The sun was shining, the sky was blue, my fingers were ready to type another article, it was a normal day at BRAGMYBAG. Well, it was normal until Mella came along and posted an unusual comment.

How unusual? (You ask)

Nothing big, really! She just bought a Celine bag through Ebay, transferred around 1640 USD to the seller, she doubted the authenticity, went to Celine to verify, demanded her money back and got rejected by Ebay.

It started with an innocent comment:

Mella: ‘Hi All, I would like to ask a question. Does anyone know whether Celine made a Mini Luggage bag in black stamped croc lambskin leather? I just bought 1 pre-owned through Ebay and need to know whether it’s real or not. Thank you’.

A prompt response: ‘Not sure, but how much did you paid and how does the leather feel like? Cheap?’

Mella: ‘This is my second bag and I paid 1640 USD for it. I went ahead and have done my research. I compared it with a similar bag and also went to the original Celine store to check. According to the Shopping Assistant, this bag does not feel authentic. The inner lining feels like PVC rather than lambskin and the zipper does not have a number 8, the winged part of the bag is shorter than the mini luggages available in the store’.

When I read her story, my heart bounced and I bite my lips. Ouch!

Mella continued: ‘The exterior of the bag feels strong, but it’s not crocodile skin, it’s croc embossed leather. I knew the seller meant croc embossed pattern on the leather and so its not a real crocodile skin. The seller also gave me the paper tag, which says that it is a Cabas 100% lambskin when the bag is a Celine Luggage and not Celine Cabas’.

Oh, that’s why Mella doubted about the bag. After she received the bag, she spotted a few things that did not make sense.

More from Mella: ‘Anyways, I’ve managed to get a refund after several email correspondences with Ebay, but the seller still hold on her story that the bag she sold is real. Maybe she did not know better, but I replied her to informal all the peculiarities of her bag once again’.

Let me tell you this, it took Mella ‘several email correspondences’ to get her money back. Do you know that she got rejected in the first place? Do you want to know in details how she fought her case back?

Bring on the details:

From: Mella
To: Seller
Date: 03-08-2014

Subject: Differences between your bag and an authentic Celine bag

‘I have taken a picture above to show you that you’ve provided me with a tag which is for a Cabas bag rather than a Celine Mini Luggage. The Cabas bag is made of lambskin, but the Celine Luggage is not made of lambskin, in fact, the interior of the bag looks and feels like PVC’.

‘The font size of your (upper wordings) dus bag is smaller than my authentic Celine dust bag, which I got from the store (lower wordings)’.

‘The bag on the left is my authentic Celine Micro Luggage, which I bought from the store. The zipper has a number ‘etched’ on it and zipper shape is rounded, whereas your black Celine bag zipper does not have a number ‘8’ and it flat. Also, the stitching on the interior of my authentic Celine does not have a cross stitching across the rectangle whereas your black bag has crosses in the rectangle. These are the additional deviations from an authentic Celine bag’.

I took a deep breath after reading Mella’s story, it sounded like a thriller movie, like the victim is trapped inside an old abandon house, hiding and hoping that the killer will not catch her. In my head there was one more question that I needed to ask (or else I will not be able to sleep): ‘So how did you resolved this issue in the end, did the seller refund your money or Ebay?’

Here’s what Mella told us: ‘Here’s the gist, I opened a case via eBay to let the seller know the item I received isn’t as it was described in the listing. The seller had 3 days to respond to me. The seller responded and simply told me the item is not fake’.

‘I replied 2x to the seller explaining that the bag is not authentic and sought her agreement to refund my payment’.

‘eBay customer support reviewed and replied that I will not get a refund and they closed the case. (Naturally, I was very disappointed & felt cheated)’.

‘I appealed against eBay’s decision, explained everything again, implored to them to review every email/message communication I had with the seller & I also provided all the photo comparisons to ebay’.

‘Fortunately, after a second review, they overturned their previous decision & awarded a refund to me’.

Now what’s the lesson?
While Ebay is a great place (should I reversed that?) to shop pre-owned designer bag, it’s also a great place to get scammed. Sometimes sellers do post authentic pictures online and then send you a fake bag, but a ‘good’ fake bag. Usually Celine do not authentic, but there are specialized companies that do provide this service. However, is it worth the hassle?

If Mella did not bother to authentic her Celine Luggage Tote, who would ever know it’s real or not? The thought of not knowing (or too scared to face the reality) whether your bag is authentic or not (especially if you’ve paid over 1.000 USD) will always haunt you forever.

She spent numerous hours doing research and comparison, went personally to the Celine store, sent several messages with proof to the seller, then opened a case via Ebay, got rejected, needed to pull her sleeve and fought back to win the case. How many hours do you think she invested? And not even mentioned the frustration.

Well, you can be the judge.

Mella: ‘Hi, please find attached the details of the Celine bag for the benefit of unsuspecting buyers like me on Ebay. Hopefully, it may help prevent some buyers from becoming victims of purchasing non-authentic bags online.’

As final, we need to thank Mella a thousand times for sending the resources, detailed information and sharing her story. If you buy on the Internet, keep your mind and eyes sharp!