missatlanta

My daughter wants to purchase a knock-off purse while in London and Paris this summer. What area in these two cities is known for having this stuff? Any tips on getting a good deal?

alanRow

Knock off = Stolen in the UK

norween

A good deal in Paris ? Not beeing arrested and fined at customs for trafficking illegal goods !

missypie

There are a lot of threads about it being a crime to buy knock off purses, sunglasses and the like. I think I know purses well enough to know if something was a knock-off, but I have no idea of what desigher sunglasses look like. How would I know if I was buying a knockoff, or just a pair of cheap sunglasses from the street?

Carrybean

I'd suggest she just save up & buy the real thing. It's possible here to get it confiscated when going back to the States by Customs so I assume that's a possibility over there also. I don't know of other repercussions such as fines.

Besides, who would want to look like they're carrying a fake?

Madison

MissAtlanta - Go to Canal Street in NY. they have tons and tons of knockoffs. Then go to JFK and every other person boarding the plane is carrying a Louis Vuitton purse...knockoff of course.

Personally, I'm not in favor of it even though I feel all of the designer bags are way overpriced.

cigalechanta

They will confiscate it in Paris.

jo56

What happens if you have the genuine article, but no receipt or cert. of authenticity as you bought the item in US a while ago. You wouldn't want to get fined because the police thought it was a fake.

Robespierre

jo56, the answer is U.S. Customs Document CF4457, <b>Certificate of Registration for Personal Effects Taken Abroad</b>.

You fill out this form and present it to a Customs inspector before leaving the country. That official will countersign and seal it. You can download and print it from here:

http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/...t/cbp_4457.pdf

missatlanta

We have shopped on Canal St. in NYC and purchased Coach &amp; LV knock-offs. But I never thought of the possibility of customs wanting proof of purchase or authenticity. Guess we'll just go back to NYC on another occasion for that and skip it on this trip!

cigalechanta

I travel with authentic ones and never am I stopped.

kswl

Tell her to go to Phipps and Lenox and take some time to examine the real ones she likes. Then, when she's in Europe, she will be able to judge which knock offs have knocked the least off.

Vendors for this type of thing are, by nature, transient. A good location last year or even last month might be deserted now. When she is there she can ask around--it shouldn't be difficult to find people selling the purses she wants.

CotswoldScouser

To answer missatlanta's question.

There really isn't a market in London for fake designer brands. Heaven knows (but really, who cares?) whether the junk sold by street vendors along Oxford St, or hawked round the dodgier suburban pubs, is &quot;real&quot; junk or fake. Though a lot of it is knock-off in the English sense, as Alan points out.

Designer brands - real or fake - by and large, are worn only by adolescents and chavs in Britain. Smart people don't buy fakes: they just don't buy this rubbish.

WestonTraveler

What is a chav?

PatrickLondon

A chav is more or less what I think would be called &quot;trailer trash&quot; in the US. Tracksuits and other name-label clothes, cheap bling, over-butch dogs, children over-indulged at one moment and smacked in supermarkets the next - that sort of thing.

david_west

There are plenty of places in London to buy sextons (ie “knock offs). Most street markets have plenty of them, and you can’t move for Burberry check. However these markets aren’t in the bits off London a tourist is likely to go (being predominantly in poor areas or hellholes like Penge).

Also every London pub will at several times in the evening have a young Chinese person come in with a bag full of DVDs that haven’t even reached the cinemas left. Most people buy these once.


And as for chavs....

Google is your friend. (they were known as John-boys when I was a lad)

kswl

&quot;There really isn't a market in London for fake designer brands.&quot;

If that is true, why are there so many people set up around Oxford street to sell them? <i>Someone</i> is buying it.

In Paris there are knockoffs everywhere, in &quot;nice&quot; areas as well as the &quot;dodgy&quot; ones.

Missatlanta, you daughter is not trash for wanting to purchase a knock-off purse, as the CotswoldComplainer is trying to suggest. She will find plenty of opportunities in London to purchase whatever she wants, and it will be a great and useful souvenir of her visit.

norween

You may think it 'usefull' but it's illegal

janisj

I just never understood the need to pretend on can afford an expensive bag/watch/sunglasses, whatever

If it fits in the budget, buy the name piece - if not buy a serviceable one w/o a fake pedigree.

Sure, you might get it through, but IF customs in either country does notice - it will be confiscated.

janisj

Oops - should read &quot; . . . pretend one can afford . . . &quot;