I have recently seen fake or "replica"  Coach bags being sold here at eBay. I'm a little ticked off and don't think they should be allowed to sell them here, you see it enough at flea markets and the purse parties everywhere.  I am posting this guide (well I am attempting to) just to help buyers out there protect themselves and be more informed.  Feel free to email me if you suspect that a bag might be a fake or you just want to check it out b4 bidding a certain amount, I can also help you with their value, you'd be surprised at the people on here that will rip you off on the prices of the authentic ones as well, remember if you write me, include the auction #  with your message and I'll give you my honest opinion on authenticity and value.  Serious emails only.

Here are a few tips to go by when your looking to buy an authentic Coach bag:

1.  Most honest buyers will provide the original receipt & mention it in the auction & also tell where they received it, this is a good thing... but do watch.. some ppl try to play dumb on this as well.  I mean come on, if they state in their auction that the bag they are selling is priced in stores at $398 but you can get theirs at a nr auction for $29.99 that's usually because that's what they have in it and are trying to burn anyone they can... so they'll just add in the description that they received it as a gift and it's not their style or size, lol.... right... Coach is always my style and size and if a friend of mine actually bought me an authentic coach as a gift I'd have a heart attack........ and probably wouldn't live to sell it on Ebay -if I didn't like it.  There are some honest sellers out there that actually don't have the original receipts as well, for instance here in my shop I take a lot of trade in Coach purses and wallets, wristlets, I sell new and lightly used, and lots of times my customers don't bring their receipts in when trading, but im always up front about this in my auction.  The best way to handle this is to check the feedback & their past auctions, the seller may be knowledgeable and sold coach items before. I've noticed a lot of the replica sellers will have low feedbacks, and sometimes that means they are just looking for a quick sale.

2.  OK ....Always check the interior of the bag, most fakes have that yellowish/gold shiny lining with the coach 'logos' printed all over it NOT just the C's the actual 'coach' logo with the little square around it -like the lozenge repeated everywhere on the yellow thin lining.  The lining of an authentic Coach is 'almost' always a solid color (now this depends on the style, color, etc.) and its a heavy, thick fabric lining thats been made to last, not thin and flemsy and easily snagged, some of the authentic interior colors are dark brown, blue, khaki, pink -it just depends on the bag itself.  I've seen a lot of the new all leather Coach have the satiny tan lining with large C's all over it and it's really gorgeous.  Some of the latest fakes I've seen on here had that 'rainbow' lining thats on the Coach Ali, so you never know what they'll have next, you gotta watch the quality and the more you watch the better you'll get at spotting them by quality. Also be advised that ALL fakes come with 'paperwork' which includes the registration card, care booklet, information booklet. Unless they rip you off and keep them, lol. It angers me to see someone state in the auction "it has the inside 'creed' /'serial number'  and all paperwork so it's therefore real.... all the fakes have the creed (inside leather patch)

3. All of the newer Authentic Coach bags have a little stamp on the zipper that will say  "Y K K"  so if you see a purse on Ebay your interested in ask them if it has the ykk stamp on the side of the zippers on the bag, this will require them to look and for some ppl to have to use a magnifying glass, it's very plainly written all in caps Y K K .  Remember if it doesn't have ykk it's simply not coach...simple as that.  Watch those zippers when all else fails!!

4. Coach does not have it's logo printed 'all over' every piece of hardware that's on the purse and not to mention the zipper that looks like a little coach logo, this is a dead giveaway it's fake. Coach also has very heavy, made to last hardware. I always carry Coach and I notice that the hardware on mine seems to always cling around because they are so heavy.. remember, you can just tell by the quality. Fakes are so light when you pick them up and are easy to tear up, plus their zippers are really tough to zip up, real ones have super smooth zip up.

5. Watch out for the plastic wrap around the handles (dead giver) -coach does not put plastic wrap on their purses) and also the price tag hanging on the little 'metal' balls hang tag alone (that latches & unlatches by putting the little ball into the catch) with the little coach lozenge on there with it. Coach have their price tags hanging on a 'clear' plastic price tag holder where they easily can tuck it in neatly somewhere along with the lozenge.  Coach also have the exact name, color and the style # on the authentic price tag.  The fakes will have something like 'satchel' style down with some weird number on it and the purse will actually be something like a demi bag, also watch for the little stamps they put on the fake coach price tags, sometimes they'll have 2 or 3 different stamps on there with the different style numbers they use themselves for ordering (they look like little price tags but will have something on them like  149 or 4456 or even a chinese symbol & a number)   Coach doesn't have stamps on their price tags.  Believe me I have seen plenty of these. 

6.  Watch out for the fake leather!  The fakes have some weird looking shiny, cheap looking leather and once you've actually smelled and touched the leather on the authentic bags it's easy to tell them apart.

Feel free to contact me for help on this,  my email is FaitheysMom at yahoo dot com.  If you click on 'contact member' and send me a message,  Ebay won't let me respond back to you because we have 'no transaction' going on, so this is why I'm now listing my email.  If you feel you've found a fake you can try to 'report' the listing of the purse to eBay yourself.... if you'll notice at the bottom of the actual auction page there will be a link there that says "report item" but b4 clicking here you should jot down the item number because you will have to enter it on a form after you click a few more links like trademark infringement & counterfeit handbags,  finally after clicking those links you'll see the link that says  'report counterfeit handbag' this is where you'll click & then enter the auction number of the purse.  Please note this DOES NOT always work, trust me, I report anywhere from 2 to 8 handbags a day that are complete fakes and Ebay doesn't get around to closing them down....  I watch, thus the high bidder wins a big fat fake that they have paid hundreds for and could've gotten a nice authentic one that would actually last for the same price or possibly even less.  Keep in mind the fakes sell anywhere nowadays from $15-$ 45 dollars on purses no matter the size, and wallets & wristlets are $10-$20.00  So don't get burned! I see lots and lots everyday and I have had people bring down cases and cases to see if I want to buy them to put in our shop.

I sincerely hope this helps anyone who needs it.