What to watch out for when shopping for high-end items online

Designer handbags, jewelry or shoes — online shopping for high-end items is on the rise. What do you need to watch out for when you’re shopping on the web?

Deleana Harrell has been collecting Louis Vuitton purses for more than 25 years.

So, in 2020, when she decided to look for the Artsy MM handbag, second-hand, she chose to buy on Poshmark since the online marketplace offered “authenticity guaranteed.”

Deleana loved the bag and held on to it for three years. But when she attempted to re-sell it on Poshmark. it was flagged as a knock-off.

“I immediately went, ‘Wait a minute, I bought it from you. It’s not like I bought it from some stranger on the street corner,” said Deleana.

Deleana said at first Poshmark promised a refund and the company even made a direct payment for $1,200, the original purchase price, into her bank account, but then later reversed the transaction and took the money back out.

Out the money and no longer in possession of the purse, Deleana filed a complaint with the state of California where Poshmark is headquartered, and the Better Business Bureau.

Poshmark has a “B” rating with the BBB, but with consumers, it’s rated just above the minimum of one star.

Teresa Murray with the Public Interest Research Group warns against buying high-end items online because counterfeit goods have become a major problem, and often counterfeit goods don’t meet US safety standards.

As for Deleana, she’s shifted to buying directly from retail stores. And right after her interview, she finally received a check in the mail for the full $1,200.

In an emailed statement from Poshmark, the company admitted it made an error in the authentication process the first time and said it takes counterfeiting issues seriously.

Poshmark believes Deleana’s bank may have reversed her original refund because of a problem with her bank card.  The full statement from the company is below:

RESPONSE FROM POSHMARK:

Thank you for reaching out and for your patience while we looked into this. We reviewed the case with our team and want to clarify what happened, and also reassure you that we have already resolved this issue with Deleana and processed a full refund for the original order.

In February 2020, Deleana purchased the Louis Vuitton bag, which was sent to our Posh Authenticate team to review per our standard process. Unfortunately, an error was made on our end as our team deemed it was authentic. After Deleana tried to resell the same bag in April of this year, it was sent to Posh Authenticate again, and they determined the bag was not authentic due to finding incorrect markings. Because of this discrepancy, we issued Deleana a full refund for the Louis Vuitton bag, which was processed via a check on June 22.

The reason for the refund delay was due to Deleana’s card information being invalid, which may have been because the card expired or was no longer in use. After being notified of the invalid card, our team worked with Deleana to confirm her address for a check to be mailed to, which is now in transit to her and may take up to 14 days to receive.

We take counterfeit issues very seriously and deeply apologize that Deleana experienced this error. Our priority is to ensure Poshmark is always a safe place to shop and sell, and we work hard to continually strengthen our marketplace to protect against counterfeit and infringing products.

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