Appraisals - Fake Spotters Independent Designer Good Authentication and Appraisal Service

Appraisals

This comprehensive service offers you insight into the authenticity, name (if any), age and current fair market value of your designer item.

As a necessity, our Appraisal service encompasses our Authentication service but, assuming your item is found to be authentic, it also assesses its condition, age, rarity and any other factors which may affect its value.

Much like our authentications, we currently offer three main types of appraisal for Alexander McQueen, Alexander Wang, Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta (BV), Burberry, Celine, Chanel, Chloé, Christian Louboutin, Coach, Dior, Fendi, Gucci, Hermès, Jimmy Choo, Louis Vuitton (LV), Marc Jacobs, Miu Miu, Mulberry, Prada and Tod's items and also, for designer fine jewelry (jewellery) and watches (virtually all houses/makes covered) and National Football League (NFL) jerseys:

email Appraisals - where an item is inspected (normally via photos) and then a verdict regarding its authenticity (or lack of it), name (if any), age and current approximate fair market value is reached and emailed to the buyer.

Written Appraisals - where a comprehensive document is provided with all the factors detailed that helped the Designer Specialist Appraiser reach their conclusion.

Written Appraisal with Photos - where an extremely comprehensive document is provided with all the factors detailed that helped the Designer Specialist Appraiser reach their conclusion, along with multiple photos of the item.

All of these services can be performed either via inspection via photographs (which is what happens in the vast majority of cases), or via a physical inspection (where the item is shipped to us, or one of our DSAs).

In the case of most designer items it is, usually, perfectly feasible to provide an accurate authentication via inspection via photographs (providing the photos are sufficiently good, of course).

All appraisals of Ready-To-Wear items are carried out by our Designer Specialist Appraisers who know their preferred brand inside-out. We do not attempt to rely on a few, general appraisers, trying to keep pace with a multitude of brands!

• email Appraisals
• email Appraisal Fees
• Written Appraisals
• Fees for Written Appraisals
• Written Appraisals with Photos
• Fees for Written Appraisals with Photos
• Physical Inspections
• How to Contract an Appraisal
• Photos Required for Appraisal

email Appraisals

Extremely useful service if you are considering buying an item from an unauthorized source (e.g. an eBay auction, unauthorized online store etc.) and first wish to ascertain authenticity and fair market value.

Also very useful to ascertain the authenticity, name (if any), age and value of items already owned.

Prices are based upon one appraisal per email - if you have several items to be appraised at once, please send details of each one in separate emails.

email Appraisals are normally provided within a maximum of 48 hours.

Please see; ‘How to Contract an Appraisal’, near the bottom of this page, for more details on what to include and how to format your email(s).

email Appraisal Fee:

• $67.50 USD / £45.00 GBP per email appraisal.*

* This fee assumes that the inspection is undertaken via photographs (as the vast majority will be).

Occasionally, we may need to see the item, in person - please see Physical Inspections, below, for more details.

Payment in advance, please, via www.paypal.com to: payments@fakespotters.com.

Written Appraisals

Written Appraisals are comprehensive documents (normally four, or five, pages long), written on notepaper (or virtual notepaper!) with the Fake Spotters letterhead.

In the interest of speed and economy, they can be forwarded to you, via email, in Adobe PDF format - ready for you to print, yourself, onto U.S. Letter size paper (with 94% magnification), or A4 paper.

Alternatively, they can be printed out and sent to you via First Class Registered Post/Mail, if preferred (please note that this will, of course, incur extra time and a $15.00 USD / £9.00 GBP flat rate surcharge).

All appraisals of Ready-To-Wear items are carried out by Designer Specialist Appraisers who know their preferred brand inside-out - we do not attempt to rely on a few, general, appraisers attempting to keep pace with a multitude of brands and the individual background of the DSA is detailed, in full, in all Written Appraisals.

Written Appraisals list all the main factors that led the brand specialist to believe that the item is an authentic example of an item of that style and brand (including any flaws, or quirks, the item may possess that are peculiar to that style/brand) and they also state/outline the age, condition, rarity and current fair market value of the item.

Please note that full Written Appraisals are only suitable for authentic items - so if, after a Written Appraisal is contracted, the item in question is found to be a counterfeit, a Statement of Non-Authenticity will be provided instead.

Prices are based upon one item per Written Appraisal (if you have several items to be appraised at once, please send details of each one in a separate email).

Full email support is included in the price, for all Written Appraisals contracted.

Please see; ‘How to Contract an Appraisal’, near the bottom of this page, for more details on what to include and how to format your email(s).

NB: Written Appraisals are not considered to have been contracted, until the correct payment has been received by us, in full and the countdown of the number of calendar days/hours only begins at the exact time of payment.

If you are working to any type of deadline, please ensure that you select a timeframe that will mean you receive the Appraisal in plenty of time to check the details you provided are correct.

We recommend that you allow, at least, an extra 48 hours for this.

Fees for Written Appraisals:

• Needed within 6 Calendar Days (144 hours) - $200.00 USD / £120.00 GBP.*

• Needed within 4 Calendar Days (96 hours) - $206.00 USD / £124.00 GBP.*

• Needed within 2 Calendar Days (48 hours) - $210.00 USD / £128.00 GBP.*

• Needed within 1 Calendar Day (24 hours) - $420.00 USD / £256.00 GBP.*

* This fee assumes that the inspection is undertaken via photographs (as the vast majority will be).

Occasionally, we may need to see the item, in person - please see Physical Examinations, below, for more details.

Payment in advance, please, via www.paypal.com to: payments@fakespotters.com.

Written Appraisals with Photos

This enhanced appraisal service, which employs the use of photos, to help demonstrate/illustrate the authenticity, age and condition of the item, is very useful for those who may wish to demonstrate that the item they possess is, without any doubt, the subject of our Appraisal.

Fake Spotters Written Appraisals with Photos are extremely comprehensive documents (normally nine, or ten, pages long, or more), written on notepaper (or virtual notepaper!) with the Fake Spotters letterhead.

Just like our regular Written Appraisals, Written Appraisals with Photos list all the main factors that led the brand specialist to believe that the item is an authentic example of an item of that style and brand (including any flaws, or quirks, the item may possess that are peculiar to that style/brand) and they also state/outline the age, condition, rarity and current fair market value of the item.

However, in addition, photographic evidence, complete with notations, is supplied; to visually back-up and demonstrate all the factors listed.

In the interest of speed and economy, they can be forwarded to you, via email, in Adobe PDF format - ready for you to print, yourself, onto U.S. Letter size paper (with 94% magnification), or A4 paper.

Alternatively, they can be printed out and sent to you via First Class Registered Post/Mail, if preferred (please note that this will, of course, incur extra time and a $15.00 USD / £9.00 GBP flat rate surcharge).

All appraisals of Ready-To-Wear items are carried out by Designer Specialist Appraisers who know their preferred brand inside-out - we do not attempt to rely on a few, general, appraisers attempting to keep pace with a multitude of brands and the individual background of the DSA is detailed, in full, in all Written Appraisals with Photos.

Please note that full Written Appraisals with Photos are only possible for authentic items - so if, after a Written Appraisal with Photos is contracted, the item in question is found to be a counterfeit, a Photo Statement of Non-Authenticity will be provided instead.

Prices are based upon one item per Written Appraisal (if you have several items to be appraised at once, please send details of each one in a separate email).

Full email support is included in the price, for all Written Appraisals contracted.

Please see; ‘How to Contract an Appraisal’, near the bottom of this page, for more details on what to include and how to format your email(s).

NB: Written Appraisals with Photos are not considered to have been contracted, until the correct payment has been received by us, in full and the countdown of the number of calendar days/hours only begins at the exact time of payment.

If you are working to any type of deadline, please ensure that you select a timeframe that will mean you receive the Appraisal in plenty of time to check the details you provided are correct.

We recommend that you allow, at least, an extra 48 hours for this.

Fees for Written Appraisals with Photos:

• Needed within 6 Calendar Days (144 hours) - $400.00 USD / £240.00 GBP.*

• Needed within 4 Calendar Days (96 hours) - $412.00 USD / £248.00 GBP.*

• Needed within 2 Calendar Days (48 hours) - $420.00 USD / £256.00 GBP.*

• Needed within 1 Calendar Day (24 hours) - $840.00 USD / £512.00 GBP.*

* This fee assumes that the inspection is undertaken via photographs (as the vast majority will be).

Occasionally, we may need to see the item, in person - please see Physical Inspections, below, for more details.

Payment in advance, please, via www.paypal.com to: payments@fakespotters.com.

Physical Inspections

This is what we call it when the designer item is shipped to us, or one of our DSAs, for an in-person inspection.

Physical Inspections are rarely necessary, in the case of most designer good authentications; but may, very occasionally, be required.

If you feel your item requires a Physical Inspection, or if we (or eBay/PayPal etc.) inform you that it does, please add the following to the Appraisal fee, prior to shipping the item to us:

• $78.00 USD / £50.00 GBP flat rate physical inspection surcharge.

In addition, the following will be charged, prior to the item being returned to the client (assuming the client requires the item to be returned):

• All fully tracked and insured return shipping costs.*
• Any unexpected additional costs incurred - such as costs incurred by Fake Spotters, or our Authenticators, due to additional/sturdier packaging being deemed to be necessary, for safe return shipping (for example, if the item wasn’t adequately packaged by the client and/or if packaging was badly damaged in transit).

* The client is, of course, also responsible for all costs incurred to initially ship the item to Fake Spotters - we highly recommend using a service that offers online tracking and insurance.

How to Contract an Appraisal

After selecting your preferred service and time frame, if applicable (please see above) and sending the correct payment via www.paypal.com to: payments@fakespotters.com, please email appraisals@fakespotters.com with the following information, provided in the following format (all, or part, of the following may be copied and pasted into your email and then completed by you):

Name:

Address:

Phone Number:

Brand of Item:

Style and color of item (if known):

Age/Season of item (if known):

Condition of item (please carefully inspect the item and list all flaws, however slight):

Type of service required: (email Appraisal and/or Written Appraisal/Written Appraisal with Photos)

Date by which you require the appraisal (if applicable):

Price of service required:

If the item is/was an auction listing/purchase, please also include the following:

Item Name:

Item Number:

Seller ID:

Buyer ID:

Buyer or Seller(?): (please state whether you are the buyer or the seller)

Link to the auction:

Alternatively, if the item is/was not an auction listing/purchase, but was purchased online, please also include the following:

Item Name:

Link:

If the item is subject to an eBay/PayPal dispute/claim, please also include the following:

Claim Number:

In addition, please also include any photographs you may already have of the item and any further details about the item, or the transaction, which you feel may be relevant and helpful to us.

Once we have received your request, if we find we require any further information/photos, we will let you know in good time.

One item per email, please.

Photos Required for Appraisal

The specific photos we require vary somewhat, according to the type of item and the brand and style in question.

However, generally speaking, we would normally need a photo of the entire item from every major angle (e.g. back, front, sides, top and bottom, in the case of a bag) and then close-ups showing the material/leather and any and all labels, logos, heatstamps, engravings, hardware, serial/datecode numbers and holograms etc., plus any other distinguishing features.

In addition, in order to offer you an accurate appraisal, we also require photos of any and all manufacturing quirks/flaws, stains, marks, scratches, dents, chips, pulls, tears, loose stitches and/or any other signs of wear and damage that the item in question may possess.

All photos should be in-focus and taken with the item/feature on a level plain and with the camera lens parallel to it (i.e. they should not be taken at oblique, or artistic, angles).

If you are very new to photography, you may find it helpful to consult this guide.

Please don’t worry, too much, though - if we need further photos we will get back to you.

DISCLAIMER: The opinions rendered in all discussions, authentications, appraisals and condition reports are based upon each Designer Specialist Authenticator/Appraiser’s extensive personal knowledge of the designer/design house/designer item in question and any other relevant resources they may have at their disposal. Although every effort is always made to ensure an accurate opinion is given and/or conclusion reached, please be aware that there will always remain an extremely small (normally, significantly less than one percent, in the case of authentications) margin of error.

Every effort has been made to ensure that the services detailed and prices quoted are accurate, at the time of writing; but please note that they may be subject to alteration, or withdrawal, without prior warning.