UGG boots have a long 200 years history. They became very popular and fashionable since 2003 and are still very popular worldwide. At the same time a lot of UGGS on offline shops and e-markets including eBay ar fakes.
There is a simple instruction to help you recognize if UGG boots are fake or genuine.
1) The bottom of the boot is recessed with the UGG insignia in a Classic tall or short Authentic Ugg. A fake is flat.
2) The seller says they are made in New Zealand or Australia for a Classic Tall or Classic Short. Uggs are Manufactured by Deckers Inc. They have been making them in China for the past 3 years. They used to make them in Australia and New Zealand but have not for 3 years or more. The uggs that are advertised as made in Australia or New Zealand are FAKES. They are not from Deckers Inc. They have copied the label and insignia but they are not from Deckers Inc. They are subject to copywright infringment as only Deckers is allowed to use the word UGG. They have also copied Deckers labels and boxes.
4) The ones that are fake do not have a raised insignia on the bottom of the soles.
5) You can report to UGG Australia any fake ones you see on ebay at the bottom of an auction of a Fake Ugg click on Report this Item.
6) Ugg Australia has required any Authorized Ugg Dealer to promise and sign an agreement not to sell on ebay. This is from the Deckers Web site: “eBay Sellers/On-Line Auctions and Trade Boards:
UGG® Australia does NOT authorize any of its dealers to sell on eBay, any other on-line auctions or trade boards. UGG® Australia’s agreements with its dealers prohibit sales on auction sites. Accordingly, UGG® Australia does not offer its limited warranty or rebates for products purchased on these sites and will not assist with resolution of any disputes including assistance with Pay Pal refund requests.” If the price is below retail then it is most likey a fake as only Ebay sellers who buy the boots retail are allowed to sell on Ebay. So if theya re buying them retail with tax and having to pay ebay and pay pal fees and they are not seconds and are grade a boots they will be selling for more than retail. Any boots you see being sold less are usually fakes. The price of the boot is a good indicator for a fake.
7) The quality of the stitching on the fakes is very bad.
8) The box is different: Genuine Ugg Box is one piece with a flip open lid attached. It is a strong sturdy box. The words “UGG Australia are wrten in the middle of the lid. The Ugg Logo is a starbust orange sun. It is not big but small. Ugg now as of May 2007 has a new box. It is a box with a seperate lid.9) The Care Booklet that comes with the boots is in white. It has the words “Ugg Australia” embossed in silver. This means the letters are raised. You can feel them when you put your finger over them. Fake ones are badly printed and in silver. The pictures in the booklet are sharp and clear. The fakes ones are not. They have been scanned and printed in color and appear fuzzy or unclear. The colors are exaggerated.As of June of 2007 the Care booklet has been replaced with a cream colored card and an insert also in the beige color. Ugg no longer puts the white booklet in the box with the boots made after June of 2007.
10) Fake Uggs do not run a size larger as the real uggs do.
11) Fake Uggs are smaller with a wider ankle.
12) Fake Uggs are taller than real uggs.
13) The heel of a fake Uggs is much narrower than a authentic UGG
14) Some fakes are not sheepskin but wool dyed and will smell of the dye. it smells of paint/lacquer which comes from the dye used on the synthetic materials.16) The UGG label on the rear of the boots is higher up on a fake and the lettering is different from the genuine Ugg. The letters may have gaps between them in the fake in the real they are overlapping.
15) The shape of the front part of the fake ugg is shorter and goes up at more of an angel than the genuine UGG which has a rounder longer finish.
16) The Black Uggs have a black Sole and a Black Label with Ugg in white. The fake have tan soles and a brown label.
17) The sole in a real ugg is flexible. The fakes are rigid.
18) The sole in a real ugg is about a half inch or more, the sole of a fake ugg is very very thin maybe 1/4 inch.
19) The height can be either taller or shorter than the authentic Ugg. One classic tall received recently from a fake was 10 inches tall for a size 6 US compared to 12 1/2″ 6 US for the authentic UGG. This means that the fake is not much taller than a classic short.
20) The box is different: Genuine Ugg Box is one piece with a flip open lid attached. It is a strong sturdy box. The words “UGG Australia are written in the middle of the lid. The Ugg Logo is a starbust orange sun. It is not big but small.
As of April 2007, Ugg is making the box with a seperate lid. The top of the box is no longer attached to the bottom. There is a big sunburst on top and ‘ugg australia’. The side of the lid has www.uggaustralia.com.
21) The fake may have a blue label pinned to it or a brown cloth protection bag which says “Snow Boots” – these are not provided with Deckers Uggs.22) The font of the inside label on a fake is different from a Genuine UGG. and the outside label will have the ‘australia’ in a bolder font on the fake .
The label inside a Classic UGG should say made in China. If it says made in New Zealand or Austraia it is a fake.
22) The selller leaves out any mention of Deckers in his description. He is selling Australian Uggs but not Deckers Uggs. Don’t be fooled by this if you want Deckers Uggs. The box used is similar and copies Deckers Box and Logo, but they are not Deckers Uggs. If you email the seller he will tell you that he does not sell Deckers Uggs. An unsuspecting buyer sees authentic and thinks they are getting Deckers . The seller i is sellling “authentic” australian uggs and leaves out any mention of Deckers.
23) Follwoing is a wonderful guide with pictures sent to me
by an ebayer who had purchased fakes for his daughter.
Some additive information about how to spot fake (Decker Inc) UGG Australia boots.
Within Australia, the term “UGG Boot” is a generic term and can be used by anybody selling within Australia to describe their boots. Outside Australia the term “UGG Boot” is protected by registered trademark and can only be used to describe UGG boots sold by Deckers Outdoor Corporation (Deckers Inc). In addition, Deckers have also registered “UGG Australia” to describe their UGG boots worldwide. These boots ARE protected and not surprisingly it is these “UGG Australia” boots that are being faked by the thousands on eBay. In fact at the moment its safe to say that the vast majority of Decker UGGS for sale on eBay are fakes!
2) In the UK, the shops are nearly always low or out of stock of these boots especially the Classic Tall or Classic Short styles and the fakers are having a field day. Some of the fake Deckers “UGG Australia” boots are exceedingly good and even when placed next to genuine ones will take some spotting! This guide will hopefully help you to spot them as many people are being duped.
3)Historically, many of the fakes were sold by sellers (with either low or zero feedback) in The Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Greece, Italy, Turkey, Spain, Australia, Poland, Russia, China, (including Hong Kong) and the Czech Republic. Recently though, the majority of the fake dealers are from the UK, USA and Australia. The deliberate fake dealers are usually easy to spot as they have zero or low feedback, use generic pictures and have tens and sometimes hundreds of boots for sale. Some of these fakes have small print that say they are not selling boots by Deckers yet they use the Decker “UGG Australia” logo on their pictures. Do not be misled buy these scams!
4)A recent scam is where the fake dealers boost their feedback to above 10 (as this is the level needed before they can sell using ‘Buy It Now’). Check that any positive feedback has been from sales and NOT from the purchase of low price e-books etc – this is a sure sign of a fake dealer! Also check that if their feedback is 100% it is from recent sales (not years ago) and also relates to UGG boots.
5 )As mentioned a lot of the UK fakes are deliberate scams (the sellers know damned well they are fakes) BUT increasingly there are innocent sellers who genuinely believe they are selling the authentic Deckers “UGG Australia” boots. They think that just because their boots have an “UGG Australia” label and care card they are the genuine article and will swear blind that their boots are ‘authentic’ but guess what – in their desire to make a fast buck they are buying the fake boots in at £10-£20 (as that is all they are worth) and then selling them on for anywhere between £80 up to £100 plus.
6 )Within the UK at the moment there are two main types of fake Decker “UGG Australia” Classic boots. One common fake comes with a blue card or brown ‘leather’ pinned on tag (some of these might say “Made by CGM Co Ltd”.) The other type will have a dust bag in a light brown or beige colour saying “UGG” or sometimes “SNOW BOOTS” Most purchasers are entirely fooled by this. No genuine UGG Australia boot has a pinned on label or comes with a dust bag or “shopping bag”! See further descriptions below.
7) As to the wholesale fraudsters, the thing that often gives the game away is where the seller is listing literally hundreds of boots. No authorised and/or genuine seller has this number of boots available as the real thing is in short supply! They will often use ‘generic’ or library pictures (quite often nicked from the UGG Australia web site). My advice is to only buy where its obvious that the picture of the boots you are buying is unique and not from a catalogue somewhere.
8 )Many of the fake UGGS will originally be shipped from China (including Hong Kong). Pretty well all boots shipped from here will be fakes. Although Decker UGG Australia boots are made in China there are NO Chinese warehouses or wholesalers authorised to sell them. So, if you are buying something that will take 8-10 days to arrive and/or is shipped via EMS and/or the seller says stock is obtained from the factory in China then this is a sure sign that they will be fakes.
9 )Another recent scam is where somebody has had their eBay account hijacked and the fraudsters actually have NO boots – they just take your money and disappear. The tell tale signs are that the seller has not sold UGG boots before but now mysteriously has hundreds for sale – all with some kind of generic photograph. One way of checking this out is to ‘Ask The Seller A Question” via their eBay account – not by direct email. This will often alert the person whose account has been hijacked that all is not well. These fraudsters also use 3 day listings so that they can clean up and go before being detected.
10) There are also some fakes that are being sold quite innocently in the UK because they were bought from the organised fakers via eBay (or web sites that have the word UGG withinthe address just to con you!) and they are found to be too small. The fact is the fake UGGS are indeed too small and this is why they are then resold. A fake size 5 (US size 7) is about 1 cm smaller in foot size than it should be. Real UGGS come up big, fake UGGS come up small)
11) As mentioned, there are many UK based dealers selling fake Decker UGGS and they are entirely unaware that they are fake! They seem to think that because the boots have a label on them saying ‘authentic’ then this is what they are. Genuine Decker UGGS NEVER NEVER have labels pinned on to them (either blue, brown or indeed with sample ‘fur’ attached)
12) The smell of a fake UGG is often a give away – it smells of paint/lacquer which comes from the dye used on the synthetic materials. The fake will often have a blue or brown leather label pinned to it and also a brown or beige cloth protection bag which says “SNOW BOOTS” – these are not provided with the genuine UGGS!! Deckers NEVER describe their UGGS as ‘Snow Boots” or provide dust bags!!
13) A genuine Deckers UGG boot has real sheepskin fur on the interior. Its fluffy looking and also thicker and a rich cream colour. The fake uses synthetic ‘fur’, is slightly grey, thinner and also small pieces of the ‘fur’ come away when rubbed. Here’s the genuine fur on the left and the fake fur on the right:-:
Finally, the outside labels are subtly different. Note how ‘australia’
is in a bolder font on the fake – which is shown on the left
According the official UGG website, UGG do not make a CAMEL colour – if your label says ‘CAMEL’ chances are they are
fakes.
14) Finally the price is a huge clue. Genuine UK sourced
Decker UGGS are at least £140 – anything substantially less and they
are probably fakes. US sourced short UGGS are at least £70 and tall
UGGS £85 – again anything less and they will probably be fakes.
10In the UK there are two main types of fake – the ones with the blue label pinned on and with a dust bag that says “snow boots” and a VERY good fake which has light brown pinned on tags that say “made by CGM Co Ltd”. The latter have the correct sole pattern and also the label that says “Made in China”. Most purchasers are entirely fooled by this.
If you have purchased a Fake Ugg you can email Deckers Outdoor Corp. DIrectly at uggip@uggaustralia.com and write to them at the above address with details. You can dispute it on pay pal and send ebay a message that the item was not as described.
Via eBay.com