albertabrightalberta | Volunteer Community Mentor
@kath.layn wrote:No, Unfortunately I don’t have the receipt. Ill try calling them and explaining the situation, but I doubt that would help. Mainly I just want to know if they’re real or fake. I did look up reviews for Authenicate4U and they don’t have a very good reputation, from what I could gather. Ill wait to hear back from LegitGrails.
I've never heard of LegitGrails but I've used Authenticate4U for Gucci, LV, Hermes, Coach, Fendi and several other brands and have never been disappointed.
I'm betting the poor reviews you read have to do with communication rather than accuracy of their service. Unfortunately, A4U does have a history of lack of timely responses as well as server issues however contacting them through their Facebook page gets speedy replies. I usually go to FB, verify that they do whatever brand I'm looking the authenticate, send payment through Paypal then upload pictures to FB messenger.
I should explain that the reason I like A4U is that they use human brand specialists, i.e., authenticators who specialize in whatever brand they're servicing. Other services (such as Entrupy) us AI and have made hundreds of mistakes. And some services have one or few authenticators who try to do all brands. Those sites are jacks of all trades, masters of none.
Another good thing I like about A4U is their pricing. They lower than every other I've priced!
Here's your post on fashion and @jsales0 deemed them unquestionably fake.
One more comment: I also love to shop and can only use so much "stuff" so when I find deals, I grab them and plan to flip. There's absolutely NOTHING wrong and nothing greedy about that!
But my recommendation that I've made for years is that for items you didn't personally purchase directly from an authorized retailer or if you aren't expert in the brand, you should have items authenticated.
It's not necessary to pay for a professional authentication. You can post on the appropriate ebay board or on one of many other shoes, purse, or whatever blogs and forums and verify authenticity. (When you become a frequent enough poster or lurker, you'll learn which posters know what they're talking about and who's expert in that brand and item.)
Not only does it help your own reputation as a seller for buyers to know you did your due diligence but it's also helpful to the health of your ebay (or other site) selling account. Had your buyer reported the shoes as being fake and had ebay removed the listing, you'd have had a counterfeit ding on your account that stays there for a full year. and other mistakes will increase the possibility of sanctions imposed by ebay possibly restricting your ability to sell here.
I'm glad you're doing the right thing now.
BTW, unless the store from which you bought the shoes requires it, I wouldn't have paid for an authentication. I would have just returned for refund because the same law that applies to ebay sellers applies to EVERY seller and establishment (including charitable thrift stores) that requires sellers to know items are authentic before putting them on the sales floor.
