All the talk in the press of the Vinted platform selling children and questionable posts with even more questionable product descriptions and the investigation by French authorities which remains ongoing. The French preliminary investigation into suspicious listings on Vinted continues, although authorities and the platform state that no concrete evidence of an actual child trafficking ring has been uncovered.

The egregious allegations have not stopped us using the platform me included.

When things go wrong I do swear I’ll shop elsewhere except where can you find a £10.50 item on Amazon and EBay for £3.50 (£6.00 including fees and shipping)

The draw is powerful.

But when that £6.00 purchase smashes into a 100 pieces before it lands in your hands the onus is on you to jump through a load of hoops and if you don’t do it the seller gets paid you are toast.

Of course I sent images of a smashed item, not enough, here’s the instructions of what must be done to get £6.00 refunded.

We are sorry to hear the order from arrived damaged. Can you help us investigate what happened?

We’ll need as much of the following from you as possible:

A description of the damage. Photos of the inner and outer packaging. Photos of the damaged item. Photos of how the item was packed inside the parcel. Photos of the parcel before opening, if possible. Take clear, high-quality photos with good, natural lighting. Show close-up details, if needed. Please provide these within the next 48 hours by pressing the Contact us; button on this page If we don’t hear back from you within this time, the order will be completed and the payment released to the seller. We’ll wait to hear back from you soon. Thanks for your cooperation, Vinted Support.

The seller meanwhile has already apologised and told me she can’t do anything on her end. Except when I sold something on Vinted the buyer didn’t like, not broken in a 100 pieces, just didn’t like I pressed a button and actioned a refund.

The pictures I sent clearly show a broken item.

What do they think I did, hit it with a hammer on receipt?

Please provide an image of the parcel before opening. How many people take a picture of a parcel before they open it in anticipation of a problem, none.

In this instance I just had to rant before I go and start my lengthy photography project in the hope of a £6.00 refund.

I should just not bother but 6 quid is 6 quid and the idea of Vinted and the shipper getting paid if I don’t act is even more annoying than having to do a load more work.

I know, I just have to stop using the Vinted platform. To be fair I have stopped listing items. That was completely pointless to sell a fraction of items for 50% or more less than the asking price.

I know, I just have to stop using the platform.