Vinted buyer claims item and packaging smell of curry, wants refund

[Ilikeviognier]

Vinted issue - what’s going on here?

Sent a fairly expensive clothing item (dryrobe) which has just arrived. Seller has’ messaged me to say it smells of curry and the packaging smells of curry (!)

packaging and item have been nowhere near food of any kind and it was fine when it left.

all I can think of is something to do with either where it’s been with the courier (!) - or the plastic packaging (but this was from previous items of clothes anyway).

they have refused to wash it or air it (despite saying it’s a lovely item) and just want a refund, however they also seem to want me to initiate this and to send them a shipping label which I don’t believe I can do.

im a bit flummoxed here - what do I do? Is it possible they are trying it on? The item is in great condition. I don’t believe I’ve done anything wrong.

Dry robes are expensive, could it be some kind of scam? I’m not sure how it would work but it sounds a bit dodgy to me!

This might sound really strange... but i bought walking coat, brand new, online, and when it arrived that smelled of curry - it was very odd!... it was a similar material to a dry robe, but only hip length. I wonder if your dry robe being wrapped up in plastic while it was in the post has caused a similar reaction with the material..
Not sure how you would deal with tgat with your buyer 🤔

That’s interesting thanks- so possible then.

why would you not wash it/air it though if you wanted it? That’s what is making me suspicious.

I bought a jacket which stank of cigarettes recently.

As smell is invisible there was no way I could take a photo to prove the issue and so knowing the difficulty of dealing with non existent Vinted customer service I just accepted the jacket (I did like it) and washed it three times with added scented fabric until the stink came out.

Your buyer can’t possibly prove a smell so I would say it is entirely at your discretion what to do next.

It took a while for the smell to disappear completely. I've never done a return/refund on Vinted, so not sure how you would do that - just wanted to say the curry smell happened with one of my outdoor coats

What a chancer. Honestly? So many dossers wanting refunds for ridiculous reasons.

@GloiredeDijon I don’t think it is though - don’t I have to accept the return? My understanding is that vinted will side with the buyer…

@TheHouse yes I’m afraid so….

I’m wondering if it just doesn’t fit them tbh but they need a “proper” reason to return it.

Plastic mailer bags can sometimes emit funky smells. What was it packed in?

It was packed in Next packaging for a long coat I had purchased recently.

It's up to you whether you want to accept a return or not but if you do then vinted will give you the option for you to pay for the shipping or for the buyer to pay for it.

What would others do in this situation? I’m certainly not minded to pay for postage!

I do feel a bit unsure whether I’m being had though tbh. It’s not my fault if it just doesn’t fit, for example.

I can’t see why Vinted would side with the buyer when they cannot prove what they say.

If you believe the buyer is being dishonest then stand your ground, although they will likely leave you angry/ vengeful feedback.

Or tell them to return it at their own expense and resell.

Call their bluff, tell them to return it.

also despite reporting this hours ago to me, they still haven’t pressed “I have an issue” but claim to be waiting to hear from vinted on what their options are….i wonder if they are waiting for me to offer a massive discount or something (which I won’t be doing).

I actually found Vinted really helpful when I was baffled by a buyer raising an issue when the shoes I had sent them were apparently a coat instead and wanted a refund. I had no idea what was going on and pressed the button for Vinted help due to an issue with a sale and they ended up siding with me as the buyer didn’t give them the evidence they asked for.

Ignore them. Anything on DM is more likely to be skullduggery.

This is a known scam because smells can't be proven photographically (although another scam is to use AI to make fake photographs of "damaged" items).
The usual advice is to either ignore them until they either report an issue or the sale auto-completes, or get the buyer to admit that there's no other issue with the item "would you be happy to keep it otherwise?" so that they don't later invent another reason to be refunded. Remind them to use the proper process to report an issue if you wish. Note that if the buyer reports that an item is counterfeit, vinted will allow them to keep it without returning, as counterfeit items shouldn't be returned.

Reddit is good for learning about current scams on vinted, ebay etc.

www.reddit.com/r/vinted/comments/1p06ktu/embarrassed_and_confused_buyer_says_item_smells/

@TheQueenOfTheNight what would they be hoping to achieve though if it’s a scam? If you’ll just ask them to return it anyway?

Their “option” is to click “I have an issue”. There is nothing else for them to hear back from Vinted …. and they have a limit of two days to do so from the delivery date, otherwise your payment is cleared

If they are just messaging then it’s either a scam to get you to initiate a refund and they keep the goods or they don’t know how to use Vinted

If they use the proper ‘I have an issue’ process then you decline or accept the options, can offer a partial refund, or a full refund subject to return via a generated label which you either pay for or you refuse to pay for - then once that tracked label arrives their refund is processed

Their hope is that you refund outside of the correct process

@Tomikka makes sense but they haven’t - as yet asked for this, so who knows.

I now video me packaging any expensive items so that if it needs to be returned, I have a record of its condiction when it was sent and also that the sole item was actually sent. That obviously won’t help in this case but I would ask her to return it at her expense. That’s the way Vinted works.

I would say ‘click I have an issue and then I can click for you to return’. Completely factual - yes you’ll have to pay for return because you can’t disprove a smell