Welcome to our little spot on eBay. aegiale Vintage was established in 1999 in Miami, Florida and has since sold thousands of authentic bags on eBay. With a passion for both vintage and modern, authentic Gucci items, we enjoy our time spent here as both sellers and bidders. We are not directly associated with the Gucci Corporation, but have an immense rotating collection of used and unused pieces.
We take pride in the authenticity of our items; in fact, we are one of only a few members personally selected by eBay to take part in the site’s fight against counterfeit sellers via the Community Experts Handbags forum. We have been published and honored in a few on-line journals and mentioned on www.MTV.com; our bags have been cited in US Weekly.
That being stated, our knowledge on Gucci items is extensive, but this page is meant to be an information-only site. We do provide authentication letters as a last-resort when dealing with unyielding counterfeit sellers, but only if we are able to do so with 100-percent certainty.
If you are new to eBay, are considering buying an authentic item, or have any questions, visit the discussion boards by clicking on “Community” at the top of your screen. There you will find a plethora of helpful information about buying and selling on eBay, recourse for buying a fake item, etc. The current page also contains more links that might be of assistance with your other designer brand needs.
We hope you find the following information on counterfeit and authentic bags helpful. Should you need further assistance, feel free to email us at aegiale@gmail.com. We usually respond within 48 hours; we receive hundreds of emails per week, so please be patient if we do not respond right away.
Many people are surprised to hear about what their money might be funding if they purchase a counterfeit item. Counterfeits are ILLEGAL. Counterfeit items are not only detrimental to companies, but are also known to provide financing for drug traffiking, terrorist activities (yes, including those against the USA), child labor and other illegal operations. Fake bags are illegal to produce, sell, and even MAIL in the United States (mail fraud via the US Postal Service). Remember that many fakes come complete with dust bags, controllato cards and serial numbers / date stamps.
If a bag that "looks like the real deal" is fine for you, you might want to reconsider. In addition to having no legal resale or insurance value, you could find yourself promoting the illegal activities above, and / or guilty of selling and mailing a counterfeit item. Furthermore, contrary to what many people think, the quality of fake bags pales in comparison to that of authentic designer items. High prices are paid for these bags for a reason: quality materials, fabrics, rich leather, a limited number of them produced, etc. Just having the designer's logo on your bag does not make it worth much except for a small price on the black market; plus, you run the high risk of having a trained eye spot your fake on the street. Just because it looks like Gucci doesn't mean we know it's not. Of course this might be the least of your concerns, but reputation is certainly important to many people.
Remember: feedback is key. Always check out the credibility of the seller and read what other people have written about them under their feedback profile. Many sellers use other sellers' or department stores' images, so you cannot be sure by looking at photos alone. The resale business is a tricky one. Many fake bags are being sold as "authentic", purchased by bidders as "authentic" and subsequently resold as "authentic" here on eBay; therefore, it is not uncommon for sellers to inadvertently resell counterfeit items. Any seller who sells a fake item - however innocent a mistake or intentional the auction might have been - is obligated to accept a return and refund any money the bidder spent on the transaction. Recently, people have been selling designer bags "wholesale". The top designer houses do not let their bags go for wholesale prices! These bags are fake and are sometimes even sold by PowerSellers who have excellent feedback.
*When a seller is selling two or more of the same "new," "authentic" bags, there is a definite red flag.*
Many sellers will say "authenticity guaranteed or your money back" but they count on you providing “proof” that your bag is fake (i.e. a letter on Gucci's letterhead from a manager stating the bag is fake). It's extremely unlikely that a manager will do this for you, and it has been said that employees at designer shops will not even consider authenticating merchandise in writing. Conversely, if an employee agrees to look at your bag, they might not be familiar with the style. This is particularly true when it comes to limited and vintage items.
Where can you find a beautiful, authentic, new Gucci bag? At Gucci, of course. Where can you find a beautiful, authentic, slightly used or unused past-season Gucci bag for an amazing discount? Right here on eBay. DO NOT CONFUSE THE TWO. Take the number one rule of shopping to heart: if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.
Buying a high-priced bag is risky business. If you want to make sure your bag is authentic, buy it from the store! The vast majority of bags being sold on eBay - even those whose sellers claim “authentic” - are counterfeit. There are many wonderful designer sellers on eBay, who offer incredible deals; if you are willing to do your research, a bounty of authentic items will easily be yours.
Be warned that current counterfeits are most often too difficult to distinguish over the internet, as their construction has gotten better and better. Until I have time to compile a more in depth page, there are some general examples of counterfeits (all of which were advertised on eBay as "authentic") and a few pictures of truly authentic items below. Keep in mind that there are far too many fake and authentic bags to picture here, so these are only a few examples. They come in all styles, shapes, colors, materials, and patterns. As styles of authentic bags have changed and continue to change, different things to look for change, too. Please note the obvious differences in the quality and appearance of the fake bags compared to the authentic ones:
These are examples of a fake Jackie-O and fake Bardot bags. No Gucci bags come with these tags. The green tag is made to look like a controllato card (and was advertised as such by the seller in the auction). The last picture is similar to a "stock" photo. Many sellers use photos similar to this one that are not their own to encourage bids on their auctions. This is very dangerous because you cannot see the actual item on which you are bidding.
More examples of tags you will never find on authentic Gucci bags, as well as bags without these tags. The last two are referred to as "Goach" bags. They're meant to look like the popular large C pattern that Coach uses on their bags, except counterfeiters are now making them with Gs. Gucci has never used this pattern on their bags! Speaking of tags, the last photo shows various examples of cards/tags with which an authentic bag will NEVER come. Authentic controllato cards do read from 0-9, but are not as green in color and will not have holes punched through them as they're never attached to authentic bags. The black and gold card is never included with an authentic bag! This ridiculous card was created to mimic the Chanel controllato card. We're talking Gucci here, folks.
Here are examples of interior tabs made to look like authentic ones. Often these fake tabs have fake serial numbers on their bags like the real ones, as shown in a couple photos. If you look closely you can tell they are fake, often by too few digits or if the tab they're imprinted into does not look like leather. Also, look at the linings. That is not the font Gucci uses when writing its name. FAKE!
These are fake bags that come with obviously fake dust / sleeper bags. The last bag is a better fake that comes with a realistic looking dust bag, making it even harder to determine if the bag is fake or not. If you look closely you'll see the bag has Gucci writing on its front in an incorrect font, and comes with the fake controllato card attached to it.
Some examples of fake clasps and some examples of fake bags and incorrect font.
Here is an example of a fake wallet with a fake box. Remember, some people sell fake wallets with real boxes or ones that look very similar. There is also an example of a fake Gucci nameplate on the front of a wallet. This looks very close to the real thing, but the font and spacing are off.
Another example of a fake wallet box with a realistic looking controllato card. Also, some more examples of fake wallets.
YES, even vintage bags were copied. Here are some examples of fake vintage bags, many made to look like the popular doctor bag. You can usually spot a fake vintage bag by the tags (or lack of tags) inside, the texture and color of the canvas, the ribbons, and the leather. (Compare them to the authentic ones below)
Examples of fake vintage tags and fake linings.
Fake vintage wallets.
Fake vintage Gucci backpack. Vintage Gucci straps should not be monogram, they should be leather.
There are too many authentic Gucci styles to picture here. You can often tell an authentic bag by the way the material looks; whether it looks cheaply made. One picture shows what an authentic dust / sleeper bag should look like, but fakes are often made to look exactly alike.
More current styles of bags should all come with an interior leather Gucci Made in Italy tab with a serial number / date stamp on its back. Usually these tags will be located under an interior zippered pocket or an interior pouch. Gucci changes the appearance of their tabs occasionally, so an older bag (the rounder one) will have a different look than newer ones (rectangular).
Gucci bags often come with different linings. These are some examples.
Various examples of authentic vintage Gucci bags and wallets, as well as dust / sleeper covers.
Here are some examples of authentic interiors and tags. Sometimes you'll find a vintage bag with a paper tag still attached, but more often they've come off. The older bags just came with golden stamps, and often a date stamp / serial number as well. All "Accessory Collection" bags should have a serial number. Remember, there are many different interiors and tags as Gucci has changed them over the years.
To protect bidder privacy, when the price or highest bid on an item reaches or exceeds a certain level, User IDs will be displayed as anonymous names. For auction items, a bold price means at least one bid has been received.
Note: Anonymous names may appear more than once and may represent different bidders.
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