Toasties - still loving the knitwear and the chat!

[IlovePond]

I have set up a new Toastie thread, guys.

Lurker here just jumping in to say vinted are good in these situations- you submit a photo of the damage and they allow you to send it back for a refund. The only annoying thing is that you have to pay the postage.

The seller is disputing it, saying I must have caused it by opening the parcel with a scissors or sharp nails. Sigh. There doesn’t seem to be an option to just request to send it back.

That’s awful @ScottishMouse - clearly deliberate on the seller’s part, then 😿

I’m absolutely willing to give her the benefit of the doubt that she did not notice it, and maybe she has been burned by buyers before (I know I have), but it’s a bit ridiculous thinking up ways I could have done it. The hole doesn’t even look like it could have been caused by something sharp.
This is why buying & selling on resale sites is so stressful. It is a great thing in theory - letting pieces go when they no longer work for you, so they can get a new life elsewhere, buying pieces at a reduced cost, etc - but if this is the stress it causes then I am going to need to take a step back from it for a while.

@ScottishMouse - I've had moth hole issues with Vinted twice before - both sellers gave partial refunds as I decided to get repaired (by Toast for free). I did stick them in the freezer for a week to make sure all eggs etc were killed.

I’m not even sure it’s a moth issue @Stoic123, it might be a manufacturing defect. I would probably take a partial refund, but so far she hasn’t offered that and is just pushing back.
I have only bought a handful of things on Vinted, and twice I had the items not even be sent, once it didn’t turn up (which took weeks to resolve), and now this.
About a month ago I bought a homeware item on eBay, and the seller was local so I arranged to collect it. When I turned up, the item was absolutely filthy, and the seller clearly thought that this was fine. 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️
And then there was an eBay sale I made a couple of months back where the buyer claimed the item (knitwear) was unravelling. I agreed to a refund and it came back in perfect condition. Honestly, I don’t know what is with people. It just makes me reluctant to buy or sell anymore.

@ScottishMouse - how annoying for you!! Vinted lets itself down when things like this happen. You can say it's 'significantly not as described' and they will ask you to send pictures of the wrapping etc, but you should be refunded. The negative part is that the seller can choose for you to pay to return it and you have no say in the matter, so you will be minus that money. If you really love it, I think I'd take it to Toast and get it fixed, especially as you live near one. Maybe they could do something creative with the mend?

Ouch @ScottishMouse - that's pretty bad luck. Apart from those 2 items, and ignoring overuse of Febreeze, I've had an ok experience (fingers crossed don't now tempt fate).

I am doing a major declutter (and sell off) at the moment but, after this bout, I'm really going to try and cut down on buying and wear my existing wardrobe to death (including the kaftan).

Bad luck @ScottishMouse really annoying, especially when it's an item you are really looking forward to getting.

I'm selling a few things on Vinted at the moment, mostly gone already but have found other things on there so I've spent no money but I've made none either!

It’s really frustrating when things get unpleasant on eBay/Vinted. I know MSE say to sell on everything you can that you no longer need and, in theory it’s great advice. However, a) it’s time consuming and boring and b) stressful!

I have just been in the hellhole that used to be our back room full of good intentions to give up on eBay and just send the whole lot to charity, but some of it is worth quite a lot of money🙀 I have sorted out another couple of bags worth for charity today but I really need to either eBay or charity asap for my own wellbeing. I am leaning towards the latter because I am extremely lazy😿

I hope you get resolution on that buy @ScottishMouse . It seems strange that you can’t return the item via Vinted.
I’m with the general disenchantment of resale , I’ve been sitting on some expensive things ( not Toast) intending to list them , but this is all putting me right off !

@OftenOrange i think you can but the seller needs to accept the return. She has said she will give a partial refund (about 15%) to keep or will take it back, fix it up and repost it. I’m going to sit on it overnight and decide.
I really want it, it is the alpaca poncho in navy. I have tried it in this year’s colours a few times now and not bought, partly because of the price and partly because I knew last year’s navy would have been a better colour for me. So I am tempted to keep it, freeze it in case of moths, and repair it myself or bring it to Toast to do. I would want the repair to be invisible and I think I could probably do a reasonable enough job at that myself.
But yeah, whatever I decide to do, it’s left a bit of a sour taste re resale sites. I have a couple of things listed on the Toast fb page at the moment, and have never had an issue there, but I might need to quit Vinted & eBay.

I asked for an invisible mend and Toast (Edinburgh) did a fabulous job on quite a large hole (in case you decide not to do yourself)

Thanks @Stoic123 . There is a new repair specialist in Edinburgh, I haven’t seen any of her work yet though.

My favourites/most worn are also the Tala dresses. The blue one has taken me to two weddings/dinners and lunches while the green is more everyday. Also my olive/black tweed coat bought several years ago at the Llandeilo outlet for about £170. I’ve had so many compliments and it is very toasty (sorry!) This winter the small knitted scarf in a burnt orange tone has cheered up so many days. And the cost per wear must be minimal even though £55 at first seemed a bit steep for such a small item.

@OftenOrange despite the odd issue, I recommend Vinted. TOAST items go quickly if you price right. I've gone a bit mad this weekend - maybe because both my girls are back at uni 😢 and it's that readjustment period again.

Yes, it is the Tala Poplinskirt, thank you! I agree with you too re the Donegals, have a few including the recent Toast Graphic Yoke Fairisle Jumper In Donegal Wool in the grey and the orange, I love wearing them.

All the recent chat reminds me that I have a navy dress with embroidery on the bodice, a real Russian feel to it. I must dig it out.

Today I am wearing an angora round neck cropped cardigan with bracelet sleeves in what I would describe as the colour of ambrosia creamed rice 😀. I have quite a lot of Toast clothes that I am not wearing so making a real effort to dig them out and give them an airing. Last week I wore a navy dress with yellow embroidery to work, is this the dress that everyone is describing as the kaftan?

Yes @alliscalm , the knitted bandanas may be my lowest cost per wear toast items. I bought both the tawny and the ember and have worn one of them every single day this winter. I’m wearing the ember one right now with my pjs and an old grey sweatshirt while I cook dinner.

@mizu - is that what you've just bought on vinted? I'm impressed!

I'd also recommend Vinted - despite the odd annoyance, and the possibility that it could go wrong, now that I'm used to it I definitely prefer it to EBay - it's more friendly and small scale and easier to navigate.

I'm still too scared of Vinted, I've heard some bad experiences and I just think "better the devil you know" so I've put some dungarees and culottes on Facebook and if they don't go I'll put on eBay.
I'm terrible for thinking that bigger clothes will fit fine (if not a bit oversized) so when there is something I love the look of but there's only an 18 left I buy it. So I'm sadly selling things I've never worn because actually things that are too big don't fit after all!

I've recently joined Aja Barber's Patreon, I'm really determined to buy less and buy better. I went into Brighton yesterday and didn't buy a thing. I think my husband thought I'd been body-swapped. Not even a pair of socks!

Toast, if you’re reading, could you please end the sale now?!
Why am I still scrolling through the sale in spare moments? Exactly what do I think is going to magically appear that wasn’t there the previous 245,672,297 times I have scrolled through it??

@ScottishMouse I was having similar thoughts!!
I presume it will end at lunchtime tomorrow? (She asks hopefully!)

Although I hope there's one last restock before that. You know, just in case

Sale ending tomorrow

Thank goodness I’m sick looking at it now.

I wish the new stuff was more interesting. Maybe more interesting things will appear now.

Still 242 Sale items listed, down from, was it 450 ish to start with, or more? Over a month since it started. Eventually up to 60% off, but most items less generous, and much of the Winter season not reduced at all. A general sense of disenchantment with the whole experience. That's a lot of time and effort and dented goodwill to have not cleared sale stock.

The old sales would vanish in a blink. Current season reduced across the board, then any leftovers would feature in a single 80% off Archive sale.

Maybe they had lots of Archive returns that had to be ragged under the old setup? Or maybe it's just greed and the drive for executive salaries and corporate profits since Toast changed hands? Whatever this new strategy is about, it doesn't seem to be working on either the stock clearance or customer happiness fronts.

I've noticed a couple of places who are quietly moving things to a permanent or semi-permanent Sale section. No song and dance, no priority access, no endless emails, no big event, no time pressure, just consistently available for out of season or too broke for the new collection shopping. Not sure if it's an experiment or just the way they do things, but I think I might like it.