To be honest, I wasn’t planning on getting a Louis Vuitton wallet, but given that my wallet was over 10 years old, and I was looking at Louis Vuitton bags to buy for my mom for her birthday (she adamantly refused one), I started drinking the Kool Aid and thought maybe I should get an LV wallet to reward myself for enduring the motherhood penalty. I started thinking about how can I get a discount on Louis Vuitton? Here’s a guide on how to save money on Louis Vuitton.
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In this post, I’ll go over what Louis Vuitton is, why it’s so popular, whether Louis Vuitton ever goes on sale, how to save up for an LV bag, and the ways you can save money on a Louis Vuitton. Also, I’ll review my first ever (and possibly only) Louis Vuitton purchase, the Sarah Wallet in monogram Empreinte leather.
What is Louis Vuitton?
Louis Vuitton history is interesting. Louis Vuitton is a luxury brand known around the world and was founded in France in 1854. It started with Louis Vuitton Malletier at a young age creating luxury suitcases, and the famous LV monogram canvas design was created back then.
What does Louis Vuitton sell?
Currently Louis Vuitton produces not just trunks and suitcases, but produces leather goods, handbags, trunks, shoes, watches, jewelry, and other accessories.
There are Louis Vuitton factories located in Spain, France, United States, and Italy.
Why iS Louis Vuitton So Popular?
Louis Vuitton is so popular because it is one of the most recognizable luxury brands out there.
They are synonymous with quality. In fact, they do not outsource the manufacturing and up until 2005, it took 8 days to make one bag.
It projects glamour and status, and it is a bit of human nature to want to keep up with the Joneses or look HNW in Canada.
Finally, there is limited inventory so this naturally drives up the demand.
Louis Vuitton is a popular gift too apparently! The SA (Sales Associate) I talked to said there are lots of men buying Louis Vuitton right before Valentine’s Day as a last minute gift.
How to Save Up for a Louis Vuitton Bag
Everywhere I look I see young women in their 20’s and 30’s sporting Louis Vuitton. So people are definitely saving up for their LV bags.
Personally I would not feel comfortable buying a Louis Vuitton bag until I had at least six figures in retirement savings invested, but everyone is different. Even now in my late 30’s, I had much difficulty spending so much for a wallet- but since I plan to use the wallet every day for over 10 years, I’m okay with it.
If you wanted to save up for a Louis Vuitton you could, even if it takes a while.
For example, one of their most popular bags, the monogram Neverfull MM is $2580 CAD, so that would be $215 per month saved up. If you can save up around $110 each bi-monthly pay cheque, after a year you will be able to save up for this bag. $215 per month is about $7 per day.
Does Louis Vuitton Ever Go On Sale?
Unfortunately Louis Vuitton doesn’t go on sale. Not on Black Friday, not on Boxing Day, there are no sales.
In fact, Louis Vuitton prices just go up!
The prices for Louis Vuitton goods increased in October 2021 and again in February 2022. The price increase is not just simply ‘indexed to inflation’, in fact, the Neverfull MM bag went up by 20% in price in the most recent Louis Vuitton price increase.
This is one of the reasons I bought this a bit earlier than I intended to.
Yet people still buy even with the double price increases in a 12 month span, because it is a luxury brand and the brand is popular.
Wealthy people will still buy luxury like Louis Vuitton because inflation and recession doesn’t affect them as much.
There is no Louis Vuitton outlet, in fact, at the end of the year, instead of selling Louis Vuitton for a discount, the luxury retailer actually burns their unsold bags each year.
Okay, here are 5 ways to save money on Louis Vuitton.
Louis Vuitton Hawaii Prices
If you’re heading to Hawaii anyways, Hawaii has lower Louis Vuitton prices compared to mainland United States. This is because luxury brands in Hawaii (like Chanel, Louis Vuitton, etc) cater to the tourism from Japan. Before the pandemic, about 15% of visitors to Hawaii were from Japan.
Also, the Hawaiian Louis Vuitton stores seem much more laid back (at least in comparison to the Vancouver store), you can walk in with flip flops and casual attire and they don’t snub you or seem to look down on you.
How much lower are the Hawaii Louis Vuitton prices? You can get approximately a 10% discount buying in Hawaii. Coupled with Hawaii’s low state taxes of 4.7%, this is cheaper than getting a Louis Vuitton bag in California where the sales tax is 9.5%.
Or in Vancouver BC Canada where the tax is 12%.
Here is the pricing for the Sarah Wallet in the mainland United States- $950.00.
In Hawaii the Sarah Wallet in Empreinte leather is $855 USD, which works out to be about 10% off.
In Canada, the Sarah Wallet is $1,100 CAD.
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Even if you factor in USD to CAD conversion, it is still more economical to buy in Hawaii.
The Louis Vuitton Hawaii prices are not publicly listed and cannot be found anywhere on the website but it is about 10% off, give or take a few percentage points.
Even better, if you’re planning to go to Europe (e.g. Paris, France) you can save even more money but make sure you get your VAT refund at the airport.
Just be sure to be aware of duty on you return to Canada over the personal exemption of $800 CAD if your trip is over 48 hours.
I declared my leather goods purchase and the customs officer raised his eyebrows momentarily but I didn’t have to pay duty.
I believe duty for handbags 9% and you will have to pay the 12% sales tax (BC 7% PST and 5% GST), therefore, buying a really expensive Louis Vuitton (e.g. $2000+) and bringing it back to Canada may not be that great of an idea.
You should declare it as the consequences are too great, especially if you are Nexus card holder.
Buy Louis Vuitton Using a 10% Cash Back Card
What’s the best credit card to buy Louis Vuitton? One that you can get cash back with in my opinion.
If you were planning in advance to buy a Louis Vuitton and have the money saved up, you could also apply for a 10% cash back credit card in Canada to save $100-$200.
Some of these cash back cards provide 10% cash back up to $2000 spend, some are up to $1000 spend, so it varies.
The Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite has a 10% cash back on $2000 spend in your first three months.
The Tangerine Money Back Credit Card has a low income requirement for approval, which is $12,000 compared to some of the others which are usually $60,000 and up.
Another example is using the Neo Financial credit card for cash back, the Neo Financial credit card offers 3% cash back at Holt Renfrew stores (a luxury department store that has a Louis Vuitton boutique) with up to $20 cash back. This is much less than a 10% cash back credit card though. Here’s my Neo review.
If you plan to use a 10% cash back card with foreign currency conversion (usually it is 2.5%), you should still come out ahead.
Also, this is a ‘saving money’ option only if you can pay it off in FULL. If you cannot, the interest charges from credit cards are going to annihilate any potential savings from a 10% cash back card.
Become an LVMH Shareholder
Another way to save money on Louis Vuitton is by becoming an owner.
$LVMH stands for Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey, and it is the conglomerate company behind Louis Vuitton. When you think of great businesses with large moats, I think LVMH is representative of this.
It’s like the $KO (Coca-Cola) of fashion and leather goods.
The CEO and Chairman of LVMH Bernard Arnault took the spot temporarily in 2021 for being the world’s richest man.
LVMH is the world’s leading luxury products group (yes number one in the world) with over 75 brands in wines and spirits, fashion and leather goods, perfumes and cosmetics, watches and jewelry, and selective retailers like DFS (Duty Free Stores) and Sephora.
Some of the brands include:
- Tiffany and Co
- Givenchy
- Tag Heuer
- Bulgari
- Fresh
- Fenty Beauty
- Louis Vuitton
- Marc Jacobs
- Fendi
- Christian Dior
- Dom Perignon
- Moet & Chandon
- Sephora
48% of the company’s revenues are generated from fashion and leather goods. 35% of the company’s revenues are generated from the rest of Asia (outside of Japan which I is mainly China) and 26% from the United States.
Revenues in 2021 have increased 44% compared to 2020. Their net profit margins are around 19% which is excellent. The share price has decreased 19% since January 1, 2022.
$LVMUY is an American Depository Receipt (ADR) of $LVMH. An ADR is a certificate issues by a US bank that represents shares in a foreign (non-American) stock. It allows investors to trade this company that is based in Paris, France on the US stock market.
I am not giving financial advice as I am not a financial professional, but am sharing my own thoughts.
You should do your own due diligence, but I bought some $LVMUY in my RRSP to ‘hedge’ my own Louis Vuitton purchase, haha. It is a very small portion of my total investment portfolio. The dividend yield is currently around 1% and the dividend is paid twice a year in April and December.
About 10 months after my Louis Vuitton purchase, I have already made approximately what I spent on my Sarah LV wallet in unrealized capital gains.
Over the last 10 years, LVMH increased their dividend by an average of 10.99% annually and there have been dividend increases for the past 12 years and no dividend cuts for 27 years.
So in 20 years, my Louis Vuitton wallet will probably be paid off entirely through dividends (not including expected capital appreciation and without any further investments)!
Buy an LV Used Through Poshmark
Another option is to buy your Louis Vuitton second hand through Poshmark. Poshmark is an app/ website where you can buy other people’s used items. Poshmark is the intermediary between you and the sellar. Poshmark provides free authentication for luxury goods purchases that are over $700.
Personally though, I would not feel comfortable buying an expensive purchase second hand online because there are so many realistic looking counterfeits out there.
As of 2021, Louis Vuitton doesn’t have date codes on their products anymore and their products have a microchip instead. You won’t be able to see the microchip.
The microchip is verified by an app the Louis Vuitton SA (sales associate) has access to, so basically the only way to verify that your LV purchase is authentic now is in the Louis Vuitton store.
Combine The Methods
Finally, you can combine a few of the methods above to help you save money on your Louis Vuitton.
You could get a 10% cash back credit card and buy it used from Poshmark.
Or you could become an LVMH shareholder through the $LVMUY ADR and also buy your Louis Vuitton from Hawaii.
Louis Vuitton Sarah Wallet Review
Finally, after this whole post on how to save money on a Louis Vuitton, I will share my Louis Vuitton long wallet purchase!
Looking online I thought the Zippy wallet would be the wallet to get but when I saw it in person it is huge.
Then I thought about the Clemence wallet because it looks so sleek and sophisticated, but I thought it would be too annoying to zip open and close the wallet especially when I am trying to stuff receipts to scan later in the wallet as fast as possible at the check-out line. It is also too small for all the credit cards I carry.
The middle sized long wallet (between the Zippy and the Clemence) is the Sarah wallet.
Again, I was set on getting the LV monogram in canvas but then I decided to get the Empreinte leather instead, because even though the canvas might last me 10 years it will be cracked especially for something that will be used every day (at least that’s what the Louis Vuitton SA told me, and showed me what cracked monogram canvas looks like).
Also the brown monogram canvas is a bit less subtle for my style, so the black leather it was.
Here is an ‘unboxing’ of my purchase in a dust bag, in a box, in a bag.
Here’s the pretty Louis Vuitton bag and box, I could probably sell this for $20 on Poshmark, haha!
The Sarah Wallet has 16 card slots, one coin compartment, and large compartments for bills. There’s also an outside back pocket.
The button clasp closure is easier to open and close than a zippered wallet.
Hopefully it will last 20 years and be fully paid off by dividends alone, hah.
Some of the card slots are in the front of the wallet, perfect for carrying your points cards to save money since this wallet costs a lot.
This is the depth of the Sarah wallet, you can fit a smaller phone like the iPhone SE in here.
This is the inside coin zipper of the Sarah wallet.
Hopefully this post helps you save money on your future Louis Vuitton purchase!
Do you have other ways to save money on Louis Vuitton?
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GYM is a 30 something millennial interested in achieving financial freedom through disciplined saving, dividend and ETF investing, and living a minimalist lifestyle. Before you go, check out my recommendations page of financial tools I use to save and invest money. Don’t forget to subscribe for blog updates, a free dividend yield spreadsheet, and the free Young Money Bootcamp eCourse.