Consumer turns to Action 9 after buying fake designer purse from online marketplace

A Brevard County woman claims a major online marketplace sold her a fake Louis Vuitton purse and she turned to Action 9 to help get her money back.

You might say Deleana Harrell is a bit of a connoisseur when it comes to Louis Vuitton purses.  She’s been collecting them for 25 years.

Harrell showed consumer investigator Jeff Deal, a few of the handbags and described the stitching and the markings that make them a high-quality fashionable accessory.

In 2020, she decided to look for a used Louis Vuitton Artsy MM bag and found one on Poshmark for $1,200. She told Deal she chose to buy it on Poshmark because the online marketplace guaranteed authenticity.

Harrell  loved the bag and held on to it for three years. It was only when she attempted to re-sell it on Poshmark that she ran into a problem.  Poshmark flagged it as a knock-off.

“And I immediately went, ‘Wait a minute, I bought it from you.’ It’s not like I bought it from some stranger on the street corner,” she said.

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Harrell told Action 9 that at first Poshmark promised a refund and the company even made a direct payment for the $1,200 into her bank account, but she said a few days later the company reversed the transaction and took the money back.

Out the money and no longer in possession of the purse, she filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and with the State of California where Poshmark is headquartered.

Poshmark has a “B” rating with the BBB, but with consumers it’s rated just above the minimum of one star.

Teresa Murray, a consumer watchdog with Public Interest Research Group told Deal, “If I were her, I would file a complaint with her with her deposit bank as well because you can’t do that. I mean, companies just can’t do that.”

Murray warns against buying high-end items online because counterfeit goods have become a major problem. and they often don’t meet U.S. safety standards.

Harrell has since shifted to mostly buying nicer things directly from retail stores.

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After Action 9 interviewed Harrell and reached out to Poshmark, she finally received a check in the mail.

Poshmark admitted to Action 9 the company made an error in the authentication process initially and said it takes counterfeiting issues seriously.  The company believes Harrell’s bank may have reversed her original refund because of an issue with her bank card.

Harrell described the situation as very frustrating, but is thankful to have the money back.

Poshmark’s Full Response:

Thank you for reaching out and for your patience while we looked into this. We reviewed the case with our team and want to clarify what happened, and also reassure you that we have already resolved this issue with Deleana and processed a full refund for the original order.

In February 2020, Deleana purchased the Louis Vuitton bag, which was sent to our Posh Authenticate team to review per our standard process. Unfortunately, an error was made on our end as our team deemed it was authentic. After Deleana tried to resell the same bag in April of this year, it was sent to Posh Authenticate again, and they determined the bag was not authentic due to finding incorrect markings. Because of this discrepancy, we issued Deleana a full refund for the Louis Vuitton bag, which was processed via a check on June 22.

The reason for the refund delay was due to Deleana’s card information being invalid, which may have been because the card expired or was no longer in use. After being notified of the invalid card, our team worked with Deleana to confirm her address for a check to be mailed to, which is now in transit to her and may take up to 14 days to receive.

We take counterfeit issues very seriously and deeply apologize that Deleana experienced this error. Our priority is to ensure Poshmark is always a safe place to shop and sell, and we work hard to continually strengthen our marketplace to protect against counterfeit and infringing products.

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