The Personal Shopper job has been around for decades, providing a service to help clients get their favorite luxury items. However, some big luxury brands have spread a misconception about personal shoppers and resellers, claiming that they are engaged in illegal activities such as buying counterfeit products, stealing from stores, or reselling products without permission. These claims have certainly caused the public to ask: Is it illegal to be a personal shopper? Is it illegal to buy and sell luxury items?

In the following article, we will show you the reasons why the personal shopper job is a legal activity and a legit service, we will debunk the myths and misconceptions surrounding the honorable job of luxury personal shoppers and luxury resellers. Keep reading and find out!
 

1. Is it illegal to buy and sell luxury items?
2. Luxury brands’ interests
3. Personal shoppers’ misconceptions
4. The dark side of the luxury market
5. Is it illegal to be a personal shopper?

Is it illegal to buy and sell luxury items?

Buying and selling has been the base for almost every business that has been created in the modern world. Every single store and service has been related to buying and selling at some point because it is part of a healthy economy.

For this reason, there are services such as insurance brokerages, real estate, car consignments, and luxury resale marketplaces. They provide a service that customers are willing to pay for because they need an experienced intermediary to guide them in their purchase or to provide an easy way to get what they need.

In the case of luxury personal shoppers and luxury resellers, they provide a service to acquire the products for their clients, helping them with a faster purchase, and visiting the official stores when their clients are not able to do it or they don’t have the time. Therefore, the service of buying and selling to customers is a valid activity, and it is a service that provides a comfortable way to purchase luxury items.

So this answers the question, the personal shoppers and luxury resellers are not doing anything illegal by buying and selling a product, they are exchanging a service and an expertise for a price.

Luxury brands’ interests

The luxury brands' negative attitude towards personal shopping is often due to their concern about the resale of their products. Luxury brands prefer to sell their products through their official stores and authorized retailers, rather than through personal shoppers who may resell the products, and although this is a valid concern, it must be clarified that personal shopping does not infringe on any intellectual property or trademark laws, and it is not illegal to resell luxury items that have been legally purchased.

In this way, it is evident that luxury brands spread rumors and misconceptions about personal shoppers and luxury resellers, to avoid customers buying luxury products through personal shoppers, because this means that they lose a sale to the final customer, even if they’re still receiving money through the purchase that personal shoppers and resellers make in their official stores. 

So instead of working alongside personal shoppers, as most of the minor fashion brands do, the big luxury brands avoid personal shoppers at all costs and try to shut down their services by giving them a bad reputation and refusing to sell them limited edition items, because these are usually the most expensive ones, and they don’t want personal shoppers or resellers to benefit from these products.

Luxury brands act upon their interests of keeping every customer and feeding the exclusivity image that they need to stay relevant in the luxury market. The luxury brands’ perception in the public eye is an important element to their success and one of the main factors that makes people buy their items, therefore it brings them money to sustain their exclusivity.

Personal shoppers’ misconceptions

One of the biggest misconceptions about personal shopping is that it is illegal. Some luxury brands have even threatened legal action against personal shoppers, claiming that they are engaged in illegal activities such as buying counterfeit products, stealing from stores, or reselling products without permission.

However, personal shopping is completely legal, as long as the personal shopper operates within the law. Personal shoppers are not engaging in any illegal activity when they shop for luxury items for their clients. In fact, personal shopping is a legitimate career choice that provides a valuable service to clients who want to purchase luxury accessories.

The negative image that luxury brands try to impose on personal shoppers is making it hard for them to fulfill their job, causing them to hide their identity and act as if they were regular clients, forcing them to attend multiple times to different stores to get all the items that their customers need.

This situation shouldn’t happen if luxury brands worked alongside personal shoppers, like in many other minor fashion brands, where personal shoppers are hired by the brand and are paid commissions for their sales. This is also a common practice with celebrity personal shoppers who are allowed to purchase on behalf of their clients.

These outrageous misconceptions fed by the major luxury brands are interfering with the personal shoppers’ job, and it can even drive away potential candidates that may want to become personal shoppers, once again shutting down every effort that these professionals make to provide an honest and legal service.

The dark side of the luxury market

Through the years there have been some controversial situations around the luxury market, most of them involving the counterfeiting of luxury items, money laundering, and even theft of official merchandise. All of these negative sides of the vast luxury market gave fuel to the misconceptions and accusations that luxury brands throw at personal shoppers and luxury resellers since they seize this controversial news to blame them and keep canceling them.

And although some of the people involved in these unfortunate situations labeled themselves as “personal shoppers” or “luxury resellers”, neither of them acted as such nor provided a real and legally registered service but instead delved into the world of counterfeiting and scamming. 

Sadly, these past criminal acts have contributed to the growing misconceptions about the personal shopper job, and the media disinformation makes it even more difficult for the public to understand the truth, that personal shoppers are legitimate workers trying to make a living and helping their clients in the best possible way. 

We want to clarify that no personal shopper or luxury reseller has been arrested or sentenced for the simple fact of buying products in official stores to sell them to their customers since this activity is completely legal and allowed in all of the countries where the luxury brands’ stores are located.

Is it illegal to be a personal shopper?

Finally, after debunking the myths and misconceptions about the personal shopper job, we need to ask again: Is it illegal to be a personal shopper? The answer is no, the personal shopper job is a legitimate activity performed by professionals that provide a VIP service to their customers, to locate and buy luxury items for them, when they are not able to visit the official stores.

The personal shopper job is like any other honorable job, and it requires an expert to be done, that’s why these professionals need to keep doing their job and helping their clients. Even if the luxury brands fuel the defamation campaign against personal shoppers, these professionals will continue to provide impeccable service and will always work under the pertinent laws.

If you have always wanted to become a personal shopper, we want to aid you in fulfilling your dreams. Discover how to become a personal shopper. 

Do you want to apply to become a personal shopper? Apply now.

Get ready to become a luxury personal shopper with The Personal Shopper Agency!