I am an avid handbag collector with about 30 purses, 98 percent of which are Louis Vuitton and Chanel. I only collect authentic bags, but I was once duped by a seller on eBay who sold me a fake.
I thought I'd share my story (for educational purposes) about shelling out $1,000 for what turned out to be taco-shaped pleather bag. I hope others will share their stories so we can all learn from each other's mistakes rather than keep remaking mistakes. Mine is kind of funny, so this is for humor purposes, too. Plus, I feel like I need to vent about it.
Here we go.
So, here I am, an avid LV and Chanel fan. I can pretty much tell a fake from a mile away and, to be frank, I hate fakes so much that sometimes I want to punch in the side of the head these little 14-year-olds with their fake LV multicolor monogram pochettes at the mall.
Anyway, a couple years ago, I discovered eBay as a way to get bags that were either rare or hard to get. I could avoid waiting lists. I thought it was the best thing ever. I knew there were a lot of counterfeit bags on eBay, but being somewhat of a pro at the brands I knew well, I could avoid them rather easily.
Being the know-it-all I was, I decided I was smart enough to try to buy a Fendi bag for the first time -- on eBay. I actually hate Fendi, but I had a very brief interest in the Fendi spy hobo (not the spy bag, but the hobo style) when I was going through this boho chic thing in early '05. There were quite a few of them on eBay, and the fakes were pretty obvious.
Then I found the bag I wanted. The seller had 100 percent positive feedback. They had sold numerous bags before, with no problems, so I perused the pictures carefully. It looked completely authentic. Every detail was in the right place on the exterior and interior of the bag. I did buy-it-now for $1,000.
Two days later, the bag came. Not only was it the actual "spy bag" style and not the hobo I had bid on, it was a pleather material that smelled like sardines. The "tags" that came with the bag were all screwed up, and included a care booklet with extremely broken English instructions, e.g. "Bag if wet tap with clothen towel fuzz."
I thought it was a joke. I almost started to cry. How could those other buyers on eBay leave this putz POSITIVE feedback?!?!?! I couldn't believe that they had sent me something completely different than the auction. I was horrified. I mean, this was a no-returns, authenticity-guaranteed transaction, according to the seller. Well, anyway, I went online and got the seller's phone number and I called him. No one does this s*** to ilovemrjones and gets away with it!
A strange foreign man in Brooklyn by the name of Ed answered the phone. I was going to confront him about the fakeness, but figured I'd never see my money again if I did. So I explained to him that he sent the wrong bag. He goes, "Oh my God. That bag you got is worth more than $2,000." (Liar!) So I asked to send it back, but I told him I was "so upset" that I wouldn't have my spy hobo in time for an event that evening that I wanted a refund rather than an exchange. I convinced him that he'd caused me a lot of trouble.
Surprisingly, he agreed, but he charged me an $80 "restocking fee." I got my money back and then I used his business address and Web site address to find out who he was. Then I complained to the Better Business Bureau in New York. I am happy to say he's no longer a user on eBay and his two Web sites are shut down.
I am pretty proud I played a small part in ruining the business of a counterfeiter.
But I never did get that Fendi spy hobo. And in the end, I'm kind of glad, too. It's so un-hip these days! I will never stray from Chanel or LV again!
I thought I'd share my story (for educational purposes) about shelling out $1,000 for what turned out to be taco-shaped pleather bag. I hope others will share their stories so we can all learn from each other's mistakes rather than keep remaking mistakes. Mine is kind of funny, so this is for humor purposes, too. Plus, I feel like I need to vent about it.
Here we go.
So, here I am, an avid LV and Chanel fan. I can pretty much tell a fake from a mile away and, to be frank, I hate fakes so much that sometimes I want to punch in the side of the head these little 14-year-olds with their fake LV multicolor monogram pochettes at the mall.
Anyway, a couple years ago, I discovered eBay as a way to get bags that were either rare or hard to get. I could avoid waiting lists. I thought it was the best thing ever. I knew there were a lot of counterfeit bags on eBay, but being somewhat of a pro at the brands I knew well, I could avoid them rather easily.
Being the know-it-all I was, I decided I was smart enough to try to buy a Fendi bag for the first time -- on eBay. I actually hate Fendi, but I had a very brief interest in the Fendi spy hobo (not the spy bag, but the hobo style) when I was going through this boho chic thing in early '05. There were quite a few of them on eBay, and the fakes were pretty obvious.
Then I found the bag I wanted. The seller had 100 percent positive feedback. They had sold numerous bags before, with no problems, so I perused the pictures carefully. It looked completely authentic. Every detail was in the right place on the exterior and interior of the bag. I did buy-it-now for $1,000.
Two days later, the bag came. Not only was it the actual "spy bag" style and not the hobo I had bid on, it was a pleather material that smelled like sardines. The "tags" that came with the bag were all screwed up, and included a care booklet with extremely broken English instructions, e.g. "Bag if wet tap with clothen towel fuzz."
I thought it was a joke. I almost started to cry. How could those other buyers on eBay leave this putz POSITIVE feedback?!?!?! I couldn't believe that they had sent me something completely different than the auction. I was horrified. I mean, this was a no-returns, authenticity-guaranteed transaction, according to the seller. Well, anyway, I went online and got the seller's phone number and I called him. No one does this s*** to ilovemrjones and gets away with it!
A strange foreign man in Brooklyn by the name of Ed answered the phone. I was going to confront him about the fakeness, but figured I'd never see my money again if I did. So I explained to him that he sent the wrong bag. He goes, "Oh my God. That bag you got is worth more than $2,000." (Liar!) So I asked to send it back, but I told him I was "so upset" that I wouldn't have my spy hobo in time for an event that evening that I wanted a refund rather than an exchange. I convinced him that he'd caused me a lot of trouble.
Surprisingly, he agreed, but he charged me an $80 "restocking fee." I got my money back and then I used his business address and Web site address to find out who he was. Then I complained to the Better Business Bureau in New York. I am happy to say he's no longer a user on eBay and his two Web sites are shut down.
I am pretty proud I played a small part in ruining the business of a counterfeiter.
But I never did get that Fendi spy hobo. And in the end, I'm kind of glad, too. It's so un-hip these days! I will never stray from Chanel or LV again!
I was just duped a few days ago on Ebay and won't be buying a designer bag there again. Bleh. Thanks to the awesome TPF -ers I was able to confirm it was a fake and I'm sending it back tomorrow. Bleh, never, ever again.......
it's all ok. you can read about it a bit in the authenticate forum under Isabella Fiore. I didn't do my homework beforehand but yes, the seller still insists it's authentic and that she bought it from Saks off 5th. Whatever.... Oh and it was SUPPOSED to be a Buried treasure wallet (for fun, do a google search for fake fiore buried treasure, it's amazing). Then again, what was I thinking buying a wallet I had never seen IRL before. Talk about trusting Ebay lol! silly.