If you are not sure if it is me or my friend claiming expertise, it is me, a couple of years working for Vogue, which I have mentioned before, yes, that does give you some expertise, thanks, I went through blood sweat and tears, but I guess that doesn't count.
As for posting the seller, that is my friend's buy, I do not think it is my place to post it, I can post pictures of the item she gave me to identify, which is super fake and with "branded" buttons, but alright, you think I am not able to identify an item of a company I worked with (like the wallet), I don't care if the seller is identified to a bunch of US customers (let's face it that this forum is US centric) I care about the person being stopped and encountering the full force of the law, in the UK far too lax compared to France and other countries.
Btw I never said I want to "out" the seller, where would be the point and where did you read that? Seriously about 80% of the people on here are in the US and will not buy from a UK seller. I want the seller being slapped by the law, she forwarded the replies and I was stunned. It's cool that you don't believe that I am able to authenticate some items, as you said, you really do not know me, I believe I sent you my verified linkedin info at one point, with recommendations, but hey.... I totally get the time frame, but there is a choice now, spending money on an authentication that would get her the money back but cost almost as much as the coat and leaving the seller (who has been nothing but nasty) get away with it, or spending the same money and truly causing trouble and getting my friend a new coat. I prefer to go with the 2nd, especially since the "hall of shame" wouldn't count for anything, with PayPal or anything. She left the coat here, and not only having worked with the brand, also owning a ton of the items of the brand, they do not miss stitches or do not hem incompletely, so not have that kind of lining. If an authorized sales assistant identifies it as "not one of our items" how much doubt does that allow it? You think it really needs to go up? OK, in that case I can snap a picture, which doesn't even mention the totally wrong feel of the item, very rough.
If it would have been sent to me, I would have done the "non authentic" straight away as for anybody who knows the brand it is a fake, somebody who doesn't know the brand and thinks they made a lucky buy, different story. What upsets me is that if I encounter fakes of some specific brands I am very familiar with and point out the exact discrepancy, eBay does not seem to act on it, I understand they get a lot of those reports, i only do them on items I am very very sure, some items even had blatant ID criteria missing, they do nothing. I know there are honest sellers and dishonest buyers, my personal preference would be REAL authenticators you can appeal to, and whowever is wrong pays them. As people can put up items with pictures of the real thing and send something else, they can get a real thing authenticated and send the same looking fake out. I would love to be more environmentally conscious and recycle more, but I am afraid the eBay route is too shady. I am aware it is unfair to genuine sellers, but if you pay the same on eBay percentage on ebay for selling as you pay through other websites who will ban fakes and the sellers and help the law to nail the sellers, why would somebody sell on eBay? It made me totally stop from putting bids in. I sold a ton of high end items, none of them on eBay because I wanted them to go through a website who authenticates, to avoid getting sent a fake back, as once happened on eBay and nobody cared, something (no matter what) was delivered back, and then you're out of luck, yup, paid through the teeth.
As for the coat "might be real" here are the 2 most blatant clues, apart from missing the material label (you can't remove it as it is sewn into the lining) and the "Made in..." which can be part of the label or also sewn into the the seams, depending on the year, but again, I guess I don't know my stuff.
