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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Thank you for bringing this to light. I’ve been a user of Vestiaire for a while now, and I had no idea about these charges!!! I’m glad that you’ve done the research and made this public. I’ll be sure to share it with my friends and family…. 😡
