How To Spot Fake Designer Sunglasses

Here at Fashion Eyewear, we are often asked whether our products are genuine or not due to our prices being considerably lower than the high street and other online competitors. We can say with 100% honesty that they are and you can even contact the designers/manufacturers directly to check this for added peace of mind (we are even featured on the Chanel website). The internet, being what it is, is full of counterfeit goods and fakes. But how do you tell the difference?

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We all want a bargain, but if something seems too good to be true, it often is. With sunglasses it is particularly important to buy genuine products. Fakes will often not provide UV protection for your eyes which is the main purpose and function of genuine sunglasses. This can be dangerous. As well as the danger involved with the lack of protection, counterfeit sunglasses are often shoddy quality and will fall apart quickly, so despite saving money in the short term, it will have been money entirely wasted. Below you will find our top tips for spotting fakes online and once you have received a product.

Looking For Glasses Online

Street Presence

An online shop can be set up and run from anywhere, including somebody's home. This means that it is extremely hard for the authorities to catch anyone online who sells counterfeit goods. For added security, a company that has a bricks and mortar shop is far more likely to be selling genuine products. This allows you to visit the shop and to find a real person to talk to. Shops are also regulated and can be returned to by unhappy customers, so it is near on impossible to sell fake products in a high street store. Fashion Eyewear has two shops; one in Chiswick, West London and the other in Farnborough, Hampshire.

eBay

Often eBay can provide us with some real bargains and great products, but it also a melting pot for fake goods. Counterfeit designer sunglasses are a huge problem on eBay, and where you cannot see the physical product before you pay, it is often hard to determine whether what you are buying is genuine. If the product is being shipped from China, Hong Kong or Thailand, it will probably be a fake as millions of reproductions are made in these countries every year. If the image is a stock photo and not one the seller themselves have taken of the sunglasses, it could mean they are hiding something such as obvious indiscrepancies. There can obviously be real products on eBay, but these are hard to find and almost impossible to determine before receiving the item so why take the risk?

Reviews

One of the best sources to tell if a website sells genuine designer sunglasses is to look up online reviews. There are many review sites around, and we use TrustPilot along with most other UK based online shops (link at the top right of the page). This way, you can see from verified buyers whether they are happy with their received products. If a website is selling fakes, this will often be reflected in their reviews. To be sure a website are not writing their own fake reviews to make themselves appear more genuine, check a review site that uses a verified buyers system where only customers that have purchased products may write reviews. For the best results, Google the name of the site you wish to purchase from along with he word 'review' or 'genuine' and see whats been written about them.

Once You Have Received Your Sunglasses

Okay, so you've bought a pair of designer sunglasses, how can you tell if they're genuine? Every brand has individual traits that marks them out from the fakes. Some of the most basic checks are to look on the inside of the arms. Is the brand name there? Is the correct model number there? Colour code? Also on sunglasses, the 'CE' mark should be present to indicate their manufacturing process complies with European quality standards. Often, fakes will having missing or wrong information, or it may be printed at a funny angle. However, this is not always an indicator and fake glasses may have all of these correctly printed. The internet has a wealth of information on spotting fakes, and as every brand has different indicators. Searching on Google for 'YOUR PURCHASED BRAND HERE sunglasses how to spot a fake' should reveal a good amount of information you can use to examine your glasses.

If buying from an online shop, the best thing may be to find out the official manufacturer of the brand (such as Marcolin, Luxottica or Safilo) and to give them a call or email to check the store are registered with them as an official retailer.

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