Buying a luxury item for most of us, is always a big deal, the financial cost is generally significant and the piece we pick, is quite often chosen at the expense of a number of other pieces, that we cannot add to our collections at that stage. Picking the right piece, at the right price, comes with an investment of both time and money, and when it arrives, should bring joy and happiness to us handbag addicts!
One question to consider, and it’s something people would ask me about in everyday life, is whether to buy brand new from the boutique, or to buy pre-loved. Personally, I have done both. I have bought a number of pieces from the boutique, all of my Louis Vuitton pieces are from the boutique, with the exception of my round coin purse and my zippy wallet. My Chanel boy and classic flap are also new from the boutique, but my two rectangle mini’s were bought pre-loved, the raspberry from Fashionphile, and teal from the Instagram seller, @luxxlover.
For me, we don’t have a lot of luxury boutiques in Ireland, really just in Dublin, and even then, the LV and Chanel are on the small side. This seriously impacts availability, and I have bought a number of pieces when travelling. I do however, personally love the boutique experience. I love to go in, look at the goods, touch them, try them on, feel the quality and the material, and walk out with the beautifully packaged item, in its rather fabulous cardboard carrier bag. But this comes at a price, and with the constant price increases, quite often a hefty one.
I do therefore feel, that there is also a place for buying pre-loved. I have only bought pre-loved in very good to excellent condition, I still want to feel what I am buying is worth it, and has a lot of use left in it. There are great deals to be had on the pre-loved market, and one of the times I will look pre-loved, is a piece I have researched and doesn’t really hold its re-sale value that well, isn’t a classic, or that I don’t feel is a piece I see being in my collection for the longer term. An example of this for me is my Gucci marmont velvet bag. I fell in love with the colour and material of this bag, the colour is so striking and I just love the luxuriousness of velvet. That being said, they don’t really hold their re-sale value that well, and I don’t think of it as classic bag. I therefore didn’t want to spend the full retail of £1330.00 on this bag, and looked pre-loved on Vestiaire collective. Some of the prices on there were unrealistic, but I did end up saving quite a bit of money against the retail price, and the bag I bought is in like new condition.
Another reason to look on the pre-loved market, is when you miss out on the piece you want. I have done this with my teal mini, and do look on the pre-loved market for hard to find, sold out pieces. The downside of this though, is that demand can be high, and this will push the price way above retail for ‘unicorn’ or hard to find pieces. I really want to add the rose gold Chanel mini to my collection, but the one available on Fashionphile is currently sitting at over £5000, plus shipping and customs fees. There is a feeling that shopping pre-loved should bring savings, when it comes down to these hard to find pieces though, it’s really if you feel you can justify that amount of money for a piece you really want, even if it is well above retail.
Another option for pre-loved is ebay. I am not so good with ebay. I just am not confident that I will know an item is authentic. That being said, I have sold on ebay and the items have been 100% genuine and authentic, so I am sure there are many, many more people doing the same, I am just not confident about it. I recently bought the LV round coin purse, and the lovely @my_things_888 on Instagram helped me with the purchase. She has a great vintage and pre-loved LV collection, and shops ebay quite a bit, so it can provide some real gems, so long as you are confident you can confirm an original. Ebay will protect against fakes if a purchase goes wrong.
Another vintage collector on Instagram whose collection is amazing, is @thelouisvuittonprincess. Her vintage pieces are fabulous, and I understand from her stories, that she has had some ebay transactions, often also gaining a profit as well as a piece.
I was recently asked by a colleague if their first piece should be new or pre-loved. Of course, this is completely a personal choice, My own first piece was my much loved, much used, Neverfull. I bought this new from the boutique in Rome, when I was there for a special occasion with my now husband. There was something very special about being in Rome, and buying this piece, and it will always hold those memories for me. I recently came across the receipt though and when I bought this, it was 550 euro, quite a lot less than today’s retail price of £1010.00 sterling! I had done a lot of research though to spend this money for the first time, I knew this was the bag I wanted and I knew I would get a lot of use out of it. If you were maybe less sure, and wanted to test out a brand, or were looking for a vintage piece, you could look pre-loved. My advice would be to do your research. Research the piece you want, be sure as you can’t try it on in the boutique, research the seller or site to make sure they are reputable and have good policies on authenticity and condition, check their feedback for accuracy of description and service. My own personal opinion on a first piece, is I wouldn’t want to pay above retail. I think for a first piece, if going pre-loved, it should bring a saving, and not the opposite. Also, don’t be afraid to ask for advice. I have personally purchased quite a few luxury items, but I still took comfort in @my_things_888’s opinion on my recent pre-loved purchase.
These are just my opinions, and are by no means set guidelines! I do hope this has helped, thank you for reading, and I hope to see you here again soon!
Princessluxlove xx