Wedding dress - feeling ripped off

[Helloitsmejan]

Hi - really here to rant.

Had a dress that I bought for what was to be our civil ceremony, but then got pregnant and then had a miscarriage and with all of that we just decided to put the wedding on the back burner, whilst we try IVF. Anyways finally decided to put my dress for sale on stillwhite. Never worn but appreciate I was never going to get my money back on it, so reduced to half what I paid for it.

A week or so later I had an interested buyer who just wouldn't really take no for an answer, kept telling me she was a new mum so money was tight, they were going to have a small wedding and the dress would be perfect but wanted considerably less for it. I kept being polite but stating I couldn't go down essentially to 70% what I paid. At this stage I was also having second thoughts and thinking maybe to just keep the dress as I did love it, but eventually we agreed to 60% off what I had originally paid. Even on the day she was to pay she kept stalling and asking if I could reduce further or send it postage free. All with the whole I'm a new mum message.

Anyways finally sent it to her and literally 3 days later it's back on stillwhite for considerably more than what I was looking for from the same lady! There is no chance its been worn by her at all. She even states its never been worn. She claimed she was going to get married spring time! Just feeling stupid and know it's my own fault for selling it and letting her "I'm a new mum" message to make me feel I was doing a nice thing!

Anyways I don't even know why I'm writing this to be honest - just prob emotional cause if everything had gone to plan would be counting down for the baby and then perhaps I would have also been thinking about the wedding down the line.

Hahah! Intrigued by this one!!

sorry op. That’s awful! Rant away x

What a mean chancer. It's a sad fact but you really csn't trust a strsnger.,

Sorry that happened to you. We had similar recently. I saw an ad for a cozee bedside crib which was advertised as brand new and the woman wanted £80. We agreed on £70 after I looked online and they were selling for between £120-£168 (ish)

Anyway, I had a quick peep in the bag and all
seemed well. When I got it home there was a small stain on the lining and a larger stain on the base (under the mattress) So it had clearly been used. The stain in lining easily came out with stain remover but there was no way to get the other stain out.

The irony is, it is in fantastic condition generally and I still would have bought it if was advertised as second hand. It just left a nasty taste in my mouth having been lied to. She said she’d had a miscarriage the week before and that’s why she wanted rid of it but I was quite dubious. Very scummy.

Then you return it.

this is absolute arsehole behaviour and there’s literally no other reasonable response.

Report her post on the site. Then comment on it with what happened and if you can screenshot messages do so.

This

not good behaviour at all - but you sold it to her as no one else was offering? So maybe you have the last laugh as if no one was offering on the price you had it on then why would they with an inflated price?

She's awful OP.

Did you get any other offers for the dress? It's hard to sell things sometimes. You got a lot of the money back from this woman and she may not sell it for the price she's put it on at.

Forget about it and learn from it.

What a cow 🤬.

So sorry for your loss xx

Don't think it's like judt taking it back to the shop for a refund!!

I don't like emotional blackmail when selling things. Typically the free stuff. If anyone comes at me with this type of crap I won't sell or give them stuff out of principle.

So sorry to read this, I've had a few experiences like this, but the last was the worst. I was selling my house and had a cash buyer, and everyone said I'd have to be ready to move quickly.

I put my beautiful Tetrad sofa on FB marketplace for about 10% of its value, and a young couple got in touch and came the next day. They were really friendly but I became suspicious when they knew exactly how to dismantle it, as well as taking the feet off. I checked Ebay and there it was, with my cushions that I'd reluctantly included - for 4 times the price. Sold almost instantly. Felt sick for along time about it, but in the end I had to move myself because Covid came along, and I would have had to leave it for the buyer for free as removal companies said they weren't essential workers. At least my daughter had the £200 to help her at Uni.

To be honest, you sold it for an agreed price so now it's upto her to do what she wants with it. It's not pleasant to know she lied to persuade you, but ultimately you did agree the price. I sold my wedding dress for more than I paid for it! Admittedly I did wear it, but I got it at such a bargain and I knew it was worth more, so when it came to sell after my wedding, I put it on for more than I bought it for on ebay.

That's awful. I'm sorry.

Oh also the woman who bought it from me put it up for sale the day after she bought it - it didn't fit her! The only reason I know this is because she messaged me afterwards to ask me if she could use my photos in her ad to sell it on. I don't know if she put it up for sale for more than she paid for it or not, but I honestly wouldn't have cared - her dress, I got the price we agreed, so she can do what she likes with her properly now! I wonder if she ever sold it.

Just playing devil's advocate but since she bought it without trying it on maybe when she's got home she's tried it on & it hasn't fitted or doesn't suit her. Let's be honest if she'd contacted the OP saying it didn't fit & she wanted a refund she'd be getting called a CF.

She hasn't necessarily bought it just to sell on. Besides there's nothing to say she'll get what she's asking. Maybe she's set it high so she's got negotiation roof for all the hard luck stories she's expecting

Thing is though, you are very lucky to get 40% of the purchase price. That's an amazing price for a second hand wedding dress (I know you didn't wear it but that really doesn't matter when it comes to this type of sale).

Legally there’s no issue - she bought a product and sold a product. So there’s no point reporting to the site. It’s literally how commerce like this works.

Ethically and perhaps morally of course it’s wrong and feels horrible to be the target of a person who is happy to lie and grift to get a deal that they can turn a profit on.

Next time you’ve just got to do your research - set your price boundaries and then keep to them - don’t be swayed by a ‘story’ unless it’s to help someone you know well.

To be honest, you sold it for an agreed price so now it's upto her to do what she wants with it.

See, normally I absolutely agree with this. You sold it, got price you wre happy with, done.

But in this case I am with OP purely because of that "i am new/single mum with no money" scam.

This unfortunately.
I sometimes sell on eBay. I also do some research and price low to start with as I am usually just wanting to get rid of stuff.
Theres always someone who comes along with a ridiculous offer, best to just ignore them altogether.

There’s every chance that she was being totally truthful but it just didn’t suit/fit her when she tried it on. There’s also every chance that she was trying to get a bargain to sell on for profit.
People do it all the time. And though I don’t think the lying is ok, those tv shows where they haggle the price of some antique down using whatever method they can (I only have £5 left/ I’m a celebrity etc) and then try to sell for a profit at auction are exactly the same. There’s no guarantee that they’ll make a profit though, so it’s a risk.