Thrifter Says Value Village Repriced Chanel-Style Purse After Learning Its Value

A Washington state thrift shopper says a quick conversation with a Value Village employee may have cost her the deal of a lifetime.

Bree, an avid thrifter who shared the story on social media, said she discovered what appeared to be a Chanel Boy Bag priced at $89.99. With a discount, the purse would have cost about $80, a fraction of what an authentic Chanel bag can command on the resale market.

Excited by the find, Bree said she made the mistake of mentioning it to an employee she knew. According to Bree, the worker asked what the bag might be worth. Although she initially hesitated because she feared the item would be repriced, she eventually revealed its potential value after the employee appeared uninterested.

That, she claims, turned out to be a costly error.

After leaving the store to run errands, Bree returned hoping to continue shopping but could no longer find the handbag. She later spotted a Chanel-branded purse and a Yves Saint Laurent-branded purse displayed in a locked case with a price tag of roughly $1,700. The discovery convinced her that store staff had taken a second look at the item after learning what it might be worth.

The experience left Bree with a blunt lesson for fellow bargain hunters.

“Don’t trust the people there. They’re not your friends,” she said in the video.

The story quickly struck a nerve with other thrift shoppers, many of whom said they never discuss potentially valuable finds with employees until a purchase is complete. Others said they routinely keep designer labels covered up while carrying items through a store for the same reason.

Not everyone was convinced the bag was genuine, however. Several commenters argued that an authentic Chanel purse would be unlikely to end up on a thrift-store shelf at such a low price. Bree later acknowledged that she believed the purse was actually a high-end counterfeit rather than the real thing.

That revelation sparked a separate discussion about the sale of counterfeit luxury goods. Knowingly selling fake designer merchandise can violate both federal and state laws, though proving a retailer intentionally offered counterfeit products can be difficult.

The viral tale ultimately served as a cautionary story for thrift shoppers everywhere: if you stumble across what looks like an incredible bargain, the safest move may be to buy it first and talk about it later. After all, as Bree’s experience suggests, loose lips can sink thrift-store scores.