Vinted - beware

[Fleurons]

This is a Public Service Announcement.

I bought 6 things on Vinted, all bags and handbags. 2 were good, 2 were awful, and 2 were dirty inside (lazy slapdash sellers) but salvageable.

The worst one was advertised as new, it wasn’t. It stank of mould, dirty inside etc. I paid £79.

He eventually agreed a return then said I’d marked the bag, and not enclosed a (stinky, dirty, old) dust bag and strap. I really believed he lied as I double-checked contents. I was very polite about a possible solution, but he blocked me and gave me a bad review. And by this time he had my money and the bag. Vinted are not interested and have simply closed the matter.

I can’t even leave him a bad review, since I’ve paid him already and in the world of Vinted that means everything is okay!

This is just to warn people who use or want to use Vinted. It is not at the same quality level as eBay. A lot of slapdash, lazy, unpleasant people - and scammers. The ugly side of commerce.

Don’t be fooled by positive reviews. You can’t leave a negative review once the money is gone through after 48 hours. If you don’t leave a review, they automatically get a five star positive review anyway, which is ridiculous. Vinted itself as a platform are completely disinterested in the outcome. Very simplistic AI bots, and you are in a constant race against time. You must raise an issue within two days, you must give a review within 48 hours, etc.

Never had a problem with eBay in 20 years of buying and selling. I have 100% reviews for both. But within two weeks of Vinted, I’ve experienced a non-stop nightmare and had two terrible reviews as a buyer (which they did as a form of retaliation).

As I said, this is a PSA, be warned!

There is actually a Facebook support group for how awful Vinted is. Like the one they had for Hermes. Buyer beware. Be careful.

Surly, it didn’t pass anyone that their reply didn’t make sense in any way possible. The elephant in room I was raising in my post is the absence of logic! Clearly, Vinted gives two monkeys what to reply, when to reply and how to reply. They’re not interested helping their clients. Their main business is to continue allow scam sellers trick people selling their counterfeits. They’re making £4-£20 or even more for every item that sells in their website.

Vinted mainly favours the sellers even if they are scammers whereas Ebay is the opposite and usually sides with the buyer (even when they are a scammer in some cases).

I have received items from Vinted that were wrongly described (different size to advertised) and I was asked to pay the return postage. Recently I brought something which seems to be a scam as the tracking number doesn’t exist and the sellers account has been blocked but I still don’t have a refund - somehow have to wait 25 working days and then have a 48 hr window to report it otherwise the scammer gets my money.

Vinted is best for cheap bargains under £20 I’d say. I’ve sold a lot of baby and toddler clothes on there but I don’t think I’ve ever listed something for more than £5.

Thankfully, just for a month ago banks now have extra protection against scam and fraud. So it’s easier for a consumer to claim a purchase that doesn’t fall under categories of the sale, refunds and returns that didn’t come to fruit as well. Always, contact your bank and find out how they can help you. I reported this incidence and will continue to hold Vinted responsible over fraud and scam committed on their platform.

I don't buy anything on Vinted anymore. I bought a wool coat for £40, described as perfect condition. It arrived with missing buttons but they were in the parcel so I thought, whatever, I'll just sew them back on and clicked 'everything ok'. Unfortunately I then realised the lining was ripped... lesson learned! I contacted her and her response was just 'oh, sorry about that, I hadn't realised' then she had the audacity to leave me bad feedback.

I bought a wool cardigan which was described as 'as new', but when it arrived it turned out the back was badly bobbled and misshapen, most likely from it being hung up to dry instead of laid flat.

I've had more success as a seller, but it's not without issues. I sold a coat but the buyer must have changed her mind because she never bothered to pick it up from the collection point, so a few weeks later it was returned to me.

I have another coat for sale at the moment. Someone made an offer of £8 which I rejected as it's up at £15. I sent a counter offer of £10 which she rejected, then sent me another offer for £7 I'd rather give it to charity.

I occasionally get tempted by things and have a browse, but I find an awful lot of stuff described as 'new without tags' when it obviously isn't.

I really wished I read the reviews before dealing with this scam company. For those unaware, Vinted have a terrible number of one star reviews? Here’s a link to their Google reviews, which never lies:

maps.app.goo.gl/7KDDXDAnxX4XXdLk7?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy

Gosh those reviews are terrible! How is this company allowed to operate like this?

i only ever buy new with tags, and make sure the tags are attached in the photo!- to avoid this kind of thing. It’s totally shocking how much brand new stuff is lurking in people’s cupboards but it’s to my benefit so….

Hard to do if you are away from home when the parcel gets delivered. Vinted postage is so random, things often take 2 to 3 weeks to arrive so very hard to predict which days they might come and make sure you're home for the 48hr deadline. Not something I'd plan my life around personally, so I'd prefer a longer window seeing as the seller gets 7 days to post the item (even longer I think before the sale is cancelled by vinted)

I use Vinted but only for low value items as I just don't trust them or the sellers. My last two purchases just haven't arrived (due to evri and inpost but still ultimately vinted's responsibility). Getting the money back for these has been a nightmare and as OP says they make it really difficult, and a race against the clock hoping you don't make their deadlines 🙄 I've never sold/bought on eBay but will be switching 100%

I'd definitely recommend using a store pick up point for this reason. I think you get 7 to 10 days to collyour parcel and THEN your 48hrs starts ticking

Vinted has been great for me recently as I've sold loads on there and haven't had any bad buyers. Except one didn't collect her parcel so it was returned to me and she was refunded. Which is very annoying as I think she just changed her mind. But I've bought a few things on there too and everything's been as described (skin care mainly, new and sealed). Oh I did purchase something which seemed like too good of a deal and it was actually a scammer who sent me a proof of delivery receipt 2 mins after purchase so clearly fake. I reported them, they got blocked and Vinted refunded me after two days I think. So was fine. I'd definitely not buy/sell any high value item on there though. Max £25. I've made a good amount so far but I had a lot to sell and you do have to price low to shift things. And there's always people coming in with very silly offers. But overall I think it's been good.

I’m a bit of a vinted virgin but have been buying and selling on eBay for years with very few issues - if I say I’ve worn it once I mean it!!
Sadly just been scammed on eBay by a BNWT seller that purports to be in U.K. but is a Chinese importer selling through a shill Republic of Ireland address - selling obvious fake branded goods
I’ve lost around £50 - not huge I know but it’s the principle and eBay have awarded in the sellers favour
I paid £12 to return item to ROI and just had the parcel returned to me due to customs so am k even further out of pocket but as it’s under £100 can dispute via credit card so will have to try via PayPal next

So, I've been scammed as the seller for the first time. I'm not even sure what happened.

I sold a pair of trousers for £7(so not a huge amount). Shipped, was delivered to pickup point, few days later buyer collected. Now, I suddenly have a message from Vinted saying that the buyer cancelled the transaction... after they had the item. The buyer did not return the item or contact me. Apparently the buyer has been refunded, whereas I have no retured item and the pending balance has disappeared from my account.

Pretty stumped as what to do.

I’m not going near Vinted ever again after been burned badly. Not buying or selling. The entire platform seem to me inherently unstable, where there are no set rules if any issues arrives. I’m sorry you had a bad experience. But I feel I rather stick to well recognised websites that have been trading for at least a decade.

Be VERY careful with Vinted. Two sellers let me down just before Xmas, one delivery was never sent and another which was "brand new with label" arrived stained, dirty and marked with no label. Vinted did nothing to help. Ignored their own Buyer Protection Plan, which buyers are forced to pay for, and let the seller of scot free and allowed her to continue with her fraudulent activities on their site. They forced me to pay for return postage and I had to stand for an hour in the post office with a painful disability all of which they knew about -that is why I bought on line in the first place. A nasty company with no ethics and no protection for buyers.

I'm beginning to think Vinted itself is run by scammers. The business has gone down the drain.

I recently reported a seller who was obviously copying another sellers pics and pretending to sell at a much lower price - vinted replied that they saw nothing unusual or wrong. The scammer had one of those weird names consisting of numbers and letters with no reviews. It was so obvious. I’m thinking what a pp said - that Vinted itself is run by scammers is true.

I had a dispute with a buyer who scammed me and Vinted will do nothing to take the buyer to task. Clearly this attitude demonstrates Vinted are happy to have SCAMMERS operate on their platform. All there rubbish about keeping it's community safe is a load of rubbish. From my experience of their customer services they are morally bankrupt, will stonewall any criticism of their safety procedures and will not even discuss that scamming is even possibly taking place on their platform. I've tried to resolve my complaint from the CEO, a mediation company working in partnership with them and customer service. All I've experienced is a culture of corporate dishonesty and stonewalling. I've asked the CEO to challenge me but have the usual corporate stonewalling.

Vinted.....>>>>>>>> high-end selling here a no-no

I Sold a watch for 3.5k....but had to cancel sale...as a Seller HAS NO PROTECTION AGAINST LOSS, DAMAGE THEFT AND the max amount seller receives if an item is lost:
is £500.

Sorry Vinted but if you're going to allow high-end designer goods to be sold....Sellers need to be given automatic insurance on valuable goods they sell.