How to Tell a Designer Handbag Is Real When Shopping at a Consignment Shop

—After the mid-'80s, all Chanel bags will have a serial number attached to the interior. Good fakes might have one, but they're often easier to peel off than the real thing.

—If a bag has mismatched hardware, it'll be a very intentional design feature (and isn't a common thing for Chanel, reserved mostly for limited editions). The majority of the time authentic bags will have the same hardware, gold or silver, throughout the interior thing, including the interior logo stamp.

—When it comes to those famous double Cs, the real ones will have the top portion of the right C overlapping the top portion of the left C. The bottom portion of the left C overlaps the bottom portion of the right C. On fakes, the overlap is rarely perfect and sometimes not even attempted (looking instead like one fused double letter).

—Faux authenticity cards will have a holographic or multicolor edge around them, whereas real ones will be solid.

Gucci bags

—The popular canvas monogram fabric should have a slight sheen you can see when you hold the bag at an angle.

—Look inside: The interior serial number should have an R with a circle around it and Gucci stamped on it. The U should be more bold on the left side than the right.

—The serial number should be on the backside of the interior label and consist of two lines of hand-stamped numbers. They'll be thin and lightly pressed, not wide and scattered.

—On canvas monogram pieces, the leather trim will always be pebbled napa leather, not microsuede.

Céline

—The logo heat stamp on the exterior should be spaced and accented exactly as you see it everywhere else.

—The interior label should have a heat stamp that says Céline and Made in Italy, no matter the size of the bag.

—Serial numbers have the pattern of one letter, two letters, and four numbers. Any starting with an S as the first letter and GA as the second two are often fakes, so be extra careful.

—There is a small number on the inside of each zipper, used by the brand to tell the size of the zipper when the bag's in production.

—A bag with a smooth calfskin exterior will have matching pockets inside. Pebbled leather bags will have a microsuede interior.

Have you guys had any success stories with buying pre-owned bags? Or horror stories? If you've always been a bit too nervous to try, do you feel better prepared now to take a look?