Buying Used Louis Vuitton: A Guide to Avoid Being Scammed

Once upon a time, I was a thirty-thousandaire. You know, the 20-something with a decent job, and no bills, blowing money like I was Paris Hilton. Ok, I admit. I only just woke up from that dream-period.

Starting in college, I had one goal: to own accessories that would be the envy of my friends.

To begin, I lusted after authentic Louis Vuittons. I didn't even know a store that sold Louis Vuitton. There are still no stores in my state, by the way. When I heard about the fakes on Canal Street, I began making trips there to buy all the latest styles. No harm, no foul, I figured. But, I wasn't happy having a knock-off, and I sensed that people could tell the difference. Then something horrible happened. The tragedy that is September 11th. Soon after I heard truly crushing news. The terrorists paid for the flight school training, and even for their plane tickets that day, by selling counterfeit goods. What were they selling? Fake bags.

I truly felt like I had blood on my hands. I threw away all of my fakes, and went back to my Nine West life.

All the while, I was still lusting after the luxury look, and wanted to find it at a reasonable price. I turned to Ebay. I found bags I thought were obvious fakes, bags I thought were probably real, and soon... I realized I had no idea what I was looking at. That's when I stumbled upon mypoupette.com.

Mypoupette is a site for Louis Vuitton lovers. It has a lot of valuable information for anyone interested LV bags. By reading her guide, and eventually owning some authentic Louis Vuittons of my own, I began to know what to look for in a bag. I will share the general guidelines of distinguishing real from fake, but, there is a warning too: it's harder than it seems.

Here are the basics: