There are few things worse than the feeling you get when you realise you have been scammed. The truth is, not all accessories on the market are legitimate and genuine.
Scammers are making substantial money by selling fake jewellery and accessories often trying to imitate popular designer brands.
When purchasing jewellery, there are a few things you should look out for and more often than not they should let you know if what you are about to purchase is a fake or the real deal.
No one deserves to get scammed; it is with that thought in mind that we collated this list to guide you on how to purchase genuine designer accessories.
Logo
A designer’s brand is unique and easily recognisable. With this in mind a lot of the most popular designer brands go above and beyond when creating their logo and actually use it on their products. It needs to stand the test of time and have a classic look.
Many designers make use of stamps that also help consumers determine whether or not the product they are trying to purchase is real. Designers are very specific about their logos, a good example would be Louis Vuitton and how they go about branding not only their Louis Vuitton handbags but all the products they produce.
Know exactly what the designer’s logo looks like then you can recognise any replicas and so spot a fake designer accessory.
Documentation
If you are purchasing accessories from reputable sellers and stores, they often come with documentation. This is especially true for jewellery; legitimate jewellers are not going to sell you items that they cannot verify and produce original documentation for.
Should you are try to buy designer accessories and the retailer is not willing to produce some sort of documentation verifiable from the producer then you should be at the very least, skeptical.
Importantly, some designer brands do not offer traditional means of authentification like authenticity cards and the likes. Do your homework so you know what to expect when purchasing your designer accessories.
Magnetism
When it comes to purchasing jewellery, it is important to always factor in magnetism, especially with silver and gold.
If you purchase an item which claims the item to be silver or gold and it sticks to magnets fairly easily, then we are sorry to say that you might have purchased a fake.A good way to test for the authenticity of silver and gold would be to bring a magnet along with you when shopping and see if it sticks to whatever you are interested in purchasing.
Genuine gold and silver will also always have hallmarks stamped somewhere on them. They are very small but have an idea of where the hallmarks will be so you can see at a glance if the piece of gold or silver is authentic.
Price
Unless you are buying second-hand designer accessories from reputable retailers, the price can be the most surefire way for you to ascertain authenticity. Designer brands take pride in their work and their products are often on the expensive side of things, if you ever get offered brand new designer accessories at prices that are unnaturally low, then you should be skeptical.
Jewellery holds its value pretty well; new pieces are almost never sold at prices below market value. Again have a fair idea of what these prices are before making a purchase.
Return Policy
When a retailer is confident in the product that they are offering you, they are more likely to have a return policy where customers can return purchases that they are unhappy with within a specific time frame. This is of course provided that the customer does not do anything to damage or devalue the product.
A general rule of thumb when purchasing designer accessories is to look out for retailers offering at least two weeks money back guarantee.
