Where to get Chanel Bags
Online: New & Pre-Owned
New
If you’re looking for new Chanel handbags online,
you really have practically nowhere
to turn. In an effort to
preserve quality of it’s customer’s shopping experience, Chanel does
not authorize the sale of its handbags online – with a few very minor
exceptions. Chanel.com does not sell anything on its website.
Several department stores sell Chanel in the brick-and-mortar
stores (Neiman Marcus, Saks, Bloomingdales, Bergdorf Goodman, and
Nordstrom) but their online selection is limited to skin care items and
other small accessories, not handbags.
Bluefly.com sometimes sells new Chanel items, but the selection is
very spotty. Even when they
do have a bag, it’s typically not from one of Chanel’s main lines, and
was not a big seller.
You can call Chanel to ask about particular styles
etc. at 1.800.550.0005, but they do not sell bags over the phone.
Pre-Owned
eBay will have the largest selection of Chanel, but
it’s a mix of authentic and fake, so it can be very treacherous –
that’s why I’m writing this guide.
Investigating the eBay Seller
One of the wonderful
things about eBay is that while we don't actually KNOW who we are dealing
with... through the feedback
system, we can get to know who we are dealing with. Obviously, we'd
all like to buy from 100% positive sellers with 5000+ feedback scores next
to their UserIDs, but this is rarely the case. I ALWAYS check the feedback
of those that I am buying from very carefully- both buying and selling.
There are a few red flags to keep an eye out for:
1.
PRIVATE FEEDBACK sellers: This one's a
no brainer. This may fly in other categories, but when I'm looking to buy
authentic designer bags, not being able to see the seller's feedback is
just unacceptable. It is
important to see not only a seller's total score, but also the individual
comments. Some buyers are afraid to leave negatives (for fear of feedback
retaliation) so they leave a negatively slanted positive feedback, like
this: "POSITIVE: Seller refunded when I returned the bag".
Basically, if you see private feedback for a seller, just promptly hit the
back arrow!
2.
NEGATIVE FEEDBACK for authenticity: Be
very careful to scrutinize feedback for signs that the seller has sold
fakes in the past... this is NEVER a good sign.
3.
ZERO FEEDBACK for selling: The only way
to get to know your seller is by watching what they buy and sell on eBay.
If there is no feedback record, you have nothing to look at in making the
determination of whether you want to trust the person with hundreds of
your hard earned dollars. Be careful.
Finally, see what they are
currently selling, have sold and have bought in the past 30 days. You can
do this by doing an advanced
search. You can search by items
by seller to see what they've sold, or items
by bidder to see what they've bid on in the last 30 days. Simply enter
their UserID and be sure to click on "completed auctions".
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