Since
@jsales0 thinks it's a good idea to have it professionally authenticated, I'd recommend taking her advice.
Here are a few comments, some of which I told you in response to the PM you sent. I don't know if it's authentic or not.
1. You are correct. LV (and other designer stores) aren't trained to authenticate and don't do it. There have been cases where someone has a relationship with an SA and the SA may give an opinion, but again, s/he isn't trained in authenticating and may not know all the intricacies involved in determining authenticity.
And that brings me to----
2. What the SA probably told your buyer (if indeed she took it to them) is that "I can't authenticate that item" or "authenticity can't be determined." And what that means is NOT that it's fake, NOT that it's authentic and NOT necessarily that there's a problem with it. That is the response a customer will get when they take a 3rd party purchase of an item to a store.
I actually had a similar experience with a Burberry item I sold. I knew it was authentic because I purchased it myself from a major department store. But she took it to Burb and was told that "authenticity can't be determined" and returned it as fake.
I sent pictures to Authenticate4U, got documentation of authenticity and relisted the item with the authentication as one of my 12 pictures. I resold it for MORE than I'd sold for the first time and received positive feedback from the buyer.
3. As an occasional seller without a history of selling designer items (and highly faked ones at that), you should invest in $7.50 authentications from a reputable company. It not only reassures buyers that they'll get the real deal but it can help protect you from unwarranted SNAD/fake claims. (This isn't to say that it won't happen but it's less likely.)
4. it's possible that the buyer doesn't like the wallet but saw "Seller does not accept returns" in the listing and assumed she needed a reason to return so she alleged "fake."
5. If the buyer is simply needing reassurance of authenticity, ask whether a professional authentication will appease her. The $7.50 investment (you would offer to pay) might help this buyer to keep the item.
Again, I recommend that authentication even if it's returned so you can add that extra layer of credibility to your listings.
albertabrightalberta
Volunteer Community Mentor
I can explain it to you but I can’t understand it for you.