Attention customers: That discount designer bag might be a literal steal.
The fashionable resale platform Vinted is allegedly scrambling to scrub its designer items part after an inflow of suspicious listings — which are believed to be luxurious loot from the latest French riots.
A Bloomberg report says the web site has “seen an influx of listings suspected to contain looted items” from designer boutiques on the marauders’ map of targets, including luxurious heavyweights like Celine, Hermes and Louis Vuitton.
Louis Vuitton is a common, but costly, model among trend followers. This bag retails for about $3,100. andersphoto – inventory.adobe.com
Founded in 2008 as a humble clothes-swapping service, Vinted runs a peer-to-peer market that makes resale far more seamless than designer resale platforms like The RealReal, which requires worker authentication for every high-end merchandise.
The $9 billion startup now boasts its largest buyer base in France — très bien for straightforward, speedy promoting, but trickier for these who need 100% certainty that their new bag is haute glamour, not scorching items.
That grew to become a actual chance this weekend, as earnest protests over the surging price of dwelling erupted into violent chaos.
Viral movies captured criminals hiding beneath bananas while smashing their manner into luxurious shops like Louis Vuitton and Celine. Beauty retailer Sephora also confirmed several of its storefronts were damaged into during the rampage.
Meanwhile, on Vinted, listings for designer luggage instantly appeared, according to Bloomberg.
Designer luggage on platforms like Vinted, like this Vuitton backpack, are typically cheaper than their retail counterparts.
Digital Minister Anne Le Hénanff took to social media at this time to demand their return, writing on X:
“Stolen items from this weekend are being offered for sale on certain platforms. Such behavior will not go unpunished. We will not let this slide… We expect these platforms to remove the listings in question without delay. Furthermore, they will be required to cooperate closely with state services so that the resellers can be prosecuted.”
Vinted insists it’s forward of the feds.
“We have taken immediate action to identify and remove listings linked to the looting and have stepped up monitoring of suspicious listings,” a Vinted spokesperson said in a assertion to Bloomberg. “When our rules are breached, we act against the accounts involved, up to permanent bans.”
The firm added that it was “actively collaborating with law enforcement and the French authorities.”
But luxurious resale professional Graham Wetzbarger, who runs the on-line platform The Fashion Detective, is less assured that the gadgets will be recovered.
Rioters in Marseilles looted the Louis Vuitton retailer this weekend during nationwide protests. Getty Images
“If you’ve already shopped a resale platform since the riots, you could have a stolen bag,” he advised The Post plainly. “Even if they’re marked with blockchain technology, it won’t come out that they’re stolen unless they’re brought to a retail location to get cleaned or repaired — which will likely never happen.”
Wetzbarger says if you’re involved that a Vinted Vuitton backpack on-line seems too good to be true, maintain off on hitting “add to cart” until you’ve verified that it was listed on-line before Paris started burning.
“You found a Vuitton bag that’s only been up since Saturday? Located in France? New with tags? I don’t know,” he said. “I would say, to be safe, you have other options.”
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