How to spot fake clothes when purchasing online

I know plenty of people, including myself, who have unwittingly purchased fake designer clothing online. There are some very unscrupulous people out there who are knowingly selling fakes and taking your hard earned money in the process. I have set out a guide below to prevent you from getting duped.

1. PRICE

This is the most obvious way to tell whether an item is fake or not. Designer clothes are expensive, if you find someone selling them on eBay for a quarter of their RRP then they are obviously fakes. Just use some common sense. If someone is selling a brand new Ralph Lauren polo for £15 and you know it retails for £70 then alarm bells should start ringing. There is absolutely no way that they will be able to sell a genuine Ralph polo at that price and make a profit. It is obviously a fake. When purchasing online you are able to pick up a bit of a bargain but if an item is 10%-20% below it's RRP then proceed with caution. That's not to say that all items which are 10-20% below the RRP will be authentic. It may just be a clever ruse by a greedy person!

2. CONTACT DETAILS

If you are purchasing clothes on a website then make sure there are genuine contact details i.e. phone number and a physical address.

3. PRODUCT ORIGIN

Be aware of where the product was made or is coming from. Ask the seller where the product was made. Most designer clothes are only made in certain countries so this is an easy way to establish whether the product is genuine.

Lots of fake designer clothes are being mass produced in the Far East (particularly China). They are then purchased by people selling them online. Ask the seller where they get their clothes from. Obviously people don't want to give away their contacts but they should be able to allay your fears without doing so.

4. ASK THE SELLER

This is quite obvious but you would be amazed how many people don't actually do it! Simply ask the seller whether their product is authentic or not. Tell them that you know what to look for yourself, and give an example if you can. Also, ask them if they offer a full money back guarantee if the product turns out to be a fake. If you don't hear anything back then you've got your answer!

5. FEEDBACK

When purchasing on eBay always check the sellers feedback. If they have negative feedback then try and find out what it is for. It may be due to the fact that they have been selling fakes.

If they have 100% feedback then check what the feedback is for. It could just be that they have bought lots of cheap items to simply boost their rating, then suddenly they have loads of designer clothes to sell. This is a definite sign of a fake.

6. PHOTO'S

Avoid clothes with catalogue photo's. If you see this chances are it is a fake wholesaler from the Far East somewhere. You are much better off going for an item of clothing that has a unique photo which you can tell has been taken by the seller themselves.

When purchasing online ask for lots of photo's, particularly of stitching and labels. You can then find the authentic item of clothing in a High Street shop and use the photo for comparison.

7. TAGS

Don't be fooled by tags. Just because the item of clothing you want to buy comes with a tag does not mean it is authentic. Tags can be copied just as clothes can.

8. QUANTITY

Have a look at how many items of the same product the seller has got. If they are selling 100's then chances are they are wholesale counterfeits. It is very unlikely that a genuine seller will have this amount of the same item available.

If you follow the above guide then you should be able to differentiate between the authentic article and the fake. If I can stress one point it is to simply use common sense, particularly with regards to the price. If it sounds too good to be true then it usually is!