Hello All,
This is Melissa Payner, Bluefly's CEO. While I do not normally post on this forum, this topic is every bit as important to me as it is to each of you, so I wanted to take a moment to address it personally.
First, and most importantly, I want to make clear that we guarantee to each of our customers that our products are 100% authentic. In addition to being Bluefly's CEO, I head up our merchandising efforts. I have been personally involved in the designer handbag selection featured on our site and have worked long and hard to develop the worldwide sourcing network that makes those bags available. The reason I have gone to great lengths to develop this network is because I am passionate about delivering on our promise of in-season, on-trend at a value. I do not believe that there is another retailer, online or brick-and-mortar, that does a better job of delivering on this promise with designer product.I - along with everyone else at Bluefly - pour my heart and soul into making sure that we sell only the best products.
Like you, I am a lifelong lover of quality fashion, and I understand your anxiety and suspicion, given how much questionable product there is out there in the market. However, what hurts me personally is the assumption that at worst we are trying to trick people, and that at best we got a bad shipment and didnt know the difference. Putting aside my personal feelings, it is important to look at the facts, and I do not see any facts here that suggest that our products are inauthentic. The handbag that is mentioned in this string is a style for which we only had one unit. It was first put up for sale on our web site earlier today and is currently in transit to the person who purchased it. So, I am assuming that the person who claims that the product is fake is making that claim solely by looking at a photo. As someone who has spent more years than I care to admit to in the luxury goods market, I honestly do not see how someone can make a determination as to whether a product is real or fake without even seeing or handling it. On a more fundamental level, the idea that Bluefly is involved in any way with goods that are not authentic just does not make sense. We are a public company that posts gross sales far in excess of $100 million per year. While I understand that there are any number of small, transient businesses that make money selling inauthentic products, it would be impossible to build and maintain an operation of our size by selling fakes.
Moreover, brands such as Balenciaga spend an incredible amount of resources tracking down counterfeit product. Given that we are an easy-to-find public company, rest assured that we would be hearing directly from them if what we were selling is questionable in anyway. The bottom line is that this disreputable and immoral way of doing business hurts us as much as anyone, and we do everything in our power to fight it.
All of that being said, I also want to make sure that each of you understand that you absolutely have the right to return any product that you purchased from us for any reason. A liberal return policy has always been a hallmark of our business, and it is something that we are very proud of.
On a final note, I want to apologize for the customer service response that was quoted earlier in this string. It was not responsive to your very valid questions and concerns and was simply not acceptable. I will personally make sure that we do not provide that kind of response to a customer again.
Thank you for taking the time for reading this. While I cannot post on the forum on a regular basis, I really do enjoy reading it and have loved seeing how your community has grown along with the online luxury business.
Best,
Melissa
