To think I've been ripped off / scammed? Vinted

[TemuMuggedOff]

I was browsing vinted for a (BNWT) handbag to treat myself to for my upcoming birthday.

I came across this one (advertised with these pictures) for £35 and thought it looked lovely. The seller has dozens of positive reviews.

Well, the seller posted it out to me today and after she did she promptly sent me a message afterwards with a bunch of additional photos that weren't visible on the original advert.

It's absolutely shit quality and so flimsy. I would not have bought it with those images on there. The advertised pictures are misleading. She also told me she has sprayed it with antibacterial spray.

I asked why that was necessary and she assured me it doesn't damage the bag as she has sold this same bag 7 times and done the same with all. Apparently it's a spray for bags (?)

Long story short, I've discovered that she's buying them in bulk on Temu for under a tenner and upselling them for over three times the price.

Bags from Temu/Shein arrive smelling of strong chemicals (or fish!) so that's why she's claiming the BS about antibacterial spray.

I don't want a smelly temu bag.

Her profile states no refunds or returns.

Do I have a leg to stand on here and am I being unreasonable to raise a grievance with vinted?

WWYD?

We need to know how this goes please OP.

Lots of people on vinted do this kinda thing. Film yourself opening the package and send that. Don't let her say you swapped it

Add that to raising it with vinted. That her pics weren't genuine they were taken from temu.

If you go to her vinted profile and reverse search the photo you can see the various people who have used it as their own profile pic elsewhere. One of the uses was for an american firefighter who died in a bike accident . It does look like some people have used the photo and replaced the face with variations.

Only if it was missold ie lied about will you get a refund. Also how you paid might make a difference as it may give you more options
Eg credit card or PayPal.

She isn't allowed to use store photos in the listing. I've done this before not realising, but it has to be photos of the actual item

Well at least wait until you’ve seen the bag. Personally I wouldn’t be conversing with her until I’d seen it. If it’s not the same as the pictures then report it to Vinted. Your making it more complicated than it needs to be.

When it arrives and it asks if all is OK. You say no and send it back. It will then be refunded

Surely if she is buying them to sell, then she running a business. You should be protected by the Sale of Goods Act and Distance Selling regulations. My guess is that Vinted will get you a refund.

When it arrives vinted will message asking if all ok before releasing money to seller. . Click no and explain why. . You should be refunded so seller cannot refuse. You have to do this quickly as not much time allowed but they don’t release money to seller until you say yes or no. Either that or refuse delivery. Hoe it gets sorted for you.

Oh dear oh dear! Let me get out the worlds tiniest violin that the scammer will be left with a garage full of fishy bags! 🤮

OP I hope you do get your money bag - not surprised the cheeky cow is pissed off!

This bag is only £6.40 on Aliexpress. I expect you can purchase it cheaply from a few of these online places. Just right-click on the sales pictures and use Google Lens. Hope you get your money back.

Can I ask why people think Royal Mail is a red flag? It was a pain before it was integrated. But now you buy the postage and the seller gets a QR code just like Evri/Yodel etc. Scan in post office or print label and drop off.

Good luck with Vinted! Their customer care is shocking.

Well, you learn something new every day, thanks OP

@BaronessMachiavelli Unfortunately the OP was wrong about this as she misunderstood the number of likes and thought this was the number of offers. So unlearning time. 😉

No she's right, I just looked myself, I've favourited a jumper, it has 41 total favourites, then in "interested" it's says "4 members"

No, she’s incorrect. She thought the number of likes is the number of offers received for it! Favourites is the total number of times it has been added as a favourite. Interested is the current number of users who have it favourited. There’s no way to see the number of offers that have been made (if any).

You are allowed to return.
Someone returned a dress to me because it didn't fit her and VINTED allowed it.

They did this to me. I was selling a lovely BNWT Biba dress. All my own photos except one from the Biba website. They took my listing down even though I'd cropped it to take off anything but the dress.

My issue with Vinted was a bit different but basically I bought a dress. Had message to say it had been delivered and was everything ok. However it hadn’t been delivered - package nowhere to be seen. I contacted Vinted and told them this and asked them to contact the carrier to provide proof of delivery and where they had left it (they usually take photos). Vinted just came back to me and said carrier had confirmed delivery. That was it - dispute closed!!! So I ended up having to pay for the dress as Vinted took my money.

But Vinted isn't 'all shops'. If you want to sell commercially by buying in stock specifically to sell it, you need a Vinted Pro account, which will have different charges and rules etc.

This seller didn't have that, and was also breaking other rules re photographs.

The bag arrived today.

Crap quality as expected but also covered in scratches (which I think might have happened in transit tbh as its the area where the buckle is - so not packaged properly either)

The material is supposed to be a soft suede-like texture but is as rough as old boots in areas, no doubt thanks to her dousing it in antibacterial spray.

I filmed myself opening it so she couldn't pull a fast one and submitted the grievance through vinted.

Surprisingly she very quickly initiated a return for a refund. It'll be posted back to her tomorrow morning via royal mail tracked delivery so she can't get away with claiming not to receive it.

Thanks for all of the advice and suggestions on how to word things in the complaint, it all helped.

Hopefully that's the end of it now and I get my money back quickly.

Oh and she has just messaged me AGAIN 😂

I won't be replying.

Well she's correct to say that similar dupe bags are for sale on many of the cheap sites but that's not relevant to the fact that she used stolen photos to imply the bag was something it isn't

Maybe not the sharpest knife ...

Maybe she's telling the truth and its not from Temu. 😙 It's also for sale on Ali Express 🤣

I'm glad you'll get your refund but I hope she gets banned too