by Jimmyvanilla

Created on: February 13, 2007   Last Updated: March 20, 2011

100% AUTHENTIC!

If only those magic words could only be used honestly.

There is heaps of fakes on eBay and on the net and unfortunately they are VERY hard to spot without experience and specialised knowledge - especially before you pay your good money and get the item home!

I've been buying and selling on eBay for a while and I'll admit that I have sold fakes - at least I'm confident that they were even though my supplier told me that they were authentic. I sold them on eBay for what I paid for them just to get rid of them and didn't say in my listing that they were authentic - I even told some buyers who asked that I doubted that they were - but I couldn't really say for sure.

Here is the formula that I follow now and it has worked well to keep me clear of fakes on eBay.

1. If something is too good to be true then it is! Do you really think that Ralph Lauren Polo produces thousands and thousands of extra polo shirts every week and allows their manufacturers to sell these babies at next to nothing? I'll tell you now that the only way to get an authentic RLP shirt is to go to a department store or boutique - or buy from someone who bought it from the same. The same goes for LV, Prada, Versace etc. You are not getting the real thing just because it could be made by the real manufacturer - though I doubt that most designers will have such lax controls over their contractors that they could get away with it. It's just too convenient. The same goes for any brand that you see advertised in abundance on eBay brand new. It just doesn't happen.

2. If the price is rock bottom then the goods are fake. How do you think that anyone can get their hands on a current season $2000 LV bag and resell it for $80! They can't! But they can get fakes for next to nothing and flog them off with the title 100% Authentic! (You can get authentic goods at great discount prices, don't get me wrong. There is huge and legitimate industry in selling department store returns and shelf pulls etc - just don't expect to get a lot of this stuff until the season is over.)

3. If the seller doesn't guarantee authenticity with a full money back guarantee then they are probably not trustworthy. Have you ever seen something that is "authentic" and the seller had a line in their auction that said - all sales final, no money back, etc etc. They expect you to be unhappy with their product and know that they are going to get complaints.

4. Stick with sellers who have sold a lot of the product and have lots

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