We have a great selection of real deal Coach bags that we are extremely proud of.  How do we know they are real?  Great question.  There are a lot of knock offs out there--and a lot of high quality knock offs to boot.  Some general guidelines though can help you to discern the genuine article from the phoney baloney . . .
1.  If a Coach bag has the famous "C's" on the exterior, the "C's" should be lined up and symmetrical.  The pattern should be consistent and the "C's" should not be cut off. They should also actually be double "C's" and not a single row.

2.  Most Coach bags come with a leather logo tag attached by a beaded chain.  The logo should be raised and not engraved.  The stiching should be neat and even and the tag should match the trim on the bag.(Some authentic Coach bags do have metal logo tags--again, the logo should be raised and not engraved.)

3. Authentication tags should be sewn on, never glued, and sewn with neat and even stiching. The writing should be in all CAPS, centered, and in English.  Look closely--there should be no typos and no spelling errors.  Apparently those in the knock off biz do not have spell check.  The whole serial number thing is a bit complicated and tricky--but there are websites out there that go into all the minutia (which numbers are most often fakes, how many numbers after the dash, what the numbers stand for blah blah blah . . .) UGH.  Too OCD for me.
  

4. Coach exclusively uses the YKK zipper on all its bags.  Look for the "YKK" engraved into the side of the zipper.

5.  Dust bags should be chocolate brown with red pulls.  It should say "COACH EST. 1941" all in WHITE CAPS in the right hand corner of the bag. 

 
So, those are the basics in bogus bag detection.  Arm yourself with this knowledge and don't get duped.