Buying designer handbag - advice please

nabowla

I'm saving up my pennies to buy an Osprey designer handbag on Ebay. I've bought a couple of things on ebay in the past and am familiar with the general advice to be very wary of buyers with negative feedback, newbies etc. What I'd like to know is whether anyone has any tips for making sure that the item I end up buying isn't a fake. The prices generally seem to be much lower than the retail price and I'm a bit worried that I might mistake a fake for a bargain.

Speculator

Do as much research as you can about the bag that you want. Check feedback. Email previous winners and ask about authenticity.

Also, does the seller provide close up shots of the bag, does the stitching look right, where is the bag located.....if in the far east, it's probably a fake.

Here's a link to to an Online retailer selling osprey handbags....

http://www.leathershop.co.uk/manufacturer.asp?ID=33

Compare the pictures with ebay. Do they look they same? Compare colour, size. Is the Zipper the same design? Is the strap the same length?

Tojo_Ralph

Sticking purely to your proposed purchase, starting at the beginning and applying logic.

Can you find any evidence at all on the internet that points to Osprey bags currently being or ever having been "faked"?

Try searching in google on all the usual labelled bags complete with the word replica, fake or knock off, and you'll find dozens of retailers selling them ..... Then try the same search with Osprey, and there is nada, zilch, nowt..... which as I see it implies a great deal.

Now, if you are after a particular model of Osprey bag, try the same again, and see what you can find?

As I see it, Osprey bags aren't being ripped off in the first place, so if you also take all the usual precautions, you are very unlikely to end up buying a fake.

jaffa30

Check on the community board ( Discussion Boards > Q & A)
theres a lass on there who is spot on with telling if the bag is a fake (sorry i cant remember her ebay id )

Jaffa

margaret_3

nabowla wrote:

I'm saving up my pennies to buy an Osprey designer handbag on Ebay. I've bought a couple of things on ebay in the past and am familiar with the general advice to be very wary of buyers with negative feedback, newbies etc. What I'd like to know is whether anyone has any tips for making sure that the item I end up buying isn't a fake. The prices generally seem to be much lower than the retail price and I'm a bit worried that I might mistake a fake for a bargain.

I bought a Gucci shoulder bag on ebay. It was MUCH cheaper than in the shops so it might well be a fake but it's beautiful and I get lots of compliments about it.
Margaret

littlelaurakate

Don't know how much you were planning on spending, but there are some Osprey bags in the Harrods sale - fairly reduced, but expensive to begin with...I only spotted them when looking at the Billy Bags, now they are a good deal!!
Check it out:

http://www.harrods.com/Cultures/en-GB/Categories/Category+Detail.htm?CS_Catalog=HarrodsComCatalogGB&CS_Category=4Handbags(HarrodsComCatalog)&CS_BreadCrumbs=HarrodsComCatalogGB;0001For_Her(HarrodsComCatalog);4Handbags(HarrodsComCatalog)

littlelaurakate

sorry that link doesn't work - just go to https://www.harrods.com and check out THE SALE and you'll find them in bags...

nabowla

Thanks to all for the brilliant advice. I'm off now to look at the Harrods sale and to do lots of research on the net as per your suggestions. Fingers crossed I'll pick up a genuine bargain soon!