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Best Island for designer hand bags? Eastern.

BigDfromTN

By BigDfromTN,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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trock

trock

Posted
Posted
Yes, it's time for my monthly lecture about handbags in the islands. ;)

 

They aren't knock-offs. They're counterfeit.

 

Knock-offs happen - legitimately - all the time in fashion. It's why we "normal" people can afford stylish clothes. Companies modify designer clothing and make it at an affordable price.

 

Counterfeit clothing and bags are a whole 'nother story.

 

Please do NOT buy them. But if your darling teenage daughter just HAS to have one, please explain to her about counterfeits, how they're illegally made by children in sweatshops. That should impress her.

 

OK, off my soapbox!

 

If you do a Google search, you can easily find all the Coach store locations. I know there's one in Nassau.

 

I buy my bags at an outlet store. I don't need the latest style or color. I have gotten some very nice bags at very reasonable prices.

 

I just need to respond to this as someone who works in the design community (not fashion and i am not a designer...) I work with Copyright releases everyday for prints and patterns and original artwork-

 

NC Is absolutely correct! Although garments can not be copyrighted, pattern, prints and certain elements of the design can be and can be patented.

Sweatshops do exist- and sometimes right in our own borders...

Knockoffs can be illegal also as they generally intend to copy the entire item from all aspects.. Counterfeit is correct (Semantics I know!) But in order for it not to be illegal and reach the masses some features need to be changed and the preferred term is "inspired" by

 

Please do not purchase knock offs/ counterfeits.. If you think no one will know the difference.. you are wrong!...

 

 

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/advice/scams/20040929a1.asp

 

http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/law/st_org/iptf/articles/content/1997121201.html

 

Thanks NC!

I am glad someone feels as strongly about this as I do!

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flowerchild

flowerchild

Posted
Posted
LOL No problem, enjoy your trip!

If you must purchase knock offs.. Canel Street (NYC) is the place to go.. they will no longer be on display you have to ask for them...but they usually want you to follow them through an alley into a back room, pretty scary if you ask me.. not worth it. I have seen police raid the counterfeit sellers.. they scramble like mice!

 

The best buys I have seen and purchased.. are for the (real deal) Longchamps bags.

Enjoy your cruse!

 

Trock, I've gone down the alleys with them before, LOL...nothing to be scared of! They usually take you to rooms filled with other shoppers. I'm not a purse person and usually am there cause I love the area. The last time I went, though, a lot of store fronts had been closed down with police notices on the doors. Still got a great purse, though! The police will not arrest shoppers, only the sellers, BTW.

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trock

trock

Posted
Posted
Trock, I've gone down the alleys with them before, LOL...nothing to be scared of! They usually take you to rooms filled with other people like us. The last time I went, though, a lot of store fronts had been closed down with police notices on the doors. Still got a great purse, though! The police will not arrest shoppers, only the sellers, BTW.

 

I wouldnt be afraid of the people, its the alleys (ever notice the sizes of the roaches around Canal St?) , city girl born and bred.. No police do not arrest shoppers- unless they are purchasing pirated DVD's

 

Sorry I don't do the counterfeit/knockoff bags... too cheesey for me!;)

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Irishlinny

Irishlinny

Posted
Posted

Sorry, quick hijack....

Don, I have to say I was surprised to see you starting a thread on designer handbags! It's a far cry from your normal hangouts in the threads:eek: Glad to see that you were only inquiring on behalf of the MRS! LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!;) :D

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KroozNut

KroozNut

Posted
Posted
There is a Coach and Dooney & Burke outlet in San Juan and they are the real thing, no knock-off's.

 

I'm always curious as to how folks are able to get independently verifiable confirmation of this type of information; from the shopowner?? :confused:

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Pegs222

Pegs222

Posted
Posted
I'm always curious as to how folks are able to get independently verifiable confirmation of this type of information; from the shopowner?? :confused:

 

I bought a "Prada" bag in Mexico. Of course I knew it was a knock off as even though it had "Prada" on the outside, it did not have the name PRADA on the inside of the bag. There was a silver plate, but it was blank, hence it was a knock off.

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trock

trock

Posted
Posted
I'm always curious as to how folks are able to get independently verifiable confirmation of this type of information; from the shopowner?? :confused:

 

 

I am going to make an assumption here.. and I could be wrong.. but perhaps because they are a Coach Store?

 

All one has to do is go to the Coach or D&B website and verify the seller

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MTcruiser

MTcruiser

Posted
Posted
I am going to make an assumption here.. and I could be wrong.. but perhaps because they are a Coach Store?

 

All one has to do is go to the Coach or D&B website and verify the seller

 

Amen....trock.....who woulda thunk a coach store would sell knockoffs...hmmmm....

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zqvol

zqvol

Posted
Posted
We sail on the Glory Eastern in less than a week. DW would like to know..... Is there a really good place to buy a Coach or Dooney hand bag. We will be visiting Nassau, St. Thomas, And St. Martin.

 

I know they are more famous for knock-offs. BUT can you get a good deal on the real thing in any of the islands?

 

TIA!!

Don

 

There are legitimate stores that sell these products on both St. Thomas and St. Martin. The key is buy at a legitimate store. If it has the brand on the name outside you can be assured that it is legitimate. You will save some money buying there, maybe not a lot, but there is no sales tax at a minimum.

 

By all means buy from a legitimate store, not from a vendor in an alley, etc.

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  • 1 year later...
Littlegoo75

Littlegoo75

Posted
Posted
I've bought bags on Canal St. It's pretty freaky if you've never done it before. When we asked, they told us no, but then we walked a ways & they came looking for us. They took us straight back to a shop we had already asked about the handbags. There was a locked door built into the wall. The lady, my friend & I all went through that door into a small closet (empty). Then we went through another locked door into a back room that was floor to ceiling handbags or several varieties. The woman kept rushing us & talking to someone on the phone. She asked us if we were there with our husbands & if they were wearing white shirts/ties. We think that they must have been worried that they were cops. Anyway, once we made our selections, she put them into black garbage bags, tied them up & told us not to open them until we were away from the shop. Supposedly, the vendors are the ones who get in trouble for selling the handbags, no the buyers. Honestly, I have no clue if our handbags are fakes or the real thing. I'm not a fashion maven, so all I cared about was finding a cute purse for me & my daughters. My friend also got a Rolex watch. That was another adventure where we were taken around the corner to a person that had them inside his jacket. It was a great adventure!

 

Seriously....you had no idea if they were fakes or the real thing? Give me a break.....having to go through hidden doors, have the bags put in garbage bags, etc.

 

Thank for the laugh.

 

I despise counterfeit designer items....read on....

 

The real cost of fake designer goods has a devastating and far-reaching effect.

 

Child labor, money laundering, prostitution and terrorist activity go hand in hand with the counterfeit trade managed by criminal gangs.

 

In a recent sweatshop raid in Thailand a group of children, all under 10 years old, was found assembling leather purses. Horrifyingly, their limbs had been deliberately broken to keep them from escaping. The owners had tied their lower legs to their thighs so the bones wouldn't mend.

 

Closer to home, fakes are believed to be responsible for the loss of 750,000 American jobs, many in Manhattan's famed Garment District. They cost New York City an estimated $1 billion each year in tax revenue.

 

If you really knew that your $50 knock-off handbag funds terrifying practices by organized criminals, I would hope that you would think again about that supposed bargain.

 

These are not small workshops but large underground operations. The money is going to criminals.

 

Some people think it's cool to be able to buy cheap copies, but, if you look at the consequences, it is a very serious matter.

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zqvol

zqvol

Posted
Posted
Nope... better off buying the real thing here.. No deals in the islands..

 

Why?

 

Even if the price is the same there is no tax in the islands so you save at least 6 or 7 %.

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Nicole721

Nicole721

Posted
Posted
Why?

 

Even if the price is the same there is no tax in the islands so you save at least 6 or 7 %.

 

Just what I was going to post.

 

Sales tax is where the savings are. Here in Chicago, sales tax is insane (the highest of any major city in the US- 10.25% :eek: ). That's saving more than $10 per $100 spent already.

 

There is a legitimate Coach store in Nassau. The prices are around the same as they are on land (although I do believe they had a sale rack), but you will save on sales tax.

 

Someone posted about the Louis Vuitton store in St. Thomas. It's in a luxury mall a few miles from Havensight, where there are also some other high-end stores. I plan on heading over there on my next cruise to St. Thomas because even though a LV bag will likely cost the same as it would at home for me, I paid nearly $80 in sales tax on my last LV bag that I would save buying in St. Thomas.

 

In St. Martin, there used to be a Tiffany & Co. next to Little Switzerland. The prices were pretty much the same as on land, and we saved a pretty penny there, too. It was closed down when we were there in February, but it could be open again. Who knows.

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Nicole721

Nicole721

Posted
Posted
You mentioned that there is a Louis Vuitton Store in St. Thomas, what are their prices? I went into the LV store in Paris and it was 250 euros (or $370USD ) for a scarf. Didn't buy it!

 

That's pretty standard for LV. I'd assume the prices in St. Thomas are the same.

 

When you buy high-end designer goods in the Caribbean (they also have David Yurman jewelry in St. Thomas at a store in Havensight), the prices aren't usually marked down. The savings are in the duty-free shopping in not paying sales tax.

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Baseball fan

Baseball fan

Posted
Posted

You can do price checking online. I was going to Europe on a cruise and priced a bag I liked on the manufacturers website. It was cheaper to buy in the US. However, there is a ring I want in Europe and it is much more in the US than in Europe so I will wait until I go again. There used to be a Gucci store in St Thomas. Not sure if it is still there but I bought something many years ago because it was much cheaper (and yes it was real). It is a gamble unless you know what you are buying.

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dmdiver

dmdiver

Posted
Posted

Is the end result of buying a fake vs. the real thing any different? Do we know what the working conditions are of those working in any industry? Most of the clothing we buy off the shelf at the store comes from other countries. Do we really know what goes on there? No. Unless we have worked there, we don't know a thing at all. Heck, people can post anything on the internet & not one of us is going to fly to another country to verify what we've been told. As far as whether an item is a real one or fake one, how can you really tell? The sellers are hush hush because if the item is real, it is probably stolen. If it is fake, well, they are in trouble for trying to pass it off as real. Certificates of authenticity can be faked just like the product itself. As far as our handbags purchased in NYC, I have given mine away to a friend who absolutely loves it. Daughters are still using theirs off & on. Theirs have held up much better than mine. Maybe because they change out purses all the time so theirs don't get as much wear & tear as mine.

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