Have inadvertently sold a fake item and now buyer is threatening me with police

[HelpMeSoWorried]

Have namechanged as I am so embarassed. And also sorry to post in here, maybe should have posted in legal, but I know there is a lot of traffic here.

I was given a Mulberry bag as a christmas present a couple of years ago and tbh I never liked it much anyway and never used it (apologies to any handbag fans). As far as I knew it was genuine and had all tags with it etc.

I had no idea what it was worth but recently did a bit of research and they are about £700 new I think. So I decided to get rid and put it on gumtree. I was inundated with enquiries and sold it to a lady last week. She was really happy with it and I got £350 for it.

She has texted me today claiming it is fake and saying she wants me to pay her back and she will return the bag if I give her my address. She doesn't know where I live as I met her in town(at her request!) but she has my name, and obviously my number.

I am very upset and shocked as I would never have sold it if I thought it was not real, I would have maybe just given it away or something. Its completely against my principles, I am an honest person :( I am sat here crying now as I am so scared.

I really needed the money, I don't want the bag back and I don't want to return the money as as far as I am concerned I sold it in good faith and she happily chose to buy it. I am not a criminal, or a scam artist, but she is threatening to report me to the police. :(

can anyone help?

If the bag had a serial number perhaps the buyer checked with Mulberry when she got home and discovered it was a knockoff

but everything is saying "scam scam scam" to me.

Staff are qualified to spot fakes. Every season we had two days leather training and one in authenticating products, current and past.

I honestly find it hard to believe that every assistant in every Mulberry shop and concession, in every country, would be able to authenticate every Mulberry item, past and present. It just seems to me to be too huge a bank of knowledge to impart to every single employee.

It's not that hard, there are certain giveaways. You don't have to know all the styles to know things that say 'fake'.

I would imagine that things like the buckles/fastenings would be a giveaway, aswell as the general quality.

I lived in china and there were lots of v good fakes but a good fake mulberry would be maybe 200+ quid. A not so good fake mulberry would be 30-40 quid, mind you that was a couple of years ago, probably much more now.
I think the buyer checked and discovered it was a fake but really it's a bit cheeky to think you can buy a genuine as new mulberry for 350 quid, more fool her.

OP should buy it back then resell as mulberry lookalike or something - it would still sell for a decent price.

Slight hijack, sorry. I don't do ebay but I do have a very genuine Mulberry shoulder bag, bought in 1988. Almost perfect condition. It isn't worth much, surely?

I honestly find it hard to believe that every assistant in every Mulberry shop and concession, in every country, would be able to authenticate every Mulberry item, past and present. It just seems to me to be too huge a bank of knowledge to impart to every single employee.

Okay well some of overseas stores work almost like franchise stores, so yes maybe not. But the leather lecturer does go to all of these stores to do the training days. The fakes of older styles are very bad and relatively rare and not worth so much so not often around. Mulberry is still quite small compared to LV or other big luxuary brands so maybe that is why they still manage to orgaise all the training.

I did work in one of their busiest stores and turnover was massive, constantly handling the leather makes you very aware of the current products. Everytime a new mass fake supplier is discover we were sent parts of the fake, metalwork, straps to be aware of them.

I like to think i could still spot a fake alexa/bayswater/lily etc. from a single abstract photo and that i would be able to identify an older less common fake from a quick inspection.

Of course not all staff are amazing and doubtless there are those who didn't pay attention or find it hard to remember everything. But you should be able to go into a store and have the majority of staff spot a fake at first glance, so yes maybe you are correct, a bit .
Oh, and every large store has a specialist with extra training who should be able to do small repairs, but that is a secret.

Didn't mean i was amazing btw, realise i come across a bit pompous. Really loved working for them and took a lot of pride in it, even though i was just a shop girl.

yellowtip depending on style and condition, you could probably get about a hundred quid on ebay easy. The old scotchgrain has had a bit of a comeback and everyone loves well aged leather.

I think this thread needs to go in classic under THINK before you sell on EBAY/Gumtree and make sure you do the following to protect yourself...

If I'd sold something it would never have occurred to me to take all of the precautions people are suggesting...

It's not that hard, there are certain giveaways. You don't have to know all the styles to know things that say 'fake'.

It really isn't as simple as that . Obviously, the worst fakes are easier to spot, but there are a lot of anomalies in the presentation of the bags which would make for a very large variation in what could be identifying factors. For instance, to take the Bayswater alone, sometimes they have lining, sometimes they don't. Sometimes a cloche with padlock, sometimes not. Sometimes the padlocks have keys, sometimes not. Sometimes the bags have feet on the base, sometimes not. There are many other features which are not constant throughout the range of just this one bag. So, I do think it would be hard for every employee to keep all this knowledge inside their heads for all the different styles of bags, and that's not to mention all the accessories too.

I would imagine that things like the buckles/fastenings would be a giveaway, as well as the general quality.

A 'good' fake Mulberry will have the authentic (or authentic-looking) buckles etc., and if they expect to sell the bag for quite a bit of cash, then they
are going to be careful about the leather they use. It's a multi-million pound industry, after all.

If she is a scammer then meeting at a Mulberry store won't work or scare her off. If she's swapped the genuine one for a fake and she then brings along the fake for the refund and Mulberry say yes fake, you give her her money back, she's got away with it!

I agree with camus some people have clearly never seen a "genuine fake".

In the same way a "genuine fake" passport can get you through immigratiOn a "genuine fake" bag can fool a mulberry assistant.

Caveat emptor.

Tell her to, take a hike.

Gumtree keep all their adverts for ages... Is it still here OP?

The general rule in buying/selling second hand goods is 'caveat emptor' or 'buyer beware'. I think the buyer would have to demonstrate you were selling fraudulently - i.e. that you knowingly sold a fake. If she has the original ad' and you said or implied it was "genuine", when it wasn't, that could be fraud. There's a summary of the legal position here

If you're a private individual and not a trader/company, then it is very difficult for the buyer to take any action. She can report you to the police trading standards, but it's unlikely they'd take action without concrete evidence of fraud.

Of course the legal position is not necessarily the same as the moral one... I think you should do what will sit most comfortably with you :)

Well for one a genuine nvt bayswater never has feet or a lining, aways has a padlock in a cloche unless it is from the factory store/bicester etc. Whether it has keys or the springy padlock is down generally to age though some of the exotic leathers always have keys. Obviously it takes time to learn, someone who has worked there a month might only just have proper knowledge of current stock but you learn.

I am a bit insulted that people think that an assistant wouldn't be able to spot a fake. Yes some are really good. Some ladies brought in their £200 fakes to compare, they couldn't see the difference, and were very happy to have saved £400 but we could. If the daria logo is 1mm thicker i would expect everyone i used to work with to spot it. In our training day they tet us blindfolded of whether we can tell a fake from touch, weight, smell.

In the way that mothers can tell the difference between identical twins when a stranger on the street can't- Yes i know a bag is not the same as a child.

Gosh TinyDancingHoofer, wouldn't you sooner be a forensic scientist?! :)

Well CSI was my favourite programme at about 13...

Mulberry stuff is all made in China these days, isn't it? Not that that's particularly relevant, I just wonder why it's so damned expensive when the labour must be pretty cheap.

:) Seriously, if you're in a position to study, I think you should consider it. That sort of attention to detail is a skill :)

Ah, I take that back. I see some is still made in the UK, some in Turkey, some in the UK.

Even so, the price baffles me. Each to their own though, eh.

Mulberry have factories in China, Turkey and Somerset.

I think it is rather ridiculous to pay £700 for a Made in China bag. Obv. people don't care however, otherwise they wouldn't do it.

some is still made in the UK, some in Turkey, some in China

ffs.

As you were.

Ahh thankfully I shop at places where I get a receipt and can return it in 30 days provided I still have said receipt. I doubt I will ever venture onto ebay etc

I thought the Somerset factory had closed, and it was just the outlet store (next to the Babycham factory) and a hotel with some gardens that they had left. I know a lot of people lost their jobs a few years ago; that's why I was under the misapprehension that all their stuff was made overseas.