Vestiaire Collective experiences?

TPF may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others

Thank you @Saturday14 for writing this.
My tips would be the following:
1) if you are the seller, always take photos and videos of what you ship against the label, take pic of passing the items to the courier/dropping off with the label being clearly visible. Save a copy of the shipping label VC provided to you.
2) if you are the buyer, take screenshots of the listing, checkout page etc. Pay with PayPal/credit card so that you can dispute the transaction later if required. When you receive the package, videotape opening process clearly. If you have to return the item, do the same as stated in 1).
3) if you are a buyer, do not buy items you can't authenticate yourself or via another third party which you trust, especially if the items are high value. I only bought items from VC which I am able to double check on my end.

There are plenty of nice sellers and buyers on VC but the platform itself sucks. If all goes well, it's good. If something goes wrong, they are really bad in fixing the issues. Being a seller, I am tired of dealing with them and the stupidity of customer support.
They once lost my pair of earrings at their hub. I packed them together with the box as the insert was flaky (common issue for older Chanel inserts) and bubble wrapped the whole thing + receipt copy inside. They approached me saying that earrings were not inside the parcel and maybe I forgot to put them in. Yeah, sure.

And I can't stress out how many times they were unable to authenticate the items: I lost count long time ago. How many times I came to realise that their so called "experts" are nowhere near to being skilled in basic authentication. How many times they asked for receipts because they were unable to see the difference between authentic and fake products.

So I would say buy if you see something you want/love which is hard to find but take all the necessary precautions. I am mostly a seller but scored a few wonderful items at good prices without any issues.
 
Hello
I have a big problem with Vestiaire collective. I sold my item but I dont have money .. VC said that is 5 working days to pay but I've seen " to be transfered on 13. 02.2022. " Maybe you have any idea?
 
Hello

I would like to tell you about my little journey with Vestiaire Collective, to warn buyers and sellers urgently: do not sell or buy, it is not worth the trouble!

I have bought from Verstiaire Collective (VC) a few times and naturally had to deal with unreliable sellers and cancellations. But what I noticed is that there seems to be no real authentication for all the purchases, they only check whether the item matches its description. So please be careful here and don't have false expectations. There are tons(!) of offers of fake goods on the site. Actually, VC says that there is a check even before the offer is posted, but apparently there is no reliable one. The people who check the offers and goods have no idea about the designer items.

Besides my experience as a buyer, I decided earlier this year that I wanted to clean out and sell some stuff. I own the original receipts, labels, dust bags and packaging for all my stuff.

After the listing was postet, things started to go south, additional photos were requested, sometimes with demands for things that doesn't exist (authentication card for earrings?).

So I contacted support, hoping they could help me. A very naive hope, as it turned out. The support tries to handle every contact without really looking into the problem.

But the problems did not stop there. After the first few sales, I noticed that VC wanted to pay me much less than the terms and conditions stipulated and I had agreed with the buyer. So as a result, I contacted the service again. For three days I argued with the service to get paid the money I was entitled to according to their T&Cs. For three days, I received ever-changing statements from support, up to the statement that it was a technical error and that they could do nothing for me. Only after I threatened with legal actions, the case was forwarded, without a reply. It was not until 3 weeks later that I received a reply by email, by which time I had the choice of sending my items at the wrong price or cancelling all purchases.

The contact with the support is absolutely unpleasant, they keep promising that they will take up the case and forward it, but they don't! When you enquire about the status the next day, the next employee tells you that the case is completely unknown and has not been documented! This principle continues!

Now it continues with the sales. Sometimes I had to chase the support for weeks after the sales so that my money would be paid out. Three different employees promised me in some cases to trigger the payment and did NOT do it.

Last but not least, I sold a wallet, packed everything lovingly, including all original documents, labels, box, dust bag and sent it to VC. On arrival at VC I was informed that the proofs of purchase were missing. My buyer was informed that the authenticity could not be proven, the proof of purchase and the authentication card were missing. The buyer was advised to cancel the purchase, which he did.

So I contacted support again and sent all the evidence that I had packed the wallet including the receipts. The first employee promised to follow up on the case. After hearing nothing, I inquired about the status. Employee 2 told me that the case had not been entered and that I should send everything again. I experienced exactly the same thing when I enquired again a day later. Staff member 3 wanted everything sent again and promised to take up the case.

Two days later I received an email saying that the receipt was there but the authentication card was missing. They didn't want to understand my objection that there was no authentication card for this designer (Mulberry).

Then today I got three requests that I should now decide whether they should keep my wallet or I want it back. Not a word from my contacts to the service, the ongoing case, no apology because of the false information given to the buyer and the related cancellation.

My conclusion: the hassle of trying to sell or buy on this site is not worth this shop. I would like to warn all potential customers through my experience, save your time, spare your nerves, go to other shops!
 
I would like to ask that if I suspect that I have brought a fake item from them, would they agree to give me a refund, given that I could provide evidence to support why I think it's a fake? Has anyone ever succeeded in getting a refund ?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Born4thjuly
If you received the Items with direct mail, you will be asked to send them to VC. VC will check them, if you are lucky and the fake is very very obvious, you may get your money back. But there are more than enough examples of VC not accepting obvious fakes as returns.

If it has already been authenticated by VC, you have no chance.

They will offer you to resell the item and post it on the site.

So they tell you to sell the fake item on their site.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Born4thjuly
Just found this thread, many thanks for sharing your expriences, so sorry to read them. I had listed some of my items earler this year but fed up with numerous unpleasant personal messages. Some people are clearly aiming for immediate resell for profit, some try to deal outside VC, one even suggested to meet up in London (in your dreams!!) I did report them but it seems nothing happened. Customer service (or lack there of) suggested that I could block individuals. I wasn't keen on direct shipping, once receiver claims something missing there is nothing you can do. I now had closed my account with VC!

If not eBay or VC what would be the best place I wonder... Hope your cases will be sorted out soon though!
 
Does anyone have experience with getting money back through PayPal dispute? I ordered a bag that didn't match description, VC customer service is being very unhelpful and I just made a dispute on Paypal. This was my first Paypal dispute and I'm a bit unsure about how this going to go. If it goes through do I have to pay for shipping to VC or do they offer a shipping label?

As a general feedback I would say that I'm very unhappy with my experience with VC. This was my first order and will also be my last.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MAGJES
Does anyone have experience with getting money back through PayPal dispute? I ordered a bag that didn't match description, VC customer service is being very unhelpful and I just made a dispute on Paypal. This was my first Paypal dispute and I'm a bit unsure about how this going to go. If it goes through do I have to pay for shipping to VC or do they offer a shipping label?

As a general feedback I would say that I'm very unhappy with my experience with VC. This was my first order and will also be my last.
You have to fight with VC, because I've had the same situation and after many reaponces I'm getting back my item. I ordered bag with wrong measurements and VC offered me shipping and check.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Fazerina
I purchased a frivole pave rose gold pink sapphire pendant from Vestiaire Collective in September 2021. It was authenticated as real from their authenticators and sent out to me. I thought it looked a bit off, but wasn't sure.

Today I just was lucky enough to be able to purchase the same pendant from my local VCA boutique, in person. It took me only one look at the real necklace to realize that the necklace purchased from Vestiaire was a fake/replica. The "diamonds" are not real, and the entire piece is too lightweight. What is scary is that the clasp and serial number looks almost accurate, except for the outline of the triangle not lining up properly.

The same seller is selling another frivole pave rose gold pink sapphire pendant today, with the same exact pictures....just cropped a bit.

https://www.vestiairecollective.com...vole-van-cleef-arpels-necklace-19011430.shtml

Unbelievable!!

I paid with paypal, so I submitted a paypal claim today. I do not have a lot of hope of being refunded even with the pictures I included. I think I'm going to have to get the piece professionally authenticated by VCA to get an official letter and documentation saying it is fake, which I have heard will cost $1800. If so, VC should compensate that fee, as it is their fault that they let this replica slip through their system.

I will never trust Vestiaire Collective again after this, and I have purchased many things from there.

I don't know how this piece fooled Vestiaire Collective authenticators.

View attachment 5280299

replica from Vestiaire Collective on the left, authentic piece from VCA on the right

View attachment 5280312
replica clasp (and serial number) compared to the authentic clasp

Hi all,
I just wanted to share this with everyone.
I am quoting this post from @Glitterbomb because this night I have discovered the following listing on VC:


This necklace was confirmed as "not matching seller's description" by Vestiaire. We all can see that it is a counterfeit. And Vestiaire Collective has relisted the same item under its account KNOWING that what they are trying to sell is a counterfeit!

This is unbelievable.
 
Buyers beware! I want to share my most recent nightmare experience with VC. I have been both a seller and a buyer on their website since 2015 and had no issues since... Till last month.
I always trusted their authentication service so I decided, for both my upcoming birthday and for a milestone event (quitted my toxic previous work for a better one after years of self sabotage and insecurities about my real capacities), that I wanted to make a gift to myself : I fell in love with a vintage watch from Van Cleef that I saw on their site.
The price was good and, even if the watch was stated only as in a good state (scratches and crackinngs on the dial) I thought that with the money saved I could go to VCA store here in Milan and make them refurbish the watch. It was such a glorious item in my eyes, something to be cherished for years to come and to be passed to my girls, that I was more than happy to get it, even if it needed to have a retouch.
I paid for the authentication fee and a week later I got my babe. A day later, the watch was running but it started not keeping the time right.
On my day off the new work I took it to VCA and explained to the SA my issue. The lady praised the beauty of the watch and told me that the watch would have been shipped to France in order to have some parts changed. This is where she called her colleague to have both a look on it.
Some minutes later, they both started noticing some tiny issues were off: for example, the watch didn't have their usual quartz logo and the data code suspiciously didn't match any in their database. No fears, they told me, everything will be fine: we will let our SM examine the watch, he is very knowledgeable about our watches, even the vintage ones.
A week later, I was called to get the item back: they couldn't even produce a shipping label to have it sent back to their crafts in France because the watch code was totally off. It matched with a gold and diamond model, which obviously my watch wasn't. The SM even produced a mail to be sent to VC in order to explain them the problems arised.

The very same day I wrote a mail to VC customer service in order to inform them of my situation, and forwarded them the SM mail: they immediately asked me to send the watch back to have a second authentication.
This is when something started to look strange in my eyes, but I decided to give them trust anyway. Just a mistake, I thought. They will read the producer mail and will refund me in a few days.
No, this is not what happened afterwards.
What happened afterwards was that they refused to consider the item as a fake and told me that no refund was allowed.
They even relisted the item for sale on my account and told me that the only money I could receive would have been from the sale of the watch.
For the last weeks I started mail bombing their useless customer service, threating them to escalate the issue with both their social media and VCA social media, calling them liar and fraudulent, talking with an endless number of people on the phone.
This morning I was graciously provided with a refund offer.
You know what?
The watch is still there now that I am writing.

When I will receive the refund (I paid using Klarna) I will ask them to take the item back and burn it into Hell's flame
 
Last edited:
Top