<h1> Buying Bags</h1>

Most of us are flying away on vacation these days with a list of things to buy from distant lands - and if you're anything like me, you probably have a handbag or two on that list. Now if you're heading to Italy, please be warned - don't be tempted to buy designer bags off street vendors.

I had heard of this happening last year on Italian news and possibly even something similar the year before, so reading about it in the news again for the third year running, just a few weeks ago made me go ..... "don't these people ever read the papers?"

Imagine the scenario - one very excited holiday lady.... Venice.... a Senegalese vendor... lots of handbags with designer names.... great temptation especially when the vendors asks $8 for a Louis Vuitton purse... What!?

The lady falls for it and suddenly finds herslef close to being arrested and lands a fine of .......$1200 for her bargain purchase. A double whammy!

The thing is... when we buy counterfeit products, we are encouraging people to sell them more often. This in turn is bad business news for the big brands who depend on their products' exclusive genuineness to keep their business flourishing and hundreds of personnel in employment. I won't go into the issue of cheap labour which is probably used anyway to make the counterfeit copies but..... the fact is... save yourself a hassle - When in Italy avoid buying counterfeit bags from street corner vendors.

Photo credit - Marc Smith on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/marc_smith/3432301435/