Bad experience with depop

[Notcontent]

I wonder if this is common. I have always bought a lot of second hand clothes but from charity shops, as I like to see what I am buying. Teen dd is very into buying second hand for ethical/sustainability reasons. She bought a skirt from depop a while ago and it was ok, but in a much more used condition than described. So I have been encouraging her to stick to charity shops.

This week she bought a dress from depop. It wasn’t that much cheaper than new but dd didn’t want to buy new as it’s a fast fashion brand. Dress was described with the size given and that it was worn only once. Fine. Dress arrived. Size had been misdescribed as it’s the “tall” version and really very long and big even though dd is above average height. That could have been an oversight but the bugger problem is that the dress still has the tag (obviously to make it look almost new) but has obviously been worn to a big night out and not washed as it was incredibly stinky - a kind of alcohol/vaping smell and also really bad sweat. I have washed it with detergent and dettol but still smelly.

Feel bad for dd so have secretly ordered the dress new for her in the right size. 😳

Is this common?

Will she appreciate that, If the whole point is that she doesn't want to financially encourage fast fashion or line it's pockets? It's disappointing but it's just a cheap dress from a factory at the end of the day so nothing special.

I'm sure it happens often online on any marketplace there will always be dishonest or scam sellers or those who just don't really get that they're effectively running a shop and should morally try to deliver as best they can. I think depop has a lot of young unsupervised teen sellers and users too (eg my niece who's been selling on there since she was 14).

If it was missold (which it was if it's used, dirty and a different range) your DD had the option of contacting depop and most likely would have ultimately got a refund via their process. She.can still try but much harder to prove if tags have been removed etc. Next time take photos, message the seller, if they won't fix the issue then go through depop.

I buy a lot of used clothes online and have had far more disappointnents from Depop than either Vinted or eBay (despite using the latter two far more often).

I am pretty easygoing as a buyer. I am also very well aware of online purchasing/consumer contracts regulations and feel confident about buying and selling online generally, but I am very wary of Depop now.

There seems to be a high proportion of scammy (or clueless) business sellers who make up their own terms and conditions as they go along. Paypal offers protection if your daughter used that to pay.

Agree Depop attracts a younger audience of sellers, and with that people who at least don't really have the experience of selling online to know how to describe things in the right way. I don't use it myself just because I can't be bothered with "social selling", I just want to find a thing and pay the price to get it, or not have people constantly asking me to swap for things I've put up for sale.

Vinted is great, though skews older so I'm not sure whether it would be good for younger women!

If I were you I'd resale it to try to make abit of money back.

Thanks. I think you are right that sellers on depop are generally younger and/or less professional. I think we will just put this down to experience and charity shop the dress.