While out shopping, buyers may not be thinking to check the newness of items on the shelf or rack before purchasing.
One buyer is urging other shoppers to examine any items they want to purchase from Marshalls closely, as her local store appears to have accepted a "return" on a used item that has had the tag reattached.
In a video posted to TikTok, user @bellalunashops95 shows what she believes to be an older style of a Coach shoulder bag she thinks another customer returned by adding a tag from another bag.
"Let me explain to you what this is," she says in the video while handling the suspect bag. "This is an old Coach bag. It has marks on it. It is worn. Someone brought this back and put this tag on it, and they accepted it."
The creator claims that someone owned the bag and added the tag in order to return it.
"Beware when you buy things and check them out thoroughly because Marshall's took this bag back and it is old and used," she warns. "Beware."
The Daily Dot has reached out to @bellalunashops95 and to Marshall's via email regarding the video.
@bellalunashops95 Thtis is an old style @coach at @marshalls. Someone put a tag on it and returned it. Its used and worn. But it was out in the rack for sale.
♬ original sound - bellalunashops95
This is just one potential example of a tag-switching scam that has plagued retailers for ages—aiming to obtain new merchandise without actually purchasing anything new, customers will first buy the item they actually want, and use a tagging gun easily purchased online to attach the tag to whatever they think will pass for the original item when inspected by a store clerk.
Customers at retailers like Marshalls, T.J. Maxx, and even department stores like Macy's or Saks Fifth Avenue have brought to light examples of inauthentic merchandise not only being successfully returned using the packaging of authentic items, but also being sold to unsuspecting shoppers.
Another method of using tags to score deals requires shoppers to switch tags while in-store.
Some viewers shared that they had seen similar returns happen, either as customers browsing in stores or employees processing such transactions.
"As a Marshall’s employee , I’ve seen other employees return Walmart clothing," one commenter wrote.
"Someone I worked with at the tjmaxx returned a veryyyyy used pan lol," another said.
"I saw 3 used Coach bags last holiday season at Ross!" one commented. "I couldn’t figure out why and how that happened. They were all clearly used."
Others validated what the TikToker said about the bag being an older style of Coach bag, noting that they themselves had either owned the style in the past, or been looking for it recently.
"I have that same purse, bought it used at a swap meet three years ago for like $5," one commenter wrote.
"I was gifted this bag back in middle school (2007) this is insane," another echoed.
"What’s crazy is I would pay for that bag bc I’ve wanted it for awhile," a commenter wrote.
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