic comparisons.
It is well known that some brand manufacturers are not well versed in the quality of the latest fakes, and that the staff reviewing the bags insufficiently trained about what to look for. Some fakes are very sophisticated, and it is not really the business of the original manufacturer to follow the advances in the fakes. These days sending a bag to a manufacturer is not proof of authenticity. It is a shame.
So it's damned if you do, damned if you don't. There's never going to be 100% certainty unless the buyer sits in the designer's atelier and observes the item being constructed from start to finish. Realistic? Of course not, but that's the reality of authenticity issues in this world of Super Fakes.