mocean said:
also- this is an auction wit a caramel, looks accurate to the bags i saw at AR yesterday. deep caramel
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I would not bid on this auction. The bag looks authentic, but the seller has priced the bag waaaay over retail. The city bag retails for $1195 (pre-tax) and this seller is selling his/her bag for a starting bid of $1376 or with a Buy It Now price of $1402. I don't know what the current conversion rate of pounds to dollars is, but it looks like you would be paying about $70 in shipping and handling on top of the price of the bag.
Since this color is new, you should be able to get it from Balenciaga NY, or Barneys, or Neiman Marcus, or one of the other Bal retailers without a problem once it become available for sale. Aloha Rag has the new Spring 2006 colors for sale, but according to my Aloha Rag PDF, they don't currently have the cognac in city in stock. You might want to double check with them though just in case. Depending on where you live and what store you purchase your bag from, you may even be able to get the bag tax-free.
jag, if you decide that the cognac city is the bag that you definitely want, you can always contact Bal NY or whichever store you prefer to purchase it from and have them put you on the wait list for the bag. That way they will notify you once the bag arrives and they will have one with your name on it reserved for you.
I can see paying more than retail for a bag with a color that is no longer available for retail sale, but to mark a current bag up this much seems like highway robbery to me.