VERY ALARMING. Today is the 2nd day this week that I encounter a fake Hermes birkin report. This time, the lady who felt that she had with her a fake Hermes birkin, came to see me with the said bag.
It was a Blue Jean Birkin, 35cm in “togo” pebbled leather.
I took one look at it and knew it was not the real deal. I asked her where she bought the bag. She said that this bag was once the bag of (Philippine celebrity’s name) . I raised my eyebrows and asked who sold her the bag. She said that it was sold by someone that both she and the celebrity knew. Apparently (or so according to this lady), the bag once belonged to this celebrity, and the celebrity exchanged the bag for jewellery. And this reseller sold it to the present owner for “below retail” (US$4,500+ ). Let it be known that this lady had asked Hermes about a birkin but was told about the waitlist so she was in her words, “discouraged”.
So when the opportunity came through this reseller to sell her a “Hermes” birkin under retail, she took the bag right away, thinking the bag would be authentic since it came from this female celebrity (who is also known to have a growing birkin collection). Because of the contribution of another client who happened to drop by and see the bag (and comment on it– because she too has a birkin and had wanted to see what the fake looked like), we find out that the celebrity has perhaps a set of personal shoppers who have been doing the buying for her. I am just hoping that this bag doesn’t really belong to the celebrity. And I also hope that the celebrity does not have more fake birkins. We all doubted too that the celebrity would know if her bags are real or fake– and that thought scares me a lot. Because she could be gypped into buying fakes and she wouldn’t even know of it!!
To the untrained eye at first glance, the bag would have looked real. But here are the details that make it unquestionably fake. Plus, the bag came with a hard orange “authenticity” card which is something that does NOT come with authentic Hermes birkins.
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| It’s all in the details. The hardwares of the bag– shoddily made! |
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| Hmm… keyring on the keys?? |
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| Details, details. Poor workmanship! |
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| Blue stitches to hold the bag panel together. Check the details! |
I am really appalled that there are a growing number of fake Hermes birkins going around which are being passed for the real deal. So again and again this is what I have to say, before you buy a Hermes birkin from some reseller, try the Hermes boutique first before going another route. And if you decide on going with a reseller, DO YOUR RESEARCH FIRST– and that’s really the MOST IMPORTANT RULE OF THEM ALL.
Before the lady left, I asked her if there will be a way for her to get her money back. I can tell she was holding back her tears and I can tell that she was really distraught, but she did tell me that there was a way for her to get her money back still. I just really hope that is true. And as for the celebrity who supposedly owned this bag, I really honestly hope she didn’t own it. But if she did, I hope there is a way for her to be informed about being extra careful about resellers who may be unscrupulous or unknowledgeable and just want to make money by selling bags to her because they know she has the capacity to pay. I honestly think she should just head straight to the Hermes boutique for her bags. With her popularity, she will have zero trouble getting the bag she wants! And at least she won’t get gypped!
This is a lesson for all of us here. I hope I was able to shed some light on what made the blue jean birkin a fake Hermes bag. It’s really all in the details. A real Hermes birkin would have used the finest leathers, finest materials, and not have shoddy workmanship. That’s the reason why the birkins from Hermes don’t come cheap, nor do they come easy. But I tell you, they’re still worth the wait.
x
Mrs. T
This is too alarming. I can’t imagine someone looking at that handbag and thinking that it’s real. But, I suppose to an untrained eye it seems like a great deal. The lack of education is unfortunate…
I wonder if it is GB, ate of CB and the other sister MB! She sure was photographed a lot with her blue jean. I hope you do a post about buying preloved Birkins in Japan.
not her
wow.. thanks for the warning.. glad to know this one.. can you also post a detailed pic of a real HERMES birkin bag? or perhaps to compare the difference? haven’t seen an authentic in personal.. And I agree, there are a lot of resellers who are selling these fake bags but the sad part here is that they also thought that the ones that they are selling are authentic. This is a lesson to everyone.. And you’re right, they’re worth the wait..
Mrs T, Hermes Ginza has the most gracious SAs. You reported on that some time ago. Walking in just a month ago, I got a 35cm Ebene Clemence Birkin from them. They also showed me a couple other Birkins and some Kellys. The lady may want to consider flying in to Tokyo — really fun to shop there.
I have a picture in my blog. Really rich dark chocolate color — almost black.
gorgeous!!! yes, hermes ginza is wonderful!
Sad story of her, But very informative article from you.
Someone tried to sell 2 birkin bags to my mom last year. The other one is a croco skin. The price is P100k. To my mom, it’s too good to be true. I even traveled 3 hours just to get the Birkins so I can bring it back to my mom. The only way we got to see if it was fake was compare it to my mom’s 2 Birkins. One of the tell tale signs: size is not right. We took out a tape measure and it was 34cm. The “smell”. It was stamped “M” but doesn’t have the smell of a Birkin’s leather. True enough, we had the Birkin bags returned. Our lesson: buy only from an Hermes boutique. In this case, my mom became friends with an SA from an Hermes boutique in a major US city. I know it’s quite incovenient to time buying a Birkin to a US trip but it’s sooo worth it. I think one problem people get duped into buying a Birkin is the price. $4,500???? Even on ebay, you won’t get a real one for that price. People should not expect to pay that low for a Birkin even the pre-owned ones!
In my opinion, the “cheapest” is to get it directly from the boutique. Sometimes I joke my mom that if only I have the funds for Birkin bags, I know where to buy but I don’t have funds for now. For some people, they have the funds but they don’t know where to get it LOL! I heard Hermes Manila doesn’t have Birkin bags of late. Neither does the boutiques in HK.
Hi Mrs. T. Can you post guidelines on real Hermes Birkin?
so sad to hear…out of curiosity, what is the approximate wait time for a Birkin?
hi please post comparison photos of the fake with the real birkin. i want to be able to see so i know which ones are fake. thanks 🙂
i wonder whose celebrity is that??!! hhmmm..
rm.q?
Ingrid: what a story! I cannot help wondering WHO the celebrity is. I hope it’s not Magkaribal or Liz Uy’s possible future sister is law or Pacman’s missus. That would be majah Jesus. In any event the celeb may have brought in her real Birkin and the reseller has resold the same storyline a few times through fake birkins she got from Pattaya. And thanks for the tip and btw you should start charging these people for authentication.
LOL LOL
is the celebrity RMG? have a feeling it’s her
who’s RMG?
A customer went inside my store asking for FedEx shipping rates (I am a franchisee of Mail & More) ‘coz she’s gonna ship bags daw to her clients. Those bags are “7 star” (which I think is the new term for Class AAA )Birkins daw that she got from GIRL X (please edit na lang name if you’re gonna approve my comment, hehe *YES, I EDITED, THANKS- MRS. T :D*) and they’re selling it for a pocket friendly price.Not sure if true, but if it is.., kahiya.
the key looks like a LV key / wonder if the key fits the lock too? LV keys numbering are very similar.
jlo
Lucky that she didn’t travel with this fake birkin to France…coz she will pay more at the customs(douane)that’s the danger if you travel with fake designer things in France or maybe in EU.
http://forum.purseblog.com/authenticate-this-hermes/avoid-the-following-ebay-sellers-37117.html
this link could be helpful. =)