Updated: Spot The Difference!

I am really a shoe-person. My daughter even has more footwear than she needs because of my love for shoes. I am relatively cheap when it comes to clothes but I don't scrimp on shoes. Of course, I always buy my shoes when they're on sale. Don't ask me about bags. I only officially have 2. My canvas Lacoste with its leather handle and trimming which is way too heavy compared to my large long handle Longcamp Planetes.

Longchamp Planètes_clay
Yes, the ubiquitous Longchamp. You'll find the Le Pliage just about on every Pinay's shoulders or arms. Love the Planetes because the material is thicker compared to the Pliage, very light, and very easy to maintain: brush and hang. The Planetes became my favorite bag but of course it gets dirty so I was thinking of getting another one in black as my alternate. So I resorted to ebay.

Click the link to find out what differentiate's the authentic Planetes from a very good copy!

The seller is a powerseller and is selling Michael Kors, Coach, and Kate Spade bags among others. The images looked legit so I risked PhP 4,500.00 to get the medium long handle. I was ecstatic when the item arrived with the exception of the size which I was planning to change to large which the seller also carried. It looked like my Argile Planetes only in black! But when I had the time to examine the item closely a few hours later, I found discrepancies. So I am posting the comparison pics here. Let me know if it's just me or if the differences are really there!

My doubts started with the material inside the bag. It was spotted as opposed to a smooth surface.
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Next is the color and details of the hardware. Notice the detail of the front hooves on the horse? The one on the right side looks like they're joined together while the one on the left has 2 very distinct hooves.

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Next are the, what I refer to as, "blanket" stitching around the edges of the material under the zipper which were noticeably absent in the black Planetes.

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"Blanket" stitching around the edge of the inside pocket.

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Noticeable absence of the imprint of the logo on the inside flap of the leather.

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Is it just me or is the hardware to the right thicker compared to the left?

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Of course, don't forget the tags!

I'm not too sure if it was intentional on the sellers end. It could very well be that the seller was duped into thinking that she's selling the real thing. Only she knows and I did not bother to find out. She took offense when I expressed doubt with regards to the authenticity of the bag!

Moral of the story:
  • Ask for pictures of the materials, hardware, stitching, and tags
  • Ask for a copy of the receipt
  • Better yet, don't buy online. Buy in person!
  • Even better, buy from authorized shops or from Longchamp!

The 4th moral would only work for me if someone I know actually went to France and bought it from the Longchamp shop there and they are on sale!

P.S. I had already sent the bag back to the seller and I'm still waiting for my refund.

P.P.S. Seller has acknowledged that item is counterfeit. She claimed that she had no idea as she was doing dropshipping (this is similar to blind shipping wherein it's actually the supplier doing the shipping so the seller acts as a front and doesn't keep any inventory at all). Seller claimed that after my complaint, she bought a similar bag from the seller just to verify. To make long story short, the seller refunded my payment but not before throwing insults at me which I was very unhappy of. Later on, the seller did apologize. I really don't understand why anyone would resort to that? So I learned my lesson. Since I cannot say I won't purchase anymore online, I promise to limit what I do purchase and to be very careful. I have been doing online buying and selling for more than 5 years now and this is the first of its kind that I have encountered. The savings is just not worth the stress and the hassle. I'll be writing a guide for online buying to help others out as well. It's currently in the works. Watch out for that!

PPPS. Seller opened an unpaid item strike against me to get rid of the neutral feedback I left her. Kaloka talaga some people (napa konyo talk tuloy ako). Why not face the music na lang kasi? Ganyan ba talaga ang Pinoy? :(

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Very informative! Well done! Love your post and will be sharing with others. Regards, Jamie

Anonymous said...

hi by any chance, did you buy from an seller in instagram? longchampph?

rye said...

hi Anonymous! No, have not bought anything off instagram.

SQA said...

Hi, may I ask where did you get your Argile Planetes? I have one in black and my bag satisfies all the authenticity criteria of all the details you've mentioned except for the blanket stitches under the zip and along the sides of the bag pocket. I now fear that it may also be a counterfeit as I also got it from an online seller (the seller has 100% positive feedbacks).

rye said...

Hello SQA. Got the bag off ebay. Also 100% feedback. I suggest you check out purseforum, there's a thread there specifically to check if a bag's authentic or not. Just provide the details. Hoping the best for you. :)

Anonymous said...

I have also encountered an online seller that got offended when being asked if their product is authentic...as if i have no right to ask. First, it was just a question, and if the item is genuine, why would you be mad. Instead of proving the authenticity of the product, she bragged the number of followers the store has...that does not prove anything actually. It's really disappointing that online sellers nowadays are such snobs despite the fact that most of them does not have enough credibility and legitimacy to be a "store". Sorry for the long comment, i just related to your experience when you mentioned the seller threw insults to you. Thanks for your time :)

CeCiL's said...

Hi...very informative...but now i'm doubt with my care card...seems like not legit..would like to ask the original care card should start with 'To remove....' or 'To maintain...'..tq!

Kassandra said...

Hi! May I ask if there's a YKK engraved on the zipper with the original ones? Please let me know.

Unknown said...

Bought a neo from lazada, everything checks out fine even the dust bag except for the tag seems like there is a space between PA_RIS.

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