BEWARE! Steer clear of Rip Off VINTED - a review about a seller called dansamdo

 I have toyed with the idea of trying out VINTED for a couple of years. OK so this is based on my very recent experience of Vinted which is a market place for second hand goods. Similar to Ebay really and other market places. Or thats what I thought, but my very first purchase proves it a nasty place to buy from!

I have not had the same problem with anything bought via Ebay.

I bought a jumper for a familly member from Vinted. Its my first time using this App which came up when I was setting up my new phone. The old phone just died so I had to add everything manually rather than just copy it over and when Vinted appeared I thought why not?

Vinted gets advertised on UK TV regularly, and being someone who does actually believe in environmental issues and who tries to do their bit, I do try to buy second hand when it works for us.

So I bought what was described as  a "jumper". 

Its actual description was "100% cotton new unused Dinasaur jumper". I thought this will be really nice for a familly member and winter is coming so I thought that looks really perfect.

It arrived today. I picked it up from the local Post Office and opened the parcel and its not a jumper at all but a long sleeved Tshirt. I would never have bought this had I known it was just a thin Tshirt.

So, I tell Vinted because I assume they should at the least deal with a seller who clearly doesn't care about customers - only making money. This top is not even sweatshirting or french terry ( looped back cotton so similar to sweatshirting) and its not even a heavier weight Tshirt.

I feel ripped off. Yes its a nice top but its not what I thought I was buying. I wanted a nice child's jumper which is what it is supposed to be. Winter is coming. You can feel the air changing into autumn so we need this or at least we need a jumper and Dinasaurs appeal right now.

Anyway several hours later after sending in the best photos I can of the inside of this "jumper" which is actually a Tshirt, as well as a long conversation with both seller and Vinted customer services, Vinted decide the seller told the truth and the description matches! 

I really could not believe this.

Besides being shocked they did that, I feel really ripped off. Its a nice enough Tshirt but we did not need a Tshirt. I would not have paid for it. It will be used I dare say, but its not really how somewhere like Vinted should work and it does mean if you buy a lot from there you could end up very ripped off.

I have another parcel yet to be delivered - also from Vinted but a different seller. Hopefully that seller is more honest and decent. I am hoping not to get ripped off with that one because I actually bought 13 items so its quite a lot of money. Once that arrives I will be deleting the Vinted App and will never go back there.

Ebay customer services have been brilliant with me over the years. I have not actually had many issues but when I have had they sorted it fairly and to be honest I feel safe buying from Ebay. Generally I feel most Ebayers are actually normal people and most give an honest description.

Vinted haven't been fair to me. Even with photos to prove the problem, Vinted care more for the seller and do not have any care, it would seem, for the buyer. Not only can I not return I am told the seller described the item fairly. Since when did a Tshirt, and a light weight summer Tshirt at that, even if it has long sleeves, become a jumper? So its a sellers market place and not somewhere you can feel safe when buying.

In my case the seller outright lied about what they sold. Yet I have no rights it would seem.

So basically, if you decide to buy from a second hand market place I would sincerely, honestly, advise steer well clear of VINTED.

And particularly steer clear of a seller called "dansamdo".  From my experience this seller is dishonest. So I am happy to name them here because it may with a bit of luck stop others being ripped off by them.

I have bought on and off from Ebay for about 15 years. Not all my experiences have been good, I admit, but generally thats actually my fault for not reading the description properly. When something has been wrongly described by a seller Ebay sorted it out for me. 

Ebay wuld not have decided in this way in favour of a dishonest seller. 

So apparently VINTED is somewhere set up exclusively for sellers. They appear to be able to say whatever they want to get a sale and it does not have to be the truth and it would appear as a buyer you have no rights.

So here is a warning about Vinted and in particular about the seller known as "dansamdo"

Have a good week and I hope you do not get ripped off!

UPDATED: I also bought from someone else on Vinted who was a decent person and did describe everything correctly so not everyone on there is a rip-of merchant. However I do not feel safe buying on there now since the customer services obviously have no care whatsoever if you get ripped off so have still deleted the app and will never be buying on Vinted again. I am back buying from Ebay when next I decide to venture into the online market. Right now I am taking a rest and staying safe.

Take care

Bracken

Troll top

This is a top pattern that I made before.

I actually wore this before so this is my second wearing. Usually I try to get photos the first wearing just in case I wreck it. Well I did get some good photos over the felds on a walk ast week but then my phone died and I cannot retrieve anything. in fact its been a real pain becaise I had to add every app manually and copy what I can from my PC but I never do proper backups - that will teach me! Anyway I was offline most of 2 days and it was a serious shock to the system. Though of course I still had a PC so nt really out of touch with the world but it was much harder than I would have expected it to be to not have my phone.

Anyway its been all about phones the last few days and because the screen died and then the memory card also died I lost pretty much everything including the original photos of this top. Even plugged into a PC I couldn't get back those pictures.  Still the top has  survived me washing it and its still a good top so here it is after its been worn. I suppose in some ways its more of a real photo in fact because its no longer brand new and pristine. I normally only do "real" when its Me-Made May and last time I never bothered to take part.

Its a Burda Style magazine pattern and was on my new years resolutions list of makes. Well it has been on the new years planned makes for a few years so I suppose I am making up for that by making a second version so soon. 

I really like the first one I made. This troll fabric was actually bought a couple of years ago with the idea to make big knickers for winter. Well as usual I overplanned my possible makes and never had time for that one so its still there in my stash. 

I only had a metre of this fabric which is a stretch oekotex cotton-lycra. I managed with some careful cutting to leave a sizeable bit of the fabric over so will make a child sized top out of the rest I think. Maybe with contrast sleeves but still even then I am happy to be so careful to not only get this top from a metre but actually have some left over. Seriously thats an achievement I never expected to have. 

So here's the other photos:

 

 

I do love thsi fabric!

And have really got into the raglan puffed sleeves because this pattern really takes so little fabric. Its the only log sleeved adult top pattern I have ever tried you can get out of less than 1m of fabric. I will be making a few more of these and thats despite the fact puffed sleeves were util now not really "me". Or so I had thought anyway. I have made some puffed sleeved items before but its something I wear occassionally rather than I favour if you know what I mean. I think thats about to change. Minly due to the fabric quantities needed for this top. And it even has very long sleeves yet still comes out of a small piece of fabric. I thik it would be great in wintery stretch velvets too. And its even work worthy - in a different fabric.

Have a great week and if you are in the UK enjoy the last Bank Holiday we will have until Christmas. Its seems so far away!

Bracken

And ( the crafting) life goes on...........

Well after my lack of interest in crafting when my Dad died, this week has been more productive. I discovered a bag full of "useful" bits of fabric the other week and have been considering ways to use them. 

So far I have a few tops cut out which I have yet to sew up though one is almost finished, and lots of small bits of fabric left over,  but I was looking at ( and cleaning) my sewing area the other day and decided to use some of the bits to update some of my clutter. My more useful clutter that is.

I started using these old washing tablet boxes ages ago - as you can see by the build up of dust on the lids. Luckily that doesn't show too well in the photos so you cannot see how dirty my work area has actually got! Its well overdue for a clean shall we say anyway.

These boxes work really well for keeping everything I need handy but they don't look too nice really so I decided to give a couple of them an update. I only did a couple of the boxes, because when I cleaned and reorganised I decided I do not actually really need the large number I have saved, so I cleared some of them out to the recycling pile and just decorated two boxes. 

 

I used fabric glue and scraps of fabric from the stash bag I have been trying to find uses for. You have to apply this kind of glue to both the fabric and the surface and yes its a very messy job but fun all the same and a nice change from stitching with a sewing machine. Using fabric glue I simply glued the scraps of fabric to the outside of each box.

I used newspapers to protect everyting from the mess and that was actually the hardest part because we do not read actual paper newspapers and it seems neither do my friends, neighbours etc. Eventually I was give some just as I had given up asking around. It seems people in the 80s do still read paper newspapers. Well thats good to know sometimes. Saves me buying protective paper for the work area. That was the option I had come to accept I had to do. I need to think about this and maybe buy some protective plastic or coated fabric or something for the future.

This is the fabric glue - bought from Ebay some time ago. I did have 2 tubes but seem to have mislaid one. I tend to keep fabric glue in, just in case I get an idea that needs it. "Strike when the iron is hot" so they say, because if you don't do it straight away you tend to lose momentum, and things never get created. So I keep such stuff in stock - just in case. I shall have to replace it now in fact.

 They definitely look more presentable after the update don't you think?

I added a scrap of fake fur on the top edge of the one box but then ran out of glue on my second box so will finish that one once I get some more glue. Anyway this is the end result and I am very pleased with how they look now.

I also bought some new pattern books this week. Mainly for childrens patterns but also some for me.

These are all Made by Oranges patterns so BTrendy is the kids version and My Image is the adult/ general sewing because I think you do get the odd kids pattern in them. I might be wrong on that though. 

I have tried a My Image pattern before and wore the top I made loads so its time I made a few more. The magazine was on offer if you bought the two new editions ( My Image and BTrendy)  together and I was feeling so down after losing my Dad I went for the offer. Generally I am careful with money but I splashed out here and am glad now that I did. So here you can see the two current issues and also 5 back issues of BTrendy.

In total this little lot cost me 34 Euro I think. Plus postage, but well worth it by the looks of it and now I can make kids clothing for other family members which is something I have recently got into and would like to improve at. 

I find mistakes or slightly wonky un-straight stitching shows far more on kids clothing than it does on adult sized clothing so this will challenge me - and also hopefully I will use up lots of smaller sized bits of fabric that I tend to just stash because its too big to throw but difficult to find a use for because its not really big enough.

So buying patterns also led to my tracing some which I did onto wall paper.

Also I find Burda (above) much harder to trace than BTrendy ( below).

Over the years I have tried all sorts of different paper for tracing patterns. I even used Ikea kids drawing paper at one point. That was great but does not last long if you want to reuse the traced pattern a few times. It just disintegrates. But shorter term its nice and cheap and a good width. In recent years though I just look out for really cheap wallpaper in places like B&Q. 

Sometimes you can pick it up for £1 or so and then thats how to buy it. It lasts ages even if you keep using the pattern over and over again. 

The strongest so far is blown vinyl and because all I want is the paper fpr making a pattern, not to stick the stuff to my walls, it really does not matter if its got a really horrible design on it. Also if you ask around people give you their excess rolls for free because most people buy more than they need when they wallpaper. I even use wallpaper when making patterns from scratch for example when I made the Vampires Wife inspired dresses I used a Winifred Aldridge pattern making book for help and I still have those patterns. I think they will last a long time yet. I really must get a new version made of that. I have some fabric I have been saving for one of those dresses for years now. 

Anyway I traced several new patterns so I have hopefully labelled them all well enough I can work out what bits go with what bits in the next few weeks as I get round to cutting them out.

I ended up tracing both BTrendy and Burda Style so I will have plenty to got at in coming months. I use the washers as weights to hold the patterns down when tracing.

So as well as tracing some new patterns out I also got my winter fabrics washed, dried and ready to cut out.

French terry

These are all new fabrics bought a few weeks ago with some money I was given for my Birthday. This washing and drying prep is well worth doing because many new fabrics shrink, so at least if its done then the item will still fit after its been washed, but it does take a long time to get this done in between the normal every day house work, and on top of that hanging up a large bit of fabric to dry is a right pain. I tend to hang it over doors because thats the only place with enough space. Of course really it should be dried flat but mine never is.

Red ribbed fabric salvedged from my stash bag - potential leggings?

Assorted jersey - for childrens clothing?

Despite all this pattern tracing I am still going to use a TNT pattern for the french terry. I want to make 2 dresses from this stuff because I made a black dress at the start of summer and I have lived in this on colder/ wetter days so I am thinking two more for autumn should do the job and I love this style so thats my next project I think;

I also have a desire - very strong desire to somehow use these other patterns this winter. They go in my to make pile year after year and since I paid for the things they will be used.

So what else have I done? Well I was doing quite well with my sock knitting but I just unpicked more than half of my knitting when I realised I had somehow confused which strand I was knitting with. This two strand pattern is not really so difficult though I have managed to mess it up last year when I first knitted it. You, in theory, do a full round of one colour with some slipped stitches. Then do the second colour and you slip different sttches to give the multi coloured mosaic pattern so its a cheat in a way because it looks like fairisle but its much easier. Or should be. 

Now I think I know how I messed up last year, and its got a lot to do with my tending to use 4 pins to knit socks. I somehow knitted half way round the row, probably then put down the needles for some reason and when I went back to the knitting, which could have been a week later, I started with the other strand of yarn and carried on. Only when I realise I am twisting the colours together at end of rows in the wrong place do I realise what I have done. You should twist them together at end of / start of row which I marked but I was doing it somewhere in the middle of the row. Well it took me a whole evening to carefully unpick what I had done and I have gone back a good 4 inches or about 12cm. Thats about half of what I had knitted. I did have a problem a few weeks back with the pattern being out but I thought I had worked it out. That must have been luck. Anyway its all ripped back now. Since these are for my Christmas socks it really is a good thing I started them in June!

 I own Addi sock wonder circular needles but really I don't like them but because of this mistake I am now persevering with them and determined to learn to knit with them. It seems most people prefer them to having 4 double pointed pins so I should eventually get it. At least it should stop this muddle because the unused strand will be nowhere near the end you are kniting from when being knitted. This may not make much sense if you are not a knitter so sorry if thats the case, but I think most knitters will understand what I am on about here. Addi sock wonder is my new friend. I just need to learn to knit with it because it makes me really slow.

OK so the other thing I have been muddling along with this week is a child's romper. Its for a baby currently only wearing 6-9 months and this is a sized 12 months romper so I have time to get this right.

I saw a romper like this in Cornwall. It was for sale for £25. Well thats quite a lot and it wasn't well made so I decided to have a go myself. The main problem was learning how to add poppers to the straps and legs. I have managed the straps and have yet to sew the binding to the legs. Its just pinned on here but its looking hopeful and if I works I can make lots of these for much less money. You can see the poppers better here:



This is the first time I have attempted using poppers. These are Prym Love poppers. I have yet to see how well they hold out when worn but I am hopeful.

So I do feel I was productive over the last week or so and I am trying to now get my head down to some real sewing and make something worth wearing for me as well as for the baby I am sewing for. 

I hope you are having a great week

Bracken

My Dad

I didn't blog last week. For me normally blogging has become something I need to do. I just do it every week somehow even if I do not make anything. It has been years. I actually began my first blog in 2007.  But last week I did do several crafting projects. None of which are going to be part of this post.

On 7th July my Dad was taken to hospital with heart failure. Well he didn't die despite that sounds so terrible. He had his 84th birthday the next day in hospital. By the end of the next week he was home - for just 2 hours. Then he fell off the bed. My dad has one leg and is not brilliant at anything any more. He started to slip and my Mum who is also infirm and has long term Rheumatoid arthritus was simply too weak to stop him falling so an ambulance was called and back into hospital he went. 

After a few days he was stable and got transfered from Coventry to Rugby. There he slowly got better. Then I saw him last Sunday and was told he is now medically fit. He waved goodbye to me and said "God bless you" which is really not something he would ever normally have said to me.

My Mum saw him Monday with my partner. He was OK then though we had all started to wonder about dementia so the staff at the hospital have him down for a CT scan later on last week. 

Tuesday Mum was meant to visit but she went down with covid. No one visited because we never knew until visiting hours was nearly over. 

At 08:03 on Wednesday he was found dead. They reckon cardiac failure. He dies unexpectedly and peacefully in his sleep. That should help I suppose but really it doesn't. Sadly Wednesday 3rd August was also their 60th Wedding aniversary or should have been.

I know he was 84 years old but this is my Dad and it has devastated me. So I am blogging now about this, not my crafting, because in the end lots of the bits and pieces of life matter. 

I started this blog to record my sewing. It has diversified but it has also to a large extent turned into a blog on what happens to me in my life and I think my Dad passing is worthy of a small section here. 

So thats it for this week. I will blog about the crafting soon but right now does not really feel like the right time. Crafting is just not important to me today.

I hope anyone who rreads this has a good time this week and that you are happy.

Bracken