The Black Market of Handbags
It is so fashionable to have a designer handbag ! But how expensive is it ? Can everyone afford to get one of these… considering that one is enough… This created a market of replicas or fake bags, and some companies are specialized in duplicating famous designers handbags.
It is actually legal to sell copies of designer handbags ! As long as these bags companies are not selling them under the belief that the copies are originals, but are specifying that the bags are copies of the originals, then it’s a legal business.
The problem is that a lot of people are selling bags, in particular people in the streets. They are selling them as an original, and to be honest, it’s quite impossible to tell the difference with the real version. In this case, legal consequences can be taken towards the seller. Specifically, these sales are considered fraudulent because the street sellers have no license whatsoever that allow them to sell these bags. But also, they do pay any tax, whether it is state tax, or federal tax.
In the last few years, a new business has been developed. Parties are organized by traveling salespersons to sell fake handbags. These salespersons are never mentioning that the handbags are fake, but the price, that’s ridiculous compared to the original version of the same bag, tells it all. Obviously these parties have a lot of success. But the IRS doesn’t necessarily see this as a success considering that these sells are not submitted to any tax.
Last but not least, the fake bags are most of the time coming from Asia (China, Thailand, Cambodia…), and even if we refuse to think about it, these bags are certainly made by children or young men and women that are often abused, and who are working very long hours for a handful of coins.
The problem is not so much that fake bags have become a business. But the exploitation of children used to satisfy the well being of some fashionistas is very irritating !