Disgruntled Vinted buyer issues warning to look out for seller ‘red flag’ – after falling victim to bizarre scam
ITS popularity is rising on a daily basis.
But one Vinted user has issued a warning to others shopping on the app, after he fell victim to a bizarre scam when buying a pair of £30 adidas trainers on there.
He took to Reddit to explain the situation, adding that he’d bought from a seller with no reviews because he thought “everyone’s got to start somewhere”.
But when the parcel, meant to be containing his trainers, arrived, he found it actually just had a piece of cardboard inside.
“I’ve been buying and selling on Vinted for few years now and touch wood I’ve never had an issue until today,” he wrote on Reddit.
“I bought some adidas campus trainers from a seller with no reviews (everyone’s got to start somewhere right?)
“I paid £30 and parcel shop delivery via Evri.”
When he went to the local shop to pick up the parcel, it was a “small package”, not “a shoe box”.
“Tonight I picked them up from my local shop and when the girl at the counter handed them over it was a small package, not a shoe box.
“I told her they were supposed to be shoes so she did check there was nothing else under my name.
“I figured the label/item may have been mixed up but lo and behold when I opened the package outside it was a folded up piece of cardboard!”
He went on to say that he contacted Vinted to complain and sent all the pictures as evidence of the error.
“The seller tried to say there must have been a mix up at the post office and they were looking into it,” he said.
Concluding, he wrote: “But I still don’t get why someone would do that though?
“Surely they won’t get the payment?”
People were quick to share their thoughts, with one writing: “Damn this is so far the worst vinted scam I ever saw!”
“I think they have tried to scam you, if there was a mix up you would have just received something else,” another agreed.
“Not a bit of cardboard.
“People try anything, I had one before where they used Royal Mail and marked it as sent but I quickly realised it was a scam as the account got banned and they sent me a fake shipping number.
“I bet these scams only work 1/100 times, maybe people who forget or don’t know how to use Vinted very well.
“Vinted are pretty good with this kind of thing and should give you your money back pretty quickly.
“Out of curiosity, does the account you brought from have any reviews?”
“I think you’re right, I just can’t see what the point of doing this is but I guess if it works once then hey-ho,” the man replied.
He added that he won’t be making the same mistake again by buying from someone with no reviews, commenting: “No reviews so lesson learned there lol.”
“They’re hoping that Vinted think you’re trying to scam the seller, as in, keeping the trainers and get your money back by claiming they sent you a piece of cardboard, because its just your word against theirs,” someone else wrote.
“In this situation, noticing how flat and small the parcel was, I’d suggest filming yourself opening the parcel, but even this isn’t foolproof.
“You could have just repackaged the card in the same parcel after taking the trainers out before filming.”
“Yeah I photographed the whole process literally as soon as I received the parcel, all of which has been sent to Vinted,” the man responded.
“The weight is on the label, and the dimensions are far too small to have contained what they said they were posting.”
“Had this happen to me,” another admitted.
“They sent a paper plate instead of boots.
“I got a refund but I really don’t get what the point is.
“Maybe counting on someone to accidentally press ‘everything is okay’?”
“Yeah I guess maybe they think they might catch one person out eventually!” he replied.