Fake Designer Handbags How to spot a replica Louis Vuitton handbag

Louis Vuitton Fakes

Is That LV a Load of BS?

You may have always had a problem with commitment: either you get to committed too quickly, or you can't stay committed.  But this time you've carefully thought this through; you've decided it's time. It's time to take the plunge. You're going to buy your first Louis Vuitton bag.

You've probably saved up and thought about it for quite some time, and now the moment has come. Do you buy a buy a new one or a pre-owned one? New ones are available only from a Louis Vuitton store (you can either go into one or call them at 866-VUITTON if you live in the USA), or from eluxury.com. That's pretty simple: go in; choose; buy.

Fake Louis Vuitton Bags abound

If you decide to go with a pre-owned one, you need to do your homework and buy carefully as the faux LVs out there are getting more real-looking (especially in photos) and can be hard to distinguish when buying online, plus – of all the fake designer purses, Louis Vuitton are most likely to be copied.

Louis Vuitton Shanghai

My first advice to you is this: go to a Louis Vuitton store if at all possible and hold some of them. Peer inside and get a feel for at least a few bags. You'll notice that they all feel very different than any bag you pick up at TJ Maxx or Target. These bags are substantial and the attention to detail incredible. Every stitch, every piece of hardware and every millimeter of fabric or leather is exactly and carefully placed by hand. The first time I went into a Louis Vuitton store and held my future purse, I was shocked at how nice it felt. It was substantial, felt absolutely solid and everything about it was perfect. There was not a tiny stray thread, slightly off-center logo or fuzzy edges.

First Impressions: Or, He Seemed Really Sweet at First -

Now that you've actually held one and fallen in love, you may commence your online shopping.

No plastic covering

First, if the photo shows a bag that has plastic covering the handle, (such as the above photo) a plastic-enclosed strap or a plastic tag (or any kind of tag) hanging off, it is fake. Louis Vuitton doesn't do crappy plastic. Some buyers say they've received their LV (from an LV store) with plastic on the handle, but I've never seen a bag in any LV store I've been to with this plastic. Things to watch out for:

• Hardware should not be wrapped in plastic or paper. Nor should the bag itself.
• Check the photos of the hardware: the "V" on the "LV" on the zipper pull should not be set above the "L".
• A leather tag with date code inside the bag is not a sign that the bag is authentic.
• The leather tag identifying the bag as a Louis Vuitton should have very rounded "O"s; they shouldn't be oval-shaped.
• Louis Vuitton does not include authenticity cards with their bags. If a re-seller is offering an authenticity card with a bag, the bag is fake.

If it looks fake, it IS fake. And if someone is selling a $900 bag for $100 online, it's a sure bet it's a fake. I don't think it needs repeating, but I'm going to anyway because folks get suckered when they're excited about something: if it seems too good to be true, it is.

There are no special resellers or closeout retailers for Louis Vuitton, so if a seller says that's how they are selling a bag so cheaply, they are lying. LV is extremely protective of their product and brand. Do you ever wonder why you don't see certain brands at TJ Maxx or Marshalls (if you live in the US)? It's because some companies would rather destroy their products than make their brand look cheap by selling the unsold extras or the slightly defective ones at a discount store.

Photos of the interior of the bag you are considering can also be very helpful in determining a fake. Many counterfeiters can't be bothered to take any time on the interior, so they just slap it together. If you don't look at the interior and immediately get a warm, fuzzy feeling of desire in your heart, then it's probably a fake. As I may or may not have said a zillion times already, Louis Vuitton makes perfect bags.  And while I'm at it, they also make perfect dust bags.

School's Over, But You've Got Homework
If you find a bag online (say on eBay or some other auction site), and you like it, write down the details of the bag. Then go do your homework.

If this bag you're considering is a new release from Louis Vuitton, don't think the counterfeiters couldn't possibly have already cranked it out. They can work incredibly quickly (10-year olds threatened with violence have very nimble fingers) and get fakes out within days. If only they could put that effort into something like sustainable energy or world peace, imagine what they could do. But I digress.

Search online for that bag by name and color, and if you don't find it discussed or featured on reputable websites, then it's quite possible it was never made by LV in the first place. This is particularly important if you're buying a bag from the Multicolore, Cerises or Cherry Blossom lines.

Things to Keep in Mind When Buying Certain Lines

Multicolore

The genuine article

A Multicolore should NOT have any of the following:

• Bows
• Any color interior other than raspberry (if the bag's exterior is white) or light grey (if the bag's exterior is black)
• Red monograms
• A date code ending in anything other than 3, 4 or 5
• For the "Speedy" bag only- Phillips head screws

The Multicolore bags have 33 different colors in the pattern, but I'm not including that in the criteria here as who's going to sit and try to ascertain between 33 different colors? I have a pretty decent eye for color and trying to differentiate these colors makes my stomach hurt.

Cerises

Fake, fake, fake

In my opinion, the fake Louis Vuitton Cerises are the absolute worst knock-offs. They are probably the easiest to spot, as for some reason many of the counterfeiters do a completely crap job on these.

A Cerises bag should NOT have any of the following:

• Cherries that are cut off
• Mis-aligned cherries
• Hardware that is not centered

Pouchette
If you turn the bag upside down, the strip of canvas running through the middle of the bag should have perfectly-centered, diamond-pattern logos only.

Bucket Bag
Turn the bag upside down and turn it so you're looking at the "LV" logos properly. Now look at the 4 brass feet: imagine a line running between the top two feet. Are there any "LV"s above it? There shouldn't be. Now imagine a line running between the bottom two feet. Are there any "LV"s below this line? There shouldn't be. If there are, it's a fake.

Pants on Fire
And I'll wrap this all up by reminding you that sellers of counterfeits may do the following:

• Show a photo of a receipt that is authentic. It could be authentic, it just never came with your bag and you won't be getting it (it was probably for a REAL Louis Vuitton they bought with all the money they've made scamming people).
• Show a photo of an authentic care book. Again, I'm pretty certain it won't be arriving with the fake bag.
• Run the auction for just a few days- this helps to ensure they aren't caught selling fake bags.
• Say the product is guaranteed to be authentic. Their guarantees are worth nothing- they are not going to refund your money if you find out your new bag is a plastic piece of junk.
• Offer up blurry photos to disguise the fact that the bag they are selling is a piece of crap.
• Steal photos from someone else's legitimate auction. Don't hesitate to ask for additional photos that include the bag with a recent newspaper or magazine, with the date clearly displayed.

If a seller has more than one Louis Vuitton for sale, it is quite likely they are selling fakes. A little common sense goes a long way also – Do you really believe you can buy an eighteen-hundred dollar handbag for sixty bucks? Exactly……

And on a lighter note, this is a recent Louis Vuitton video that proves conclusively that owning the genuine article will enhance your life immeasurably