Leather goods
Checking a leather goods retailer
Leather goods is the category where visual authentication is least reliable and most widely practised. High-grade counterfeits now reproduce stitching, stamps and serial codes. That is precisely why we publish no visual inspection method and work on the traceability of the purchase instead.
14 retailer profiles in this category
Why visual inspection falls short
The features guides tell you to examine, stitching, lining, serial number, are the first ones counterfeiters reproduce. The same serial code often appears on many items. An object that looks right proves nothing, and a guide explaining what to look for serves counterfeiters as much as buyers.
Maisons do not authenticate for private owners
Most leather goods houses decline to authenticate an item acquired outside their network, or offer no authentication service at all. An independent expert's certificate is an alternative, but the title of expert is unregulated in France, and the Supreme Court held in 2018 that relying on a certificate without checking how it was established amounts to gross negligence.
What we check on these retailers
Registration, legal disclosures, domain age, and whether they answer requests for supply evidence. A seller who does not answer gives you information no certificate provides.
These retailers were recorded from public sources. A low score marks a thinly documented profile, never a problem found with the seller.