Please note that my guide focuses on recent collections, I'm afraid I don't have much experience regarding vintage bags. 

I've written this guide from my experience - I am by no means a Mulberry expert. 

I'd place a safe bet that the majority of mulberry bags auctioned on ebay are fake - I made the mistake of buying one!  I've  since saved up and bought a few real bags from Mulberry and have prepared this guide as a result.  There are a lot of replica bag websites out there (just google fake mulberry or the likes and you'll soon find some) and it is scary how good some of the fakes are.  A lot come with mulberry shop tags, care cards and boxes, I suspect a lot of people buy bags from these sites and re-sell them on ebay passing them off as authentic to make a profit.

I WILL BE UPDATING THIS GUIDE SHORTLY WITH FULL MEASUREMENTS AND WEIGHTS OF MY BAGS. I HOPE TO HAVE THIS READY SOME TIME IN AUGUST 2008.

The bags I feel most qualified to talk about are the ones I have: Bayswater, Effie, Alana, Somerset pouch and Belle and the fake bag I bought was a Roxanne.  One of my friends has a Blenheim and a Phoebe so I know a little bit about them too. From checking out the Mulberry Website I have also been able to identiy fake Emmys, Somerset Totes, Roxanne Totes and Mabels.  There is another ebayer's guide out there on Annie bags which I found very informative.

I'll start with general points then I'll cover bags individually.

• Watch out for titles describing bags as 'in the style of' or 'looking like'
• Just because a seller says it is 100% authentic - doesn't mean it is eg many say 100% genuine leather Roxanne bag - this could just mean it is genuine leather not a genuine Roxanne
• Check out what other items the seller has sold - if they are selling multiple mulberry items ? How likely is someone really going to sell lots of 'unwanted' expensive bags complete with tags at a fraction of their real value?
• Check feedback  - what have they sold previously, do they have much feedback etc. Bear in mind though that not everyone will know that they have bought a fake.
• Are a lot of their auctions private?? Sellers sometimes use this as a way of disguising what they have sold previously - still check their feedback though as sometime a buyer will state what they have bought eg 'great bag'
• Check the grammar / language used in the sellers description - if they can barely string english together, avoid.  Some fakes come in from overseas.
• Are the photos stock photos or photos of the actual bag you are bidding on?
• Deal only with ebayers who use paypal - that way there is an element of protection.  Paypal by no means guarantees you your money back (I've been stung by this).
• The bags tend to come with dust bag, tag and carecard - but very rarely do you see one come with a receipt - you'd think if someone has gone to the effort of keeping the tags on the bag they would still have the receipt...  Ask if an original receipt (not a photocopy) is available.
• What colour is the bag - is it a colour/material that Mulberry have actually produced bags in??   The Mulberry Web page may help you do this (link at the bottom).
• Dust bag - the real ones are high quality with a vivid gold tree printed on them (bottom right corner - on both sides) - the fake felt like a dusting cloth and had poor stitching, the tree was printed on but the gold was not as bright. The real dust bag is more of a burgundy/brown colour, the fake was brown. (photo of genuine bag)

• Shop tag - was attached with black string onto the real bags.  It was attached by a plastic tie on the fake bag.
• Genuine care cards can be brown as shown above or cream as shown below
• 
• The genuine bags do not come with a 'genuine leather' tag in the shape of cow hide.  Believe it or not I saw a fake Roxanne tote with one of these - even although the real bags are made from vynl!
• Inside the bag - the fake had no 'made in' label inside.  The real ones have a black 'made in England' or  'Made in Turkey'  or 'made in China' label inside. In addition there is a letter on the reverse. I've detailed further on what the letters are on each of my bags - what I don't know is if these are unique to that style or if eg effie bags can come with different letters.
• Mulberry brass disc - This can be confusing as some genuine bags have no serial number whilst others have.  My effie has no serial number but my other 4 bags have a 6 digit number (small feint numbers).  My friend's  Phoebe and  Blenheim bags have no serial number. The fake also had a serial number but larger dark numbers.  Probably best to check for other tell tale signs rather than just going on the brass disc.  Also, the stitched leather rectangle or oval that the disc is attached to should not have any letters embossed on it. There should be the tree and the word Mulberry in Gold only. My fake bag had the letters LR embossed on the bottom right corner.  I've seen a lot of bags on ebay with this.
• PLEASE NOTE THAT I HAVE HAD A COUPLE OF PEOPLE QUERY MY COMMENTS ON THE EMBOSSED LETTERS.  I can only go by my own experience of the genuine bags my friend and I have, the fake I bought and the fakes I see online.  I personally have never seen a genuine bag with letters embossed.  In fact, many of the replica bag websites have letters embossed on their fake bags.  If in doubt, contact Mulberry, I believe some vintage bags may have embossed letters.
• The metal work is high quality on the real bag - it looks like brass.  the fake bag looked more tarnished.
• The embossing on the metal work had a more smudged appearance on the fake and not all the trees were centred on the studs.  The embossing of the mulberry name and tree logo on the real bag is crisp and centred.
• Stitching - some of the buckle straps on my fake bag were actually stapled together!  Definitely NO staples on the real one.
• Brass magnetic clasps - many of the fakes have flat discs on the clasps but the genuine bags have a more curved disc (although some fakes do have curved discs - so be sure to check other aspects of the bag).  Photo of genuine bag.
• The fake bag I bought came with clear plastic round the buckles - the real bags don't.  I bought my real bags direct from the mulberry web page or direct from a the Mulberry shop - none of them came with plastic or paper wrapped around the handles and buckles. 

EFFIE

• The made in label has M on the reverse
• the strap is 2.4cm wide and 59.5cm long and has 22 buckle holes
• no brass feet on the base

ALANA

• The made in label has XL on the reverse
• Alana bags do not have brass studs on the underside of the bag and they are not fully lined inside.  The genuine alana is suede inside with a single mulberry material pocket (closing left to right).  The stitching on the strap is as my picture shows, some bad fakes the stitching is straight across instead of tapering to a point. 
• 
• Alana bags come with one strap, not two. 
• The holes for the buckle start about an inch from the zip - not further down the strap, there should be 10 buckle holes. The straight section of the buckle holes is 3cm wide

BAYSWATER 

• There are a lot being sold on ebay as it is one of Mulberrys most popular bags.  Some look very good so it can be difficult to tell the real from the fakes. 
•  My bag has a made in england tab on the inside of the bag, the brass disc has a serial number and the leather patch that the brass disc is attached to is oval shaped - although just to keep us guessing Mulberry also do bayswater bags with a regtangle tab!! 
• The zipped pocket zips closes from left to right and the zipper is oval shaped with a hole in the middle (not a rectangle with no hole as I've seen on a few bags on ebay). 
• The brass disc is attached to the pocket of the bag - not on the opposite side where the width adjusting buckles are.
• Often on fake bayswater bags the key fob is too long or not the correct shape (I'll be adding measurements for all bags shortly)
• The padlock is brass but the u shaped section is silver in colour.  It has a mulberry tree engraved on one side. the base is not rectangular, the short edges are straight but the long edges are slightly curved.  Looking at the base with the tree side sacing upwards there should be a small hole to the left of the keyhole.  The bag comes with 2 keys.

SOMERSET POUCH

• I haven't seen any fakes of these yet - probably because they only retail at £150 any way.
• The made in label has ZA on the reverse
• No internal brass disc only a leather stitched oval with mulberry and the tree in gold.
• Zipper has a brass disc hanging from it with a serial no on the reverse.

BELLE

• Again I haven't seen very many of these getting auctioned on ebay but i do know from looking at a fake bag website that fakes do exist!
• The made in label has YA on the reverse
• There is an oval shape leather tab holding the brass disc which has a serial number.

SOMERSET TOTE

• The easiest way to identify these is to look at the stitching on the handles - not the easiest to describe but I'll try.  the strap is attached by a brass rectangle, above where the strap is stitched on the stitching and leather tapers to a triangle - the fakes don't have this.  To see what I mean, visit the mulberry web site or my bebo site (below) for fake photos.

PHOEBE

• One thing that surprises me about this bag is that mulberry stopped making them over a year ago yet people still seem to have BNWT bags in colours the bags were never produced in. 
• My friend's bag has no serial number.

The variety of fake mulberry bags is increasing - as styles become popular so do the fakes.  I've seen fake bags sell for hundreds of pounds.

I often find the proportions of fakes are slightly out, as mentioned I'm going to take measurements of various aspects of my bags and weigh them shortly to improve this guide.

A fake is all very well and good if you want the look for a fraction of the cost and you know exactly what you are buying but be realistic - is it really worth paying hundreds of pounds for??  You'd be better off saving for a real one. 

My ebay  bargain ended up not being such a bargain - I re-sold it on ebay but as I did not pass it off as a genuine bag I didn't recoup what I spent.  In the end I was £70 down with no bag!

WANT A REAL BARGAIN??

Check out the Mulberry Web page for the sales - they usually have a sale on twice a year (typically January and June).  I got my alana bag for half price and 1/3 off my belle bag.  www . mulberry . com (ebay won't let me type in the proper link but you'll get the idea.  You can sign up to their mailing list and you even get a sale preview before the items go on sale in the shops and you get an extra 10% off the sale price.

SALE INFO: there are a few genuine bags on sale on ebay, even this is not without its hazzards though.  I've seen cases where people have bought a genuine bag in the sale then selling it on ebay quoting the pre sale price to make a profit.

Bags that have went on sale recently inlcude  - alana, emmy, effie, belle, kensington, rachael, henley, belle, mabel (in baby pink and gold) to name a few.

I try to update this as often as I can, in the meantime you may want to check out my ROGUES GALERY below.  I can't post pictures of current fakes, these are some from previous months.

If you found this guide useful - please vote YES at the end.  This will help my guide rise up the ranks and will mean that more people will choose to read it. 

Ebayers have contacted me to look at bags - I do try to respond to as many emails as possible (although I don't check my email religously).  Occasionally I am stumped as to whether or not a bag is real but I have been able to help prevent lots of ebayers from buying fakes.

Last updated July 2008

ROGUES GALERY OF FAKES BAGS

 embossed letters on the tag

 studs on underside of alana and you'll see the stitching on the strap is straight across and it appears to have two straps!

 Dodgy dust bag

 Fake Emmy - the genuine bags are not lined inside

 Fake Roxanne - the magnetic clasp shown here is flat - real bags have a slightly curves clasp (as shown in one of my genuine pictures).  Be careful though as some of the better fakes have the curved clasps too!

For those of you with a bebo account I've posted many more pictures of fakes from ebay as I am only allowed to attach 10 photos to this review. Visit my page the url is bebo.com/hammersbaws the photos are in an album half way down on the right hand side of the page.

thanks for you time - and good luck!