Bloomingdales and Neiman Marcus are Selling Replicas Instead of the Real Deal
Source: Twitter
Recent controversy sparked when multiple TikTok videos went viral for calling out luxury retailers, Bloomingdales and Neiman Marcus, for selling customers fake designer items. TikToker, @thisischerylk, posted a PSA when visiting the Neiman Marcus store in Beverly Hills about finding a fake Saint Laurent shoe on display. Another video that surfaced, which has now been deleted, from @Viviannguyen447 shows how she was sent a fake YSL bag from Bloomingdales.
This problem arose because Bloomingdales and Neiman Marcus aren’t authenticating their returns. As the rise of very good dupes are entering the market through spaces like Amazon we are seeing people returning dupes. Scammers are buying both the replica and the real item and returning the fake.
These luxury department stores aren’t able to fix this issue so simply as they would require an in-store authenticator for an issue that doesn’t happen so often. Some department stores, such as Nordstrom seem to be making the effort to combat this issue though. Nordstrom costumers had noted that when they were making a return an authenticator had to authenticate the item before the return could be completed.
The take away from this is to make sure you shop from retailers that 100% authenticate your item and have good return policies if any issue arrises. The RealReal could be a really great option for those interested in secondhand items that will always be genuine as they employ plenty authenticators. Because of these scammers, we’ll definitely be seeing stricter store regulations such as shorter return windows and we could be seeing more brands using radio frequency identification (RFID) chips in their products, which would allow sale associates to scan the item to ensure that it is the real deal.