I think the story is the same for a lot of us who become interested in becoming "experts" at authenticating the designer items we love--we got screwed over!
Yep, I learned from my mistakes. When I bought my first TWO Louis Vuitton items from eBay, I did not even realize that people counterfeited such items (naiive!).
So I bought two bags, the LV Popincourt and the Papillon. I carried them proudly--I got a DEAL, or so I thought.
In the Cleveland area there isn't an LV boutique around so when I went to Florida, I stopped in, and just out of curiousity, I had the sales associate (SA) look at my bags to tell me what model they were (I didn't know the names at the time).
She told me what they were "supposed to be" and she was quite rude about it so I asked her what she meant by "supposed to be"--she explained that these were counterfeit and that the store could take them out of my arms at that moment since it was illegal to buy them.
I was SHOCKED! I had no idea, and I never carried them again. I was too embarrassed.
That is when I discovered authenticforum and the Purse Forum. I was searching for "authentic Louis Vuitton" and these forums popped up as they provide FREE authentications from their moderators...
That is where I started learning what counterfeit meant, who counterfeits (the terrorists of 9/11 used counterfeit handbags to raise money for their attacks), and why it is illegal and wrong to carry such bags.
Reading and viewing pictures made me realize that is wasn't worth carrying fakes. The satisfaction of saving up for a brand new, REAL bag would beat any deal that I could find on the internet, and that is what I have been doing ever since...
Take time to visit and explore these forums that got me started:
www.forum.purseblog.com
www.authenticforum.com
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