^^You know, I used to think that (that we on the forum are in the minority in this regard) till I started talking to a lot of boutiques and dept stores. At least around here and the surrounding areas, they say people are pretty savvy, which is one reason why Coach was going to alter their outlet transfer policy. Apparently there have been a LOT of complaints just about the whole thing in general, but I really think it may be area specific too. I mean around here, we have access to multiple outlets, especially now that Jackson is open, and people are aware of what's in fp stores as well as outlets. It's funny, but the times I've been at Jackson, I notice that most customers seem to be more boutique bag savvy... whereas in some other farther away outlets where there are few fp or dept stores that carry fp items, I see shoppers mainly grabbing the MFF bags. It's very interesting to watch, but in general, I think we do make up a minority on the forum. Most people are not THAT bag obsessed, lol! So I think in general, Coach does have the impression that the general masses are ignorant, and outlet and boutiques are separated. Also, many people don't have access to bags at the outlet...so that either creates a bigger distaste for the whole thing, or they just buy wherever and whatever and move on. And some people simply don't care period, I guess. Hey, it has Coach on the label, so it's all good no matter what!
I do think area can also sometimes cause one can miss something really nice. It's a shame that some never do know about the more limited and upper end bags...at least that's the way I look at it. I guess I can even go back to an examples I saw weeks ago on Ebay. Occasionally you will see a bag came up on Ebay that many people think is fake for one reason or the other, but around here, being close to NYC and close to stores that carry these specialty items, you're more likely to recognize the bag as a rare find and real treasure. I've scored a few times this way when the item is in good condition, but then of course, I can take this really rare bag into some dept stores or even Coach stores, and half the time the SAs don't even know what it is. The same situation existed back when I was carrying a simple Legacy Thompson bag. Most of the local SAs asked what it was and said they have never seen the bag! I can understand dept stores, but boutiques, I thought WOW...I mean it was on the website, but no local store carried it since Legacy was pulled out the regular stores before that line was released. So I guess they didn't notice. As a result, I think many pieces did not sell simply because few knew about the line, and it wasn't advertised well.
So yeah, I would say that most people don't know about the MFF rereleases or probably even care to know, lol. You can look on Ebay and see the mistakes a lot of sellers make....I guess some research previously sold bags and end up calling theirs a "Bleecker St. limited edition" bag when it's really a MFF version. Have you noticed that with the Peytons? You have to be REALLY careful if you're going to buy one on ebay, since some sellers don't post clear pics of the tag or creed!
As a customer who owns almost every Peyton at this point and paid fp or nearly fp for this "exclusive" limited edition Bleecker St. item, ITA with this post. Exclusive limited edition...what a joke!! I'm sorry that some were not able to get it from fp, and like the others, I'm happy everyone was able to get one from the outlets, but to me this is an irrelevant point to this argument. The point is this was released as an exclusive limited edition style for FULL PRICE stores, not outlets. It never ever should be in outlets as part of a supplemented outlet floorset. As part of discontinued clearance....well, we all know that's been happening, so again, we make our choice to buy in fp or wait. I bought most in fp and didn't really complain till this happened.
Now I wonder about the patent MFF versions!