Brand Authenticity?

[gilliankehler]

Hey fellow buyers,

I'm wondering how you can guarantee authenticity of an item?

I've purchased a few items within the last year claiming to be a certain brand (mostly I'm talking Anthropologie, which isn't so much a brand as a store that sells certain brands and even fair-trade finds that come and go), but then I find them - literally the EXACT SAME item - for a fraction of the price from a China seller or on Zulily or something. I just found a scarf I paid $50 for "from Anthropologie" for $6 from China with 1.50 shipping. I contacted the person who sold me the scarf and she said she had a deal with Anthro where she sold their runoffs and overstock or what have you, but the scarves were definitely from the Anthro store and she was even willing to ask her supplier for more info for me, but I declined. This was months after I bought the scarf and , when I looked at her current listings, she was still selling the scarves so she must have had a bunch of them...

Again the scarf is just one example of many. How can you tell when something's authentic when there is no label?

Feeling cheated on that scarf!

[momcqueen]

Are you going on the photo of the item? Or do you have both in your hand and see them to be indisputably identical?

In the days when I had more disposable income, I would both shop online here and at brick-and-mortar stores (or at their retail e-store counterparts) for my favourite branded luxe items. All I can say is this: if you want absolutely assurance that the item in question is from Anthropologie (in my case it was their sister store Urban Outfitters) then you have to physically buy it from there. Yourself. Then you know.

Without casting aspersions as to who is selling what or the circumstances under which they came to acquire those items, it's possible you're looking at the same $50 scarf..... or not. You'll never know. And even if you could see it was the same item without doubt, you don't know it's path or history. 

And then comes the problem with what to do if it isn't.....? Even when something seems most obviously to be of a different quality, there are criteria that must be met with ebay in order to complain that it might not be what it claims to be. 

I wouldn't let this discovery diminish the joy you felt when you bought yourself the scarf in question. You have it, you like it. It's yours. You know it to be what it's supposed to be. 

[femmefan1946 · Accepted solution]

I just found a scarf I paid $50 for "from Anthropologie" for $6 from China with 1.50 shipping.

That could be the price for the item direct from China, without the overheads (and profit margin) of a Western store. Anthropologie bought a number of them, found it was not popular and sold off the remainder to your seller.

That could be a copy, even on similar material (silk) or cheaper polyester.

That could be 'seconds' from the factory that were not up to the Anthropologie buyer's standards.

That could be stolen from the factory.

Or your seller could be lying to you.

You might be surprised by the way at how small orders are, even with large chains.

I used to sell BBQs as a summer line at our woodstove store.

One day a tractor trailer pulled up and the driver told us he had 10 stoves for us. I asked him about the rest of the order-- the truck was full of stoves.

He checked his paperwork.

The 10 stoves were for The Bay.

We got the other 65 on the truck, and saw him the next week with another 50. Nothing for The Bay.

[gweedo902]

Sellers dealing in WWII era merchandise are selling items which do not show 1940's age. I received a WWII Regimental Collar Pin, in new condition with pin holders being the only thing that showed any age. Buyers beware!