Hi, everyone! Welcome to another Reader Submission.
I must say that I was really surprised and shocked when I learned what happened to Nadia after reading about the “Poshmark scam”.
She was trying to buy a Gucci Ophidia GG Shoulder Bag from Poshmark. And it turns out to be fake even though she was being careful about it.
Alright, I shouldn’t be jibber-jabber here. Let’s take a look at Nadia’s email for more detailed info.
poshmark review from reader Nadia
Here is the content of the original email
(I bolded the parts that are worth paying attention to):
| Hi Angie,
How are you doing? I’m a fan of your blog and hoping you could post this horrible Poshmark scam of mine in your blog, so to help others avoid what happened to me. Not long ago, I bought a Gucci Ophidia GG Shoulder Bag on the Poshmark website. The seller was asking for $1,200 and I offered $800. She accepted it. I was really glad coz I thought $800 was a great deal considering the bag still looked pretty new even though she told me she had worn it before. And I want to emphasize the price here. There were a lot of Gucci shoulder bags under $300 when I was looking for the one I wanted, but I deliberately avoided those bcoz I knew they were too good to be true, so those must be fakes. More importantly, according to Poshmark.com, they have this policy that offers free Fake on all items over $500, which made it more convincing that the Gucci bag I bought should be “real”. I was more than happy when the bag arrived. And I totally believed it was authentic, without a hint of suspicion. Until one day my friend knew about the bag and told me that I should get it re-authenticated. Her reason was no one would let go of this nearly brand-new Gucci Ophidia bag for less than $1,000. Of course, I thought she was joking. However, the other day she sent me a link to a website that offered Fake services. Then I realized it was not a joke. So I listened to her. I mean, she has tons of bags, she’s like a bag expert. Besides, there’s no harm in it. Right? In short, the Gucci bag was confirmed as a fake by two different places. I didn’t believe it the first time and I thought they must make a mistake. I mean Poshmark already authenticated this bag. So I searched for another organization only to get the same result. I WAS COMPLETELY LOST. Didn’t know whom to trust. After I told my friend about this, I started doing some research and my friend said she would ask some people to see if they knew anything. Then, after so much digging, we found that it seems Poshmark does not actually authenticate its items in person. They just send pics of your item to other Fake services. I didn’t know why the Fake service that worked with Poshmark had a different opinion from the ones I went to. But I started to accept the fact that my Gucci bag from Poshmark.com had a high chance of not being real. They sent an “authenticated” fake Gucci bag to me. Right now, I am in the phase of contacting Poshmark to see if I can get my money back. And I will make sure to give you an update about this. From now on, I am done buying from Poshmark no matter how good the deal would be. I’ve also attached some pics of the Gucci bag for your information. Yours, |
I can’t imagine how upset Nadia was when she learned that her beloved Gucci bag was not real.
I checked on the Poshmark website and saw they had this Buyer Protection Policy, so I think Nadia is likely to get her money back. But since I haven’t been through this, I don’t know how long the process will take. Let’s hope for the best for her.
About Nadia’s shopping experience on Poshmark, here are three things I think are worth noting:
- Misleading Fake Promise
Nadia bought a Gucci Bag, believing it was Replica Knockoff because Poshmark promised to authenticate items over $500.
- Inconsistent Fake Results
The bag was initially declared real by Poshmark, but when Nadia had it checked out by two other places, they both said it was fake. This really threw her off because it made her question how reliable Poshmark’s check was in the first place.
- Lack of Deep Inspection
After digging a little deeper, Nadia found out that Poshmark might not actually check the bags themselves. They seem to just send pictures to other services to do the authentication, which isn’t as trustworthy.
Pics of the Poshmark Gucci bag:
🌟Learn How to Spot a Fake Gucci Like a Pro in 2024
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This goes to show that even if a platform says it has Fake services, we as consumers shouldn’t just take it easy.
It’s really important to find out how their Fake process works, whether they have a dedicated team for it, and if the personnel are professionals.
Are all Poshmark handbags fake?
Not all handbags on Poshmark are fake.
But since Poshmark is a marketplace where anyone can buy and sell items, there’s always a risk of running into counterfeit items, especially with high-end luxury brands.
Here are several tips for those who are considering buying Poshmark designer bags.
1. Research the Seller
Check the seller’s ratings, reviews, and the number of items they have sold.
Don’t buy from sellers if:
- Their account is new and have no feedback.
- They’re selling lots of brand-new designer goods at low prices.
- They keep pushing to do the deal outside of Poshmark.
- The photos in their listings are blurry.
- You have doubts about whether the item is real.
2. Ask for Proof of Authenticity
Request additional photos, including serial numbers, tags, receipts, and any other proof of authenticity.
3. Price Check
Compare prices with other listings as well as from other preowned websites.
4. Use Poshmark’s Fake Service
Yes, I know this service might not be reliable, but it’s better than nothing.
If you’ve already bought something and it turns out to be fake, file a claim ASAP through Poshmark’s website or app, and make sure to include photos as proof.
Update
After some time, I did hear back from Nadia again (Sorry for not updating sooner). The good news is she managed to get a refund. But
“the return process was a mess and unclear… because there’s no customer service phone line or chat. You just have to rely on emails.”
Disappointingly, to this day, I can still find people who have had similar experiences to Nadia as victims of “Poshmark scams.”
Someone on Reddit shared that they bought a fake scarf.
Also, if you take the time to look around, you’ll find quite a few negative reviews (like on Trustpilot).
With this update, I strongly suggest that everyone read more Poshmark reviews.
Knowledge is your best defense! If you’re clued in about the scams and how they operate, you can steer clear of them easily.
Yea for these kinds of items, I avoid and advise people to avoid Poshmark like the plague. Unfortunately, there are other sites that are supposed to be genuinely authenticated by the company’s authenticators themselves that have been reported for selling fakes as Replica Knockoff brands. *cough* the Real Real uh hem. Unfortunately with so many insanely amazing quality replicas/dupes flooding the resale market, they are slipping by these companies’ appointed authenticators. If you’re looking for an Replica Knockoff resale bag, don’t just look for authenticated, look for authenticated by a licensed or verified authenticator/luxury brand authenticator company or professional. If you’re looking for an authenticated luxe brand bag Sothebys has auctions and buy-it-now listings for luxe brand items. They can be a bit pricier than most re-sale sites, but they are legit. Also What Goes Around Come Around, NYC is very good for resale luxe brands items. But Poshmark… NO eBay NO even the Real Real NO and so many others.
My guess these scammers are good at what they do. They send pics of the real one and send the fake one.
It’s always good to click on the photo and do a Google image search of the provided photo. Everywhere that photo has been used will come up. Heck even just a screen shot search will provide info if it was a photo pirated from the internet. 🙂