Michael Tonello (born July 19, ?) is an author best known for being an expert on

Birkin bag The Birkin bag (or simply Birkin) is a kind of tote bag introduced in 1984 by the French luxury goods maker Hermès. Birkin bags are handmade from leather and are named after the English-French actress and singer Jane Birkin. The bag quickly b ...

s, a luxury lady's handbag. Tonello was a reseller of luxury goods, finding his niche buying

Hermès Hermès International S.A., or simply Hermès ( , ), is a French luxury design house established in 1837. It specializes in leather goods, lifestyle accessories, home furnishings, perfumery, jewelry, watches and ready-to-wear. Its logo, since ...

items at retail and reselling them on

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...

. In 2008 William Morrow/

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...

published his memoir called ''Bringing Home the Birkin; My Life in Hot Pursuit of the World’s Most Coveted Handbag.'' The book details his adventures as an eBay entrepreneur who travels all over the world, going to Hermès stores to procure "same day" Birkins for wealthy and famous clients who do not want to wait for the item. The book, now published in Italian, Korean, Chinese, Thai, Mandarin, Japanese, Portuguese, Polish, and Turkish, reached #3 on the

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

Bestseller List (Non-Fiction). In 2016 Tonello co-founded the luxury brand Respoke.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tonello, Michael Living people Barnstable High School alumni People from Barnstable, Massachusetts HuffPost writers and columnists American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American journalists American male journalists Year of birth missing (living people) EBay