the thing that appalls me most about knockoff designer goods is not because there's so much out there, but because so many buyers inadvertently purchase them either because they are simply too ignorant or do not care about preserving the integrity of quality products and good design.

a scary result of this is that many good sellers who's accidentally purchased a fake or two will start selling these items.  these phony products spread throughout the land of ebay like vicious stds, mingling with the real deal.  and thanks to many of us with revolving closets, items can get passed around alot, resulting in garments, shoes and purses with dubious origins.  bottom line is, when fakes are mingled with authentic couture and well meaning sellers, it can be downright difficult to tell what's real.

so, i am writing this in hopes that more ebay buyers will take notice and avoid patronizing those cheats- those making huge profits on cheap goods that they lie & tout as the real deal... ripping you off.

some warning signs to look for:

1. terms like 'new arrival', 'just arrived', or 'new collection' (disregard the new arrival banners that are sometimes seen in store view... this is an ebay thing) -  99.9% of the time, sellers, despite their claims, do not have access to marc jacobs, cacharel and marni factories so they should not come across as factories.  occaisionally, a seller will mention the collection from which the piece originated, i.e., fall 2005.  this is not anything to be worried about, for they usually only have one piece from that particular collection (see #2.)
2. many of the same items in different sizes-  it is far cheaper for them to do that than list many different items in a few sizes.  note, it is helpful to check out their ended auctions.
3. if several sellers are selling the same thing, since much of this merchandise are purchased from the same factories.  case in point: eugenia kim hats used to be somewhat rare on ebay, now suddenly there's a flood of fakes.
4. too many of these labels in their inventory: bcbg, marc jacobs (usually marc by marc jacobs), diane von furstenberg/dvf, catherine malandrino, chloe (often see by chloe), rebecca taylor.  however, i'm starting to see more and more of these evil sellers venturing out to other labels such as cacharel, max mara (jackets & coats especially), cop copine, jill stuart, robert rodriguez, phillip lim, mint, lanvin, theory, tsumori chisato, anna sui, fornarina and miss sixty.  they're also starting to peddle more fake moschino, burberry coats and coach bags.  
5. lack of details that should be there- couture clothing will have couture details such as extremely neat & usually tiny stitching, novel material content, quality buttons, logos on hardware, subtle seams and other construction details. there are usually several interior tags with lots of information like: detailed material breakdown, care instructions and size in several countries (exception: chloe & lanvin.)  sometimes there's a japanese translation or a hologram too.  all these should not look like they were printed in a third world country and on flimsy cheap tags. 

warning signs now obsolete:

1. sellers from china- granted, most chinese sellers are still full of fakes, but they've caught on and many are now registered in australia, usa, canada, new zealand, even uk (i.e., many places with chinese- you won't find them coming out of israel.).  there are a lot of fakes coming out of hong kong and thailand as well.  in all of ebay, there are only a handful of asian sellers that i trust.
2. spotless feedback- a seller of fakes can receive 30 to 50 good feedbacks before a buyer will come along who is both in the know and bold enough to leave a neg.  once receiving negatives, these sellers simply open another account since it is easy to do so and besides, many buyers have no problems with sellers having very little feedback.  conversely, a less than stellar feedback doesn't necessarily equate to bad sellers because relatively new sellers receiving just one neg will see their scores plummet.  so don't just look at the feedback numbers, read the comments.  to sift out all the neutrals and negatives quickly, check out toolhaus.org.

in closing, some more tips:

study the sellers' inventory including ended items.  study their buying history, whether they've had any transactions with sellers of phony goods.  ideally, be familiar with the style, whether it comes in a particular color or size and what details should be there.  most importantly, study closeup photos carefully (of tags and hardware especially.)  

familiarize yourself with the designers' tags.  an example:

these tags come from a fake new lanvin top from china.  poor stitching aside, the lanvin tag is passable (although if you look closely, the lanvin font and the edges of the black oval isn't quite right.)  but the 2nd set of tags is a dead giveaway... laughable even but disheartening when you realize this seller has over 2700 feedbacks and is 99.6% positive. 

another example:

new fake lanvin out of hong kong looks quite real, complete with convincing tags and spare button.  however, lanvin sizing for structured coats would be in french sizing, never just "M".  lanvin outerwear retail for well over $1K.  and, if you look closely at the website under the price, it says "linvin".  like the majority of the ebay fakes, this style is also available in various sizes and is sold by another asian seller (but in the US.)  this seller, alarmingly, has 1000+ feedbacks although one is a negative for selling fake ugg boots.  red flag!

be wary if the seller cannot provide closeups of actual item.  be very careful of buying labels like marc jacobs or bcbg on ebay.  do take a peek at their feedback, though don't rely too much on it.  power seller status only means the seller exceeds certain volumes in sales, has an account in 'good standing' (mostly if the seller doesn't owe ebay money or hasn't been blatanly caught violating major ebay rules) and their ratings aren't totally dismal.  in short, being a power seller doesn't really mean anything.

i generally prefer to buy items that have not been purchased on ebay even though it is true the seller can lie about that, which is why you have to look at everything as a whole.  i also like to buy obscure labels and less profitable items such as brands like banana republic and damaged, used, or older goods.  when in doubt, ask questions or request more pix.   be wary if sellers are vague and/or withold information.  if your gut instinct tells you it's fake, most likely it is. 

let's not support these heinous people and hopefully, we can help cut down on the incredible amount of fake $h1t on ebay.  the imposters are only in business because people are buying!