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The boom of online shopping makes it easier than ever for fake handbags to be sold. They look the same, they sound the same and the price looks like a great discount. Like any online vendor, you want to look into how long they’ve been selling, how many reviews there are, and what type of stock they’re selling. For example, if a bag is sold out everywhere else but this vendor has an abundance of it, it could be a knock off. There are many excuses for why one is selling like the most common “re-gifting”. When making a purchase, you want to make sure the photos provided are not stock photos. It is important to request a photo of the actual bag itself. Certain brands choose to provide certificates of authenticity; however these are not reliable sources to indicate if a bag is fake or real. A certificate can easily be copied and used on a fake bag.
Some brands provide serial numbers on their bags that indicate the model and the year of manufacture. There are various guides online that will help you to find the year your bas manufactured. These tags can be used to prove if a bag is true to the designer. For example, Chanel only produces bags with serial numbers up to 9 digits. Other brands like Gucci will have details on their authenticity cards that can help determine if a bag is real.
It’s important to check for materials and they’re not always leather. Louis Vuitton bags are coated with a leather trim. This means that the material should not be slippery, sticky or oily. When bags use leather on the handles, the colour will typically wear over the first few weeks. Fake leather will remain completely shiny and unchanged, not losing its color. It should be generally heavy as well. If you are examining your bag for the quality of its structure, place it on a flat service and observe if it stands up straight. Depending on the design, a real designer bag will be sturdy and structured.
Stitching could be a big give away as well. There should never be loose threads at the end of a seam. Companies that value logos wouldn’t use seams to divide the letters. The seams around the bag should be identical, for example in the quilting of a Chanel bag. There should be no change of colour in seams. Check for the location of the designer’s name and the design of the logo.
The lining inside of a bag could match the one inside the boutique. This could be helpful for buyers as counterfeiters don’t typically have good ideas of insides of bags because they work from photographs. It’s a good idea to go into the store to see the bag in person and its inside. That way, the shade should precisely match the inside of the real thing.
Another thing that counterfeiters can’t see clearly is pockets. There are some fake Chanel bags in which they forget the pocket on the back or the way it is designed, for example adding a zipper. These details can serve as big give giveaways if you’re unsure. Brands like Prada will only specific brands of zippers, like Lampo, Opti, Ipi which will be engraved on the back side of the zipper itself.