How can I tell an item is "real"?

If you have a Louis Vuitton store in the area you can have them look at it and also there is a purse web site, I can’t recall it’s exact name, but hang in and someone who knows will come along. There are people who also authenticate for you at a price. I have a piece I will take in one day when I have time to burn to have it inspected for me.

I concur with Pacifica, we have many wealthy neighborhoods down here too and I see lots of fakes in those areas as well. The one item I have awaiting I am in no huge hurry to sell, and by the way in case no one else thinks to tell you, it’s very illegal to sell fakes online or anywhere. In California it is an arrestable offense, not sure where Illinois stands on the issue. Check with a real expert first though, going to jail would be such a bummer over a $10 purse.

http://forum.purseblog.com/louis-vuitton/
Be prepared with lots of clear crisp photo’s and a good description.

Word to the unknowing, I joined the purse forum but until you have participated in 10 discussions, you can’t post your query. What a waste of my time!! I was most disappointed in that site, read most of the other posts and it was pure snobbery. Sorry if that offends anyone, but that was my experience. A nice lady from here, and I’m sorry I don’t recall at the moment who she is, posted my item for me as she has enough posts to be able to. They told her it was a fake in a one line note. Not encouraging at all, not even a why it was a fake, so I am taking my item to Vuitton itself for their opinion there.

Vuitton will not authenticate for you — It is possible that you’ll hit a nice person and the manager won’t be there and she might do it..but they are not supposed to. You want to see snobby just walk into an LV store with a garage sale purchase

I don’t think Nordstroms sells Vuitton —unless there is a Vuitton boutique within your branch. Only Vuitton sells Vuitton.

Go to Carol Diva,(see my post a couple up for the link) pay the $7 — she’ll be nice to you.

i ripped open a LV and Prada bags … they were fake and had cardboard and scrap material inside. i read a post on the E and one person wrote a list of how to spot fake B&D , LV, prada etc. then another more authoritative reply said more than half of the points to look for were incorrect. Some sellers in NY are pushing for a law to criminalize the wearing of fakes! like writing a ticket for it and confiscating it.

Most of the counterfeiters have fake authenticity cards and receipts to go along with their brand new fake bags, at least for premiere designers like LV.

LV is one of the most replicated brands and is the target of “superfakes”. These are bags that copy the originals down to the minutest detail and cost a few hundred bucks, themselves. They’re not low quality and there may not be any obvious tells that the bag is a fake. It really takes someone well-versed in the brand to spot these.

Don’t take it to Nordstrom’s, either. Employees are not allowed to authenticate items. Neither are LV store employees.

As another poster suggested, investing $7 and sending clear pics of all pertinent parts of the bag to caroldiva is well worth the money. If it turns out it’s authentic and you decide to sell it, you have authentication that fetch a higher selling price.

I hope it turns out to not be a fake. It’s hard to get it into folks’ heads counterfeits are illegal to sell anywhere.

There are a few video on Youtube that show you how to make the difference!

http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-spot-a-fake-louis-vuitton-bag