As I type this, there are seven minutes left on an eBay auction with the title “35 Hermes Birkin Bag NEVER BEFORE! Blue Jean Crocodile.” There have been 10 bids so far, bringing the price to $40,900. As yet, the reserve price has not been reached.

This is not the most expensive Birkin being offered by the seller. A “Sexy Black Crocodile w DIAMONDS” has a Buy It Now price of $59,500 plus $150 shipping. A hot pink one is priced at $47,500.

Buying designer handbags online can be hazardous for buyers who don’t know that most any high-priced bag can be purchased as a “mirror” at far below the authentic bag’s price. Do a Google search for “mirror image replica” and see how many cloned designer bags you find.

Anyone can buy a counterfeit designer bag. They’re sold by street vendors in the middle of Manhattan. They’re sold on eBay and other auction sites.

Is it possible to buy an authentic designer bag at a bargain price on eBay? Yes, it’s possible. But, if the price is too good, and the seller has a LOT of designer bags at LOW, LOW prices, the bags might be mirrors instead of the originals.

Some counterfeit bags are virtually impossible to tell from the real thing. They’re excellent quality, have all the right hang tags, and sleeper bags. To the inexperienced eye, and sometimes the very experienced, they appear to be the real thing. That’s what a “mirror” is. A mirror image of the real thing.

I got caught up in a bidding frenzy a few years ago after catching sight of a beautiful, black leather, Mont Blanc carry-on bag. I knew such a bag would retail for more than $2,000 so buying it, new, with tags, on eBay for $225 seemed incredibly lucky. 

The quality of workmanship on the bag is excellent. The leather is thick and lustrous. The tags appear authentic. And, yet, I know I got hooked by a mirror of the real thing. If the auction had indicated “inspired by” or any of the other words that would have let me know I was bidding on a fake, I would have passed it by.

Bargain or not, quality or not, I thought I was buying the real deal. But, like most things that are too good to be true, it was.

And how did the auction for the Hermes Birkin Blue Jean Crocodile bag end up? It ended at $40,900 with no winners; it never went over the seller’s reserve price.

Another “Birkin” will sell in less than 24 hours. This one is listed by a seller with less than stellar feedback, unlike the other seller whose feedback is excellent and who specializes in high-end Hermes Birkin bags at high-end prices. This seller’s bag is up to $1,775, a real deal.

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