A warning has been issued over counterfeit scams on Vinted and other resale sites. One buyer, Maheen, spoke out to the Guardian newspaper over a brand-new Dyson Airwrap for the bargain price of £260 on the resale website Vinted.
"I had used Vinted many times and it was simple and straightforward. Nothing had ever gone wrong," she says. But after two weeks - and about four uses - she spotted a problem.
"I noticed the wire began to smoke and the product seemed unsafe," she says.. "I got a letter from [Dyson] confirming the product was counterfeit. It was unsafe and they wouldn't return it to me," she says.
As many as 37 per cent of Britons have been scammed while buying or selling on online marketplaces such as Facebook Marketplace, eBay and Vinted, according to research from the credit reference agency Experian.
For almost a quarter of people losses were in the region of £51 to £100, while 13% had lost more than £250. A small number said the scam had cost them between £501 and £1,000.
A second said: "I read the article giving tips on how to be successful selling clothing on Vinted, so I set up an account and placed two items, an Armani jacket and a leather biker jacket, including pictures of the items and labels.
"One sold within minutes; they sent me all the shipping info....then PERMANENTLY blocked my account for fraud. I appealed, and they msg me to say it could take 120 hours to reply (!) and when they did, they started to ask for more pictures of the same times.
"These are scammers; don't waste your time. Terrible reviews on TrustPilot, so it's surprising MoneySavingExpert hasn't picked up on this, too."
A Vinted spokesperson said: "The vast majority of transactions on Vinted take place without issue, and our teams work hard to ensure a smooth trading experience for all our Vinted members.
"When a dispute does occur between a buyer and a seller, we will mediate, working closely with our delivery partners and potentially asking for additional information or evidence, before issuing a final decision."