For the serious handbag collector, purchasing a Hermès Birkin is a pinnacle achievement. Beyond the eye-watering price tag for the purse alone, being offered a Birkin for purchase is often the result of several thousand dollars in prior sales with Hermès and a positive, established relationship with a salesperson who is authorized to offer Birkin

Each year, millions of dollars in counterfeit goods enter the U.S. According to the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development, the international trade of counterfeit and pirated goods amounted to as much as $509 billion in 2016.[1] From 2003 through 2018, the number of seizures of infringing goods by the U.S. Customs and Border