Vestiaire Collective Review: Is It Legit?

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Maybe you’re someone who loves luxury fashion and accessories, but can’t afford to do anything more than wistfully window-shop them. Or, maybe you actually own a few designer pieces that you’ve grown out of. No matter which category you belong to, Vestiaire Collective presents a solution to your problems!

Founded in 2009, this e-commerce platform works on reducing the overconsumption of fashion by giving people a place to buy and sell pre-loved designer items. But, how good is this online marketplace? And is it legit? Let’s find out!

What can you buy and sell on Vestiaire Collective?

You can buy or sell designer items for men, women, and children belonging to one of the following categories:

• Clothes
• Shoes
• Bags
• Jewelry
• Watches

You’ll find items – both from recent seasons and vintage – from labels such as Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Burberry, Gucci, Prada, Hermes, Dior, and so on. The best part? You can get these designer items at up to 70% off from the retail price!

Vestiaire Collective’s features

Here’s a look at all the features that Vestiaire Collective offers for buyers and sellers.

Sellers

• Seller insights. If you’re struggling to set the right price for your beloved luxury items, you can get the help of Vestiaire Collective’s insights and price calculator. Based on the make, model, and item condition, the calculator will give you different pricing options. 

• Expert authentication: Once you list an item on Vestiaire Collective, it’s first shipped off to their warehouses, where it undergoes a rigorous authentication process to check for counterfeiting by experts. Your items will be shipped off to the buyers only if they pass the test, so you can always give your customers the guarantee of authentic products!
• Free shipping: Not only does Vestiaire Collective ship the items to the buyers for free, it also gives you free prepaid and insured shipping labels! You can also schedule a pick-up time and track the item’s journey right from your VC account. Very convenient and reduces the amount of time you need to spend on shipping logistics. 
• VIP consignment program: If you want to sell your designer items, but have no time to catalog, list, and sell everything, you can make use of Vestiaire Collective’s VIP consignment program. They’ll take care of everything, right from taking product photos and writing the description to shipping it off to the customers. You also get to approve the prices beforehand. It’s like hiring a personal assistant to do the selling for you in exchange for a small cut of the earnings. You’ll basically be earning passive money! 

Pro tip: When handing over your personal information (such as payment details) over to the concierge at Vestiaire Collective when making use of the consignment program, use a secure online storage facility, such as these best data rooms, to share your info!

• Marketing: Once you list an item on Vestiaire Collective, the platform makes sure that your items get the spotlight they deserve. This means you’ll get access to insights about your sales and get your products featured on targeted marketing campaigns. 

Buyers

• Excellent deals: On Vestiaire Collective, you get to buy luxury items from big fashion labels for up to 70% off the retail price! This means that you can snag a gently-used designer coat for a few hundred dollars instead of paying thousands for a new one. You can also negotiate the price with the sellers before you make a purchase.

Vestiaire Collective.

• Authentication guarantee: Due to Vestiaire Collective’s rigorous authentication process, you can be sure that each item you purchase is original and of the highest quality. 
• One-of-a-kind program: Vestiaire Collective has something called a “One-of-a-kind Program” where you can find exclusive designer pieces that aren’t found anywhere else! If you’re someone who likes collecting rare vintage pieces, this platform is your best bet. 
• Sustainability: If you’re passionate about keeping clothes out of landfills, you’ll be happy to know that Vestiaire Collective is all about that circular fashion. They believe in giving clothes a second chance at life and choosing quality outfits that can be used for decades instead of fast fashion that’s discarded after a few uses. 
• Buyer protection: The platform protects buyers against counterfeit products. In case you do receive a fake product or one that’s different from the seller’s description of it, you can file a dispute with Vestiaire Collective. They’ll investigate the claim by checking the authenticity of the item and issue a refund in case of fraudulent behaviors by sellers. 

Challenges with using Vestiaire Collective

As with any other thing in this world, Vestiaire Collective comes with its own set of cons. 

Sellers

• Arduous listing process: Vestiaire Collective has a slightly complicated listing process with several rules. Once you create a listing, it will need to be approved by the platform before it goes live. For starters, stock photos are strictly a no-go. All of your images must be original without any props or self-modeling. And there’s an order in which you should upload them. Any flaws in the items must be photographed and described accurately. You’ll also need to submit proof of purchase (including the original serial number and internal tags) for the authentication process. 
• Item condition requirements: Vestiaire Collective has a very strict grading system when it comes to determining item condition. You need to select the right condition in your listing if you don’t want it to get rejected.

Selling fees: All of your purchases incur a general selling fee of 10% and a payment processing fee of 3%. For items with a selling price of $100 USD or less, you’ll have to pay a flat fee of $10, while those being sold for $20K+ incur a fee of $2000.

• Delisting and relisting: Unlike other e-commerce platforms, Vestiaire Collective’s listing process is rigorous and goes through a strict checking before it’s approved. This means you cannot delist and relist your items when your listings go stale. This means that even if you want to edit your listing, you’ll be at the mercy of customer support.
• International shipping costs: The platform supports free shipping only for sellers from the following 46 countries. 👇

So, what happens if you’re a seller from some other country? You’ll have to shoulder all the shipping costs yourself, which can get pretty expensive for international orders, not to mention the additional costs if you have to ship the item to Vestiaire Collective first for authentication.

• Slow sales: Unlike on other platforms, you likely won’t be making sales everyday simply because it’s very rare for one person to have thousands of pre-loved designer items in stock. 

Buyers

• Buyer service fee: Vestiaire Collective ensures that buyers receive the items they ordered (or at least get their money back). It also provides other services such as online/ physical inspection of the item and handling all the customs requirements in case of international shipping. All of this comes at a cost to you, the buyer. The buyer service fee typically ranges between 13-25% of the item’s selling price, with a minimum fee of 5 EUR/ GBP/ USD/ Swiss Franc/ equivalent amount in your currency. 
• Expensive shipping fees: Depending on the price of the item you buy and the location of the seller, your shipping fees might get expensive. You could be looking at anything from 5 EUR to more than 20 EUR for local shipping alone, while international shipping can cost more than 35 EUR.

Is Vestiaire Collective legit?

Yes, Vestiaire Collective is a legit luxury resale platform, although it does have its ups-and-downs and fair share of scams. Buyers receiving fake products despite the authentication process is somewhat common. There have also been several complaints of customer service being unresponsive or not following through on their promises to refund. So, as user u/chocolatetruffel on Reddit puts it, “You have to know your stuff when buying on VC or get secondary authentication from a professional.”

There’s also the problem of unreliable sellers who simply never ship out the item at all. While the buyers do get a refund in such cases, it can be very disappointing to find out that the item you were looking forward to buying will never arrive.

Sellers also sometimes come across buyers who raise unfounded disputes even if the items are exactly as described. This may end up with the seller having to issue a refund even if there was no mistake on their part.

Vestiaire Collective also makes unauthorized changes to your product listings sometimes, which can be very frustrating and even lead to disputes with buyers. Even during an ongoing dispute, Vestiaire Collective’s representatives are not always responsive, leading to unnecessary delays and mental distress. 

So, long story short, the platform itself is legit, but you need to be very careful in who you’re buying from or selling to. Know your designer stuff before you make a purchase from here, and make sure to double-check all the details and include proof of authentication when you’re selling on the platform.