I decided to sell a designer bag and jacket on vestaire collective for the first time. The process takes ages but they accepted the items and reading through their info I noticed that their vip customers get first pick before releasing to the rest of the site.

The jacket was new stored in pristine condition beautifully styled and current so I was really surprised when vestaire didn't want to accept my already very low asking price and suggested their own price before they would list it. I thought it was odd as other jackets in the same brand but worn and slightly dated were selling for three to four times the price suggested to me but as a new seller I agreed.

Within 10 minutes of the listing going live I had a question asking me incredulously if the jacket was real leather so I added a picture of the content label went to grab a coffee then checked my email, the jacket had sold.

I was not happy somebody else had seen the picture and beaten the other person to it but to me the jacket was way under priced at £40 and that's why it went in a flash. I felt like a sacrificial lamb to keep the VIP's happy and justify their vip service charge as a newbie eager to please. Vestaire can go whistle I'll use another site or donate to charity rather than be used. Oh and I refuse to pay anyone 30% ever again for basically not a lot.

Unlike many of the VC reviews I have read about the poor quality of the item purchased, I was lucky my jacket arrived looking as good as presented on the website when I ordered it - and it appears to be an authentic St. John jacket.

So why only 2 stars: I do not like VC's order and delivery process:
1) VC charges $40 to authenticate the item purchased
2) It took 3 weeks to receive the item. I have purchased items from the UK in the past and the longest I have waited to receive an item was 8 days
3) The item arrived in a plastic bag, wrinkled, not even wrapped in tissue paper - with no packing slip or order documentation.

I purchase from online second-hand stores like theRealReal, Portero, and eBay all the time and this is the first time I felt like a resale company doesn't care about their customers. I expected better & faster service for the $40 authentication fee added on to the $200 I paid for the jacket.

For all the glitz and glamour of designer clothing bargains this site should be fantastic.

But it is not, there is zero customer service, if you send an email in then it will be ignored never answered as for phoning why bother it will not be answered, the red tape and hoops to jump through just to get your bought your newly payed for owned clothing to the post office, just dire.

This is possibly the most awful e-retail experience I have ever had in 13 years online.

Avoid.

My buying experience was so bad I will never use this company again does not matter what the bargain is. If I can I will sue the living daylights out of them for breach of there own T&C's.