bought a fake handbag, now worried in case i have been ripped off

[MistyRocks]

I am probably risking a flaming for admitting to buying fake replica bags but i do so shoot me ;)

i have hopefully this beauty [Link deleted by Mumsnet]

if anyone else is willing to admit it too, have you used this site? are they genuine?

i paid by western union as you can't pay directly through the website. this seems to be the case with most replica handbag sites but the one i usually order from you can pay via the website. i didn't use my usual one as they don't stock "chanel"

but i made the payment about 10am this morning and haven't heard anything from them yet so am now panicking....although haven't yet received confirmation from western union that the money has been collected.

Well I'm pretty sure the luxury bags I buy aren't made in sweat factories.

Counterfeiting is clearly illegal and for that reason alone I wouldn't buy one.

I'm trying to explain that counterfeit and non-counterfeit are complex questions. A lot of criminally produced goods are bought or sold in good faith - check out these articles -

bobarno.com/thiefhunters/2009/02/counterfeit/

www.nytimes.com/2007/11/14/books/14grim.html

Hermes staff involved in Counterfeiting

exploitation in 'luxury' brands

I would feel very uncomfortable doing this nowadays - in my youth I did buy fakes when my folks lived in Hong Kong but I was caught up in the idea that they were factory seconds etc. With hindsight, most of them were probably just truly terrible fakes and I probably looked a right plonker pretending that as a student I could afford a Prada bag etc.

Nowadays, I wouldn't knowingly buy a fake item be it a bag or otherwise. It's not just the price but the fact that there is clearly exploitation and criminality in the background and I don't wish to willingly fund that for my own vanity.

However, I can see the point that many larger corporations aren't squeaky clean (see the VTech thread yesterday) and happily exploit their workers to increase profits so ethically you are to an extent in the same boat whether you buy fakes or buy the genuine article from the manufacturer/ retailer. This thread and the VTech thread have made me think that I should perhaps put a little more thought into where I, as a consumer, spend my money and do a little research into the business practices of retailers/ manufacturers before I make a purchase.

In any event, I would rather have the real thing or not at all so I try to make considered purchases of quality goods withing my budget rather than spending such a large amount on what is, and always will be, a fake so I find it hard to see where the genuine pleasure from owning it can be derived.

OP, whether you like it or not, this is a serious topic and you are inevitably going to come in for a bit of criticism. I think it would be better to actually join in the discussion on it rather than studiously ignoring all the valid points made above as to why you have chosen to spend your money in this way.

I also do think it's really important where people decide to put their money as a consumer. I try as much as possible to buy from small producers, whether its food or goods.

It is a bit rich to worry about being ripped off when it is in fact you doing the ripping off (or equivalent).

I've heard the "fakes are made in the same factory" argument before, and I've ways thought that was bollocks. Considering most fakes look shit and can be spotted a mile off, it doesn't add up that they could come from the same factory!

I took a friend to a Chanel boutique recently.
His spontaneous comment: "Most bags here look like fakes."

I tend to agree hiviolet. But I'd rather save and wait for the real thing or just not bother at all really.

Is there a way of finding out which luxury brands are produced ethically?

Lovely to see that so many mnetters only buy fair trade.

If you want to know a bit more about the girls and women who make most of our clothes and household items, I warmly recommend this book

www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/factory-girls-by-leslie-t-chang-1643534.html

people pay THAT much for a silly fake designer bag???? SERIOUSLY???

some interesting priorities you have there.

I give up, the world has gone mad.

i will buy fake for less than that, maybe £40, but i will never buy a realones for hudered's pounds, i know from what i have just read, a lotof people will disagree with me, but i am not made to spend my money for names when i can get the same design cheaper. sorry. thats me and i know a lotof people do the same
half of people in the street if not the majorite carry fake handbags, thats what they can afford, i cant see the point of people putting a 100's in just a bag, , just because someone put his name on them?
i am with you drowninginlaundry the world has gone mad.

But you are buying a handbag cos someone's put a name on it.

Fake- but still the name!

You see if I've got £40 to spend on a bag I'll go to M&S/River Island and buy one not buy some rubbishy fake.

yes, even name on it, but i will not put hundereds for it, i will buy it if i like the design but fake one, and fake ones doesn't means rubbish ones, this is the wrong understand of it, i have a fake design ones, and some of my friemds bought real ones, mine last more. and look exactly as the real one no difference, so why just throu my money in the shop, just to tell people that its a real one, who give a s* abit it. i like it i am carrying it. fake or real doenst mater. all thats mater that what i want to pay for it, i did pay it.

In Italy the designer knockoffs can look pretty convincing - good quality leather and not easy to distiguish from the real thing. Haven't bought one, but see them every day on the sidewalk on my way to the supermarket.

Add to the mix that Chanel and Dior seem to use a lot of vinyl these days.

Hex, I was a student when I bought my two Mulberry bags! I worked full time over my summer holidays and saved up my pennies until I could buy the real thing. I still feel a wee glow every time I pick up my bayswater, I was well chuffed when I was finally able to go into the shop and buy it after saving for months. Unfortunately damn recession means more bag purchases are out of the question for the time being- I wouldn't even consider buying a fake to be honest.

You can get a genuine Mulberry bag from an outlet for less than some of the fakes!

What IS the point of a fake bag? You end up paying £££ for nothing special. Either pay £ for nothing special, or £££ for the genuine article.

F1a2 do you not care about the conditions these bags are made in? Or does it only matter how they look?

I have a Chanel 2.55. I got it as a gift for my graduation and am :( to think of it being made in similar conditions, despite ??? spent on it.

i do, i bought the fake one from morocco, real leather, made really good, even i can say better, as you can tell the quality.
pay lotof money doesnt means quality, you are paying for name more, i get the quality, the same design and last longer and i am happy with them, as we know (women) need more than one, so why pay £££££££££££££££££.

I've just had a look at the Mulberry fakes on the site in the OP. "Indistinguishable from the original" my ARSE. They haven't even got the Mulberry typeface right!

Er, f1a2... Perhaps I should have been more clear. Let me try again:
People buy pretend designer bags? Seriously? The world has gone mad.
But why? It's like grown women playing dressing up, with some pretty nasty repercussions, the articles linked here should be sobering.