Individuals who rely on this website to authenticate designer handbags should understand a few things first.
1. These people have absolutely no business authenticating anything, and authenticate obvious replicas that their own members sell on Ebay consistently. Their are literally hundreds of complaints on the internet in numerous locations that you should read before you blindly believe what they are telling you. The simple fact of the matter is that any one of us can report ANY item on Ebay for any number of reasons and have the listing removed. THIS IS NOT PROOF THAT AN ITEM IS COUNTERFEIT! Individuals simply have to do a better job at determining WHO they are getting their information from before they jump in with both feet. If you rely on their not-so-expert opinion simply because you saw a link that said "authenticate this Chanel, or LV, or Hermes, etc." you do yourself a great disservice, and set yourself up to be victimized. You do not believe everything you read on the internet...do you?
2. The Purse Forums main goal is to report their competitions listings by reporting them to Ebay for removal, thereby paving the way to sell their counterfeit handbags as "authentic." Sadly, they have commandeered a host of individuals who believe what they are saying whole-heartedly, and without good judgement simply report everyone that purse forum rejects. Again, these people ARE NOT qualified to authenticate anything!!!
3. Consider this, why do they now only deal with authenticating items through auctions, and insist that the buyer (or questioner) provide the ID of the seller. This makes it easy for them to authenticate an item, without actually looking at it, based on WHO the seller is and to, in one word, without explanation cry FAKE on all other items. Why won't they authenticate items without a link from Ebay....well, because individuals have caught on to their scam and have embedded pics of obvious replica bags on their website and claimed they were being sold by members of the purse forum on Ebay...one glance at the members name and these purposely faked photos of counterfeit bags were immediately called AUTHENTIC. Now that you have to provide the link, instead of being allowed to attach photos directly on the Purse Forum website, they have an extra layer of protection from being exposed as the scammers they truly are.
4. Consider this ludicrous statement made dozens of times on their website. "Loius Vuitton sales associates are not qualified to authentic the handbags they sell." Really? Now, why wouldn't a person who handles and sells these bags daily be more qualified to tell you if your bag is authentic than nameless faceless individuals who claim to be nothing more than collectors. Do they have the necessary qualifications, well of course not. HMMMM....shouldn't that be a red flag to a conscientious buyer. A red flag indicating that these individuals have something to gain. Or at the very least, be considered absolute nonsense. The simple fact of the matter is that Louis Vuitton does not train or employ their own authenticators, so where do these individuals get off believing that they are qualified. Well, the simple fact is that, they are not.
5. Beware of listings on Ebay that tell you to "feel free to have one of the authenticators over on the Purse Forum authenticate this bag." That is your first indication that you are being had, and being lulled into a false sense of security. At the very least, these people do not have the requisite skills to authenticate anything, and at worst, are scamming you into buying replica bags from them. Do not believe them when they say that they do not sell any of these items...they may not sell them from the Purse Forum platform...BUT, they most certainly sell them on Ebay, and protect one another in their scam at all costs. Spend some time bouncing back and forth from their site to Ebay, and it is curious to see just how many members have SOOOO many purses to sell, so frequently, at such a colossal loss. This is an enormous red flag.
Of course they will tell you that I am simply a slanderous disgruntled seller, but what else can they say. You will have to do the research yourself...try "Purse Forum Ripoff" on your search engine, and read what you find from others before you decide to simply believe what they are telling you.