Re: Why does Goodwill get away with selling counterfeit handbags?
Posted by:
skav
()
Date: January 03, 2014 06:45PM
The OP is half-right in terms of Goodwill marking up an upscale purse if they aren't sure it's real. They do sell on Ebay, and if you are in the habit of listing counterfeit stuff as real, you are going to end up holding the bag, both literally and figuratively. Any seller on Ebay has to basically operate like a big box store, if you don't take returns or make refunds when you fuck up, or when the buyer fucks up, you can't play the game. Any buyer on Ebay can charge back via PP or any reason for up to 45 days. So, if Goodwill does indeed sell designer bags online which they have gotten as donations, whoever does the listing for the individual location has done some research. And if they are tossing the fakes into the local stores and asking more than a few dollars, I would question those ethics.
That said, if you think you are going to go to the Goodwill and start buying for resale items which are some of the most counterfeited items around, without knowing what you are doing, you are playing a fool's game . Ebay and other sites have pretty good buying guides that explain in detail the differences between fakes and the real deal. At the very least, if you don't know the stuff inside and out, bring along a smart phone and examine the stuff, take photos, do research on the fly,etc. Don't be in a hurry to splash out good money at a place that you know does not take returns for any reason. My advice, learn about things which aren't so readily counterfeited and stay away from things like LV purses, as most you see on the floor of a Goodwill store have already been vetted and are there for a reason.
Shit on occasion does fall through the cracks. Recently a friend, who shops at a place I can't stand with a passion, Unique, purchased a large mid-century silver plate bowl by a well known designer. 12 bucks. Sold on Ebay for well over a grand. It does still happen. There are no shortcuts for accumlated knowledge when it comes to selling on the secondary market. Today there are tools to let one compile the information faster and have it on hand if isn't already locked down in your brain, but much more importantly, the portability of information assists in the reduction of making costly fuck-ups, like buying counterfeit purses.