Hermes Australia Says Birkin Bag Waiting List Was A Hoax

The Hermes Birkin Bag recently got rid of its wait list, but according to author and Huffington Post blogger Michael Tonello who talked to SheFinds, there was never a waiting list to begin with.

A reporter from a U.K. magazine told Tonello that Hermes Australia said there never was a waiting list for the coveted purse.

Tonello, who traveled the world buying up Birkins and selling them on Ebay, tells us, "The only thing Hermes was ever 'waiting' for was for someone to drop a bunch of money on non-Birkin items, (like shoes, scarves and belts) and then they'd offer them a Birkin, almost like a reward. The woman suddenly feels like a VIP, and Hermes turns a very large sale by adding a $9,000 bag to it. Shameful, in my opinion."

Tonello says that he and his associates managed to get their hands on a bag after buying a bunch of things in the Hermes store. Hmmm...

Comments

[usamade]

02:56 PM on 05/03/2010

I am a handbag nut. I love Balenciaga, Chanel and Burberry. These are very expensive bags and I'm not sure that the price tag is worth it although they are not made in China.

Coach is made in China and also has a big price tag but not nearly the cost of the European designers.

[cferguson]

08:55 PM on 05/02/2010

Frankly anyone that is impressed by a $9000 purse is not someone that I care about impressing. That is really what it is all about isn't it?

[Luxuriate]

07:56 PM on 05/02/2010

Rich folks!

[JRsNana]

02:42 AM on 05/02/2010

Who would spend $9000 on a PURSE????!!!! Just hearing that makes me glad I'm not rich so I don't have that kind of crap to think about. "Should I or shouldn't I...hmmm....I wonder." NO - YOU SHOULDN'T. It's a PURSE.

[Brian Gorrell]

11:43 PM on 05/01/2010

Who on earth would wait for a bag?

[clarendon67]

11:11 PM on 05/01/2010

I don't care how rich you are, buying a handbag for $9,000 is borderline insanity. The most expensive handbag I ever bought was for $90 although my husband bought me a Coach bag for $200 plus. This is totally ridiculous, but I guess when you are fabulously rich $9000 is pocket change. I'm sure some of these people don't even like the bag, but getting it for the prestige it brings trumps whether you like it or not.

[thehuff]

01:57 PM on 05/02/2010

I think it's the same crowd that spends $250K on cars, and $75K on wristwatches, and $1.5K on shoes. It's all relative. You can easily stay in a hotel room in NYC for $125/night if you book through Pr*cel*ne or some such service, but you can also spend $12,500/nt for a room in NYC.
And remember, there are lots of those $12K rooms in NYC and lots of people who stay in them for many nights or weeks on end.

[Michael Arnold]

06:16 PM on 05/02/2010

It's all relative. as a famous basketball player once said, "I can afford to loose a million gambling, you can't"

[TchoupitoulasCanal]

09:42 PM on 05/01/2010

Is that a typo, or are these handbags REALLY $9,000? I mean, are they raising the cows and alligators by hand? Does the handbag come with something...like a cute retired Tour de France cyclist? A male haute couture runway model? A baguette? Part ownership of the Eiffel Tower? Anything to warrant the nine thousand dollar price tag?

That's just wackadoodle!!

[tanx8]

11:08 PM on 05/01/2010

Yes the STARTING price in Australia is AUS$8500 (approximately US$8000). Some of these bags exceed $100 000, which includes diamond detailing.

[TheAntiOkie]

02:21 PM on 05/02/2010

Yeah - the crocodile one sells for about $120K

Wish I had $120K. I'd buy a better house and a nicer car.

It's cheap to live in OK.

[Morena]

11:22 PM on 05/02/2010

Yea $9k is starting. I once had a co-worker who would spend $30k on handbags without blinking. She made low 6 figures, her hubby made a killing as an anti-trust attorney. They had no children and were ALWAYS in debt. I mean she would actually have her assistant sending credit collectors to voice mail everyday!

[Lucy56]

02:55 PM on 05/02/2010

Have a look at eBay. I am a handbag lover, and I sometimes look at the Hermes bags being auctioned . . . I've seen them with bids upwards of $60,000. Ridiculous doesn't even begin to describe this. And then I see pics of Skeletor Victoria Beckham who seems to have them in every color and I think . . . "Woman, are you really this materialistic? Or do you get them for free?" Or maybe HERS came with David Beckham?!

[Mountain Momma]

06:39 PM on 05/02/2010

Is someone really spending $60,000 on eBay? For something that they haven't been able to handle, look over, inch by inch? Wow.

[usamade]

02:50 PM on 05/03/2010

I love Balenciaga but don't think the $2,000 price tag is worth it.

[booker52]

04:34 PM on 05/01/2010

I guess you would have to be really rich to justify paying that kind of money for a handbag. Me, not rich, nor would I pay that much if I was. I put this on par with someone paying thousands for a watch. They all tell time no matter what they cost, just as with the handbag, you fill it full of stuff and tote it around.

[PeaceLoveFashion]

03:56 PM on 05/01/2010

I called up the Sloane Street Boutique in London to get a client of mine on the waiting list for an orange togo leather birkin with gold hardware in 40 cm and they informed me that they have abolished the 'waiting list' system as the bags are handmade at it puts a lot of pressure on them, so now a range of bags in different leather and skins will be allocated to each boutique and will be sold on a first come first serve bases.

www.zyub.blogspot.com
(Fashion Blog- updated daily)

[thehuff]

04:04 PM on 05/01/2010

Did they first sell a bag to everyone who was on the waiting list, before abolishing it? LOL!!!

[NevaforLeadership]

12:49 PM on 05/01/2010

And everyone is focusing in on Goldman Sachs and Wall Street, when Hermes and Fashion Street are dripping in greed and deception as well.

[lucyskye]

02:15 PM on 05/01/2010

Goldman Sachs took a 12 Billion dollar bailout from the government and then handed out 14 Billion in bonuses. The bailout program for the big banks had the government spend up to $700 billion to buy distressed mortgages.
I can't tell are you being ironic or moronic?

[NevaforLeadership]

06:27 PM on 05/01/2010

Every cent of GS's bailout funds (together with the bailout funds to all the other large banks) have been repaid, together with dividends to the taxpayers. The taxpayers are ahead.

The government (Paulson) forced the large banks to take the bailout funds even if they didn't want them. They had no choice. If they didn't take the bailout funds, Paulson would have put them out of business.

Amazing what one finds out when taking the time to read about what really happened.

[NevaforLeadership]

06:32 PM on 05/01/2010

Multiply the grossly inflated markups by the millions of high-end retail fashion transactions and -- guess what -- billions of dollars!

[invirginia]

06:28 PM on 05/01/2010

A major difference: those who spend thousands at hermes do so willingly -- and actually receive something for their money.

[NevaforLeadership]

06:35 PM on 05/01/2010

I can't for the life of me figure how it was any difference in the financial industry. For every trade there is a willing buyer and seller. There are, of course, much higher risks. But big players -- institutional players understand risk. For every derivatives trade there is a willing short and long position.

Risk and reward are directly correlated.

[Uproar]

12:08 PM on 05/01/2010

It's gotta be a hoax. Who'd want to wait to buy such an ugly bag? It's the epitome of ugliness, and bad design.

[sheaintsayin]

11:43 AM on 05/01/2010

I love my double strapped, red Liz Claiborne, faux alligator satchel that I got from TJMaxx for 29.99 2 years ago; I modified it with gold stud 'feet' and everyone admires it; I would take the Birkin if gifted, and sell it to help with the down payment on a new home.

[cinemaven]

06:27 PM on 05/01/2010

I have that same bag and I love it!
My policy is that I'll never pay more for a handbag than I normally have in my wallet so $29.99 is about my limit.
(went to fan you.. and realized I already have *lol*)

[sheaintsayin]

07:05 PM on 05/01/2010

;-> I swear, every time I go into TJ Maxx with that bag draped over my shoulders (as I go on the hunt for a potential new one), someone asks if I'm going to buy it; cracks me up! I just love it, and It fits under my arm perfectly! I also have the matching LC wallet, bought separately.

[Brian Gorrell]

11:47 PM on 05/01/2010

Excellent!

[brent777]

11:27 AM on 05/01/2010

Makes me wanna start buying the knock offs from China out of spite.

[sheaintsayin]

11:46 AM on 05/01/2010

I agree with the sentiment; I do now try to purchase goods from US first, and from countries like Spain, Portugal and Nicaragua as opposed to China - somehow it makes me feel better. And, it also keeps me far, far away from wal-mart.

[Graceless]

03:26 PM on 05/03/2010

Hermes bags aren't made in China. They are handmade in France, and pay their employees *extremely* well.

[thehuff]

07:11 AM on 05/01/2010

Hermes was clever for many years. They supplied their stores with fewer Birkin's than demand required. This created a feeding frenzy, and caused the "gray market" for Birkins. Now, with the global recession, Hermes is having great difficulty selling their $150 bottles of cologne, $400 scarves, and $3000 watches. So, they have resorted to making the Birkin more readily available (it's out on the selling floor available for purchase). Everyone who was previously told that their was a "two year waiting list" can now purchase a Birkin without waiting. This is helping Hermes' bottom line greatly. While their fragrance/watches/silk biz is down around 35%, their leathergoods biz is up. Doesn't take too many Birkin's, about $9500 each, to make up for lost perfume sales. Of greater importance though is what will happen now that the Birkin is no longer "exclusive" to the uber-rich and famous? Is the cache gone? Will this kill the demand totally and therefore lower Hermes' sales figures overall? Will they find themselves selling less cologne, silk, watches AND Birkins? If so, then what?
Furthermore, Hermes has made several cost-cutting changes to their original business model of "hand made, hand stitched" luxury leathergoods. Twenty years ago a Birkin was entirely produced by hand, by a single craftsperson, totally hand-stitched. Now portions of the bag are machine made, machine stitched. The quality of a new Birkin is not the same as one purchased just ten years ago. Has quantity replaced quality at Hermes?

[invirginia]

06:30 PM on 05/01/2010

At $9,000 per bag, the Birkin will still remain "exclusive."

[ClosetDesigner]

02:04 AM on 05/01/2010

The bag is signature status for wealth and there are trying to keep it that way given the competition. The recession has affected them so they have to open up their signature bag since the popularity from the wealthy has decreased along with the nonwealth of the dreamers who want to have these bags for status. www.stylemycloset.com

[thehuff]

01:08 PM on 05/01/2010

Exactly. A good percentage of Hermes clients are "aspirational shoppers", and those are the ones that are most effected right now by the financial climate. Hence the big drop in scarves, ties, cologne, watches.