Preloved shop - where do I stand ?

[Brigette67]

I’ve recently taken some high cost items into a pre loved shop,
Have previously purchased from them but never sold anything.
I took a very expensive dress / labels on and never worn before among other items that were high end.

When we went through the items the lady said she’d research prices and confirm back to me before they went on sale. She took them from me the ones she was happy to sell on as not all of my items were suitable to sell doe to fashion trends.
At the time I went lots of other bags of clothing had been dropped off and she said there’s a lot of things to process.
A week had gone past and I hadn’t heard and was about to chase her when she messaged to me to say she’d sold one of my dresses.
i messsged her back and said I hadn’t confirmed prices and she’d sold a £500 dress for £70 and I would get £35 as she takes 50% commission

I told her if I knew that was the cost she was selling for I’d never agree to that. I immediately asked her to take off sale one of the other expensive dresses I had given her and she asked if she could sell it and what price I wanted, I said no I want it back and she said she’d take it off sale

ive gone into the shop today to pick up the dress I wanted back and she brought out another dress which was the same colour as mine only it wasn’t the dress I handed over, the one she tried to give me back looked very cheap other than the colour being the same it was a different dress.
she looked panicked and had a look in the shop and then I looked and it wasn’t in the shop on display - she checked her records and said it hadn’t been sold as it would of had the designer on the sales.

im devastated - i said what happens next and she said she’d ask another member of staff to look and check if she’d sold it I want it back - I feel I’ve lost 2 dresses worth nearly £800 together / no contract: no dress and I don’t know what to do and where I stand legally .
as I left the shop in a calm manner - I said it’s very disappointing and she said I’ll call you next week - I said I wanted to hear sooner than that and then she said she wasn’t in.
What do I do or say or where I stand legally if my dress is missing or sold for a lot less as we hadn’t agreed to prices before going on sale or ?
any advice most welcome -

Two people have said clearly to find comparable sales prices on an equivalent designer resale site & you should ask for that price. But see what commission they are offering first, and negotiate.

I agree with @prh47bridge that OP should research what would have been a reasonable sale price for the two dresses and make a claim against the shop.

The owner assured OP she would confirm a price with her before selling the dresses, and she owes OP a duty of care to do what she said she would. This is Donoghue v Stevenson territory, and the lack of written agreement is not as cut and dried as some PPs think.

It would be interesting to check the shop's Terms and Conditions and see what they say there.

I would make an informal claim based on this but I think it would be worth a punt at Small Claims if you don't get anywhere.

Is there anywhere you can leave feedback regarding your experience? It woukd would be helpful to others.

Yes she said she would confirm prices with me and if I wasn’t in agreement then we would adjust accordingly but within reason for buyer and seller.

She never emailed/messaged or phoned and it took for me to chase ger to get the prices and even then it was a day after and by that time she’d already sold one of the dresses. It transpires now as of Monday evening that she sold the second dress even though I asked immediately on receiving prices to confirm that I wanted it to be removed from sale which was 2weeks ago,
I’ve emailed with a formal complaint and requested receipts of my items sold date and transaction details,
no wonder they sold quickly as they were undervalued and on researching second hand prices for like for like she has sold for very little and without permission.
if it was one item perhaps I’d learn from this and move on but it’s the fact that there has been several errors and after checking it seems she has breached her contract verbal or non verbal. Disorganised and non duty of care on my property.

Report the shop to your local Trading Standards OP - they can investigate unfair or misleading traders. It won't help you get your money/items back but it sounds like a really dodgy shop so worth reporting.

Only on the local community Facebook page in the area where the shop is - it’s. Small town I’m already dreading seeing the lady who owns the shop round town yet I’ve done nothing wrong

Hi I’ve had an update after a formal complaint. She has admitted it was human error that she never got to me about prices before sales she was busy in the shop and that she had undervalued one of the dresses by £200 after she’d researched. I dispute the other one of which she said was correctly valued. My point is she sold the second one after I’d told her it was no longer for sale and she took the wrong dress off sale as it wasn’t mine when I went to collect, this was the one undervalued
she’s offered half the commission of the price and could of sold it for £150 and rescinded a previous offer of compensation.
I could take the easy route and just take the money and forget but I feel she has breached her verbal agreement with me
I haven’t yet reported to trading standards - for me it’s the principle and I still feel the first dress too was undervalued

Rescinded compensation was £50

She shouldn't be taking ANY commission for a dress that she hasn't had permission to sell, and which was sold significantly under its value.

Thank you. It’s become very frust

I agree with this

Ok thank you for your input, it’s reassuring thank you