Exposing Vestiaire Collective's Hidden Cost: Currency Conversion Fees
, by Jiaxin He , 2 min reading time
Update on 11 June 2024
Starting 1 May 2024, Vestiaire Collective has come up with a very confusing way of charging buyers: the Buyer Service fee. They replaced the previous "currency conversion fees" with additional "Buyer Service fees".
| Buyer Location |
Buyer Service Fees Same Currency |
Buyer Service Fees Foreign Currency |
| UK | 15% | 20% |
| Rest of the World | 10% | 20% |
A minimum of £5 Buyer Service fee will be applied
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Did you know you are paying 12.5% extra if you buy on Vestiaire Collective from a seller in another country?
Deeply hidden in the FAQ on Vestiaire Collective's site is a puzzling policy stating:
"Where the price of the item is viewed in a currency that is different from the seller's listing currency, the displayed price will be inclusive of a currency conversion charge payable by the buyer." Fair enough because all payment companies charge a currency conversion fees between 1-5%, but Vestiaire charges an exorbitant cost of 12.5%!
What that means is for example if I'm in the US, and I see a bag that I really love on sale from a seller in France that's asking for 2600 EUR, I will be seeing a price of $3164 USD (equivalent of 2950 EUR at the time of writing), 13.5% higher than the asking price!
The seller doesn't receive a penny of this surcharge, but who does? Vestiaire Collective itself, of course.
If you want to avoid paying the extra fees, it is always wise to change your site currency to the same currency as the seller's. You can find the country where the seller is from in the "details" section under a product listing. If you are unsure what currency the seller uses, just ask them in the chat.
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Comments
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I have been buying on Vestiaire for many years and just realised this is going on when I purchased a pair of boots from a seller in Switzerland. They actually permanently blocked me on the private messaging system because the seller and I were common there. They do not want people to know what they are doing. I asked Vestiaire to explain what is going on but surprise surprise they have not responded to my email. I have been offering on a bag in Japan and the seller and I have realised they are doing the same thing benefiting from huge hidden fees on their site. This is so so unfair to their buyers. What is the point of buying from this site if they are being so devious. There is no honesty from Vestiaire.
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I did not realize that not only am I paying the currency change fee that is well over a reasonable charge but Vestiaire also charges a buyers fee. While that is nice for the sellers, of which I am one, it makes buying on Vestiaire almost a scam because of all the (almost) hidden fees. Recently, Vestiare is not charging sellers a commission, only the 3 percent to send payment via PayPal or bank transfer or however they send money. They have lowered prices of sellers items on site to account for the lowered commissions, so the seller does not really benefit from the lowered commission. Vestiaier has resorted to getting buyers to basically pay commissions. They say buyers are protected from fraud, but we have seen how they do not back this up. Unfortunately, Poshmark charges sellers 21% or more commission …
