Handbag Ethics Question?

heather123

Member
Nov 13, 2006
3,721
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Would you ever carry a fake as a throw-around bag? Last year I inadvertently bought a fake Fendi Spy bag on eBay. I was livid when the bag arrived as it was obviously a fake. It even had a 'Made in China' label inside. I contacted the seller to no avail. Then I reported the matter/seller to eBay. I knew I would obtain zero redress. I had foolishly paid by Sterling draft as my Paypal account wasn't working at the time.

Over a few weeks the bag lay unused in my wardrobe. Eventually I decided to donate the bag to a charity shop, the next time I was donating unwanted clothes. But it DID occur to me to just use the fake as a throw-around bag during the summer. Whatever one's views about counterfeit goods, this bag had already been purchased (albeit unintentionally). I think what actually swayed me re donating the bag was the fact that the leather started to peel at the sides and the Spy compartment was useless. I figured that someone else might get some use out of it though. But that person could have been me! What's YOUR take on this?
 
In the past I have given any fakes I have come across to my boyfriend. He hung them on a fence and used them for paintball practice :smile:

Sure, they're already made but that doesn't mean I want to carry it.. I guess the best thing for you to have done would've been to destroy the bag.. It sucks that you lost money but nobody should carry it..
 
I doubt whether the Oxfam shop where I donated the bag would be overly concerned that money raised for a good cause came from the sale of an unwittingly-purchased fake bag. I suspect people running charity shops in Ireland have more to worry about than whether their donated goods are authentic items.
 
I personally wouldn't. I just don't see the point. I would also feel like a giant hypocrite using it. I'm not someone to call others out for carrying a fake but being against counterfeits, I just wouldn't feel good about carrying it and then having those beliefs.
 
Then why not just sell stolen tvs? You called it an ethical question then you turn around and poo-poo doing something unethical.

here here. i agree. it's never okay. paintball practice haha i love it! i gave this fake tods my mom gave to me, to my ex boss (who is also my roommates boss AND our landlord lol) she KNOWS it's fake but loves it and carrys it everywhere. *shrug* i will never buy/sell/wear a fake bag, but as soon as i told the gal that i didn't want it bc it was fake she was like REALLY i'd carry that. so i gave it to her....

i dont like that it's carried but it's real leather and isn't that bad of a bag *shrug*
 
Then why not just sell stolen tvs? You called it an ethical question then you turn around and poo-poo doing something unethical.

Kpassa, I don't sell stolen TV's because I'm not a thief or criminal. I didn't CALL this ethical. I asked a question. Did you notice the interrogation mark? However, in the field of ethics there is a spectrum. Some actions are more blameworthy / worse than others. I didn't SELL anything. Did you see the word 'donate'? I have no probs with what I did, and I'll bet that some person would have been pleased to find a bag she thought was nice for next to nothing. Also, the charity is helped in a small way. Try looking up the sub-headings, 'unforeseen consequences' and 'doctrine of double-effect'. You might discover that ethics is slightly more complex than you thought.
 
here here. i agree. it's never okay. paintball practice haha i love it! i gave this fake tods my mom gave to me, to my ex boss (who is also my roommates boss AND our landlord lol) she KNOWS it's fake but loves it and carrys it everywhere. *shrug* i will never buy/sell/wear a fake bag, but as soon as i told the gal that i didn't want it bc it was fake she was like REALLY i'd carry that. so i gave it to her....

i dont like that it's carried but it's real leather and isn't that bad of a bag *shrug*

Oh, so it's OK for you, ViciousBliss, but not OK for me? :roflmfao: I'm not a fake fan either. That's why I DONATED the bag. If you read back a little, you'll see that the bag was originally bought in good faith as an authentic bag. Would you prefer people to crucify themselves for passing on presentable fake bags who people who actually want them, like your ex-boss? Why didn't you burn the bag if you're so principled about fakes?
 
The whole point to having a designer handbag is for quality and status a fake handbag has neither of those qualities and IMO says the opposite of the person who's carrying it. I know the OP did not intentionally purchase the fake but if I were in that situation I'd go donate the fake to charity and go buy a cute $10 purse from Walmart, it would be far less damaging to anyones image than a fake would.

And as for donating fakes I have donated fake denim to charity and I see no harm in that, ultimately it puts clothes on someones back or feeds a hungry child.
 
The whole point to having a designer handbag is for quality and status a fake handbag has neither of those qualities and IMO says the opposite of the person who's carrying it. I know the OP did not intentionally purchase the fake but if I were in that situation I'd go donate the fake to charity and go buy a cute $10 purse from Walmart, it would be far less damaging to anyones image than a fake would.

And as for donating fakes I have donated fake denim to charity and I see no harm in that, ultimately it puts clothes on someones back or feeds a hungry child.

I agree. I wouldn't carry a fake but I wouldn't mind donating a fake. I know, because I have actually done it too. I was given a fake (and it was on TPF that I learned it was a fake!) as a present, and I donated it to a charity, yet told them it wasn't real, so they shouldn't sell it for some insane amount (and they said they wouldn't have done that anyway).
If they sell it for... 3 $ or something that money still goes to charity! Any little amount you can get for it and give to someone who needs it is good IMO.

The fake bags that are already on the market because someone bought them (sometimes without even knowing it was a fake) is not what I personally am against (even though I wouldn't ever carry one), because you can't really do much about that when the harm is done, it's all the people buying them new and encouraging people who makes fakes to make more of them.
 
Oh, so it's OK for you, ViciousBliss, but not OK for me? :roflmfao: I'm not a fake fan either. That's why I DONATED the bag. If you read back a little, you'll see that the bag was originally bought in good faith as an authentic bag. Would you prefer people to crucify themselves for passing on presentable fake bags who people who actually want them, like your ex-boss? Why didn't you burn the bag if you're so principled about fakes?


feeling guilty? curb your crap attitude dude, i for one am not dishing one to you so be civil. this is a forum not a fight club.

didn't you donate the bag to a place that will be SELLING it? that would be my only qualm. i do not like the idea of someone carrying a bag that they purchased and perceived to be real when it is fake. wouldn't you feel bad if someone bought the bag you donated thinking it was genuine? that is my issue.

fake bags are fake bags. i do not like them and would not carry one. if my exboss KNOWS the bag is fake and wants to carry it, so be it. it was going in the trash if she did not take it. that was the point. you can take that however you like it but please cease with the hostility towards me. i come here for healthy debate and discussion.


that is all.

yikes.
 
I don't think it's ethical to donate a fake bag. You can buy an inexpensive bag and donate it, but keeping the fake in circulation doesn't make sense to me. Use it as a storage bag for odds and ends or get rid of it...at least that is what I would do.

ETA: if you or someone else wants to carry it--knowing it's a fake--that's you/their own business.