Anyway, to cut the story short, I ended up buying a brand new men's wallet that had 3 zip compartments. This is a design that many sellers have listed for sale. So I presumed it would be a mass produced item from China, but still expected a decent enough product. The seller stated it was real leather, and for the price I paid (around £5 including delivery) I thought excellent, a nice looking genuine leather wallet at a cheap price. The exact wallet I bought is pictured below.
On a side note: RFID protection is now very sought after, and in some ways very much needed. Because these days It's not just bank cards that need protecting, but also things like car keys and passports. but to be honest, I can't figure out why, other than for convenience purposes, banks decided to make cards contactless (no pin number needed to make a purchase), and at the same time open the door to one of the biggest card scams of all time. How stupid.
Don't get me wrong, when a purchase is made, some companies do ask for more details / information than just the data that can be stolen from the card, but there's a lot that don't. And that's part of the reason why card scams / unauthorised payment fraud are at an all time high.
If you're looking for some good protection from data theft for your cards, check out a brand called Secrid (Made in Holland). Some of the products they produce include mini wallets, card holders / sliders, double wallets and money bands. They are expensive but have really good reviews.
If you don't want to spend any money at all, and want something simple, free and effective, research has shown that wrapping your contactless banks cards in tin foil can actually prevent the scammer from being able to read the card and extract the data.
Back to my wallet "review". Fast forward to the wallet being delivered and all seemed well. It arrived well packed and delivered in good time. So no problem with the seller, they were very good. Opening the package was a different story. Once opened I couldn't believe the smell. The wallet completely stunk of chemicals.
A strange combination of paraffin and some other toxic smelling chemical that I can't put my finger on. I know that leather can sometimes smell funny like this, but I got thinking that perhaps this either wasn't a genuine leather wallet, or it was some cheap "leather" that is really nasty. Perhaps the wallet was Faux leather. Apparently these chemicals are sometimes, or a lot of the time, used in the tanning process (Chrome tanning).
Bottom line: This wallet smelled so bad, like it was a danger to health, that I ended up throwing it in the bin. Upon doing a quick bit of research I found out that other people are also complaining about this issue with cheap and potentially dangerous leather items being shipped over from Asia. And it turns out that others are also concerned about the toxicity of the products they received, mostly women's bags and men's jackets, that are produced in the same manner.
Some people say in no uncertain terms that this type of cheap leather is dangerous and bad for human health. Breathing in the fumes, the leather being in contact with the skin etc. I'm no expert, but with how toxic the odour was on my wallet, I would have to agree and say it is dangerous. Needless to say, when reading things like this, it certainly makes me think twice about buying another cheap leather product like this from eBay or Amazon. Because let's not forget, the same people selling these wallets on eBay are also selling them on Amazon UK.
With my new wallet now sitting in the bin I went back on eBay in search of a real, genuine leather wallet. There's thousands of wallets on there for sale, surely it can't be that hard to find one that's actually real leather that doesn't smell like it will kill me. Well, within my price range it seemed like the large majority of the wallets were more of the same that I'd already ordered. Although the designs were different. Cheap, mass produced wallets manufactured in China. And I didn't want to risk purchasing another one of what I'd already bought and being left disappointed with.
So I thought, I'll look at the used items instead. I'm not one of those people who have to have brand new everything. If an item has been used, but is still in very good condition I don't mind buying it. And I figured at least buying used I may come across some good wallets that are the real deal, and more importantly, safe to use. And I did.
Black Leather NEXT Wallet
I ended up finding a nice NEXT branded wallet (Pictured above). It has been used but is still in very good condition. And more importantly is real leather, that actually smells like leather, not chemicals. I only paid around £4.50 including delivery, so ended up buying another used wallet, a 1642 Lichfield. I got this one even cheaper (£3.50 including delivery). This way I've got two to choose from. Neither have RFID protection, but I can live without that.
Moral of the story: I had to buy one to learn this lesson. Avoid the common mass produced terrible quality "leather" wallets and either spend more money on a good quality, brand new product from a known brand like NEXT, Fossil, Barbour or 1642 Lichfield (Not John Lewis), or buy a used branded one, or two like I did. Preferably made in the UK.
