Posts about Bottega Veneta
Hi everyone! Very happy to be here and to have discovered reps for the first time this past month. Thanks to everyone who has shared their knowledge. This will be my first review! So please be gentle with me :)
I'm a little obsessed with BV, and this bag has been on my radar for ages. I was so excited when I saw it in a couple rep's albums. The dopamine rush got the better of me and I ended up pulling the trigger really quickly. I heard Linda was good at BV bags, so I went with her. Details below, but it was totally seamless and a great process.
I'm afraid for the future of my wallet.
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Disclosure: None, I told the seller I was going to post about it but didn't ask for anything in return
Seller: Linda, who was great to work with.
Contact Info: +86 136 3135 9060
Price: $244
Shipping: $75 via FedEx
Timeline:
SO FAST!! I first contacted Linda on May 5 to ask about the BV Andiamo as well as a Loewe puzzle bum bag (which I may review later). I pulled the trigger on both the next day and sent payment. I got the QC pics on May 10, they looked great so GL. The next day, Linda shipped the bags out. They arrived yesterday May 15, which was shockingly fast.
Pictures
[Factory photos] https://imgur.com/a/SxQA4VU I didn't ask which factory just because it didn't occur to me...
[PSPs] https://imgur.com/a/USj0sO8 I know I'm a noob, but these looked SO good to me. I was thrilled. The only concern I had was about the stamping of the logo on the hardware.
[Your Photos] https://imgur.com/a/0qUR6o8 I'm sorry about my cuticles
*****Quality * - 9/10. No weird smells, the leatherwork is really intricate and well-done. At first glance, it looks like it should hold up well over time. I worry a little bit about the cord being able to carry a lot of weight, but it's a small bag so shouldn't be a big issue. It stands up pretty well on flat surfaces. The engraving on the metal piece looks exactly like the BV website. It feels like an expensive bag.
Accuracy - 9/10. I have to caveat this: I've never seen this bag in real life. I live near a BV store so I'm tempted to make a visit just to see... probably without my rep :) But I did look at dozens of images online. At first, I was worried the top stitching on the rep was kind of a giveaway. But I realized the auth bag has very similar stitching. The leather might be a touch shinier than the auth, hence the deduction. If anyone has a real one of these, I'd love to hear your thoughts. The details on the bag are spot-on though. One thing I was worried about was the bottom edges not being rounded enough. In pictures of the auth, the bottom of the bag looks slightly rounded. The rep is slightly more square. I don't know if it's such a noticeable difference, especially one the bag is full.
Rep Satisfaction Rating- 9/10. I think this could pass for the real deal, even in a BV store. I do want to go find out, though. And would love to hear the expertise of this group!
Seller Satisfaction Rating 10/10. Part of this may be due to my lack of experience and not asking questions other buyers might ask, but Linda was extremely responsive and helpful. I think now that I've been reading all the reviews in here I may start asking more specific questions about factorys, etc, as this may have all been beginners' luck. But that one-week ship time was really impressive to me considering some of the stories I read on here. Also, really nice they give you the box and the shopping bag (why? haha). Both the bags I bought also had care instructions inside from 'the brand". Not certificates of auth or anything, but extra paraphernalia that would make it all seem more real.
CPR [Cost Performance Ratio]: I'd have to say yes. These bags sell for over 4k, even the small ones like this. Spending ~275$ is an amazing savings.
The Wrap Up: I'd want to look at the real deal up-close before being ballsy enough to wear this into a store. I think if I felt even more confident about the rep after seeing the auth, I'd let an SA handle it. For science. If they say it's fake, not a huge loss since I can't exactly afford the real deal so I won't be a return customer to BV haha.
Thank you all for any input! Would love to know what anyone with an auth thinks of this one. And an enormous thank you to all the Wagoon Ladies. I feel like a new chapter of my life has begun. A chapter where I dress like I've won the lottery. And in a way... haven't we all?
Disclosure
I am not affiliated with any sellers, the seller (Reykey) is not aware that I am reviewing; I received no discounts or incentives, nor did I ask for any in the first place.
The following review is for the Bottega Veneta Non-padded Cassette in Black.
A bit of background; I purchased the same non padded Cassette in auth from Bloomies last April. The auth is in Caramel(brown), and I was using it quite frequently enough that my reptile brain decided that i needed a “backup” or “beater” version of it which I wouldn’t have to baby as much. Hence the rep purchase was of a black version. Once I like a certain style, I have the tendency to collect the same bag but in different colors (and Im pretty sure a lot of folks here have the same line of thinking, amirite?)
Seller
Reykay. I contacted her only through Whatsapp +86 131 7208 1101
Price
1230 CNY / 176.94 USD
Shipping
220 CNY via special line shipping the equivalent of DHL/Fedex in my country
Mode of Payment
Paypal Goods & Services. I ended up having to pay the 5% handling fee which made brought up my total payment to 221 USD.
Timeline
April 11 – inquiry about the bag availability, Reykey initially offered a bag from Jing Factory which would have cost 1200CNY but I wanted a bag from Bibi factory which cost 30CNY more. I pay the same day.
April 14 – I request for status update, Reykay replied saying it will need 2 more days.
April 17 – PSPs received for the outside of the bag, and blurry pictures of the inside of the bag. I request for an additional picture, specifically for the “made in Italy” tag
April 21 – the requested PSP picture was only sent four days after, which seems an unreasonably long time to me, considering that it is only a close-up picture of the insides of the bag that is already with the seller. I GL the bag and it is shipped the same day. I ask for a parcel tracking number; Reykay tells me to ask after 3 days.
April 24 – I request for parcel tracking number again, Reykay says to ask again in 2 days.
April 27 – the bag arrives, although I never did quite receive the tracking number at all.
Pictures
Comparison of Auth VS Rep. I have marked in red where I have noticed where they differ
Quality
8.5 /10 I am very satisfied with this bag. I am not in LOVE with it, but I will say that I like it very much. When I first took it out from its securely packaged box, there was a very mild fufu smell that dissipated within the day. The leather is very smooth and supple. There are inconsistencies in the grain that one would expect from real leather. It feels like real lambskin. The leather on it feels a bit delicate in the sense that I think I will have to baby this bag same as how I treat the auth! On the upside, the black color is great in the sense that I won’t have to worry about stains or marks as much. The outside of the rep bag is very well made; the construction of the inside pouch not as much. The rep weighs as much as the auth; they are both lightweight and easy pick up and go casual bags. The rep came with a dustbag but no care cards at all which I found strange.
Accuracy 7.5/10
Since I have the auth, I will be more stricter in assessing the accuracy of the bag; I will deduct .25 point for every inconsistency I point out.
I have been to the Bottega Veneta boutique and had the chance to handle the auth in black for a quick minute so I was able to verify some things as well.
The silver hardware on the auth is more matte than the rep, and leather outside is not as shiny as the rep’s. (no pic for this as I felt sheepish in taking pictures of the auth black bag in the store).
The inside pouch is too wide that it has started to curl up against the side of the bag pic
The zipper pull hardware has a bottega veneta engraved logo which the auth does not have pic
Side by side comparison
Difference in the logo font and kerning pic
The zipper pull on the inside pouch has more number of stitches pic
The sides of the bag have a triangle shaped stitching which attaches the strap to the main bag. This triangle has more stitches on the left, and is a bigger triangle overall pic
The strap holes/grommets do not align with an approximate difference of 1 cm. pic
Where the strap ends also is different, the strap on the rep is longer. On the auth, it ends on the middle of the bag, on the rep it ends more than halfway pic
This part of the strap is hard to describe, which is why its better to see the picture; the loop on the rep strap is noticeably bigger pic
The magnet lock on the bag flap is bigger on the rep pic
Materials/Construction
Very good. Mild fufu smell that thankfully dissipated within the day. The bag strap is very slightly curved from how the bag was stored and packaged, but it does not bother me. The bag feels expensive and well-made.
Rep Satisfaction Rating
9/10 The devil is in the details. And there are quite a lot of little inconsistencies when you really examine this bag up close and personal. Surprisingly, it did not detract from my overall satisfaction with the bag. As a bag in itself, I like how simple and minimal it is while still looking interesting because of its flat woven pattern (I prefer the large flat woven pattern over the padded version).
I like that it has no visible logo or branding, the fact that its BLACK, and the way it still holds its structure even when filled to capacity (a powerbank, two phones, a cardholder wallet, lipstick, compact concealer). I plan to use this bag in frequent rotation which is for me approximately 5x a month and given this type of usage I think it will last me a long time.
Seller Satisfaction Rating
7/10 - When I initially looked up reviews for Reykay as a seller, I must have looked up some pretty old ones as they spoke of her/him as responsive and fast. Sadly this was not my experience. From my initial reach out to her, it took a day or more than to get back to me, and even in the case of asking for an additional psp, it took more time than I expected for Reykay to provide it. I had to keep nudging and double messaging to get a reply. And I dislike doing that, as I can often imagine myself being on the other side of the transaction, and do not want to be that annoying follow-upper. To Reykay’s credit, when I gave the final GL, when he/she said it would ship that same day, it probably did, and the parcel was delivered to me in less than 7 days (though I never got a tracking number).
CPR
9.25/10 I have rated it high on the cost per wear factor scale due to fact thats its only costs a fraction of the auth, and in itself is a well made and constructed bag and i can easily see this bag working with 100% of my outfits. I am glad about the fact that the bag I received looks and feels better than the PSPs and factory pictures. I am happy that I ordered from Bibi factory rather than Jing though I would say, ordering this style in another color from Jing factory is not entirely out of the question. I have worn it twice already since purchase ; 2nd time of wearing out, my klutzy ass spilled some mayo on it, and I felt a bit of mild panic, till I remembered it was a rep, and wiped my worries and the mayo away with some baby wipes.
The Wrap Up 8/10
Im an oldtimey baghag, and I have been collecting auths and reps since my early 20s. I have gone through phases of obsession with particular styles (looking at you, my tower of Celine tofu bags), so in some way I can say that I’ve seen the trends come and go and Im finally at a stage where I no longer feel that itch to catch every IT bag out there. Is this what they call purse peace?
Anyway I was a happy lurker/occasional poster on RIPladies, but went on a hiatus when I had a baby so this is my first rep in 3 years. I currently have a small and curated collection and this latest addition has been carefully considered in terms of how often I’d actually get to use it and how it fits with my lifestyle and (lack of) fashion sense. I would say this bag is not calloutable from even up close, given its color and style.
I would sashay OUTSIDE the Bottega Veneta store wearing it. I would be confident wearing this bag around family and friends, some of who are quite familiar with the latest Bottega Veneta bag styles. I obviously would not let an SA handle it or look at it closely due to the inconsistencies listed above.
Thank you for your time reading my review, and I hope my contribution helps anybody considering purchasing this bag :)
I read that there are a few of you wonderful wagoon ladies that also ordered this bag, so I am keen to hear your thoughts as well! Without any further ado, here is my honest review ~
Disclosure
I am not being paid or compensated for this review, and I didn’t ask the seller for permission before writing this review.
Seller Details
Amelia
Link to Album
Whatsapp: +86 18319540795
Prices & Shipping
Small andiamo in the color travertine: 1580 CNY = $229.72
Shipping: 360 CNY via UPS (for 2 bags) = $52.34
Paid with Paypall FF ($4.99 fee)
For reference, I did check the price with Reykay too. She quoted 1680 CNY = $244.26
Timeline
3/29 - I messaged Amelia to ask about pricing. I paid the same day.
4/12 - PSPs sent. After some back and forth, I GL’d the same day. After 3 hrs, she sent me the shipping slip. The tracking number never really tracked/worked. She made a point to let me know that she gave me the wrong price for shipping and lost 35 CNY (about $5). I wasn’t sure how to handle that, so I asked if she would like me to pay the difference, and she said, “up to you.”
4/17 - So the tracking number never really worked for me, but the bags magically arrived at my doorstep!
Pictures
Album reference photos, Bibi factory
My Photos I wrote notes here to document any issues from my review.
In-store auth in a different color that I tried on and took additional pictures of the inside stamping - I am 5'1 for reference
Quality - 8.25/10
Overall, nice quality.
Leather stamping: looks even and centered on the bag base and inside divider.
Stitching: clean, straight and no loose threads.
Leather edges: good, looks even
Handle construction looks good as well.
Hardware: The inside zipper is smooth, and all of the grommets lay flat. The gold knot clip on the front works as expected, and the Bottega Veneta lettering looks evenly stamped on there as well. It has a good weight to it. I think if I’m not careful, the gold knot could get scratched because I see a tiny scratch. It’s difficult to tell because of reflections on the brass, so no points off for that. The magnet closure lines up well.
Leather feel: buttery smooth! The leather on the auth bags I felt was on the dry side.
UPDATE after visiting my local BV again: The other auth bags I felt had comparable, decent leather (not as dry).
Bag/hardware coloring: no quality issues, but see below for accuracy
Rope strap: Looks good overall, but I did find teeny, tiny scratches in 2 areas. I’ll include a picture in my photos pointing them out, but it’s pretty hard to notice them. Hopefully it doesn’t tear any further, but it's hardly noticeable.
UPDATE: My rope strap tore, and there are others saying the same happened to them, so I'm going to take a point off. It tore in such a way that the strap is still usable, though. I haven't fixed it yet. (-1.0)
Intrecciato Weave: Lays flat and is even throughout the bag.
However, the top where the weave starts is not as close to the top stitches (see my comparison pics). I at first thought this was a huge quality callout when I first got my PSPs, but now holding the bag in real life, this could just be a medium quality callout. For reference, I notice it more if my face is within 1.5 ft of the bag, less noticeable at 2 ft away, and not very noticeable greater than 3 ft away. (-0.5)
UPDATE after visiting my local BV again: yeah the auth bags are consistent with having the weave close to the top seam, but honestly I stopped noticing.
This is less noticeable, especially with how the bag sides fold, but I’m not sure if the intrecciato weave should be broken by the back stitching of the grommets. I don’t think it looks very clean, so I’m taking a small point deduction. I’ll make a comment about this in the accuracy section as well (-0.25).
Dust bag quality notes: This has a good weight and feels thick/heavier than the usual thin dust bag, but I noticed all of the newer BV dust bags online are white/canvas with green lettering. The drawstring on the rep dust bag is black instead of white. The lettering on the bag is perfect - the font looks good, the serif is correct on all of the letters, and it is spaced evenly/centered. Bonus - it included a green knit rope that’s usually woven together as an embellishment on bag boxes.
Accuracy - 7.75/10
Unfortunately, the small andiamo was out of stock at my local BV store. They won’t be in stock until next month, so I haven’t had a chance to handle one. This comparison will be based on photos and videos I see online and the leather I felt on other BV bags in-store.
UPDATE: I went back and looked at a different-colored small andiamo bag. See my notes below.
The color looks really, really close to auth!
At a glance: All of the pockets and general bag shape seem to be correct. I still would like to verify this in-store, but the biggest potential callout is how close the travertine rep color is to the auth. I tried looking at different monitors and screens, different unboxing videos and the actual website to compare, but it’s really difficult. Most of the videos and photos show the auth bag looking slightly more of a yellow green while the rep is a green/cooler green. Second callout would be how the intrecciato weave does not touch the top seam. Third callout would be the gold knot color and construction (more details below). Other than those discrepancies, it’s a nice bag. All of the other details seem pretty close.
Dimensions:
Ok, I don’t know if I’m just not using a ruler right or if all of these dimensions are all a little off. To summarize, all of the dimensions are in the realm of 10% within auth measurements, but I don’t think that’s a big deal because the bag isn’t very structured. I could not tell without a ruler, but maybe if it’s next to an auth it could be noticeable (-0.25).
Auth Height: 22 cm | 8.7"
Rep Height: about 7.75” to the top of the bag, or 9.75” to the top of the handle
Auth Width: 25 cm | 9.8"
Rep Width: about 10”
Auth Depth: 10.5 cm | 4.1"
Rep Depth: about 4.5” at the base, then tapers to 2.75” near the top
Auth Handle drop: 8 cm | 3.1"
Rep Handle drop: about 2.25” to the bottom of the handle, or 2.75” from the top of the handle
Auth Strap drop: 50 cm | 19.7"
Rep Strap drop: about 18”
Materials/Construction
Bag Color: As I mentioned in the beginning of this section, the travertine color might be off, but I need to verify this in-store. The auth travertine might be a bit lighter and/or lean more towards a green-yellow shade while the rep is a shade darker and a little cooler. While this could be due to screen lighting, I checked on multiple monitors and screens with different lighting settings and found there were consistently still some shade differences between those and my rep. I’m going to mark a small deduction, but it could be a larger deduction after more research (-0.25).
Intrecciato Weave: The weave pattern looks correct, and even the number of weave squares for the height and width online matched my rep. I can’t verify the weave cuts that appear over the back stitches on the grommet like I mentioned in the quality section. I still want to take a small point deduction for the weave not touching the top seam since it’s a more obvious callout, but this issue lives mainly in the quality section (-0.25).
Handles/straps: Both the braided strap and top handle strap look accurate.
Leather feel/edges: The leather edges look accurate, and as I mentioned in the quality section, the leather felt even softer/better than the bags at my local BV. The texture of the straps and weave also feel good and look accurate to the texture online.
UPDATE after visiting my local BV: auth leather felt a bit stiffer, but not by much. I wouldn't take any more points off.
Leather Text/fonts: The inside bottom stamp looks good! It’s the correct font and is centered. The accuracy of the stamp on the top of the bag divider is too hard to discern. I didn’t have any clear, straight-on shots to compare it to. Mainly I was trying to check the serif again. I have 2 semi-decent shots of the bag divider on the medium andiamo, and as far as I can tell, it is san-serif. Since I am struggling so much and am tired of staring at it, I’m not going to take any points off.
Hardware color: The photos online seem like they might have a deeper gold color on the knot. It’s difficult to tell, so I’ll need to update this post after looking at the real bag. I’m not taking points off because it looks pretty close.
Hardware: The inside gold grommets look good. However, the spaces where the brass knot “strands” overlap on itself are not very defined, and I suspect that they have more definition on the auth. It is looking a little “webbed” together, and an even closer inspection of the brass strands show the bonding is a little shallow (-0.25).
Additionally, 2 strand connections where they overlap with the side loops are flat. This doesn’t seem to be true on the auth (-0.25).
I think the auth knot is shinier than the rep knot, but I might be able to polish it more myself. The rep gold knot however does look more yellow than the auth. I think I've seen a hardware color fix floating around on our sub, but I haven't tried it yet (-0.5).
Hardware fonts: The auth letters look like they are engraved deeper than the rep letters. Either that, or there might have been some ink in the auth lettering. EDIT: this is more noticeable now that I looked at the auth irl again, so I'm taking off a point (-0.25).
I think the letters are slightly closer together, and the auth letters are spaced out by 1 unit or so more - very slight.
I believe that the font on the knot is incorrect. The rep letters are similar to the auth in font size, shape of the B and short crosses on the T’s. However, the rep is san-serif, and the auth looks like it has teeny, tiny serif feet on the letters. Some of the letter strokes on the auth have thin and thick lines while the rep line width is uniform (-0.25).
Stitching: The color of the stitching matches the rep bag leather well. If I’m right that the rep travertine is a little off, then the rep stitch color would also be off. The stitching on the inside and on the handles/straps looks good, and the placement of the stitches looks accurate. Overall, it’s very clean in this regard.
Authentication tag: I read on authentication websites that BV bags have a paper authentication tag with a serial number sewn in. My rep mini jodie has one, but I don’t see one on my andiamo. I scoured the internet to see if any andiamo online has a picture of the tag, but I don’t see any. Since I’m not sure if it exists on the auth, I won’t take any points off.
Rep Satisfaction Rating - 8.5/10
My wish for every rep is that the quality/accuracy issues stay on the inside of the bag. This bag was pretty close, but since the price was fairly average compared to other reps, I’m not sure that’s enough to overlook them! Still, it’s a cute bag, and I feel that since BV is a lesser worn brand in my area, I have plenty of places where I can wear this bag without it being called out as a rep.
Note: If I go to the store and find that this travertine color is way off from the auth, I will knock this rating down a notch to an 8.5.
Additional Note: Since my strap broke, I'm still knocking this rating down to an 8.5. I barely had anything in my bag. I think I might just wear it without the strap since the gold knot is not very accurate too.
Seller Satisfaction Rating - 6.5/10
True to what many others have written, Amelia is not the bubbliest seller to deal with. The highs are very high, though. She was the cheapest seller, a quick replier and a fast shipper. She is pretty defensive when it comes to anything you point out in the PSPs, and some of her messages have . . . attitude? I know now that Bibi factory doesn’t allow returns or exchanges, but I’ve heard of some sellers that allow you to exchange for a different kind of bag altogether (I think I read that Anna might do that). I was worried the most about how the intrecciato weave was noticeably far from the top seam, but she wasn’t giving me any options to exchange the bag for another one or a different type. I’m not sure if this was her way of trying to discredit my claim or offer consolation, but she pointed out that 10 others GL’d the same bag already. Well. Will I buy from Amelia again? To phrase this differently, I have sworn many times that I will never fly Spirit airlines again because of the headache, but just last weekend I flew Spirit. Sometimes you want a deal and just can’t beat those prices.
CPR [Cost Performance Ratio] - 9/10
So the small andiamo sells for $4,100, and I paid about $260 (split shipping in half since I bought another bag in the same order). That’s less than the 10% mark, so pretty good. For the size of this bag, I would never see myself paying the auth price, so $260 seems agreeable. It’s cute and versatile, so I’ll give it a higher rating.
The Wrap Up - 7.8/10
I’m a bit nervous to wear it inside a BV store because of the potential color match and the weave issue on the top. Even if those were not issues, I wouldn’t let an SA handle it because of the gold/brass knot construction. With that, maybe it’s ok if I wear it in certain large department stores that sell luxury brands. I feel comfortable wearing it out and around the city, though.
EDIT: Yeah, I'd wear it in front of the SA without the strap or with the strap over my shoulder w/ my hair covering the gold knot. The color is spot on even though the gold knot is not.