The absolute novice will have a hellish time sorting out the real from the fake. It is important to know basic facts before shopping.
Designers bring out a new line each year. They produce a few items in the year’s new style and discontinue producing last year’s models. They often name or number the styles, making it easier to identify what you are looking for.
Designers rarely create nonsense items. One internet site devoted to helping buyers avoid Louis Vuitton fakes offers a photo of several, including a rubber duck covered with the Louis Vuitton logo pattern. Hilarious, and obviously fake.
Designers do not need to sell their “seconds” and Coach is one of the few companies that do. You will not find discount tables at high-end designer stores, nor will you see quantities of “seconds” online.
When a designer does discount an accessory, it is still going to be expensive! Learn the designer you are most interested in, learn their current styles, and look at the actual prices. If you think you will be able to buy a true designer bag for $45, you might as well take that money in the yard and burn it. The result will be the same.
Understand that there are very good fakes available. In fact, some of the European fake makers who have defected to the Orient due to the availability of cheap labor would do everyone a service if they would simply stop pretending and just make the nice-quality bags they are capable of producing. The fake designer logo fabrics and stamps may appeal to the equally fake upwardly-mobile buyer, but they do nothing to enhance the product.
Go to the closest store where real designer bags are sold, and look very, very carefully at one. Memorize every detail. The fake-makers are good. They will put one over on you if you’re not obsessively aware of the facts.