To wonder is this stolen?

[starsandstuff]

I know it's not BU as much as Being Stupid. But I'm looking for wedding dresses on a very tight budget and came across a few of these dresses being sold on Ebay (Phase 8, Hope dress, rrp £595).
www.johnlewis.com/phase-eight-bridal-hope-wedding-dress-ivory/p1833636?sku=234200727&s_kwcid=2dx92700028847354276&tm

They're being sold as new without tags - when I went into one sellers shop everything they sell is new without tags. So is it really stupid to ask - are these stolen? Cheap copies? Being offered for sale by a very indecisive and regretful genuine shopper?

Bonus question - am I a mug for bidding on them? I haven't bought anything off ebay in years, and was stung one many years ago for an ipod that never arrived, before they had a good policy around that. My budget for a dress is tiny, like £100, and this dress is so pretty, I'm tempted to take a risk but then again I really don't have the money to write it off if it doesn't work out. Is it likely it will be crap when I get it? I don't actually care if it's a cheap knock off as long as it's decent enough quality that no one is going to think I bought it in a jumble sale but I probably don't want buy stolen stuff. Probably.

Any thoughts or previous experiences?

Could it be an ex sample shop or something? What is the feedback like? I would be wary of its only got a few feedback. But if it's got thousands when it could be legit??

I bought my wedding dress on eBay... Was £140 and perfect.

Surely stolen would still have tags in????

Could be old samples etc. or outlet clearance

I knew a lady a few years ago who would ask stores for donations of out of season stock on behalf of a small charity, they would often stipulate the brand tag had to be removed before she sold the products on so there was no liability / returns to them

Are the labels cut out? Not the tags but the actual labels sewn in to the dress? If so then they’re probably seconds or clearance stock that’s been sold off, nothing dodgy!

I think it's common for resale value/ mark up to be 60% +?

So john lewis probably buy this dress for around £200-250 or less.

So ex display models or possibly factory seconds could easily go for less.

Also, is there a pic of the actual dress on ebay, or just the john lewis catalogue pics?

The feedback is mostly good (99.3%) out of just under 1000 reviews. They have about 100 things listed, all high street shops but not just one brand, and nothing has tags in. That's the bit I'm confused about. Why take the tags off new things? But then while they might copy a wedding dress they're not copying random Evans jumpsuits probably?

The pics on the ebay site are the "official" pics, from John Lewis or maybe Phase 8, no pics of the actual dress. They have the same one in various sizes.

They’ll be excess stock or seconds etc and the tags are cut off so they can’t be returned to stores for full price, usually the sewn in tags will be cut or marked too

Tags are cut out for discount / third post party sale to prevent store returns etc - fakes much less likely to do this so I'd be more inclined to think genuine

If they are samples such as fit samples they will never have reached a store & so will never have had a tag put on, often samples will still have the suppliers label as opposed to the shops.

Usually items that can’t be sold for full price in the shop due to slight imperfections have the label removed, this is to stop them being fraudulently returned to the shop for full value store credit.

Ok thanks! I just couldn't figure out the tags thing. I think I'll put a bid on it (and stop eating for 3 months).

Beautiful dress!

Try ASOS and a monsoon for wedding dresses, you may find something in your budget there, risk free

Monsoon, not a monsoon. Do not risk your life for a dress!

Don’t worry, I buy the stuff without tags all the time and it’s always absolutely fine, it’s just the shops getting rid of old/surplus stock. Tags are cut out so you can’t return them to a shop for full price. They’re exactly the same clothes you’d get in the shop though.

Ask the seller for some pics of the actual dress they are selling

Just searched for the dress on eBay. The description says 'Brand new without tags and label removed.'
It's a second or sample. Not dodgy at all.
Seconds can only be sold on with the label cut out/ removed.

I think they are probably seconds or something. As an aside I had the Hope wedding dress!

@BuffyTheMLMHunter 

@justtheonethen Congratulations on your wedding! It's a beautiful dress. Can I ask what the fit was like? I was a size 10 last year and now...I'm not. I'm trying to get back in time for the wedding in November so not sure whether to risk the 10 or go for the 12. Are they very snug fitting? Even when thinner I have hips and a non-tiny bum.

Go for the bigger of the two dresses. Wedding dresses are notorious for being small. A wedding dress with a size 10 label is generally an 8, possibly a size 9(if such sizes existed). If its too big, it's not going to be massively too big, and a good padded bra will help fill you out.

Alternatively, go to John Lewis and try a similar dress on and see which size fits best.

@starsandstuff they come up small in my experience

Have you got time to go and look at it "in person" in a shop before the auction ends? I only ask because I got my wedding dress from Phase Eight, the Hope was my favourite from looking on the website but I didn't love it as much in person and went for another style (which I adored and felt fabulous in so can definitely recommend Phase Eight in general!)

On the sizing, I bought my usual size and it fit well. If you're a 12 at the moment buy the 12, don't put pressure on yourself to lose weight.

It's quite normal for excess stock to be sold off cheaply. The website everything5pounds specialilses in this for example, with all tags and labels removed but the stuff comes from high street shops.

Stunning dress! I've bought french connection dresses with no tags/cut outs, often last season or whatever. And if it's a knock off... well it looked food and lasted so!

Can you go try on the 12? But also, I agree with others buy the slightly bigger one, comfort is worth it and it can always be adjusted if you drop a bunch of weight.

(Really flipping gorgeous dress, seriously)