Best Tips for Buying Luxury Products Online
If you know anything about buying on the internet, you probably know that the potential for fakes and fraud is quite high. Which is why, when buying secondhand luxury products, you are more than likely going to be overly cautious before making the purchase. Even if you’ve never been burnt before, you might know someone who has. So, knowing how to protect yourself in these scenarios is incredibly important.
With that in mind, here are some much-needed tips to help you ensure the authenticity of your luxury products when buying online.
Know the Providence
First things first, you need to know where your luxury item is coming from. As far as you can, have a look at the user profile and location. Try to see if you can spot any discrepancies or holes in their story. Sometimes you’ll have the chance to pick up the item yourself, which can actually be a blessing in disguise. As there’s no better way to know where your item is from than going there yourself.
Look for Quality Photos
A photo is worth a thousand words. And also a lot of money if it helps you to spot a fake product. The more high-quality photos that a product ad has, the better. Getting that many images can be difficult unless they’ve taken them from a similar ad. Good angles and the like can be a sign that the product is genuine. If you’re still worried, simply reverse image search the images in Google to ensure that ad is the only place they have appeared. Simply get the image URL and type it into Google. If it has appeared anywhere else on the web, you’ll know!
High Seller Ratings
Often, you can’t tell if someone has morals based on their username. That’s not how the internet works. Though it would be nice if usernames came in varieties like “fraudster3000” to warn you off; maybe one day. But, one tell-tale sign that’s almost as good as obvious names is that of the seller rating. As if the seller has low ratings or bad comments, then you can expect the likelihood of your luxury product or designer bar stools–as an example of contemporary furniture which you may be buying–being real to actually be very low.
Research the Item
Spotting a fake luxury item can be a difficult task. Especially if you’re not well versed in the intricacies of the item, you just want to casually own it. But, even so, it would be well worth researching the item to at least be able to identify any obvious fakes. Even if you only know the basics by the end of your research, it’s better than knowing nothing at all.
Look for Authenticity Stamps
This is common on eBay and you can be assured that the goods are 100{bac6339f1df1912c10a04d680e6d2766f3f465248f0619548b5087dfe6ccb9a2} real in this case. As eBay is the most common place you will be buying luxury goods, you could simply look for this every time you want to buy something.
And It Goes Wrong…
Make sure that you pay via PayPal. That way if you have even the slightest inkling that something isn’t right, you should be able to get your money back easily enough. Often, eBay is also very supportive of the buyer in these instances – so, don’t be afraid to bring this to the attention of the site in order to get your money back! Especially if you have paid a decent amount of money for your luxury good.
Fraudulent luxury goods hurt eBay–whatever online market you use–as much as they hurt you. So, remember you’re likely to have the best support/position in this particular debate.