Help! Have I been scammed

[amraa]

I’ve had the YSL Loulou small handbag on my wish list for a long time! I found a seller online that has 100% positive feedbacks that are verified, I can see the past purchases that customers made and they are for other designer bags. So when I saw they have the Loulou, I sent them an offer, it was accepted and sent out the next day. The person even provided the receipt.

I was happy with the bag, however I was adamant to ensure it’s not a fake bc nothing is stopping someone having a genuine receipt but sending a fake bag with it or even forging a receipt. The bag itself to me looks very real, but I have only compared to what I can see online, the only thing that throws me off about the bag is the designer name inside the bag.

I’ll attach photos and if anyone can tell me what they think or if they have the same real bag, compare it to see it matches. The person seems so genuine, I’ve got til
monday to return the bag. I constantly keep going back and forth!

Never seen one in real life so not remotely an expert. But the L in the OP's one looks very different to the authentic ones posted. It looks thinner.

Surely you're not naive enough to think that paying £000's for fakes is OK?!

There are apps where you can check authenticity of things.
Check check used to be good. Sometimes costs a few quid but gives you peace of mind or into to help get your refund

When I went through customs at Palermo airport ( and I know YSL isn’t Italian but the principle is the same) they had a display cabinet full of fake Fendis, Guccis etc. with a warning that if found in possession of a fake when leaving the country you would get severely fined.

It’s not ok if you think you’re buying real goods however buying from an online seller who has many reviews for ‘designer’ bags for less than retail price is highly likely to be fake. People should be aware what they are buying because there will always be someone trying to scam you out of your money in some way.

And yes it was less than retail price because otherwise op would have bought directly from ysl

Of course she is and I would be exactly the same way if I were looking to purchase a luxury bag. Unless you are wildly wealthy bags like this are sometimes a once in a lifetime experience.

This 💯

Yes but OP doesn't have a problem with the quality. She can't tell if it's real or not, so the quality must be good enough for it to be genuine.

@Girlwithavibe@beautyqueeen Thank you, so I can see the font on yours are much thicker, on mine it’s much thinner. Under the designer it says made in Italy.
it has the serial number inside the pocket and inside the pouch but it’s so hard to read it, I was just about able to see the numbers, but that doesn’t prove it’s real as counterfeiters are clever! It looks like a very good dupe, read online there’s superior versions of fakes, in real life it’s hard to see the small details, they can be seen when photographed.

thank you to everyone that’s responded, haven’t had a chance to read them all but so far it seems like I was right to have my suspicions. I’ve added a few more pictures.

unfortunately I don’t live close to a selfridges or Harvey Nichols, the receipt is actually Harvey Nichols.

YOU think is odd.

The luxury fashion industry is worth in the hundred billions so you are quite clearly in the minority. It definitely isn’t aimed at teenagers either.

There’s no need to be nasty, if designer isn’t for you then this clearly isn’t the thread for you.

Of course she wants the label, she’s purchased it thinking it was that brand so has obviously paid for it thinking it was YSL. If I paid £30 for a pair of second hand Levi jeans I would be very happy as I’d know the quality would be good, I wouldn’t be happy if I found out they were primark. It’s the same thing.

Few more pics

@amraa if you have any doubts juts send it back, it will ruin your enjoyment of the bag every time you use it you’ll be thinking is it a fake.

For what it’s worth there are some amazing fakes out there so don’t feel silly about being fooled, someone at work had a LV neverfull from some Chinese site and it was identical to the untrained eye to my real one! It also came with dust bag, box LV ribbon, card of authenticity and recipt! She paid about £70 I paid nearly £1.5K!

There are various authenticators online, I would use one of them to confirm for peace of mind. There are also designer bag Facebook groups with very knowledgeable members, you could try asking in some of them too.

@Andepeda oh I did AI told me it’s real 😂 then I purposely inserted a picture of a fake ysl I found on google that looks very fake but AI said that’s real too! 😅

Just seen updated pics I think deffo.counterfit because the Hardwear YSL on the front has little round bits look like fixings mine doesn't have these hope u get your money back x 💕

@Girlwithavibe The little fixings on the YSL logo are standard on the bags. I’m terrible at judging counterfeits but the little fixings don’t indicate a fake to me. My bag has them too.

@CaveyWaveythe squiggle says made in Italy, it’s actually not that clear in real life either, quite hard to see, spacing between the words seem far too close.
I did call Ysl, the lady said they don’t authenticate bags.

I’ve packaged the bag up and will return it on Monday.

How much did you pay for it? I'm guessing it's just a private seller, not through a website?

No, I get why people want brand items, that's a given. And I know that people are happy to pay a lot of money for a label, again, totally normal.

What I think is odd that OP has an item, let's call it Schrodinger's handbag at this stage, in which the only criteria affecting whether she likes it or not is the label.

She can't tell. The quality is good. If it is genuine she will be thrilled. If it's not, she doesn't want it. Therefore, she doesn't want the actual item, the only thing she wants is the label. And that's what I find odd about this particular purchase.

I have a Max Mara coat, bought for me in Rome by DH in 2002. It’s still in perfect condition. Actually a good investment, given how long it has lasted, and will continue to last.

@WallaceinAnderlandi paid a lot of money for the bag I have, if it’s not authentic then I’ve paid a hell of a lot of money for something that I could buy at 5% of what I paid and even less. If I knowingly buy a cheaper bag/replica and I’m happy with it that’s a totally different matter. In my case I was sold an item on false pretences.

@Swampthing55i thought it is going through the authentication programme, I was looking at so many and didn’t realise this one wasn’t. So when my offer was accepted, it automatically took the payment from my saved details. Buyer doesn’t pay for the authentication, I got it from eBay, not Vinted.

Anyway when the bag arrived the next day, I called eBay to ask why it didn’t go through the authentication process, I was told any designer listed at £700+ automatically gets put through the authentication process but my seller somehow was able to avoid this, I won’t say how as I don’t want to give scammers ideas! After that call they put restrictions on the sellers account but this was then lifted few days later. They still have lots of designer items that aren’t going via the authentication route. The seller obviously denied trying to find ways to avoid it, I gave them the option of me sending the bag to eBay to authenticate but they said they’d like the bag back.
I didn’t pay a little amount, the bag retails for over 2k, receipt shows bag was bought at £1900 which is correct as that was the price before the increase; I don’t want to say the exact figure but it was listed as a bag lightly used once, so you can imagine what I might’ve paid.

And if it is authentic then you're happy with it.

It's not the bag per se, it's the label.

At this moment in time, with your Schrodinger's bag, are you happy with it or not?

If it's genuine Yay, I love it, hurrah!

If it's not, Oh no, I don't want this.

It's got nothing to do with what it looks like or the quality, it's only the label. That's all I'm saying.

Of course it’s the label that’s the whole (only) point of these bags.
Let’s say the op paid £1000 for it, which would be quite a good price for a practically new real bag, then obviously she doesn’t want it to be fake and worth 50 quid.
If she’d have pad £50 then she’d be over the moon at the bag. I don’t buy designer bags but even I would have been annoyed at that.

We all (most) buy branded trainers, we like the style so we choose that particular one and we pay what they sell for. If I get a fake pair worth £20 then I want my money back. I may love the trainers but every time I looked at them I would know I’d been ripped off.

I think it also depends on the level of ripped offness. If she’d have paid £150 then the pill isn’t as bitter and she’d maybe keep the bag, but £1500 then no

That’s a fake

but if you can’t tell and you paid £80 for it then who cares

if you’ve paid almost full price I’d return.

if you want legit, you need to go to an actual shop like Harvey Nichols

if you can’t afford the real deal then either don’t get one or keep the fake but don’t think anyone is going to sell you a genuine one for cheap