I bought a counterfeit item on vinted, now the seller won't refund me

[lostinthememory]

I bought a counterfeit item on vinted (it's limited edition, I have a real one of the product but in a different colour), I didn't realise until it arrived.

I've requested a refund but the seller wants it returning (which will cost me at least £4) so they can sell it on. AIBU to not want to return it and pay money out of my own pocket so that a fraudster can sell it again?

I found their online support useless but I emailed the legal address and they were much more helpful. Details are at https://www.vinted.co.uk/help/1253

Thank you! I'll drop them an email in a moment

Tell them you will send it back but they need to send you a prepaid postage label. You should not be out of pocket for this. If they refuse, I would start a charge back with the credit card company as receiving counterfeit goods is a breach of contract unless it stated on the description that they were a replica.

Make sure you act in some way before the payment automatically completes within a set time frame.

Balloonhearts is right, they can pay for the postage and for a counterfeit item they should do because if Vinted have to step in, there is a chance they will refund without requiring you to send the item back. It's in their best interests to pay your return postage.

I've raised the issue with them, I now have until 20th January to get it sorted

That's a relief, I was caught out by this when I was new to Vinted. I believe some sellers will try and stall inexperienced buyers who don't realise they have to confirm "there is an issue", so they keep them messaging if you see what I mean. Luckily I only lost about £5.

Technically Vinted’s policy is for the buyer to cover return postage, whatever the reason.

For me it's the fact it's a potential £25 loss.

Being brazen enough to sell a fake is one thing, selling at near enough market value is another!

seller should be asked to pay postage

Surely that's the bare minimum!

You need to go through the channels to report it as fake. They tell you to destroy the item and you get a full refund.

I've emailed their legal team

Will I need to show pictures of me destroying it? It's a plastic item so I don't want to put it in the bin or burn it 🤣

I've just had the same situation with a bag. I reported that there was an issue and specifically that it was a fake. I had to upload lots of photos of my evidence. Vinted replied within 2 days that I would get a full refund and not to return the item to the buyer-I was allowed to keep it! Nothing was said about having to destroy it. YOu must report it properly though not just to the seller.

By report it properly what do you mean? I pressed the button to say there was something wrong and I've emailed their legal team

It should have given you the option somewhere to say that you thought it was counterfeit and then you can upload photos. It sounds like you have done the right thing. Have Vinted said that they are waiting to heat back from the seller? That is what they said to me then the next communication was to tell me I would be refunded and to keep it.

Ye I've done that, then the seller asked for me to pay to return it

They didn't ask me to provide evidence of the destruction

Its illegal to send counterfeit items through uk mail, nobody should make you send it as they are making YOU break the law.Keep on at vinted and remind them of the above until a real person gives you a refund they are then breaking the law if they say to return for a refund.

It winds me up that the buyer is essentially s.o.l. if they get sent something fake. What do they expect us to do??

This is what Vinted say: If you can’t find a solution with the seller

1. Press View issue details in the conversation screen with the seller
2. Press Contact us
3. Read the conditions for a refund and press Agree and submit to forward the issue to our support team

We’ll get back to you within 48 hours. If we review all the evidence and there are strong indications of the item being counterfeit, we won’t ask you to return it to the seller and we’ll refund you. In case the counterfeit item was included in a bundle, you’ll need to return all other reported items in the bundle except the counterfeit.

I don't think you need to email anyone.
Is there not a tab to provide a reason for the problem?
No they don't ask for proof of destroying. They just tell you to destroy it.

Did you specifically report item as a fake? I got a fake item once - took a while to resolve as it was falsely verified as authentic through their verification process but when I sent proof (the two items were different weights and sizes to the authentic item) they refunded me and said not to return the item.

Just ignore the seller. Vinted over rules sellers no matter what they say. Stop responding to the seller and just report it as fake via where you need to click everything is ok or have a problem.
Seller is just being shitty with you but vinted is king!

I'm chatting with vinted support and it says they're reviewing it. I did click the seems counterfeit button, hopefully im doing it right! I've never had an issue before so I've got no idea what im doing

I'm sure they will rule in your favour. My bag was a very good fake, it was just the dust bag and the spare cross body strap that let it down and alerted me.