Today I’m sharing with you a recent shopping experience in my Vestiaire Collective Review.
Vestiaire Collective is a luxury retail store. It sells pre-owned and new designer and luxury clothes, shoes and accessories. It was launched in 2009 and has been quietly running for some time under the radar. I had heard about it a few times but had never shopped there until recently.
I am really cautious when buying designer clothes and bags and would most of the time prefer to buy it directly from the shop. I have only bought a small amount of things pre-loved from eBay which a couple of them turned out to be counterfeit so had to go through the hassle of sending them back. This was after having them professionally authenticated. It was pretty stressful so I haven’t bothered again.
Vestiaire Collective is not like this at all. It’s a lot safer to shop there as they are a ‘middle man’ between you and the seller and when you purchase something. 100% of the items get sent to their expert teams to check that it’s as described and then authenticated before shipping out to you. This process does take a short while and when I shopped with them the whole process took around 10 days. There are items on there that they already have checked and waiting to send out to which take a much quicker these are found in the ready to ship section of the website.
The item that I purchased was a Chanel Brooch. I have wanted one for quite some time and have been waiting for the right one at the right price to come under my radar. I treated myself to this as a Christmas gift from me to me. For those who follow me on Instagram you may have already seen it as I posted a picture when it first arrived as I was so happy with it.
So here is the process:
The item was sold by someone located in Paris. They had sold many items on Vestiaire Collective and seemed to have a good reputation. This information you can see on the item page.
I paid for the brooch and it was sent by the seller to the Vestiaire Collective Vestiaire Collective team for inspection. This took around 4 days to arrive with them and the a further 3 days to go through the process.
The brooch was declared as described and authentic, packaged and sent to me in the UK which took around 4 further days.
When it arrived it was in great condition and packaged really well.
Now I mentioned in the past that I have had things authenticated privately. I used Authenticate 4U who I saw were recommended by the a popular fashion forum. They are a very reputable authentication service and have used many times and they have always been very reliable and fast service. They have specialist authenticators based all around the world, each specialising in the different luxury brands. The company itself is based in Scotland, UK. I paid to have the brooch looked at by them to make sure that it was authentic and it was confirmed, which put my mind at rest.
Now I feel really happy with my experience and wanted to tell you about it.
Vestiaire Collective not only sells Chanel, but lots of different brands on all different price levels. I have seen Zara items on the website which are a high street brand as well as Givenchy, Gucci and many more.
I’m assuming that the prices are set by the sellers of the items, sometimes they have been known to be set a little bit higher. This is not the case with all items but it’s always best to double-check that you are paying the right amount for your item and that you can’t get it at a better price just going into a store and buying it directly. I think this is the case because it cost’s sellers quite a high percentage to sell on there due to the involvement and service that Vestiaire Collective offer in the sales process, so sometimes they price the item with these costs in mind but again, which I do totally understand. There are also some great deals to be found too!
As far as selling I have not yet had the experience of selling with them, so can’t really review that side of it. I think if ever I did want to part with one of my designer items I would use them as they seem to provide a great service and shoppers seem to trust them so it’s a a good option.
It’s certainly a smarter way to shop for pre-loved and in my experience a safe market place with does not support fakes or misrepresentation.
They have just launched a 12 day event called Wardrobes 4 Women to raise money for Women for Women International which is a charity for women survivors of war. They event delves into celebrity wardrobes to raise money in a charity sale. Definitely worth checking out.
I hoped you enjoyed reading my Vestiaire Collective review. This post is based purely on my own shopping experience so I’m interested to know if you feel differently. Please let me know if you like the idea of shopping there or if you have already shopped there and what your experience was like.
Have a lovely weekend.
Gemma xx
Products Featured
Zara Cardigan (old)
