Bottega Fake #2

It's been a very busy last few days and this is the first chance I've had to get to this........but it's been on my mind.

I roam around ebay and have Bottega handbags as a favorite search - so I get to see the new ones as they come on. Along came a beautiful tote in my favorite color - peanut butter brown! Woven and looking very good in the photos. All of the important things were in line - this gal had lots (over 1400) good feedback, the items she had sold all made sense in terms of fashion items and in terms of price. Things looked good and I won the bag for something over $400 (if I remember correctly). Again - waiting is always the hardest part! The bag came, packed beautifully - the moment I opened it up I knew it wasn't real! Looked great (from a distance), but it didn't have the right feel - Bottega leather is always very soft and supple! and it didn't smell right - how do you explain that? It just wasn't right - it had the smell of a cheap leather store - yuck!

The difference in this situation though was that when I emailed the gal and told her my feelings about the bag - she couldn't have been nicer. I do believe that she believed the bag was real. It did look good - "no problem" she said - "send it right back". I packed it up and sent it right back to her. As soon as the bag was received by her - I was refunded my full amount.

This is the way it should work. I do believe she felt it was real - she respected my feelings and even though her description said "no returns", "all sales final" - she took it back. I never saw the bag relisted. Perhaps she took it to Bottega to have it authenticated.

These things do happen. My sister-in-law gave me an Hermes scarf two years ago - in the package - certainly looked good to me. I am not a collector of Hermes scarves and have never had one of my own (they're a little too serious for me - design wise) and so it looked OK to me. Listed it on ebay and got $175 for it. Pretty good - not great! The gal received it and immediately emailed me to tell me it was fake. I was very upset. I do take this very seriously and the last thing I want to do is to be selling anything fake. I asked her why she thought/believed it to be fake. She told me that the silk was too stiff and the handstitching on the scarf was not right.

She was very nice about the whole thing - she believed me when I told her that I just learned something from her (how to tell a fake Hermes scarf from a real one). She returned the scarf - and of course I immediately credited her - I actually credited her before the scarf was returned. These things do happen. But wait - next time I'll tell you about the fake that I received (if indeed it is fake) that I love and wear and enjoy!

Since that time I have sold three Hermes scarves on ebay. My niece who works around the corner has taken each one into Hermes for me to verify that they are indeed real. I do know the difference now though - the silk is much softer than that first one - and yes, the handstitching is indeed handstitched! They are beautiful, but I'm still not interested in owning one! People do collect them though - when I put one on - I mention that I don't know anything about Hermes scarves and get lots of responses from other ebayers giving me the name and date of the scarf. Most people are really nice and always happy to be helpful. This is what makes ebay so special.

Don't forget to check out my listings: lots of good things..........
The link to my ebay items is: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZilovemygirls3QQhtZ-1