PurseBlog
Reviews and Complaints

The Purse Forum is basically a means girls club, that targets their competition and steers people away from sites and sellers who are not where they sell. One member refuses to authenicate bags from Poshmark and has trashed the site on the forum. She is a seller of the same bags on Ebay she is authenticating and having removed. I have read numerous posting by "authenicators" trashing a seller to the point the seller has lost business. They keep a "Shame" list on every seller that may have made a mistake and rehash it even if the so-called seller made a mistake 8 years ago. They posted a seller's real name and other user names iwth the sole purpose of getting their readers to not buy this seller's products. When others stood up for this seller who has over 5.000 postive reviews from customers, they went after the posters nd refuse to authenticate bags from this person and any other person who disagrees with them. The authenicators need to disclose their selling names and sites and not authenicate items they sell. This is a conflict of interest. They are harming people's reputation and livlihoods out of spite, and to bolster their own sales. There have been numerous complaints on these practices on this board and some are threatening legal action. Something has to be done.

thepurseforum.com promotes authenticity website businesses on their forum website to con users into 1. not buying genuine real or authentic items sold on ebay and 2. to get buyers and sellers to use the services of their friends who run the authenticity sites. this is a big scam. then what they do is sell their own fakes on ebay and get away with it by authenticating them. any authenticating business that does not advertise a telephone number is a scam too in my book.

Whatever you do, do not order anything from PurseForum! Ordered a Prada bag and paid really big money for it. They claimed that all their bags are authentic and said that they guarantee that. Well, instead of real Prada bag I got absolutely rubbish made in Chine replica! I was so angry! When I received the bag it looked strange and material was not the same as it was described, so I took my new bag to the Prada boutique and asked them to check it. The store owner said that is was just a copy and not the best one. When I returned home I immediately sent PurseForum an angry message and demanded a refund and still no response! Fakes!

Don’t buy from the company www.purseforum.com. I bought Channel handbag from them, but the seller sent me fake handbag and tried to accuse me that I haven’t understood him correctly. It was so unpleasant that I heard some blah-blah from the guy, who just lied to me and sold me fake handbag. I won’t recommend this website to other people. Avoid at all costs.

Ms. georgette Gilbert solicited two styles of Chanel handbags, one of which I owned. I contacted her, sent her pictures and she purchased via paypal insisting she must use paypal to protect herself.. She files a not as described claim with paypal claiming the purse was stained, which it was and is not. Paypal directed her to return the purse, of course, as they always side with the purchaser. Gilbert left negative feedback despite my contacting Vlad and a moderator in advance of the feedback as to what was transpiring. I was forbidden from leaving her feedback and was banned temporarily. So when folks claim TPF has members who scam, yes they do indeed. I am appalled but then again I suppose I am naive. Should have never acquiesced to use paypal and I should have googled Georgette Gilbert. Had I done so, I would have never step foot on that path.

The purse forum needs to be shut down for good. They lie, scam and I could go on and on. They have violated a lot people on eBay and Bonanza and much more. I have seen them even questioning top rated consignment shops. They have nothing better to do then sit around creating DRAMA.
I have heard that their are Law Suits pending against them. They have had innocent people on eBay suspended for reporting them selling fake handbags.
Indeed the Purseforum is the one selling fake LV's and many more items. This is another reason they have people on eBay suspended, so they can sell the fakes.
eBay themselves will be facing law suits as well. eBay should do more research before they listen to these unprofessional DRAMA queens trying to play FBI.
I have screenshots and printouts of the Purseforum's chats. Too late DRAMA QUEENS you've been busted.
Please anyone associated with this group best leave them now or they will be subject to the same penalty as the others.

I have been a victim of the Purse Forum. I am actually a member of this website, mostly because it is a way of tracking all of the shenanigans that go on within the community of self-professed authenticators. These people are absolutely toxic! They pretend to be an advice website, but really they are not. Many months ago I sought their opinion regarding the authentication of a handbag that I wanted to purchase. I posted the required information (i.e. name of item, seller id, link to ebay listing) and was told within mere moments that the bag was authentic and the the seller was a "trusted seller." How stupid of me to just believe what these shysters told me. After receiving the bag, I took it in to be refurbished, much to my dismay it was returned to me and I was told that they could not refurbish my bag because it was not their merchandise to refurbish. Politely, they told me that it was a total FAKE! I am sure there are many perfectly innocent people who are members of this community, just like me, and believe all of the hype they are being sold. But this website is a total ripoff, and you will be led to buy from THEIR con artists on Ebay and other sites dedicated to selling knock-offs.

I have noticed that within the last few days, the "authenticators" seem to be very quiet, not currently "authenticating" items on the Purse Forum boards for everyone to see. I am sure they are still doing so privately through PMs, this sickens me, and if you use this "service" you are being scammed. Wake up people, this happens all over the internet. For instance, spotbags.cn poses as a "shopping advice" blog hosted by Eva Knox. It is interesting to see how she repeatedly offers the advice to go to pursevalley or http://iker.co/1yg, well that's because this is where she sells her FAKE bags. I could name several others who do this very thing to naive buyers everyday. All of this nonsense is federal trademark infringement and counterfeiting, false designation of origin, and common law unfair competition.

Stay far away from these people.

After reading the many complaints submitted by other victims of the Purse Forum, I decided to do a little digging on my own. Last year I listed a Louis Vuitton handbag that I had personally purchased at an LV retailer in New York for auction, I needed to earn some cash for my upcoming wedding, and decided that I would list some of my items on Ebay. I was shocked when Ebay removed my listing claiming I had committed a trademark violation by listing the item, and that the item "may not be authentic." Of course I was confused, knowing full well that it was an item purchased by me personally from an LV retailer, and could not figure out why it had been removed based on these complaints. I began to wonder just how many other people this had happened to, and if they knew that their listings were called out as fakes, when they were in fact authentic handbags. I would not have even known who called my listing out if an interest buyer had not emailed me a told me that my bag had been verified as fake by the authenticators on Purse Forum. In all honesty, my first reaction was fear, what had I done wrong, and why was I being called out in this way. That is until I started looking into the reputation of this website Purse Forum. I was shocked to learn that they are not real authenticators, and even more shocked to learn that they habitually target sellers outside of their group to be removed from Ebay in order to limit their competition. I was even more angry to learn that Ebay has done nothing about it.

I am sure that I will receive a ton of comments from happy Purse Forum members, claiming that I am a liar, or confused, or crazy, but I am sharing this information so that buyers and sellers will understand who they are dealing with. I also found a ton comments claiming that these reports are all made by the same person. That is of course laughable, and there are literally hundreds of pages of comments from people who have experienced the same nonsense, but did not take the time to file a complaint here. Not to mention many other complaints on other websites that can be easily viewed.

I found the Purse Forum website to be difficult to navigate if you are trying to find out why they called your item a counterfeit. But what I learned is that they do not actually provide any reason for doing so, they simply state that it "looks off to them" or simply say "fake" and provide no further details. This is not acceptable, and should not be acceptable to those looking for verification on this website. My suggestion for those who have been in this situation is that you plug the words "seller id" followed by your Ebay seller ID into Google for a quick search, and see if your name comes up in this supposed authentication website. My second suggestion is that you contact all of your bidders/buyers and share the numerous links to the reports of fraud and harassment on this site and other websites that have been perpetrated by this group so that they may make an informed decision for themselves. Then, report to them to Ebay and anywhere else you can on the internet. Do not let them get away with defrauding buyers or slandering your name!

Bottom line here, these people have no business authenticating designer items, nor have they been asked to by the makers of these items. If I told you that I had performed prostate exams on hundreds of people but was not trained or licensed to do so, would you let me perform yours and issue you a diagnosis?

If you are one the many individuals that believe that the Purse Forum is just a group of really sweet ladies who are just looking out for others in their spare time, for free...I am sorry, but you are an unwitting victim (or member if you like) of a classic bait-and-switch scam. This website is an absolute SCAM.

1. First of all, these people have absolutely no business or qualifications to authenticate anything. Moreover, they authenticate obvious replicas that their own members sell on Ebay consistently. Their are literally hundreds of complaints on the internet in numerous locations that you should read before you blindly believe what they are telling you. If you do enough digging, you will also find a very long list of Purse Forum members who sell knock-off bags on Ebay on a consistent basis. Individuals simply have to do a better job at determining WHO they are getting their information from before they jump in with both feet. If you rely on their not-so-expert opinion simply because you saw a link that said "authenticate this Chanel, or LV, or Hermes, etc." you do yourself a great disservice, and set yourself up to be victimized.

2. How and Why they do it. The Purse Forums main goal is to report their competitions listings by reporting them to Ebay for removal, thereby paving the way to sell their counterfeit handbags as "authentic." Sadly, they have commandeered a host of individuals who believe what they are saying whole-heartedly, and without good judgement simply report everyone that purse forum rejects. Again, these people ARE NOT qualified to authenticate anything! The simple fact of the matter is that any one of us can report ANY item on Ebay for any number of reasons and have the listing removed. THIS IS NOT PROOF THAT AN ITEM IS COUNTERFEIT! However, these are the guerrilla tactics they use to discredit LEGITIMATE sellers everyday, thereby monopolizing the market on Ebay.

3. Consider this, why do they now only deal with authenticating items through auctions, and insist that the buyer (or questioner) provide the ID of the seller. This makes it easy for them to authenticate an item, without actually looking at it, based on WHO the seller is and to, in one word, without explanation cry FAKE on all other items. Why won't they authenticate items without a link from Ebay? Well, because individuals have caught on to their scam and have embedded pics of obvious replica bags on their website and claimed they were being sold by members of the purse forum on Ebay...one glance at the members name and these purposely faked photos of counterfeit bags were immediately called AUTHENTIC. Now that you have to provide the link, instead of being allowed to attach photos directly on the Purse Forum website, they have an extra layer of protection from being exposed as the scammers they truly are.

4. Consider this ludicrous statement made dozens of times on their website. "Loius Vuitton sales associates are not qualified to authentic the handbags they sell." Really? Now, why wouldn't a person who handles and sells these bags daily be MORE qualified to tell you if your bag is authentic than nameless faceless individuals who claim to be nothing more than collectors. Do the individuals at Purse Forum have the necessary qualifications, well of course not. Shouldn't that be a red flag to a conscientious buyer. A red flag indicating that these individuals have something to gain. Or at the very least, be considered absolute nonsense. The simple fact of the matter is that these high end designers do not train or employ their own authenticators, so where do these individuals get off believing that they are qualified. Well, the simple fact is that, they are not. They are a FRAUD, and their actions are unlawful.

5. Beware of listings on Ebay that tell you to "feel free to have one of the authenticators over on the Purse Forum authenticate this bag." That is your first indication that you are being had, and being lulled into a false sense of security. This is pure BAIT AND SWITCH! Again, consider this, at the very least these people do not have the requisite skills to authenticate anything, and at worst, they are scamming you into buying replica bags from them by pushing only their members items as authentic. Do not believe them when they say that they do not sell any of these items. They may not sell them from the Purse Forum platform, BUT, they most certainly sell them on Ebay. Moreover, they protect one another in their scam at all costs. Spend some time bouncing back and forth from their site to Ebay, and it is curious to see just how many members have so many purses to sell, so frequently, at such a colossal loss. This is an enormous red flag.

Of course they will tell you that I am simply a slanderous disgruntled seller, but what else can they say. You will have to do the research yourself...try "Purse Forum Ripoff" or "Purse Forum Scam" or Purse Forum Complaints" on your search engine, and read the 100s of remarks and complaints from others before you decide to simply believe what they are telling you. Of course they also say that all of these complaints are written by the SAME person, and at the same time say that we are ALL liars. Come on people, how likely can that be? Below is a copy of a letter sent to Purse Forum by an attorney, if you have been a victim of Purse Forums fraud, harassment or defamatory statements, I recommend you take action as this seller did.

"Dear Purse Forum Member "perlerare, "

We have been retained by Boutique Patina in regards to your forum post #[protected] at 10:45 a.m. EDT on December 5, 2010.
Your post (found at Post Ebay/Web Hermes Finds) contains false statements against my Client that carry severe implications...
Demand is hereby made that you immediately cease making any further false and defamatory statements regarding Boutique Patina or any of its items for sale on any online venue or medium.

I am sending a separate, more comprehensive letter to the owner of this Web site demanding your contact information, but in the essence of time and urgency of this matter, I am posting here as this is the only way for us to reach you at this present time. I do so to request your voluntary compliance so I may send you formal notice and discuss a satisfactory resolution of this matter before we seek among other things an injunction, a lawsuit for defamation in which we will seek any and all damages incurred by my Client including damage to reputation, damages to current and future sales, and costs to commence and litigate a formal lawsuit.

The irrefutable fact of the matter is that you have declared an item of my Client’s as a counterfeit Hermes product. Hermes has accepted for refurbishment the item(s) in question, signifying Hermes’ ownership of the creation of these products, thereby implying authenticity. Should you further question the integrity of this process for reasons unknown to us, we can visit your claims even more carefully through third party testimony in a court of law.

Again, we will be contacting the owner of this Web site for your information but are asking that you proactively contact us to expedite this procedure and minimize the Web site’s involvement.

If you or your attorney fail to respond to our offices to reach a satisfactory agreement in regards to your seriously defamatory statements against my Client, we will be forced to seek any and all remedies under the law against http://forum.purseblog.com to obtain your contact information so that we may bring proper proceedings against you.
I am asking that you contact my office immediately, at [protected] .
I await your response.

DAVID L. SHIN
Attorney at Law
Shin & Associates P.C.

BETTER YET, I recommend that you also contact Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Coach, and Chanel, as well as Ebay and explain the Purse Forum's fraudulent actions so that they may help to more quickly shut them down. I assure you that no matter what Purse Forum tells you, they are in no way working on behalf of, or with the consent of any of these designers, and they are not, simply out of the goodness of their hearts, looking at for you!

Hyacinth and Beenburned, members of the purseblog.com website, have set themselves up as self-proclaimed Coach handbag and accessories experts on the purseblog forum. Do not depend on the advice of these people to authenticate any Coach merchandise. They steer members to specific sellers they favor and go about having the listings of their competition removed by falsely reporting them to be selling counterfeit merchandise. These two are not to be trusted.

EBAy is actively pursuing information on harassment by The Purse Forum members. They want to know if they are 'reporting' your listing, emailing with bogus questions, buying and not paying for your items.
They are attempting to break the TPF mafia which is illegally blocking the course of business on eBay in the Handbags category. Please call into customer service to make all reports. They will flag their accounts and track their abuse until they have enough substance to remove them.
The Purse Forum is also being watched by IC3 so report to thta agency will be beneficial in removing this conduit for selling SELF- AUTHENTICATED knock-off bags!
Good luck

Once again, counterfeit goods are being sold to Purse Forum members via affiliation with the Purse Forum, and the owners of the site speak out in defense of their advertiser, despite MANY of their own members being sold fakes by PF Advertiser, Bluefly.
http://forum.purseblog.com/gucci/please-read-bluefly-sold-fake-gucci-653503.html

When it comes to his bottom $$, PF ADMIN VLAD is willing to go to great lengths to protect his advertising revenue... including intimidation, subtle threats of lawsuits against members, questioning members motives & ability to authenticate... the same members who authenticate on his site daily FOR FREE.
http://forum.purseblog.com/gucci/please-read-bluefly-sold-fake-gucci-653503-10.html post 139

Tsk, tsk... how low can you go?

Wait, what? Just don't, never go there, never talk about it, never talk to them, you'll be sorry, never go there to authenticate, and ask yourself why bonanzle has a person working on their blog and removing bonanzle listings...ANY listing, purses, makeup, jewelry, clothes, you name it...as soon as a forum follower points a finger at you rlistng on the fake bonanzle listings thread, you're dead no questions asked..."Tom the bonanzle assistant" returns to bonanzle to promptly remove your listing...because evidently these ladies who have nothing better to do then sit on their butts and blog all day are highly intelligent and complete specialists in ALL things designer. GET A LIFE you are the biggest group of frauds... a minimal amount of you have even 1/4 of what you claim. Really? You've got 6 Hermes $20k bags in your ppossession and you're here to let us all know today? Generally people with moeny don't brag about it, and definitely don't make it a point totell all about waht they have, Which by the way, if you are such a fortunate lady, why can;t you dfind anything better to do then sit in front of this ridiculous farse you all are calling a blog all day? Stop authenticating each other's fakes, and sabotagin poor unsuspecting sellers who have spent years building up accounts...really, your forum is ruining peoples lives. I love hoe you all claim to be against fakes and that you are there to help out just to get hem off the net...but anyoen with eyes can watch Lee and Will pass on fakes as uathentic for their members listings all day long...organized crime. Counterfeit purse rings through the forum manipulating Ebay is the new mob. lol get a life

Note please report the purse forum complaints to ebay office of the president david smith at [protected]@ebay.com and [protected]@ebay.com add more contact names and info in the comments.

They are fraught with criminal activity and can't afford the attention. Ebay needs to investigate this scam immediately! The purse forum is an absolute sham, a haven for fraud and criminal activity! It was created by meaghan mahoney dusil and vladimir dusil and is being used to hijack and control the multi - million dollar business of handbag sales on ebay. They have created a license to steal.

This is how it works: tpf members sell bags on ebay. These sellers create an air of authority by claiming to be "a proud tpurse forum member" to the ebay buyers. Then they tell you to authenticate of their bag on tpf if you aren't sure of authenticity.

Then they will signin under a different name on tpf or one of their team mates with give their item a glowing authentication so you go back to buy their high end counterfeit bags with full confidence never knowing they sold you a great fake!

Want to be an expert on the purse forum, simply sign in start commenting and you are now a tpf "authenticator"... Wtf! And don't ever question one of their fake promotions or you will find you are banned and comments deleted. Therefore there is never anything but tpf coolaide served on the site!

They smear every competing seller who isn't "on their team" by filing daily bogus ebay counterfeit "reports" on everyone selling expensive bags who isn't a tpf member. They have an organized system of new members who do this regularly on schedules (Like soldiers).

The junior soldiers actually to report bounced lists to team leaders. This shows who they've managed to get kicked of ebay! When they have proven themselves they get protection and can sell unharrassed too. This is actually organized crime in the act of proliferating the trade of counterfeit bags. And what a great cover, the pretense of being the protector of the authentic bag indeed!

Meanwhile they sell copious numbers of fakes out of their chat rooms privately aside from their ebay sales by directing the ebay traffic into the site and making friends with the ebay buyers. And it's all unreported and tax free thank you very much!

Don't trust anything they say. 100% internet - ebay scam! They are fraught with criminal activity and can't afford the attention. Ebay needs to investigate this scam immediately and end it!

Ps watch the piranhas attack in full force here to witness just how very real and criminal these people are in action. Just watch!