Most used handbags are worth less than people hope and a few are worth far more. Michael Kors, Kate Spade and similar brands usually resell for $15-80, modern outlet Coach for $20-100, and vintage US-made Coach leather for about $50-250. The luxury houses are a different market: a Louis Vuitton Speedy 30 in Monogram sells used for roughly $400-900 and a Neverfull MM for $900-1,600, a Chanel Classic Flap in medium size for $5,000-9,000, and a Hermes Birkin or Kelly in a common leather for $10,000 and up. Within each brand, model, condition and authenticity decide where yours lands, and authenticity is the one thing a photo cannot settle.
Antique Hand-Beaded Purse with Lion Scene, Worked with the Name "Ellen Coxe" (c. 1820s-1840s)
Most likely value
$500-1,000
- Brand
- Unbranded, hand-made, no maker's mark visible
- Material
- Glass seed beads with a gilt metal frame
- Condition
- Good to very good, beadwork appears complete
Value rests on age, the fineness of the beadwork, the pictorial scene and an original frame. Missing beads, rotted thread or a replacement frame pull it down sharply.
What decides the value of a handbag?
Brand. Resale tracks brand more than anything else. Hermes and Chanel hold value best, Louis Vuitton and Goyard hold a solid share, and mass market brands like Michael Kors drop to a fraction of retail. Our inherited designer bag guide lays out the tiers.
Model and size. Within a brand, the classic models carry the market. A Louis Vuitton Neverfull MM outsells odd seasonal shapes, a Chanel Classic Flap or 2.55 Reissue outsells most other Chanel lines, and among Hermes bags an Evelyne or Garden Party sells for about $2,000-4,500 while a Birkin 25 or 30 in Togo or Epsom brings about $12,000-30,000.
Material and color. Canvas, caviar leather and Togo are durable and liquid. Exotic skins take a Hermes far higher. On vintage Coach, glove-tanned leather made in the United States is what buyers want, as our vintage Coach guide explains.
Condition. Darkened vachetta handles, rubbed corners, a stained lining or a smell can take hundreds off.
Completeness. The dust bag, box, receipt, authenticity card, lock and keys all add to the price.
Authenticity. A copy of a $9,000 Chanel is worth very little, and good fakes now pass a casual look.
How to tell if yours is one of the valuable ones
- Read the heat stamp. The brand stamp inside the bag should be crisp and even, with the right font and spacing for its era.
- Find the date code or serial. Louis Vuitton uses date codes that changed format over the decades, and from about 2021 a microchip. Our Louis Vuitton guide gives the formats by era. Chanel used serial stickers from about 1984 to 2021 and a metal plate with a microchip since, covered in our Chanel guide. Fakes copy codes, but a code that could not exist for the claimed year rules a bag out.
- Look for the Hermes blind stamp. A small uninked stamp with a year letter and an artisan code. Hermes uses no serial numbers and there is no online lookup, as the Hermes guide explains.
- Check the Coach creed patch. Vintage Coach carries a leather creed with a serial and "Made in New York" or "Made in United States". A style number starting with F points to an outlet bag worth about $20-70 used. See our Coach guide.
- Check alignment, stitching and hardware. Monogram and GG canvas should run symmetrically across seams, stitching should be even, and hardware heavy and cleanly engraved.
What to photograph
Shoot the whole bag front and back in daylight, then the base and all four corners, which show wear first. Add the heat stamp straight on, the date code, serial sticker or creed patch with good light, the hardware engravings and zipper pulls, the lining and any interior tags, and the handles where they meet the bag. For Hermes, angle a light across the blind stamp so the impression shows. An authenticator or consignor will ask for the same set.
Where to sell, and who can settle it for real
For bags worth a few hundred dollars and up, the major resale platforms authenticate in hand before any buyer sees the bag. As of October 2026, The RealReal pays 60-80 percent of the sale price on handbags over $300, Fashionphile consignors keep 70 percent up to $3,000, Vestiaire Collective takes a 17 percent fee plus 3 percent processing, and Rebag and Fashionphile both make buyout offers. eBay sends handbags of $500 or more through its own authenticators. Our guide on how to sell a designer bag compares the payouts with a worked example.
To settle authenticity before you sell, Entrupy examines the material with a microscope device and many resellers rely on it, and specialist services such as Real Authentication review detailed photos for a fee. Hermes does not authenticate for the public, so an independent Hermes specialist is the route there. Coach, Kate Spade and Michael Kors sell fine on eBay and Poshmark.
New to this? Start with the method that works for every category: how to find out what something is worth, which compares Google Lens, eBay sold listings, dealers, auctions, appraisers and photo apps.