Sorry - long post. Advice needed.
I bought a Bayswater backpack online, secondhand. I have zero allegiences to Mulberry, I only started getting into this brand a month ago, while procrastinating for a hugely important deadline. As a leather enthusiast, my interest is primarily in early Mulberry leathers, the craftmanship, and designs. Anyway, I bought this bag because I tend to use backpacks more, and I do think the Bayswater backpack design is pretty neat!
However, upon receipt, I found this bag very weird. Many people have told me that it is authentic, it is just Mulberry quality declining, it is 'second quality' Mulberry, their recent leathers have a more plastic feel etc. I asked a well-known, and recommended authenticator who has authenticated many secondhand Mulberry bags, and whose certificates of authenticity are often included or mentioned on selling sites. She confirmed that it is authentic based on photos I sent her.
Dissatisfied with this answer, I phoned Mulberry. I cannot believe this bag to be made of leather (and if it is, I cannot believe people actually pay hundreds for this brand). I am aware that Mulberry do not authenticate. I just wanted advice. Specifically, I raised the issue of D-rings repairs, which I saw they do on their website. I told the Mulberry representative that I found the hardware on the straps cheap, plastic, weirdly lightweight, not magnetic, and asked her, since they do D-ring repairs, whether she can find out whether the material is magnetic or not. I did not ask her to authenticate, and I told her that I know Mulberry do not authenticate; I was simply trying to use deductive logic to get closer to the truth. I managed to speak about this bag in such a way that this customer service agent recommended that I send photos and videos and they will see what they can do to help. So I compiled a folder online. Videos show me testing the hardware on the straps with magnets to show they are not magnetic (unlike the postman's lock which is), I also threw water on the bag to show that it just runs off and leaves no water marks, and I show videos of me pressing and folding the bag and how it just springs back to shape. The way I see it, videos are important because they can capture sensuous and tactile qualities of the bag that cannot be observed from photos alone. I send email this over to Mulberry.
Fast forward a few days, I call Mulberry back. This second Mulberry rep told me straight up that the only way I can know if it is authentic or not is to send it in for repair. We keep talking, and once I explained that an authenticator refuses to believe it is inauthentic, the Mulberry rep looks up my email and opens my link while I am talking to her on phone. Straightaway, she tells me that the code on the made-in label is not authentic Mulberry, but it does look like a very good counterfeit based on photos alone. Again, she reiterates that the only way to properly confirm inauthenticity is to send it in for repair, and for them to reject it and send the bag back to me.
I sent the link of this folder to the authenticator, and she still maintains that it is authentic.
So I paid Handbag Clinic for a full report of authenticity. Handbag Clinic confirmed that the bag is inauthentic.
I forward the Handbag Clinic report to this authenticator, and she tells me that the Mulberry customer service representative who told me that the code is inauthentic is INCORRECT. And she told me that Handbag Clinic are NOT to be trusted.
Now I do not know what to do, or who to believe.
The authenticator has told me I can use her authenticity certificate and resell the bag as authentic. But my intuition is that it is not authentic and, regardless of the money lost, I cannot in good conscience resell it as authentic. The problem is that now I have two conflicting reports and still none the wiser as to the authenticity of this bag.
I realise that I have made a lot of mistakes as a newbie entering the world of designer goods (and fakes). I have learnt my lesson and will be much more careful in the future. The way I see it, the issue here is ethical, not the money (although I have lost a lot). I am seriously considering sending the bag off for repair and pay for it at my own expense, so I can know the truth for sure. If this authenticator is wrong, then I am afraid that she has (inadvertently) authenticated many inauthentic bags as authentic. She has even sent me screenshots of Facebook ads with bags bearing the tag and claimed that they are authentic. How are FB screenshots a greater proof of the authenticity of my bag over the report from Handbag Clinic?! Am I being totally stupid here, or is her logic hugely flawed?! This world of designer goods/fakes is genuinely making me question my common sense.
Has anyone been in this situation? What would you do?
thanks
I bought a Bayswater backpack online, secondhand. I have zero allegiences to Mulberry, I only started getting into this brand a month ago, while procrastinating for a hugely important deadline. As a leather enthusiast, my interest is primarily in early Mulberry leathers, the craftmanship, and designs. Anyway, I bought this bag because I tend to use backpacks more, and I do think the Bayswater backpack design is pretty neat!
However, upon receipt, I found this bag very weird. Many people have told me that it is authentic, it is just Mulberry quality declining, it is 'second quality' Mulberry, their recent leathers have a more plastic feel etc. I asked a well-known, and recommended authenticator who has authenticated many secondhand Mulberry bags, and whose certificates of authenticity are often included or mentioned on selling sites. She confirmed that it is authentic based on photos I sent her.
Dissatisfied with this answer, I phoned Mulberry. I cannot believe this bag to be made of leather (and if it is, I cannot believe people actually pay hundreds for this brand). I am aware that Mulberry do not authenticate. I just wanted advice. Specifically, I raised the issue of D-rings repairs, which I saw they do on their website. I told the Mulberry representative that I found the hardware on the straps cheap, plastic, weirdly lightweight, not magnetic, and asked her, since they do D-ring repairs, whether she can find out whether the material is magnetic or not. I did not ask her to authenticate, and I told her that I know Mulberry do not authenticate; I was simply trying to use deductive logic to get closer to the truth. I managed to speak about this bag in such a way that this customer service agent recommended that I send photos and videos and they will see what they can do to help. So I compiled a folder online. Videos show me testing the hardware on the straps with magnets to show they are not magnetic (unlike the postman's lock which is), I also threw water on the bag to show that it just runs off and leaves no water marks, and I show videos of me pressing and folding the bag and how it just springs back to shape. The way I see it, videos are important because they can capture sensuous and tactile qualities of the bag that cannot be observed from photos alone. I send email this over to Mulberry.
Fast forward a few days, I call Mulberry back. This second Mulberry rep told me straight up that the only way I can know if it is authentic or not is to send it in for repair. We keep talking, and once I explained that an authenticator refuses to believe it is inauthentic, the Mulberry rep looks up my email and opens my link while I am talking to her on phone. Straightaway, she tells me that the code on the made-in label is not authentic Mulberry, but it does look like a very good counterfeit based on photos alone. Again, she reiterates that the only way to properly confirm inauthenticity is to send it in for repair, and for them to reject it and send the bag back to me.
I sent the link of this folder to the authenticator, and she still maintains that it is authentic.
So I paid Handbag Clinic for a full report of authenticity. Handbag Clinic confirmed that the bag is inauthentic.
I forward the Handbag Clinic report to this authenticator, and she tells me that the Mulberry customer service representative who told me that the code is inauthentic is INCORRECT. And she told me that Handbag Clinic are NOT to be trusted.
Now I do not know what to do, or who to believe.
The authenticator has told me I can use her authenticity certificate and resell the bag as authentic. But my intuition is that it is not authentic and, regardless of the money lost, I cannot in good conscience resell it as authentic. The problem is that now I have two conflicting reports and still none the wiser as to the authenticity of this bag.
I realise that I have made a lot of mistakes as a newbie entering the world of designer goods (and fakes). I have learnt my lesson and will be much more careful in the future. The way I see it, the issue here is ethical, not the money (although I have lost a lot). I am seriously considering sending the bag off for repair and pay for it at my own expense, so I can know the truth for sure. If this authenticator is wrong, then I am afraid that she has (inadvertently) authenticated many inauthentic bags as authentic. She has even sent me screenshots of Facebook ads with bags bearing the tag and claimed that they are authentic. How are FB screenshots a greater proof of the authenticity of my bag over the report from Handbag Clinic?! Am I being totally stupid here, or is her logic hugely flawed?! This world of designer goods/fakes is genuinely making me question my common sense.
Has anyone been in this situation? What would you do?
thanks
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