Vestiaire Collective experiences?
- Thread starter Kopisusu
- Start date
TPF may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others
Hi Bisousx
Sorry I was slow to answer your question, but I see Gabs007 was helpful! I have actually been in hospital briefly!
Gabs007 is quite right, I had forgotten that it’s a little V in a gold circle, on the app and on item pages on the mobile website. I don’t know if it appears on the desktop website. If a seller has it, on an item page on the mobile website and the app, it is overlapping their little round profile picture (or blank avatar) with their name, in the app it’s at the top of their full selling page overlapping the round profile picture with their name, or it still appears as the original little gold flag/pennant, on the Selling page in their profile on the mobile website. (A message before you get to that says it’s in development so I guess that will change to the circle sometime soon?).
If there is no little V in a gold circle, they have not yet earned trusted/recommended status, or have had it removed. At one time I incorrectly believed (and posted here, later corrected) that professional sellers didn’t get trusted status, but I think I just hadn’t yet noticed one that had it! I’ve since seen professionals with recommended status so obviously it does apply to them too, if they do or don’t have it. So that’s useful too, though it’s less of a worry buying from professionals because they have to take returns. With individual sellers (of which I am one), there are no returns, but you can relist the item with Vestiaire and they won’t take commission a second time (though there is an admin fee, it’s smaller but I can’t remember what it is and have never done it).
The refund will be automatic at the end of the 4 weeks allowed if the seller fails to ship, so you don’t need to worry about doing anything unless you wanted the item quickly. It’s explained in the FAQs and/or T&Cs. That happened to me, the automatic refund, with one item I tried to buy. I wouldn’t mind betting they tighten this up at some point, given that they seem to be polishing up other parts of the process, because it’s just such a long time to wait! I used to think it was reasonable, given that items come from all over the world to whichever hub, and people who don’t sell for a living can’t necessarily be as efficient as a professional seller (who REALLY ought to be prompt), but now ... I don’t know. It’s a long time. Maybe they could adjust it for different parts of the world, given that it’s easier to ship from some places than others. I like Vestiaire. I always tell myself to be patient when buying pre-owned, it’s not retail, and unless it’s ready to ship, it’s not in stock, and Vestiaire does chase the seller weekly, but I’d be a lot happier not waiting so long to find out if that purchase I made really exists. I don’t really know what other resale sites do, I looked at some but can’t remember the details now, maybe it’s the same? One very sensible and cool-headed lady on this forum a while back had paid via PayPal, I think, and got it cancelled sooner on the basis that the seller was unresponsive. You might want to do that if your seller keeps being non-responsive. Maybe it can also be done with credit card payments?
The gold circle is where you tap to see the seller’s compliance rate, and I had a few thoughts about that I posted too, I think you already saw them? (The flag/pennant doesn’t have this info attached). Combined with the number of items sold it can tell you a fair amount, keeping in mind that a less than 100% rate is not necessarily awful, because it can mean something relatively insignificant ‘wrong’ with or just different in a minor way about an item, or that the seller had to cancel a sale for some reason. It’s not guaranteed that the recommended status and the rate will get you a perfect purchase, and nor is buying from a non-trusted seller guaranteed to get you a bad experience (it can be great), but it’s one thing to take into consideration. It’s hard for new sellers to be recognised quickly as trusted, so in that case it’s definitely worth messaging them and assessing the quality, detail and accuracy of their descriptions and pictures along with their response. It’s a lot harder for any seller to get away with sending an iffy item if they’ve posted comprehensive pictures and description, and if you have asked questions and got good replies, because any significant discrepancy will most likely not make it through QC, and if it does (and yes, we all know, it has been known!!) you have a good case for requiring your money back. Pin the seller down to precision as far as possible and it starts the whole thing off on surer footing.
As regards RANKING, mine is quite high, but nowhere near that of a regular professional seller. And not all sellers with high ranking have recommended status. So going by that, I would guess ranking can be related to volume of sales and activity, but I think it is probably less significant to a buyer than recommended status and compliance rate. I hope they clarify that some time.
So with regard to earning the recommended/trusted status, I’ve sold a lot and bought a few items on VC. My understanding, from various times I’ve spoken to customer service, is that it’s based on an array of measures (items sold, speed and helpfulness of responses to questions, shipping time, compliance to description and quality and maybe also other aspects we and they can’t necessarily see?) so it won’t just be about the obvious numbers. They sometimes issue polite warnings in the comments when someone has posted something actually offensive in tone, and delete if further offensive comments are made. I noticed it happening when someone was essentially trolling someone selling a Givenchy (Chanel? Céline? Can’t remember now). Maybe that counts? It would be helpful if they made all this clearer so us trying to fathom it like this would be unnecessary. Maybe they will in future, other things there have been changing recently.
I thought it was really helpful of Polaremil a few posts back to share how she lost her trusted status through cancelling sales (for her own reasons to which she is absolutely entitled): it shows that once gained, it is not always kept, so keeping the status must generally mean something positive (and conversely losing the status may not always be a sign of anything terrible; it wasn’t anything terrible in Polaremil’s case. I always wondered about that, and what other things might make you lose it!
I mentioned a few posts ago (sorry, repeating myself again, I am trying to be comprehensive!) that on the whole I personally would generally avoid sellers who have sold a large number of items but don’t have trusted status and would be wary of the possible reasons behind it, to which I would add, if I didn’t say it, checking for inactive accounts in the way Gabs007 mentioned, she made a good point. If you take a look at posts 2662 and 2667 you could check what I say in detail; it’s basically what I’ve come to understand through all my transactions there (and the sort of thing I would have liked to know when I started using Vestiaire myself). Vestiaire can’t control sellers’ behaviour but it would be a lot better if accounts got deleted if they’re inactive for a long time. When I first used Vestiaire I just imagined everything on the screen was on its way to me as soon as I clicked ‘pay’!
One thing I would really seriously recommend to anybody thinking of buying anything at all is, in combination with all the above, to look through as many of the seller’s other items on their page as you have time for, whether a trusted one or not, and see how they interact with buyers. And to get the full picture you need to do that on the website, not the app, because the app doesn’t display sold items on a seller’s page. You can select to see sold items on the website so that’s a useful insight into previous transactions. You do stumble across the odd seller who is inexplicably rude to a potential buyer (so strange! How do they imagine they will sell much like that?) or one who has clearly not shipped the item in the end, or sent later than promised, or hasn’t replied to the buyer after the sale, as in your case. I’d definitely avoid those people myself unless there appears to be a really good and plausible explanation! Of course a seller could appear charming in the comments but his or actions be quite different; we just can’t see the invisible. But a rude or unresponsive seller seems to me pretty likely to be a bad bet.
None of these things is utterly foolproof though, and you just have to take as much care as you can. I’ve found Vestiaire to be good regarding QC when I have purchased, but that hasn’t been everyone’s experience. Likewise customer service has been good in my experience but there are plenty of people who have had poorer experience. I think they are tightening up a lot of their practices to make it better - they’ve started by reducing commission and I’m getting more thorough customer service replies, if currently a little slower because (they told me) they’re busier with more sales since the commission change, likewise with processing their receipt of items and QC, Gabs and I both seem to have noticed that. Fingers crossed that will speed back up. I assume they know they’ve got to become more spot-on to maintain and increase their market share; I don’t think we will see it all happening at once, and only time will tell if improvements keep coming.
The bottom line is, take all the care you possibly can, and you maximise your good experiences.
I really hope that’s useful for you for any future purchases and anyone else new or new-ish using Vestiaire. I imagine some of the same general things will apply to other platforms that I haven’t used. I really wished someone had given me that sort of information when I was thinking about using them. I managed to stay safe but I feel really sad when I see someone come on here, disappointed about a purchase they may have saved hard for or just had their heart set on and something hasn’t worked out, and they could have protected themselves better. It’s mostly common sense but I know that, when I get excited about some hard-to-find item I wanted, I can all too easily throw commonsensical caution to the wind! I hadn’t ever used any social media/forum before and left this forum for a good while but posted about a lot of this before I did, then decided not to participate any longer as I thought I’d posted everything I’d found out and sort of felt forums weren’t my thing. Then I found afterwards that my experiences developed and there were also changes at Vestiaire, so I thought it might be useful for other users to come back to it, and I’ve benefited from other TPF members’ insights. Please feel free to use it for reference or to completely disregard as you please!
Last edited:
I think shipping within a week is ample time and since it is all tracked, if the seller hasn't shipped within a week, I think it is unlikely they will, however I did sometimes have issues with the delivery being slow, but that was the service.
This is a bit of a long story, but I do know that this will help the community as to how VESTIAIRE treats their buyers....
And just so everyone knows.... I have so far only bought 3 items from Vestiaire, the 2 items were good and authentic....
But then the 3rd one (the Givenchy shoes) that I thought (and hoping) was real were FAKE.
I was in Rome just this past April 2019, and I bought a pair of Givenchy Jaw HiTop at the Givenchy Store.
After purchasing, I’ve thought of getting my nephew the same thing as his graduation gift, but of course it had to be cheaper, so I saw one at Vestiaire and haggled (I made a HUGE mistake of paying first before asking).
When I asked the seller if the box and dust bags are included, her respond was “the shoes came from a garage (house) sale” she said; which gave me a RED ALERT.
So I did my research, and found a fake shoes like that at DHGate, so I immediately contacted Vestiaire and informed them about my suspicion, the CS (Martin) was nice and he said that he will put in a second ticket to get it fully authenticated by the so called “QA People”. And after a few days, I got an email stating that they are shipping it out, so I was thinking that it is authentic.
The shoes arrived, and the first time I felt and saw the shoes, it doesn’t feel right, so I compared that to the ones I bought at the Givenchy Store in Rome. And my conclusion was it was way off... (I WILL ATTACH SOME PROOF OF EVIDENCE).
So I emailed PayPal and complain... I was told that I need a document that states the shoes are fake. So I had to get it authenticated by RealAuthentication.com and paid $30.00 total over the weekend.
That Monday, I got an email from the authenticating company (RealAuthentication.com) stating that the shoes are indeed fake, I had to pay an extra $10 for a written document stating the shoes are fake (as proof). And I sent a copy of the certificate to PAYPAL and was told that they will do an investigation etc... etc... and might take a few days, weeks or even months to get it resolved (or even declined).
So I stepped up the plate and I emailed Martin (CS Rep from vestiaire) and he said that he did put in the ticket to get the shoes authenticated twice, BUT the “QA People” only did a one time authentic check he said. I told Martin of the actions I did and send him some of my evidence (including pictures and the document from the authenticating company).
So Martin advised me to send the shoes to get it a full authenticity check at their New York Vestiare Office (he helped me on the step by step on how to get the shipping label). And a few days later I shipped it, and put a copy of the certification from RealAuthentication.com inside the package.
After 2 days, I got an email stating that “the shoes does not meet the original quality stated by the seller”.... meaning I was right, the shoes were indeed fake!!! And that I will get the full refund of my money (but not the $30 that I paid to get it authenticated).
Got my refund after 2 days. So I’m a little happy with Vestiaire.
BUT THEN.... I saw the shoes that I returned to them at vestiaire website after a week, and they are selling it and passing it up as authentic.... I was shock to find that out.... so to do my part, I emailed Martin (CS Rep from VC) to inform them or make them aware as to what is going on.... BUT this time a different person responded to my email (Laura), and it seemed like Laura is insistent that all the items that they sell are authentic and that the shoes I returned were AUTHENTIC, the exchanging of email with Laura didn’t go anywhere.... so I’ve decided to take it further and let others know of my own personal experience with VESTIAIRE COLLECTIVE....
So PLEASE BE AWARE!!! I sometime know how to know real from fake, but we really cannot judge it on pictures that we see on line alone, we have to feel and see it in person before we realized the authenticity of the stuff we buy. BUT with VESTIAIRE??? They know that it’s fake, why would they even pass it as real? I know that it’s business and that they need to gain some profit, and I don’t have any issues with them selling it again, just mention on the post that it is not authentic so that the buyers are aware... to me, that’s a company that you could trust.
I have attached some pictures below of the shoes that I bought;
And just so everyone knows.... I have so far only bought 3 items from Vestiaire, the 2 items were good and authentic....
But then the 3rd one (the Givenchy shoes) that I thought (and hoping) was real were FAKE.
I was in Rome just this past April 2019, and I bought a pair of Givenchy Jaw HiTop at the Givenchy Store.
After purchasing, I’ve thought of getting my nephew the same thing as his graduation gift, but of course it had to be cheaper, so I saw one at Vestiaire and haggled (I made a HUGE mistake of paying first before asking).
When I asked the seller if the box and dust bags are included, her respond was “the shoes came from a garage (house) sale” she said; which gave me a RED ALERT.
So I did my research, and found a fake shoes like that at DHGate, so I immediately contacted Vestiaire and informed them about my suspicion, the CS (Martin) was nice and he said that he will put in a second ticket to get it fully authenticated by the so called “QA People”. And after a few days, I got an email stating that they are shipping it out, so I was thinking that it is authentic.
The shoes arrived, and the first time I felt and saw the shoes, it doesn’t feel right, so I compared that to the ones I bought at the Givenchy Store in Rome. And my conclusion was it was way off... (I WILL ATTACH SOME PROOF OF EVIDENCE).
So I emailed PayPal and complain... I was told that I need a document that states the shoes are fake. So I had to get it authenticated by RealAuthentication.com and paid $30.00 total over the weekend.
That Monday, I got an email from the authenticating company (RealAuthentication.com) stating that the shoes are indeed fake, I had to pay an extra $10 for a written document stating the shoes are fake (as proof). And I sent a copy of the certificate to PAYPAL and was told that they will do an investigation etc... etc... and might take a few days, weeks or even months to get it resolved (or even declined).
So I stepped up the plate and I emailed Martin (CS Rep from vestiaire) and he said that he did put in the ticket to get the shoes authenticated twice, BUT the “QA People” only did a one time authentic check he said. I told Martin of the actions I did and send him some of my evidence (including pictures and the document from the authenticating company).
So Martin advised me to send the shoes to get it a full authenticity check at their New York Vestiare Office (he helped me on the step by step on how to get the shipping label). And a few days later I shipped it, and put a copy of the certification from RealAuthentication.com inside the package.
After 2 days, I got an email stating that “the shoes does not meet the original quality stated by the seller”.... meaning I was right, the shoes were indeed fake!!! And that I will get the full refund of my money (but not the $30 that I paid to get it authenticated).
Got my refund after 2 days. So I’m a little happy with Vestiaire.
BUT THEN.... I saw the shoes that I returned to them at vestiaire website after a week, and they are selling it and passing it up as authentic.... I was shock to find that out.... so to do my part, I emailed Martin (CS Rep from VC) to inform them or make them aware as to what is going on.... BUT this time a different person responded to my email (Laura), and it seemed like Laura is insistent that all the items that they sell are authentic and that the shoes I returned were AUTHENTIC, the exchanging of email with Laura didn’t go anywhere.... so I’ve decided to take it further and let others know of my own personal experience with VESTIAIRE COLLECTIVE....
So PLEASE BE AWARE!!! I sometime know how to know real from fake, but we really cannot judge it on pictures that we see on line alone, we have to feel and see it in person before we realized the authenticity of the stuff we buy. BUT with VESTIAIRE??? They know that it’s fake, why would they even pass it as real? I know that it’s business and that they need to gain some profit, and I don’t have any issues with them selling it again, just mention on the post that it is not authentic so that the buyers are aware... to me, that’s a company that you could trust.
I have attached some pictures below of the shoes that I bought;
- 2 pics of the comparison of my REAL on their FAKE (indicated which is which).
- Fake does not have the serial date code.
- Fake The leather is horrible
- Fake way off compared to the REAL JAW SHOES
- The document stating that it is fake from RealAuthentication.com
- The email from NY Vestiaire Company stating of the refund and the reason.
- And 2 of the snap pictures of the same exact shoes that is now being sold in their website (after I returned it).
Attachments
I agree that what you say is very often likely to be true, though I have also had more than one seller take ages to ship, but then ship it out last minute just before the deadline, and eventually a really lovely and hard to obtain item has reached me. It’s annoying, some sellers quite possibly hang on as long as they can to try to sell it somewhere else for more money, but sometimes I’m willing to wait in hope if it’s something special. And on the other side I’ve had one seller who disappeared after appearing to be a great seller right up till I purchased, then it refunded automatically after the four weeks. I hung on because I really hoped for that one! I wouldn’t do that as a seller. If I were listing on more than one platform. If someone buys something I’m selling, I feel a duty to send it as quickly as possible and if I had listed it on another site I would withdraw it immediately so as not to disappoint another person who might purchase in good faith, regardless of possible higher earnings. I agree a week should be ample, or maybe ten days if people live somewhere remote, then there would be more incentive for them to ship early so as not to lose the solid sale. We noticed they’ve started saying where something is shipping from, didn’t we, and wondered why? I thought maybe something to do with shipping restrictions and because they were changing shipping costs to reflect actual journeys rather than have flat fees (which meant shipping going up for some but down for most). You never know, maybe it’s also partly a prelude to some sort of origin-recognising seller shipping window being rolled out. As long as people know when a seller is temporarily unavailable, because we all want to go on holiday or into hospital without having to cancel all our listings or losing our recommended status! That functionality seems only to be on the website, it would be good if they added it to the app.
Thank you for your detailed reply. I still don't see any gold circle, perhaps a screenshot from someone may be helpful? Or this seller of mine just doesn't have that trusted status.
She has been replying (twice) and claims she sent the item, but it's going to have to go from Russia to France for inspection. And with 7 days left until the 30 days is up, I'm beyond frustrated.
Vestiaire seems great for sellers but bad for buyers with their "we don't accept returns" policy and tying up our money for 30 days. 7 business days should be the maximum allowed timeline to ship an item. I'm pissed.
To be honest, I bought and sold through VC and found it actually better as a buyer, you can buy items very cheaply, it does show the item location, so you do have an idea how long it takes, depending on where you are, yes it does take time, if you do want immediate delivery, it is not for you, but you usually do not get immediate delivery and the much reduced price you get on VC, to expect the item straight away and much cheaper than a shop, it doesn't work. You have the option of paying full price and getting it immediate from a shop, or you get it cheaper and wait, to expect both is simply unrealistic.
Look, I am in the UK, I make a point to send within 2 or 3 days, as I think it is common courtesy, it still sometimes takes 2 to 3 weeks to reach them if they are using ParcelForce, especially since Paris had a few protests. They can't beam items, usually it was pretty straight forward, there was one occasion where the seller flaked out and didn't send, and yes, i had to wait about a month until I got my money back but I knew that in advance.
As for the screenshot, there should be one in this thread somewhere, posted one before. It could be that your seller doesn't have that, could be for various reasons, maybe she cancelled a sale, makes you lose the trusted seller status, maybe she didn't reply fast enough to some questions or did not bother to reply because somebody just made a stupid comment (you sometimes get a "Hi there, I want to buy it for peanuts") and you actually have to reply, if a buyer asks to cancel a sale and you agree, as the seller you lose trusted seller status, as somebody said in the thread earlier, nobody knows when you get trusted seller status
If she has sent the item, what do you think VC or the seller should do if it is on the way? Wave a magic wand?
As for accepting returns, seriously? I am prepared to pay VC a commission to not deal with buyers who have buyer's remorse or want to borrow items, as they often do on eBay, I am not there to lend somebody my clothes and bags for free, or to ship them around so somebody can take pictures with them, or use me as their try on wardrobe.
It honestly seems that you want the items much much cheaper, straight away, and then return if you don't like them, well, you get that on NetAPorter, FarFetch and a few other companies, it is not much of a problem, but you pay full price. As my granny would have said "You can't have your cake and eat it!"
I totally understand wanting items straight away, that is when I go into a shop and pay full price, for some items I need to do that as I can be a bit difficult to fit. Most tops I have to try on to avoid wardrobe malfunctions, unless I know the particular brand and cut, I won't buy it online. As I said, you have 2 choices, spend less and wait or spend full price and straight away, you have to decide what is right for you.
If you want to be able to exchange and get your money back for an item you spent a lot less than retail, who do you think should pay for that? And why should somebody or a company pay for you changing your mind? Even with certain brands or companies, if you exchange too much, you end up banned from buying their items or the SAs will simply sell to somebody else. Cheap, fast, with all the trimmings and the ability to change your mind that is wanting the moon on a stick or a somebody walking into a Hermes shop, expecting a Birkin in the colour she always wanted, the leather she dreamed off and the hardware the way she wants it, but straight away please, for half the price and if she doesn't like it next year, she can bring it back for another model....
Well, you do have the option of asking the seller for a more detailed picture of a code, I have done that in the past and I think that is only doing your job as a buyer. If you pay with a credit card, you usually will not need the authentication, but if I am not 100% sure about an item, for my own peace of mind I let it authenticate.
Where humans work, mistakes do happen, I am not saying VC is perfect, far from it, I have complained about them in the past quite frequently, but in this case, I am sorry, I just went on the site and checked, there is exactly ONE model like that sold, it was sold on the 14th of May, the seller is VCNY, works as a professional seller so there should be a return option anyway. If an item was previously sold, then the old pictures and the item would still be up and show up. Since your screenshot states 14th, I assume that those were the ones you bought and returned
For example I had an item rejected, which were nude shoes, for me they were more beige, VC thought they were more pink, the shoe shows up in my sold items, and then as active as well. There is no other model of that Givenchy shoe being sold.
There are a few things that don't seem to be clear, you said you bought them from a seller who said they are from a garage sale, the item sold states the seller is VCNY (Vestiaire Collective New York), there are no questions asked about the item, asking questions via the "Ask the seller a question" option is the only option to get in touch with the seller.
The shoes shown in the item also seem a lot more worn than "in very good condition" which is why VC said they took them back.
Can you clue me in? Was the seller VC or a private seller? Because as I said, the only shoes that are in the size and the model you stated are here and were sold on the 14th of May, you said you got a refund, could it be that the shoe was not offered again as you claim, but you are talking about the one you returned and sold items still show up but in a more faded colour, and you mistook the sold item for an active listing?
https://www.vestiairecollective.com...ack-cloth-jaw-givenchy-trainers-7517215.shtml
Last edited:
Oh and something I just noticed, the screenshot states that the shoes were bought on the 14th of May 2019, that is a very very speedy return since today is the 24th of May, so you had the issue resolved within 10 days? Good for you, but the letter from the authenticator is from the 6th of May, how does that work?
I thought your whole story did not really match up, so I was digging around a bit more, actually I found the exchange you had with the seller, where the seller actually told you they were a sample and that Givenchy name is missing on the back and where you told the seller that the shoes were rejected by VC, which totally seems in line with their quality control standards regarding more wear and tear that was not mentioned
Then you claimed
"Hey Dakota.... I got an email from Vestiaire that they have not accepted the shoes for you for authentication... so can you please update me/us as to what is going on? If you have the tracking form please let me and especially them know? So that they could see where the package is located at right now.... thanks and I’ll wait for your respond..."
So VC did NOT accept the shoes due to quality issues or because they were a sample and told you that the sale was cancelled, which is VASTLY different than the story you told here. As I said I am sure mistakes happen with VC and that they are far from perfect, but it seems your story is also not the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
I honestly think if something goes wrong and people have an issue, it is only fair to bring it up, but I have to admit I have some real doubts about your story, how would you get the shoes that did not pass quality control (as you stated yourself) and get them authenticated?
Attachments
Hi there
Well, as Gabs points out, you do know in advance of buying how much time a seller is allowed for sending. I was under the impression from what you posted before that the seller was being uncooperative - maybe I misread something or forgot - but it sounds like she has been in touch with you and may well have sent the item within the window? Is there any particular reason to believe she’s not telling the truth? Try not to worry, you will either get your item or the money back, that’s the guarantee you get that makes buying through a platform like Vestiaire relatively safe in the context of buying pre-owned. It’s always wise to check you’re happy with the stated T&Cs before you buy anywhere.
I hope Gabs and I have both given some useful insights for you for any future purchases, based on our experience. As both of us mentioned, we are recommended sellers, but not being a recommended seller doesn’t mean it’s a bad seller, it’s in combination with other considerations and ways of assessing that it might give you some helpful information to weigh up your decision before buying. Who knows? Maybe your seller in Russia lives miles from a post office and has to send her sales in batches once a month. She could sell 17 items and not get recommended status just because she finds it impossible to ship everything swiftly. It’s easy for me to ship quickly because I live in the UK in an area with DHL pick-up service and several post offices nearby. I have an advantage. It might not be so easy where she is.
You say you still haven’t found the gold circle. If you look at a selection of other sellers on Vestiaire you will be able to find it in the places that have been described by me and Gabs on at least some of them, and Gabs said she’d posted a screenshot before. So then you will be able to work out whether your seller has it or not. But given that she has been communicating with you I’m not sure that’s really relevant now?
I have to disagree that Vestiaire is generally bad for buyers and good for sellers; I’m a buyer and a seller and I’ve had lots of great experiences and just a few not so perfect ones in both capacities. Nothing terrible, just small hitches, and one seller last year who stopped responding to queries as soon as I’d purchased and then never sent my purchase. Vestiaire can’t control her but can protect me against losing my money or a long dispute. It generally seems to work. I got my money back automatically in the timeframe stated from the start. I’ve detailed all of it previously hoping it’ll help people go in with their eyes open. All of my other purchases have been satisfactory and I’ve had some really good deals.
It does help (as I think Gabs and certainly others have said) to remember that Vestiaire is a platform. Most sellers are private individuals who are not doing it for a living but just working it around their daily lives to sell some of their unused wardrobe. If you want to be able to return, the choice is available even on Vestiaire to buy from a professional seller. I’ve returned items to professional sellers on Vestiaire and it was smooth and quick, no quibbles. I don’t know much about the rest of the second hand market but I believe it’s normal for private sellers not to take returns. Honestly, they wouldn’t want to risk selling otherwise, they are so much at risk of being scammed by bad buyers, and can easily lose their goods and their money, as you can see when you look at people’s experiences in the eBay threads.
Both buyer and seller get some protection against being scammed by each other on Vestiaire and similar sites where there is a middleman, and the major benefit buyers get, as Gabs said, is the opportunity to get designer goods at vastly reduced prices, and with a fairly good degree of protection, which hopefully also will improve with the changes they’re implementing. (Time will tell on that, but meantime all I can say is I’ve had no real trouble myself anyway.) As far as shipping times go, goods come from all over the world, so time lags have to be expected. It’s never going to be possible for it to function like retail but you’ll benefit from drastically lower prices.
You do have to think of the seller’s point of view too. I always try to do that if I buy. I love it when a buyer communicates with me with the same respect I give them. I feel particularly happy if they let me know they’ve received their item and are delighted with it, it’s great, I want them to be happy. There are many, many sellers who feel the same, I’m certain. I’ve seen sellers who communicate above & beyond with buyers. I get really fed up when I hear us all being tarred with the same brush as irresponsible sellers, and a little frustrated when people blame the platform for seller behaviour or complain about things that are well within the T&Cs they have agreed to by making the free choice to purchase. And I have to turn the other cheek with really rude buyers, lol! I am NOT at all suggesting that I think that’s something you personally are doing, I do get where you are coming from, I’m just talking about what it can be like on the seller’s end
Some buyers really do mess us around and just play games in the comments, which we do our best to reply to (and also we lose recommended status if we don’t), and then they just disappear without so much as a “Thanks” when we’ve spent ages willingly and courteously giving information which may very well have been extensively given in the description in the first place. Or people try to make crazy offers in the comments instead of through the proper offer process, that after commission would barely cover the cost of the fuel to take it to the post office, in a rude and perfunctory manner: “20”, literally that, not even a question mark or a “Would you consider accepting £20?”, on an item that cost £1500, has never been used, and I’m selling it for £250, out of which will come commission. Then they just vanish, having had you running around and being helpful and polite and explaining your reasonable price and giving information all day! Additionally Vestiaire has just reduced commission and that sounds good for sellers, but at the moment it actually doesn’t particularly increase financial benefit to sellers. The prices were dropped at the same time, so sellers are getting the same earnings, with sometimes very low prices for the quality and condition of what they’re selling, so buyers are now getting REALLY good prices and sellers aren’t getting any more return per item (but may benefit via increased sales volume or quicker sales). As a seller I hope it settles back somewhere in the fair middle. We all recognise that however high the quality and initial retail value we paid for our items, and the great condition they may be in, when we sell them on we can’t expect nearly as much money back, but we do often take a massive hit, and if it gets to the point where it’s hardly worth the trouble of selling for the money we get, there will be less pre-owned material on the market for those who want to buy it. It’s got to work for sellers as well as for buyers. Despite negative experiences people post here, if you want to be able to buy pre-owned for the price benefits you get and want to feel it’s safe, it’s worth remembering that these platforms like Vestiaire do vastly larger amounts of business than the posts you see here or reviews elsewhere, and people are more likely to post when they’re dissatisfied than when they’re happy, so you will undoubtedly get a skewed impression. On top of that, some people’s complaints may not even be justified or genuine. Things are not always what they seem. Beware the hysterical complainer!
Sometimes they’re just enjoying causing a stir, I suspect, as on any social media. Sometimes it’s just buyer’s remorse or that they haven’t checked out the T&Cs before they choose to agree and buy. Sometimes Vestiaire or any other business will have sorted out something with a dishonest client just to get the whole thing over and done with, so you can’t take absolutely everything you see at face value. I’m not talking about any particular post I’ve seen, I just remember feeling dubious about some I’ve read in the past. I’ve read a lot on the eBay threads about scams buyers have pulled and I expect Vestiaire suffers them too. Some buyers of course will have had genuinely very unsatisfactory experiences and it’s perfectly fair to post them, and Vestiaire should absolutely take responsibility for those like any other company when things go wrong. Sellers pay a substantial commission for the service and most of them try to do right by buyers. Vestiaire cannot force a seller to behave well, and the recommended status is their way of acknowledging sellers who do consistently do the right thing. It may be a slightly blunt tool, and sellers without the status can still be good, but it’s all they can conceivably do. The sellers are not their employees. You just have to be realistic when you’re buying pre-owned and decide what T&Cs you are happy to accept; its all there in advance. Going back to sellers’ shipping time, I think Vestiaire has been in the business longer than the others (someone correct me if I’m wrong) and maybe the others have a shorter seller delivery window but I remember someone posting here some time ago to say that Vestiaire started like that to encourage sellers to get on board, and (seeing as they’re updating a few things at the moment and clearly trying to improve competitiveness) I think it’s quite likely they’ll alter this too and make the window shorter. Maybe they’ll even start to remove sellers with bad records who frequently cancel sales or whose accounts are obviously dead. I believe it’s a substantially sized company and it has a huge throughput of goods, and I imagine they won’t be able to change everything all at once, but they seem to be aiming that way. Meantime, it’s all in the FAQs and T&Cs and we each have a choice whether to use the service or take our purchasing elsewhere. You’ll either get your item or your money back, you have that security.
I think I have probably now shared every possible insight I could possibly ever give based on my experience with buying and selling pre-owned! I hope it’s of use to you and other people who want to hear from others’ experience. I think I’ll probably retire from the thread now!
I wish you well and hope you get the item you wanted.
I was wondering how this made sense too. Scratching my head a bit. Maybe some confusion.
I think they have dramatically improved, I am usually totally stunned that people expect the same service, brand new items, possibly next day delivery (item needs to be shipped to VC, QC takes usually 2 days alone, VC then ships to buyer) but preferably for a fraction of the price and then returns in case they change their mind.
If somebody would expect me to sell them items I paid full price for for peanuts and do all of that on top of it, I would happily send them a picture of the item doused in gasoline and set on fire and tell them to work more hours so they can afford to buy it from the shop. Nobody makes money from selling their clothes on VC or another platform, at least not private sellers, because you get fraction of what you paid retail, that is something I bear in mind when I make an offer.
As for the buyer responding, yes, that would be nice, I usually let them know I shipped, because I am happy if a seller does that with me. I am a bit like you in that respect, I want the buyer to be happy, those are items I bought, loved for a short while, I want them to go to a good home. Often you don't even know who bought it, so you can't give them that info, maybe it is me just being a nosy person, but I am always interested where it goes to, at least which country, and I had a few interactions where I was chuffed to bits when the buyer left a message with "Oh wore it to a party and looked fabulous" or "It arrived, totally love the dress..."
What I dislike is somebody coming on and going "Waist, length?" Well first of all it is in the description, I always include all the measurements, 2nd a hello and a please does not cost anything.
If somebody would expect me to sell them items I paid full price for for peanuts and do all of that on top of it, I would happily send them a picture of the item doused in gasoline and set on fire and tell them to work more hours so they can afford to buy it from the shop. Nobody makes money from selling their clothes on VC or another platform, at least not private sellers, because you get fraction of what you paid retail, that is something I bear in mind when I make an offer.
As for the buyer responding, yes, that would be nice, I usually let them know I shipped, because I am happy if a seller does that with me. I am a bit like you in that respect, I want the buyer to be happy, those are items I bought, loved for a short while, I want them to go to a good home. Often you don't even know who bought it, so you can't give them that info, maybe it is me just being a nosy person, but I am always interested where it goes to, at least which country, and I had a few interactions where I was chuffed to bits when the buyer left a message with "Oh wore it to a party and looked fabulous" or "It arrived, totally love the dress..."
What I dislike is somebody coming on and going "Waist, length?" Well first of all it is in the description, I always include all the measurements, 2nd a hello and a please does not cost anything.
I totally understand that people have issues with VC, I had them too and expect will have them in the future, but this looked like something completely different, if QC refuses an item, it is NOT sent to the buyer.
When they changed, I had bought a silk skirt that was listed as in very good condition, VC's quality control contacted me, they had found a sign of wear on the inside under the waistband, totally not visible when worn, not a defect, just the material a bit rougher, as happens with silk skirts, especially that sort of almost chiffony type, they asked me if I would accept it with a massive reduction, I decided to risk it and I have to say, I thought the skirt was in VGC and not just GC, I feel almost sorry for the seller, as that skirt was sold out right after it hit the shops, was crazy expensive and is a classic. I did leave a message on the item that I got it and thanked her, never heard back, but then she might be smarting from having only gotten a such a small fraction of what she paid for it.
I think they’ve really improved too, and I’m hoping for more.
I do agree and can’t understand expecting a full price retail experience from a private reseller via a platform at a low price; it’s just not realistic. Most people thankfully are not actually being ‘entitled’, sometimes it’s just they don’t appreciate that Vestiaire is just a platform and it offers what guarantees it can based on the nature of the business. I came in at first myself in total ignorance of how it worked and might easily have had similar expectations. That’s why I came back and I take the time to post here, to try and help people who are new to it like I was. I’m not quite sure why I feel so responsible for it but I do hate the idea of people throwing their money away through not understanding how it works, and also hate all sellers being lumped in with the bad ones and Vestiaire being pilloried for things it can’t be responsible for, because that messes it up for all the decent sellers and decent buyers too. I fully believe Vestiaire like any business must take responsibility when it IS responsible for mishaps, but in my experience at least, it has done so, and every company is made up of human beings.
Low offers are crazy. It’s hardly as though we’re profiteering. Sometimes I wonder how even Vestiaire makes money out of the lower priced items. I think some of them must be loss leaders. Like you I never make crazily low offers, I think about what I would sell the item for and offer that. Through the offer system. The ‘20’ or ‘30’ and nothing more, coming at you in the comments, is bizarre. I’ve never once made the minimum 70% offer and I respect that buyers are allowed to make it to me, but am not too keen when they keep rejecting my reasonable counter offers and won’t budge even a few pounds. I never overprice (Vestiaire won’t let you, even if I wanted to) but I don’t want to feel ripped off by a buyer either.
Though I probably wouldn’t set anything on fire ...
But I’ll certainly take it to Oxfam where they’ll get a higher price for charity than a mad lowball offer. To be honest I feel guilty if I don’t donate my proceeds to charity anyway and I’ll go with giving direct if it’s better. I’m no angel, I do not give all my earnings to charity, not trying to claim sainthood here! I have bad impulsive shopping habits and am trying to mitigate my own costs too as well as giving a bit back!Exactly that about feedback from happy buyers. I loved the thing, even if in the majority of cases I never wore it - maybe the occasion never presented itself, or I lost or gained weight, or realised that lovely though it was it didn’t suit me - and I actually do want it to make someone else happy!
By the way, did you know you can always see who bought your items? If you click on the Vestiaire profile pic next to the ‘Congrats your item has been sold’ message in app notifications, it takes you to the profile of the buyer. You can’t always message them direct because they won’t necessarily look at messages on the sold item and won’t get notified unless they’re already in a conversation with you there, but if they have anything for sale themselves you can try there. I noticed a new button on the phone app this week, ‘Contact the seller’, separate from the ‘Comments’ button. It doesn’t seem to have appeared elsewhere yet. Maybe we’ll get a ‘Contact the buyer’ button too, that would be useful.
Lol! Exactly. It’s breathtaking sometimes! The ones just post a demand, don’t read the description, and disappear and don’t even say thanks when you’ve politely given the same information that’s already there. I want to give them a teacherly lecture on manners, but I restrain myself and moan to my family instead!