I’ve blogged about my love for vintage bags (especially Chanel – see my post here about where to shop for vintage Chanel and see my video here for my vintage Chanel bag colllection). I love nothing more than going to Nordstrom and shopping the designer handbag section but let’s be real here, the prices these days on bags are insane! I love browsing pre-owned designer handbag sites online and I recently discovered Trendlee which has an awesome selection and which is where I got this Prada bag! I plan on reviving my youtube channel so I shot a video of a review of the bag and my experience shopping with them. I’ll have it up in a few days, if you are subscribed to my channel you’ll be the first to know when it goes up!
Definitely check them out if you are in the market for a new bag. I think the prices are very fair, they give good descriptions if there are any imperfections so you know what to expect. My bag is beautiful and shows very little wear of being pre-owned. I also have a code for you guys! Use code TIFFANYISH at checkout to get 5% off your order.
Disclaimer: Trendlee reached out to me first which is how I found out about the site. No monetary compensation nor product compensation was exchanged for this post. All opinions are my own.
I’m a Chanel lover for life. Wether it’s bags, shoes, jewelry, I love it all. And Vintage Chanel sometimes is better than new! I own a clothing and jewelry line and I have gobs and gobs of jewelry unworn and samples everywhere. I certainly don’t NEED any more jewelry but I am still obsessed with Chanel jewelry. Every time I go to the boutique I love to see their new pieces. My husband got me this ring for my birthday and I can’t stop wearing it, it’s my favorite thing ever. It’s been posted on my instagram a few times (apologies if you are sick of seeing it! haha)
We got my mom a Chanel pin for her birthday and I snapped this picture when I was picking out which one, I just love them all! (In case you were wondering, my ring and these brooches below are not vintage, they are all current season, but everything else in this post is about vintage pieces.)
I’ve been to a couple of vintage Chanel trunk shows and I LOVE looking at the jewelry. Shopbop has a fab section of vintage Chanel and I love seeing their selection.
In my research I’ve found a few authentic re-sellers of vintage Chanel jewelry.
Vintage Five is a seller from Japan but they have an easy to navigate website, free shipping and also a boutique on Malleries. They also have this great page to help you distinguish between the fakes and the real thing. (My caveat: I have not ordered from here personally but just did some research on the web and they appeared to have good reviews and they do take returns)
Yoogi’s Closet, who I mentioned in my Where to Buy: Vintage Chanel Bags post, also has a small section of vintage jewelry. I love that they have the J12 watches as I’d never buy one at full retail but would definitely consider a pre-loved one.
Lastly, I got confirmation from the girls at the Purse Forum that Vineyard Vintage sells authentic pieces and they have quite an extensive selection so definitely check them out if you have a particular piece you are looking for. They also have a great page to help with authenticating pieces. Great to bookmark on your phone if you ever come across a vintage piece while antique shopping and you’re not sure of the authenticity.
As most of you know, I love vintage bags as much as I love new and I get a lot of questions on buying vintage Chanel bags and authenticity. My most recent vintage Chanel bags were purchases from a resale shop in Japan.
Japan and many parts of Asia have these really nice resale shops where they sell authentic, pre-owned bags in really great condition for less than retail. Mind you, they are not “cheap” as bags are still only about 10%-30% under retail (my guess at least) but still some savings.
The best places to buy Vintage Chanel bags online
It can be hard to find vintage or pre-owned Chanel bags as I find that Designer consignment shops do carry some, but the selection is not great and it always changes so you would need to stop in pretty frequently.
After doing some research of where to buy pre-owned and vintage Chanel bags online, I pulled together this list of the best places to buy Vintage Chanel Bags online. A lot of these sites do sell other designer brands but since I’m mainly interested in Chanel, that’s where I focused on.
THE PURSE FORUM – INVALUABLE RESOURCE FOR BUYING DESIGNER PURSES ONLINE
First a few things: I did most of my research through The Purse Forum which is a fantastic resource for anyone that is interested in designer handbags. The ladies on there are super knowledgeable and I totally trust their opinions and guarantees about authenticity. All of the below have been confirmed authentic resellers from The Purse Forum and either I’ve had experience with them or I’ve had friends that have had good experiences with them.
VINTAGE CHANEL PRICING
I think that my experience so far when telling people that my handbags are vintage, they automatically think “cheap” or “affordable”. While they are more affordable than new bags, vintage Chanel bags will still run you over $1,000+.
Some of the bags are still pretty much the price of retail depending on how popular or rare the style/color/size is. So buying vintage does not necessarily mean that you are going to save a lot of money but it does mean that you’ll often get a bag that not a whole lot of people are carrying which is why I love my vintage bags.
Fashionphile is one of the first online retailers for vintage Chanel bags that I found and I have purchased from them quite a few times. All of my experiences have been great and I feel that they offer very fair prices for their pieces. They give great descriptions of each peices as well as what the condition is so you are well aware of the flaws before buying. Other perks that they have is a 30 day return policy as well sell your bag (or any bag you may have) to them.
I have shopped at Gilt for so many years and have always had a great experience. They offer great prices on tons of designers but they have a great selection of Vintage Chanel bags. Their selection changes pretty frequently so I check back on the site pretty often just to see what they have.
SHOP VINTAGE AND PRE-OWNED CHANEL
BEFORE YOU BUY
Before you buy here are a few things to do:
Shop around at a few other sites to find similar type bags and note the prices. Most bags should be in or around the same price point. If you find one that is $100-$200 lower than other similar bags, you may have just found one for a great price! If you find one that is $500+ lower than other similar ones, well you might just want to step away or get it authenticated before you buy as the price difference even between used/vintage is not going to be that big. (Unless, the bag is damaged which that might account for the big difference.)
Note what the bag comes with. All Chanel bags should come with the authenticity card and have the hologram sticker and both should have matching numbers. (Unless it’s an older bag, which correct me if I’m wrong here but I’ve heard that the Chanel bags before the early-mid 80’s did not have holograms in the bag.) Some come with the dust bags, some may come with the boxes. Obviously it depends on what the previous owner kept but the price may be affected higher/lower depending on if it comes with these items and if they are important for you to have than make sure to ask the seller if it’s not stated on the product page. It’s pretty hard to get the dustbag and the box with vintage bags but the authenticity card should always be included.
Ask for clearer pictures if needed. If you care if the stitches on the corner are coming apart or if the straps have any markings/loose stitches, ask for better pictures of each section and be specific as to what you want to see. A lot of sellers will state where there are loose stitches or marks on the leather but some may just forget and if you don’t ask, they won’t tell you either. A good seller will be happy to send you closer photos because they will understand about buying a pre-owned bag.
Don’t be afraid to buy a damaged bag if you know for sure it’s authentic. You will be able to take your bag to the “Chanel Spa” and they will do everything from re-dyeing your bag to restitching or even adding new hardware. Just go to any Chanel boutique, even the ones in Nordstrom and they will send it off for you to get fixed. Of course it’s going to cost you but from some of the results I’ve seen, they do an amazing job. It’s a long process (I’ve heard it can take up to 3 months to get your bag back from the spa) so if you just have a loose stitch or maybe a small mark on the leather, a lot of shoe repair shops also do handbag repairs and they can take care of the smaller less Chanel specific fixes (like dyeing the bag or adding new hardware).
Serial number: Fake bags do have hologram stickers and authenticity cards but one trick is to google the serial number that is given (all good sellers will have a picture of the serial number within the bag). A lot of the counterfeit bags use the same number and the search results will pretty much tell you it’s fake as there are many well known fake serial numbers that are being used. If even just one other bag shows up in your search with that same number, you will know it’s fake. (just do a google search of “Chanel bag 7244764” and see what pops up.)
I hope my shopping tips have helped! I really think vintage and pre-owned bags are just as fabulous as new and you can find different styles that you may never have seen. I bought my vintage classic flap because I wanted a flap but didn’t want the one that everyone and their mom has so I found the unusual size of a 10″ flap that was more square than rectangle.
It was exactly what I wanted and for a bag that’s 20+ years old, it’s in great shape! And it just goes to show that buying Chanel really does keep it’s value as I’ve seen many bags that my mom owns that she bought in the 90’s go for about the same as what she paid for. Kind of crazy that a handbag can hold that kind of value!
Would love to hear any other tips from experienced vintage/resale shoppers. Please share in the comments!
SELLING YOUR CHANEL BAG
For those of you are looking at selling many of the sites above share their process of selling bags through them. They usually take a percentage but you know that you will get quality buyers through them. You can also look into a designer resale shop in your area or to do a bit of research on the Purse Forum and ask the girls there, they all seem very knowledgeable!
SHOP VINTAGE AND PRE-OWNED CHANEL BAGS
BUYING NEW CHANEL AND OTHER DESIGNER BAGS
I get a lot of emails from readers who stumble upon sites that sell new designer items for great prices and they ask me if I’ve heard of them. I don’t buy my designer shoes and handbags from any place other than well known stores – Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Saks, Barneys and Net-a-porter or on the actual designers website (like miumiu.com or ysl.com).
Since this post is for vintage or resale so the sites mentioned above are the only ones that I have experience with. Any other ones I have not heard of and my best suggestion for you is to just google the name of the website and add “fake” or “authentic” to the end of the search term and usually you’ll get search results which will give you the answer.
