VINTED - Letter Before Action

martindow

dancingperfect said:

I’m tempted to take Vinted to court I sent a serum worth £85 to someone and it was wrapped in tons of bubble wrap totally padded out and in a strong small box it must have been literally crushed in transit. To be honest I got weird vibes off the buyer and almost didn’t send the item but I went against my better nature. Now Vinted have refunded them and not even made them send the item back. This surely is theft? It makes it really easy for bad actors to run all kinds of scams if they never have to return to item. 

I’m definitely tempted to take it to small claims, I know I probably won’t make any money from it and even risk losing a bit but it’s a matter of principle otherwise they will keep on doing it. 

Can we report them to trading standards? I think they need people on mass to do this and if will become a headache for them. Shame there isn’t a Vinted fund where everyone donates £5 and people can use it to take them to court as it helps everyone in the long run. 

They've refunded the buyer, but have you still got the £85 that you were paid?  If so, you have no loss and nothing to claim for.

GDB2222

martindow said:

dancingperfect said:

I’m tempted to take Vinted to court I sent a serum worth £85 to someone and it was wrapped in tons of bubble wrap totally padded out and in a strong small box it must have been literally crushed in transit. To be honest I got weird vibes off the buyer and almost didn’t send the item but I went against my better nature. Now Vinted have refunded them and not even made them send the item back. This surely is theft? It makes it really easy for bad actors to run all kinds of scams if they never have to return to item. 

I’m definitely tempted to take it to small claims, I know I probably won’t make any money from it and even risk losing a bit but it’s a matter of principle otherwise they will keep on doing it. 

Can we report them to trading standards? I think they need people on mass to do this and if will become a headache for them. Shame there isn’t a Vinted fund where everyone donates £5 and people can use it to take them to court as it helps everyone in the long run. 

They've refunded the buyer, but have you still got the £85 that you were paid?  If so, you have no loss and nothing to claim for.

I’m prepared to bet that the op is not going to receive any money for this serum. In most of these online markets the buyers pay the market, not the seller.

soolin

GDB2222 said:

martindow said:

dancingperfect said:

I’m tempted to take Vinted to court I sent a serum worth £85 to someone and it was wrapped in tons of bubble wrap totally padded out and in a strong small box it must have been literally crushed in transit. To be honest I got weird vibes off the buyer and almost didn’t send the item but I went against my better nature. Now Vinted have refunded them and not even made them send the item back. This surely is theft? It makes it really easy for bad actors to run all kinds of scams if they never have to return to item. 

I’m definitely tempted to take it to small claims, I know I probably won’t make any money from it and even risk losing a bit but it’s a matter of principle otherwise they will keep on doing it. 

Can we report them to trading standards? I think they need people on mass to do this and if will become a headache for them. Shame there isn’t a Vinted fund where everyone donates £5 and people can use it to take them to court as it helps everyone in the long run. 

They've refunded the buyer, but have you still got the £85 that you were paid?  If so, you have no loss and nothing to claim for.

I’m prepared to bet that the op is not going to receive any money for this serum. In most of these online markets the buyers pay the market, not the seller.

I sent a vase recently, double boxed, plenty of packing material and even the foam  peanuts to fill any gaps in inner box or in the gap between the inner and outer box. Apparently arrived damaged so buyer got a refund, and I got nothing as it was Insufficiently packed. I appealed and was sent a FAQ about packing, which said boxed, Vinted pointed out item needed to be boxed, I provided photos showing the inner box before sealing it and the outer box, and they just said courier had said it was Insufficiently packaged and not in line with their packing requirements that required a box. 

Argued for a couple of weeks and was finally told that they would not enter into any further correspondence with me on the matter and warned me my account was at risk if I continued to email them about a closed subject.

in my case it was £12 so for my own peace of mind I let the matter drop. 

RFW

dancingperfect said:

I’m tempted to take Vinted to court I sent a serum worth £85 to someone and it was wrapped in tons of bubble wrap totally padded out and in a strong small box it must have been literally crushed in transit. To be honest I got weird vibes off the buyer and almost didn’t send the item but I went against my better nature. Now Vinted have refunded them and not even made them send the item back. This surely is theft? It makes it really easy for bad actors to run all kinds of scams if they never have to return to item. 

I’m definitely tempted to take it to small claims, I know I probably won’t make any money from it and even risk losing a bit but it’s a matter of principle otherwise they will keep on doing it. 

Can we report them to trading standards? I think they need people on mass to do this and if will become a headache for them. Shame there isn’t a Vinted fund where everyone donates £5 and people can use it to take them to court as it helps everyone in the long run. 

I wouldn't take anyone to court for £85, especially when you have no evidence that the item didn't arrive crushed.

Also never go to court on a principle, no one cares and you'll still lose money.

I'm not sure you can report them to Trading Standards, but nothing to stop you trying, as a seller, you're not really a consumer, which is what TS are interested in. 

Buster_Danog

RFW said: as a seller, you're not really a consumer, which is what TS are interested in. 

I have to disagree. I have had a few issues where Vinted has favoured the seller on electronic items. I am dealing with one at the moment in another thread. A few months back I bought an electronic item, opened the box, found it was faulty then raised an issue. The end result was that the seller lied, and blamed it on me. Vinted refunded me, but they also returned the item to the seller, and let him keep the money I had paid him as well. I was livid as it was clearly dishonesty by the seller. 

I am now in another dispute, where Vinted are asking me to return an item to a seller who, against Vinted policy and UK law, sent me a damaged battery inside an electronic item. They are forcing me to pay for the return and send the dangerous battery back, which is against the law in the UK. They simply don't care about the law or the buyer. I am going to report them to authorities in the UK and EU regarding rules for transporting dangerous goods, but I don't think they will care. They are arrogant for a reason.

GDB2222

I have a bit more sympathy with the online marketplaces. To run a really good arbitration process would require several hours of a non-numpty's time on each case. Add in all the overhead costs, and it is easily costing £100. For which the customers pay nothing. 

And then look at the amounts the market is earning. In Soolin's case it was a £12 item, and ebay earned maybe £1. It clearly doesn’t make sense to spend a lot of time arbitrating a disagreement over £12. So, toss a coin and move on to the next case. Better still, get the AI to toss the coin. 

soolin

GDB2222 said:

I have a bit more sympathy with the online marketplaces. To run a really good arbitration process would require several hours of a non-numpty's time on each case. Add in all the overhead costs, and it is easily costing £100. For which the customers pay nothing. 

And then look at the amounts the market is earning. In Soolin's case it was a £12 item, and ebay earned maybe £1. It clearly doesn’t make sense to spend a lot of time arbitrating a disagreement over £12. So, toss a coin and move on to the next case. Better still, get the AI to toss the coin. 

My. Case was Vinted, if it had been a private sale on eBay using simple delivery then buyer would have still got their refund, but I wouldn’t have lost my money either. Even if it had been a sale on my eBay business account, I would have had a contract with courier, and could have made a claim for loss (purchase price only for business sales) but wouldn’t have lost everything.