u/RACE2CAKE

One of the most common myths about Hermes reps is that they're only bought by people who can't afford the original. That's not true. And I've seen it with my own eyes. I've been in this business for more than 10 years and I've seen people pull up in cars worth 300 to 400 thousand dollars and buy a Birkin rep. Not because they couldn't afford the original. But because they think differently. An original Birkin is one bag for 20 to 30 thousand dollars. One. Which you have to look after, which you're scared to scratch, which you won't take to the beach. Of course you can do whatever you want with it, but a person who values their things isn't going to treat something they bought for that kind of money carelessly. Or you can buy several reps in top quality, if you manage to find a small workshop that actually makes them at that level. Maybe even something expensive like a Birkin or a Kelly in alligator leather for 10k plus. Yes that's expensive, but the original costs 6 to 10 times more...

For a person who has money this isn't about saving. It's about practicality and freedom. In Dubai it's especially noticeable. The culture of luxury consumption there is huge but so is the culture of reps. And often it's the very same people. They wear original watches worth hundreds of thousands, original clothing, but the bag they carry is a rep. Not because they can't afford it, but because they don't see the point in overpaying for one particular item when there's a quality alternative. A friend of mine has a collection of expensive watches, I won't name the models or the figures but trust me the sums are enormous, and they all sit in a safe. He collects them to pass down to his son. But he wants to wear them, so what does he do? He just buys a rep of the same watch. Sounds funny, doesn't it? That way he's not afraid of damaging them, not afraid of them being stolen, and most importantly his collection is safe in the safe in perfect condition

Same story with jewelry and of course with Hermes bags. But unlike watches and jewelry, Hermes bags are double simple to produce, if you compare those three categories together of course. So if you find a good workshop you're guaranteed to get something that will pass half the authentications, of which there are a great many these days. Not friends, not Hermes sellers, nobody will notice you have a rep. Again it's important to understand that I'm talking about top copies and not what the popular sellers push on reddit. We're just discussing the topic. I've seen these copies, I've seen how they're made, so I assure you it's exactly like that, if the quality is genuinely high and not just high according to the seller then it really is, as much as I don't like saying it, 1 to 1.

There's another point that few people discuss. Wealthy people often understand the value of money better than those who have less of it. They don't buy a thing because it's expensive, they buy it because it gives a specific value. A Birkin for 25 thousand gives status, brand history, investment value. But ten quality reps give freedom of choice every day. For many people the second is worth more. That doesn't mean all wealthy people buy reps. But it definitely means that buying a rep isn't always about a lack of money. Sometimes it's about a very clear understanding of what's worth paying for and what isn't. At the end of the day the attributes of a luxury lifestyle let us get into a certain circle of people to advance our own goals and interests, it's a big game and you shouldn't look at it as "bought a rep equals no money for the original,"

it's far more interesting than that. What do you think about this?

Questions in the DM. Have a good day!

Assuming you know about Hermes reps, chances are that you have come across statements such as, “Want better leather? Then you will have to pay 300 more” and “We can put in quality hardware at the cost of an extra 200.” Allow me to shed some light on what all this really means!

The first question to ask yourself right away. If the seller has a better version, why don't they offer it from the start? Are they giving you "room to choose"? Sounds honest but in reality 99 % of sellers will tell you they have the best quality whether the bag costs 500 or 3500, makes no difference. Everyone will talk about European leather in their Birkin and premium hardware in their Kelly and so on.

But the very nature of the offers makes them almost laughable. Improve the leather? By what, precisely? Chinese leather will still be Chinese, of course they come in all types of Chinese leather but who will tell you which one was intended to be in use and which will turn up when you’ve paid more money? Is it possible that “European leather” is being offered for an additional 200? Does that not sound like a rather small amount to add on? The real difficulty, as always, is in the guarantee of its application....

Premium hardware is a separate story. In 99% of cases sellers have two metal options. Very cheap and slightly less cheap. Both far from the original. But the seller creates the illusion of choice between "standard" and "premium" when both options are mediocre. For real hardware definitely dont go to sellers who only think about how to sell more bags on Reddit. Well, in fact, all the bags have already been sewn up, and all these considerations by the seller about “good and not so good” in connection with the bag he is showing on the market are precisely those things on which your price depends, because the one that they like will be more expensive. But at the place where they purchase, all of them are classified in order of quality from bad to very bad.

The essence of all these upgrades is the same. Create a multi tier pricing system for the same product. The base price attracts the client and then they're convinced that "the standard version isn't great" and they need to pay extra for "real top quality." The psychology works perfectly, a person is already mentally prepared to pay 1200 and when they're offered a "significant upgrade" for just 300 extra many agree. But in reality you won't get any changes, none whatsoever.
A reputable seller should always offer his or her best product at a reasonable cost from the start. As soon as one starts suggesting an upgrade, it is clear that he or she was trying to offer something worse initially.

The real picture on prices. A Birkin 25 in classic Togo from a small manufacturer that makes only Hermes costs around 1500-1800. That's the production price. If the seller is honest they'll buy from such a manufacturer and add their markup, 500, 1000, 2000, whatever they want. Yes you'll overpay but you'll get a decent bag. But, in general, you will get a bag worth between 1,000-1,500 while its actual price does not exceed 300-400. In essence, you pay only for the marketing which implies the paid position among the bestsellers and fake positive reviews left by the paid users. And it's especially alarming when upgrades are offered after you've already agreed to the base version. This is a classic sales technique, first get agreement on the purchase and then sell add ons

A good bag doesn't get upgraded for extra payment. Either it's made well from the start or it isn't. Nobody will change the leather, improve the hardware and reassign craftsmen to handwork specifically for you..

Questions in DM. Have a good day!!

A year ago I was writing about the problems of the Hermes rep market. Today I can say it's gotten worse. Not better, not the same. Worse. And here's specifically what has changed.....

There are more sellers and quality has dropped. A year ago there were fewer active names on Reddit. Now new sellers appear every week. A name of 3 - 4 letters, hundreds of reviews in a month, stories about exclusive factories. The scheme is refined to automaticity. But more sellers doesn't mean more choice, it means more people buying from the same factories and reselling with a 300% markup. Competition between them is not on quality but on marketing. The winner is whoever inflates reviews better, not whoever makes better bags!

AI changed the game, not in your favor. A year ago I was accused of using AI to write posts because they sounded too good, as they still do now, all because I always do this from the heart, personally myself. But now when all of Reddit is flooded with these "expert posts," every Chinese bought account writes dozens of posts a day using AI without even trying, it became clear what AI garbage actually looks like. Fake expert posts were written clumsily with errors, you could tell the person didn't know the topic well. Moreover these sellers now answer questions with AI too, if a year ago I gave advice on what questions you can ask a seller to expose them, now they use AI in100% of cases. And if they simply copy text that's one thing but some "particularly clever" ones just take information and write it back to you in their own words, they have plenty of time since they don't produce bags, their job is to sit on Reddit and find clients to sell bags they'll buy at the market near their home in Guangzhou.

Have photos gotten better? Before sellers used other people's photos but now this has become very widespread, moreover they even use photos of originals like the well known seller with names of 3-4 letters, one of whom was already caught taking photos of originals, or rather people who wrote "reviews of his work" attached photos from trusted resale platforms where authentic Hermes Birkins and Kellys are resold. Of course these reviews are written by him and his team. If you pay attention to certain subreddits that publish content on the topic of Hermes reps, you can notice that QC there is always from the same sellers! And if you try to post your own seller in one of those subs, even a made up one, your post will not pass moderation 100%because it's already obvious to everyone how the review and recommendation system works in the Hermes rep market on Reddit. You can't trust any of them!

Prices went up, quality didn't. The average price of a rep from Reddit sellers has gone up over the year. Sellers explain this with inflation, rising material costs, the dollar exchange rate. In reality the purchase price at factories has risen insignificantly. The seller's markup has risen. You're paying more for the same or worse.
The same factories make the same quality for years. They have no desire to make it better, their only goal is to make more! And then using fake QC and reviews to sell you this garbage.

A year ago bought reviews were relatively obvious, new accounts, short history, cookie-cutter texts. Now they buy accounts with history, with varied activity, sometimes with years of Reddit presence. I've even seen accounts that are 10 - 13 years old that are obviously bought! Yes it's expensive, but when you're charging 1500-2000 for a bag worth 300why not spend 200-300 on such an account? Easy! New sellers who want to work honestly and sell goods at reasonable prices have an incredibly hard time breaking through among this deception and the weight of names that as you already understood belong to sellers of 3 - 4 letters. But I will continue doing my thing and telling the truth day after day so that sooner or later there will be more people who understand this market and these sellers, scammers, who sell you Hermes Birkin and Kelly of no quality, will stop operating.

Questions in DM. Have a good day!

Hello friends!! Most often people write to me about bag quality, how to determine quality, tell good from bad and so on. There really are many quality levels for Birkin, Kelly and other Hermes bags since there are many manufacturers and sellers, especially since each of them will tell you "I have the best quality" regardless of their price. But you know what the biggest problem is? Not that most people can't tell good quality from bad, and not even that sellers most often use photos that aren't even theirs and you're essentially trying to evaluate a bag whose quality will differ from what you receive. But specifically the "help" of other people who for some reason decided they can help everyone and judge all bags around them by quality level, deciding they suddenly have a lot of experience in this field...

I decided to run a crazy experiment!!! A few weeks ago using the help of my friends and some people who wrote to me with questions, with whom we'd already become what you could call "pen pals" haha, we conducted a large scale check of all Hermes rep QC experts on Reddit and the results shocked us, and we also managed to find another "false bottom" in most subs on the topic of Hermes reps, you've definitely never seen anything like this!

The "first bottom." We started systematically sending posts to various subs with dozens of posts and photos asking people to evaluate our "purchases" and do QC. Most often we didn't write the seller's name, sometimes we wrote names of well known sellers to "pass face control," but more on that later. But the most interesting thing is that ABSOLUTELY ALL the bags we asked to evaluate were AUTHENTIC. Some photos were taken by my friends who deal in authentic resale, some I took myself, and a small portion for variety we took from the internet on verified platforms with impeccable reputation. The authenticity of the bags was 100% beyond any doubt.

How do you think people responded? About 60-65% wrote that the bags were magnificent, and what did you expect to hear about authentic bags? Definitely not what the other people wrote haha. The remaining 30-35% always found "problems," the stamp, the stitching, the hardware, the leather, something was always wrong. Sometimes these same people criticizing our authentic bags recommended one of the "trusted sellers" whose names more often than not consist of 3-4 letters. Apparently their work is so great it's even "better than the original," that's funny....

Another category of people simply suddenly believed in their own "expertise" and decided to judge everything around them by their own rules. Known only to them. Citing obviously low quality Chinese rep photos as examples!
What does this tell us? First, many people simply want to diminish the quality of your bag, even an authentic one, in order to offer you their seller. Second, a large group of people suddenly decided for some reason that they understand something about the world of Hermes and can make such judgments.

And while 35% doesn't seem like a big number, the problem is that it's exactly these people who are very active in the comments, they're the ones who pressure and influence your opinion. Those who wrote positive things said things like "great bag, leather is incredibly cool," but those who criticized wrote and wrote, took photos and wrote again. Some consciously and some without understanding it but pushing you and steering you toward their supposedly "correct opinion."

The "second bottom." An interesting fact emerged while we conducted that experiment. Earlier I said we periodically wrote seller names from the "trusted list" or whatever that list is called, the one you get on by paying the subreddit admins? Haha. Anyway the thing is that initially we didn't write seller names at all but in 90% of subs our posts were simply deleted, and in some our account was even blocked. Why? That's strange. Where a girl with a real account and history asks to evaluate a photo of her bag, with no hint of a seller in the post or comments, and the post is simply deleted or doesn't pass moderation. And at the same time posts with certain seller names keep appearing and appearing.

Of course... we decided to test this and wrote the names of those sellers mentioned by other people whose posts weren't deleted. I think you can already guess what happened? Exactly, the posts passed moderation, weren't deleted and some are still up in those "honest" subs to this day. It's all simple and obvious, either sellers pay them or these subs were created by sellers, or maybe bought

All of this mostly concerns subs that publish content on the topic of Hermes, since our experiment specifically involved Hermes bags. And I'll be honest, both the "first bottom" and the "second bottom" simultaneously shocked us and confirmed our fears. This space is rotten to the core, and beyond deception from sellers, bought and inflated accounts, now there are even entirely fake subs! There are simply many people here who have never held an authentic in their hands and evaluate it as "below average quality" because of a crooked stitch or stamp in their opinion.

Hermes is not just a bag, it's handwork, expensive and natural high quality leather, Hermes is people who apparently work with soul since their bags have their own "roughness" in production. And Chinese manufacturers make in a bad sense "perfect" reps, stitching, stamps, if we're talking about the high segment, and this is that case where crossing that level makes the bag soulless like a Barbie doll.

Don't forget that I'm writing about high quality Hermes, the maximum, and of course I'm not factoring in average and low quality because there's nothing to even discuss there!

Questions- Write in DM and have a good day!

Birkin and Kelly are the most copied bags in the rep world. Factories have been making them for years, the processes are refined, the shape is known to every craftsman. Even mediocre production knows how a Birkin should look. This doesn't mean you'll get top quality, but it means that even with average vexecution the bag will be recognizable, will hold its shape and from a distance will look right. Which can't be said about many other models where an average result is simply a bad result!!

Now about how to choose within these models to maximize risk reduction. Classic leather, Togo or Epsom. Not Swift, not Chevre, not anything rare. Togo and Epsom are what factories work with constantly and in large vvolumes. They know the leather, the dyes are refined, the technology is understood. The probability of a decent result is highest right here!

Color, Noir, Gold, Etoupe, Craie. Nothing seasonal, nothing bright, nothing rare. Classics are produced in batches, the dye doesn't change for years, the risk of color variation or uneven dyeing is minimal...
Size, 25 or 30. Not 35, not 40. And definitely not Hac. A smaller size is easier to produce, less leather surface where defects can appear, less stress on hardware and stitching. A big mistake is ordering bags with rare hardware, diagonal stitching, bright colors and so on. This can only be done in a place where you're 100 % confident in the quality, for example if you managed to find a small factory where craftsmen genuinely work for years and know their craft, and not another seller who simply resells bags to you from the Guangzhou market where the quality of bags varies every time

Here's the point of this advice. Even if you end up with a not entirely honest seller and the quality turns out to be average, a Birkin 25 in Togo Noir with average execution will still look decent. It's not ideal but its not a disaster. Whereas a rare color in nonstandard leather with average execution is a completely different story. Most importantly don't take my advice too literally, it doesn't mean you should hand 1000-2000 to the first seller who shows it to you, this doesnt cancel all the advice I gave in my previous posts, it's just that if this is your first purchase this choice is the most sensible

The first rep is always an experiment. Make it as safe as possible, classic model, classic leather, classic color. Then when you understand how this market works and find a manufacturer you trust, you can take risks with something more interesting

Questions in DM. Have a good day.

A year ago the Hermes rep market was different. Not perfect, it was never perfect, but different. And if you bought a year ago and were happy, there's no guarantee that buying from the same seller today you'll get the same thing.
Here's what's really happening. Reddit sellers are not manufacturers. I've written about this many times and I'll repeat it again because this is the key to understanding everything else. They buy from suppliers. And suppliers change. Today they found a good leather batch, quality is decent. Tomorrow that supplier raised their price, they found another cheaper one. Quality dropped. The seller won't tell you about it. Why would they? Reviews are inflated, negative comments get shadow banned with inflated downvotes and you simply don't see them. Positive ones with inflated upvotes sit at the top. The picture is perfect. Reality is different

There's another degradation mechanism that few people discuss. A seller who has worked for a year and built up a client base wants to earn more. Logical. But raising the price is hard, questions will immediately arise. It's much easier to quietly lower the quality. Slightly worse leather, slightly thinner plating, slightly sloppier edges. Each step is imperceptible. Combined after six months it's a completely different product at the same price. Buyers who bought earlier are happy. Buyers who buy now get worse. But how would they know?
That's exactly why reviews from a year ago about a seller tell you almost nothing about what you'll receive today. And a frequent trend lately is what I call "fast food sellers," like the well known old seller starting with J who in the end scammed everyone and left them without money and without bags, and now the new "super famous" seller, by coincidence probably also starting with J, has taken the exact same course and the exact same model of working with inflated reviews and so on. Just like in the first case I wrote about how it would all end but few listened to me, and now the same thing, soon you'll see how he too will leave everyone without money.

What to do in this situation?
Honestly I've already given a lot of advice about technical questions and so on, I think you all know this if you've been reading me for a long time, if not read the previous posts, it will be useful. But globally you can't escape this, you just need to understand who is a scammer here and who is a real seller, who is just learning and who entered this market through deception right from the start like J... J-ankster, that name suits them better. The first or second or even third, which will apparently come, doesn't matter, the outcome will be the same, remember my words...

Small manufacturers that work not on volume but on reputation are a different story in this sense. There a change of supplier is an event not a routine. There the batch quality is monitored because every bag is a reputation not just a position in a sales table. But you won't find those on reddit, they don't sit there. And you know that's a real pain...
The Hermes rep market is degrading on average. Not because the technology is worse, on the contrary they're getting better at making things, but because of these "quick money lovers." And as long as buyers focus on inflated reviews rather than technical questions and current data, this trend will continue

Questions in DM. Have a good day and don't forget to subscribe!1

After 10+ years in this business I'll say it straight, most people don't know how to talk to rep sellers simply because they don't understand who they're dealing with and how their economics work A typical Reddit seller with inflated reviews and a name that most often consists of 3-4 letters marks up every bag by up to 300%. Well known names that everyone's heard of mark up even more. Imagine a bag that costs 400-500 to produce being sold to you for 1500-2000. That's exactly why these sellers easily give discounts of 20-30 and even 50 percent without batting an eye. Because even after the discount the margin is enormous. A discount is not a gesture of goodwill, it's a sales tool from someone who has room to drop in price!

Now about how to use this in a conversation. Don't ask for a discount right away. First ask technical questions. Plating thickness in microns, leather type, where the thread comes from and so on, I wrote about this in previous posts. Two results at once, you understand who you're dealing with and the seller understands you're not a typical buyer who's easy to fool. After technical questions your negotiating position is significantly stronger. Important note, lately sellers using AI just give you a random answer to all these questions, and while these questions used to genuinely throw them off, now they've gotten smarter, or rather AI helps them, but they haven't gotten any better at knowing bags. Still the most reliable decision about a purchase is a recommendation from trusted people, not a review from a comment by someone you don't know

Say that you're looking at several sellers and choosing based on the quality to price ratio. That's true and that's normal. A seller with a huge markup knows that competitors are nearby and that puts pressure on the price. Buying more than one bag? Say so upfront. Volume always gives leverage even with sellers with large markups. Now the most important part. After my posts sellers started writing that they have "their own production." But we all know perfectly well that all these well known names with inflated reviews and bought accounts that appear and disappear are not manufacturers. Many of them have never even seen live Hermes rep production. They buy their Birkins and Kellys at the Guangzhou market and resell. That's exactly why they give discounts easily, there's room to fall....

A real small manufacturer works with a minimal markup because they sell directly. A50% discount there is physically impossible, there's simply no such margin. If a seller easily gives a large discount it doesn't mean theyre generous. It means the original price was inflated many times over. All the sellers you see on Reddit lists are sellers not manufacturers. Without exception. They buy reviews, accounts, inflate likes and fake comments so you'll bring them money. Learn to tell one from the other and then any conversation with a seller will be on your terms not theirs.

Questions in DM. Have a good day and stay strong, Hermes lovers (;