A Bag Shopping Secret, Revealed!

I’ve always held back on referring people to auction sites  or to local reseller sites to buy pre-owned designer bags. I have seen and heard far too many horror stories (scams where seller runs off with money and doesn’t send item, bait-and-switch, counterfeit item with no refund policy etc) to even want to refer sites to friends. But there is one site that I can officially recommend now, after searching high and low for seriously reliable ones that won’t scam you– and it’s at Portero.com. I’ve heard only good things about this site (some of my personal friends have made purchases from them), so I am finally giving the site an OK for bag hags. Plus, yay, they’re now one of my “sponsors” 🙂 *happy :D*

So, here are some of the bags worth looking at (and even buying). I’ve personally looked these over, so I am unequivocally sure that these are authentic *did my research, peeps!*, and prices are good too.

Hermès Rare 35cm Jaune Epsom Leather Kelly Handbag

Epsom’s one of the lightest leathers of Hermes. I like it because this particular leather takes in bright colors real well– cyclamen and yellow or jaune in particular. And this bright yellow kelly (not to be confused with the soleil color) is really a good deal at US$6,695 (which translates to about Php 310,000– give or take). Jaune is already a discontinued color (the closest color to it of the more current collection is Soleil), so this can be a good opportunity to own a highly coveted, discontinued (therefore harder to get) color. Incidentally, Kimora Lee Simmons has a 40cm birkin in this same exact color 🙂

I was just talking about epsom leather and that bright colors work well with epsom!  And then I saw this!

Hermès Cyclamen Epsom Leather 42cm GM Paris Bombay Tote Bag

And might I add, this is a nearly impossible to find color– in any Hermes bag style! I’ve seen bolides in cyclamen and they get sold faaaast! This is really a beautiful color, and I do wish Hermes would bring it back and make it a “regular” color like blue jean, orange, black, and gold. It’s really truly gorgeous. This Paris Bombay bag is 42cm in size– just like the old JPG shoulder birkin, but a LOT lighter. Priced at US$ 5,125. (Php 240,000 give or take). I highly recommend this bag. It also looks like it’s in excellent condition!

Whale skin?? Gawd, you know what? I’m soooo glad they no longer make whale skin bags. This is obviously a vintage piece as there are no more bag companies out there cruel enough to make bags out of whale skin *it’s grossly inhumane 🙁 Do you know that there were also seal skin bags made in the past too? :(*. I just had to feature this bag because this is one of those very rare times that I’ve seen a Whale Skin bag for sale– a Hermes  kelly at that! Quite expensive too for a vintage bag this old! Priced at US$7,125 (about Php 330,000).

I must also write about the
 
Louis Vuitton Monogram Canvas Neon Green Perforated Speedy 30 Bag

because a few people had asked if it was still possible to get this bag last year, and there was none available in the local reseller market. I saw this bag and yay, I thought of those who had asked me 🙂 *I hope one of you gets to take this baby home!*. It’s priced at US$899 (about Php 42,000) which is not so bad, considering it’s tough to find this now that the collection’s been discontinued. A brand new monogram Speedy costs around Php 35,000+ locally, so this is not far off from the price– and this bag is a limited ed 🙂

Now, as in all online shopping transactions where you don’t get to see the bag up close and personal, I would like to recommend that you email customer service to ask for a more detailed condition report.  A more thorough report is always good. I do trust this site because of the good feedback from their customers, because of their buyer’s protection plan, and also because of the good write-ups in the press (only praises from The New York Times, The WSJ, Newsweek, Town & Country, Financial Times, CNBC).

Portero.com ships internationally, but the Philippines is still not on that list *I’m hoping one day they will be :D*.  So, to take advantage of the prices listed, my suggestion is that you sign up with a US mail forwarding service like MyUS.com below.

Just follow the easy steps to join, and once you’re set- up, you get your own U.S. mailing address  where your purchases will now go 🙂 And from there, MyUS.com will take care of how to ship the item to you. One of the other good things about this company is that it also provides a “personal” shopping service for you where you can just ask them to pay for your purchase (a lot of online sites still don’t take Philippine- issued credit cards with Philippine billing addresses), and then you can just pay Myus.com with your credit card or you can also wire the payment.

Pretty easy at the end of the day, and I swear, it opens a whole new world!!! *muwahahahaha ok, I’m being a serious Bad influence to you peeps tonight*.

But heyyy, at least I revealed a way for you to shop online for stuff (yes, not just bags!!) without any more shipping impediments. Now that you peeps have the “tools”, I pray for plenty, plenty moolah for you all to shop til you drop 😉 *Mrs. T plants a money tree for you all 😉 hehehehehe share the fruit with me, ok? :D* May the shopping goddesses help us all 😀

x
Mrs. T