How can I distinguish leather furniture from fake?

stressedofdevon

Hi. I am hoping this is the most appropriate area to post in and that someone can offer me some advice. I am looking to purchase some dining chairs which will stand up to the daily abuse from my three children and cat. I have been checking ebay and have found some listed near me which the seller says are leather and bought recently. However, he hasn't told me where from so that I can check the origins, just says a reputable dealer, and doesn't have any paperwork to show they are real leather. If they are faux leather they are available at a lower price elsewhere, and if genuine then they are a bargain, so I have a dilemma.

I am thinking of going to see them and hope to be able to test the fabric underneath to evaluate them, and am sure I have seen on tv or in a magazine there is an old fashioned way to do so. However, I can't for the life of me think what it is, and don't want to wade in with a cigarette lighter or whatever and burn the mans house down!

Can anyone offer any advice?

Pink.

Hi stressedofdevon,

You should get more help with this on the In My Home board so I've moved your thread over there.

Pink

misgrace

We have just practically re-furnished our thru lounge with furniture from ebay, and I am very impressed with the quality of the stuff we got.
We bought a solid oak dining table with the leather high backs chairs and the leather seats, they are approx 4 months old now, and still look the same as from when I got them out of the box
This ebayer is a reputable seller, and delivered it himself.

We got some other oak solid oak furniture, from another seller, and again very impressed.

I will try an upload a couple of pics, so you can see them.:D






Ooooops, for some reason the actual pic is showing instead of the link?

Norma_Desmond

Smell them! Real leather always whiffs of the real thing; I've got an ancient old leather Chesterfield sofa and it still smells of leather.

black-saturn

You can't sniff it on ebay can you?

Ask the seller if the item is genuine leather and where they bought it or buy from a shop where you can see the quality of it.

I bought a lovely leather sofa last week from Argos for £400 and matching chairs for £179 each and they are really good quality.

Norma_Desmond

(QUOTE)] You can't sniff it on ebay can you?

The OP said she was thinking of going to view them!