Generally speaking........
As for other reps, listen, we're not carrying plastic Canal St. fakes here. Unless perhaps you work for LV, Chanel whatever, I highly doubt ANYONE would know the teeny-tiny tells that your bag is not auth. We've compiled these sellers (Catty/Jacky/Joy/T&D/etc.) because they are the best we can find. If there are better out there, we don't know about it. If you don't think the rep sellers can't master the bag you're looking for then move on, and get a rep in a different brand/style. Like Hermes. If there is NO PERFECT REP BIRKIN, then get something else like an Evelyn/Lindy whatever, where the stitching, stamping and the like is not as important.
Can people REALLY tell your bag is fake? Depends. Have they only ever seen those plastic-looking Chanel Cambon bucket bags? Gawd, I cringe every time I see one of those, I can't believe they're still around. But whatever, somebody liked that bag, they don't care it's fake and who am I to laugh at them for having a bad fake. They think it looks real, and good for them. A fake is still a fake, whether its her ugly Cambon or my 99.9% perfect Speedy. We're both carrying them and really, I'm certainly no better than she is - I just happen to know where to get the best fake. I can tell a really bad fake too, but a good one? On someone that looks like they should own one? Maybe not. Saw a well-dressed woman at the Four Seasons carrying a Goyard St. Louis PM. Was it real? I dunno. I've never even seen one before, and don't even know where I would purchase one in my area, but I know the brand and what it should look like. I was pretty well turned-out that day at at the Four Seasons as well. My bag was a rep.
I guess what I'm trying to say is.... when it comes to minute details on bags like the hardware not quite the right shade of gold, if your friends are so anally-retentive they can't sit down for fear of sucking up the furniture.....
Time to get new friends.
"reps are like twins, you can't tell them apart when they are separated, but when together it's an easy tell"
and you can quote me on that!