I love Coach bags, period. I eat, sleep and breathe them. They are my kryptonite. I have a hard time resisting anything Coach!

• Is My Coach Bag Real

Is My Coach Bag Real

I have been selling Coach items on Ebay and have been doing so for over 10 years. Like I said, I am a Coachaholic! The quality of these bags are irresistible.

They are fashionable, a little sassy, and at times just down right classy! And often times the best deals on authentic Coach bags are found on Ebay.

Yet not all these 'authentic' bags are real. So how can you tell a real authentic Coach purse from a fake? Below I discuss five foolproof ways to determine whether a Coach purse is real. The first way to tell if a Coach bag is real is to look for the Coach leather creed. Every Coach bag has a serial number; it's as simple as that. Inside most Coach purses is a leather patch, known as a Coach creed, which shows a serial number that corresponds to the name and type of Coach purse you are looking at.Large to medium-sized to large size Coach bags will always have a Coach leather patch with a serial number inside the bag. Some of the smaller bags (such as top-handle bags or clutches) don't have the patch, but they will still have a serial number, and they can be verified.

The serial number will be listed on the sales tag. If the sales tag for a small bag is not included in the auction or sale because the bag is pre-owned, then please take this into consideration before bidding or buying.On a Coach creed, you should see a letter, then four numerals, then a dash, and then more numbers: five numbers for newer bags, three or four for older vintage bags (pre-1990). The last five numerals are the style of the purse. For example, a large white leather Coach Ergo bag has 12235 as its last five digits (see picture). You can take this number and type it into your search bar, either on Ebay or the Internet, with the word 'Coach' in front of it, and search it. If your search results come back with similar pictures or descriptions of Coach purses then you know the bag is real.

Also, this number can be verified by any Coach store (some will, some won't). So if in doubt, pick up the phone and call, it's worth a try! Coach hangtags are NOT sales tags, but small leather keyfobs adorning the outside of a Coach purse. They are ALWAYS leather and embossed with the word 'Coach'. The only way a real authentic Coach purse would come with a metal hangtag is if it was a limited edition. The metal hangtag would always be accompanied by one or two leather hangtags, or crystal studded.

If you see a purse with a metal hangtag only (often gold-colored), it is fake, or at the very least its authenticity should be questioned!Update 2018: Some Coach hang tags are being made as Duos with both a leather and metal hang tag set, these will always be embossed with 'Coach'. The easiest way to tell whether a Coach purse is fake or real is by the inside lining of the purse.

For real purses, it will be a solid-color satin material. There are exceptions to this rule in the Legacy line of purses or the tooth hound lining in certain bags, but since this is a basic guide I am not touching on that. Fake Coach purses may be lined with solid-colored silk (very rarely, only high-quality knock-offs will have this and even then the material will be noticeable different in quality), or much more often with the 'signature C' lining shown in the picture below. Authentic Coach sales tags are always white. They will list the MSRP price of the purse and the style number that I discussed above under Foolproof Tip 1 (Coach creed), as well as an abbreviated description of the style of purse.

For example 'Med Mad Met Hip' is Medium Madison Metallic Hippie. Fake sales tags are always red or brown with a white outside border, and these fake tags will be attached to the fake metal hangtag rather than to the hardware or to the inside of the Coach purse.By the way, Coach bags do not come with Coach booklets, only a small business-card-like Coach care card. This tip obviously will not work on leather Coach purses; for them you need to use the earlier tips.

But when it comes to Coach purses made from the 'signature C' jacquard material, it's pretty easy to tell whether they are fake or real. The C's in the material will always line up straight down the center of the purse, so if you were to cut the purse in half from top to bottom, through the middle of the bag, each side would have its own C.

This pattern will continue throughout the purse and along the bottom of the bag. On fake Coach purses, the C's are usually not lined up and they are often off-center from the middle of the bag.Also, if they are genuine, these bags with the 'signature C' material on the outside have solid inner satin linings. If the inside liner has the 'signature C' design, the purse is not genuine.Questions or comments? Leave them below!Feel free to contact me via Hubpages with any question, or with pictures, should you be thinking about purchasing a Coach bag from Ebay but are still unsure. I would be more than happy to help you verify its authenticity. I’m also a coach fanatic. I have a few vintage ones and I compare to my newer ones, the older ones have like a plastic looking tag and the newer ones have the leather ones.

Also the wallets and the lanyards do NOT have any serial numbers. Only on the tags from the store have the numbers. I hardly ever keep the tags but I do save all the receipts then you’ll get the people who don’t know saying it’s fake.For the ones that are purchasing off of other sites other than a reputable seller or coach you can look up the serial number on coach itself. I purchased a few off Tophatter and they were real. I’d say do what you think you need to do is get all the information before buying from other than a reputable seller or coach, coach outlet. The metal hangtag thing isn't foolproof, because the Coach company supplies replacement metallic tags for free.

I have a navy Janice's Legacy bag that lost its original tag and I recently decided to look for a replacement. I saw a rather ratty looking navy leather tag for sale online for over $20 (no thx!) So I opted for the freebie option. I emailed Coach my bag's creed number, hardware color & mailing address. They got back to me in less than 24 hours and immediately generated an order for a free tag. They supply them in 3 tones: light gold, silver, and gunmetal. I went with gold to complement my bag's brass hardware. It may not be the original vintage tag my bag was issued with but at least I know it is authentic.

Anyone opting for a metal tag do not waste your money with eBay etc. Just call or email coach!.

Hi can you please tell me if Coach F36366 (Authentic Coach London Womens Designer Tan Brown Leather Carryall Bag F36366) is genuine? Item: 61 It looks like a business called and called sarah-hobbs-handbags (402 Feedback score: 402) I live in the UK and want to buy my mum a multi compartment zipped handbag and this one looks quite nice 3 separate zipped compartments, decent size, and can be hand held or put across her body (which is easier for her at the mo as she has to use a walking stick as she has had a problem with her leg for a couple of weeks. I have set myself a budget of £200 (so it is just within) as I have already spent over that on some of her other Christmas presents (already LOL! Better to start early and you only have one mum! Oooops I deviating off the subject sorry) So any help is confirming whether this is genuine would be much appreciated x. Great article. Thanks for helping those of us who are coach novices.

I have an affinity for vintage coach bags. I know in your article you said that the lining will never have the sea pattern for handbags. However I have A brown leather wristlet with the coach insignia on the outside and leatherware est. 1941 the inside of it is the 'C' pattern lining. I wasn't sure if your rule of thumb applied to wristlets as well. I do not have a serial number for this wristlet. I appreciate any help you might offer.

I just got 13 Coach vintage leather bags from my mom's church, they have asked me to sell them on Ebay to help them raise money for their charities. Anyways, I have been able to authenticate several of them.

There are a few I can not find however. All have the Creed and serial no. Here is a list of the ones I can not findL9D-411-170943-3I can send pictures also. All of these bags have the correct Creed with the serial number on it and they also all have an attached leather hang tag in the same color as the bag.Thank you for any help, Susan. For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: Show Details NecessaryHubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam.

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