'I paid £400 for a Prada bag on Vinted only to learn it was fake'

A bag of a similar style to the one Bekyarova-Delev bought retails for about £1,500 on the official Prada website.

Bekyarova-Delev told BBC North West Tonight when she first received the handbag she had no concerns, especially after paying £10 for its authentication service.

"I was absolutely 100% sure that it will be fine and because of buyers protection... it looks absolutely normal, nothing to worry [about].

"I was completely sure that it's absolutely authentic."

In line with the platform's rules, she accepted the order, saying everything was OK with the item, and releasing the payment to the seller.

But she said when she had visited the Prada store at the Trafford Centre, she had been unable to find the same handbag among its range.

She said the woman behind the counter had not recognised it, and that after that she "wasn't sure if the bag was real or not".

Bekyarova-Delev said she had then paid for an independent authentication, which had found the bag to be fake.

But because she had accepted the bag, she had been unable to get a refund, despite showing Vinted that it had verified it as genuine.

"It was shocking to realise it was fake, and it was too late to do anything about it.

"I wasn't aware that things like this happened," she said.

Vinted told the BBC it offered an optional verification service for selected designer items, during which specialist teams assessed their authenticity offline.

"Decisions, including whether an item is potentially counterfeit, are made by trained specialists based on objective criteria and specific brand or product characteristics, such as stitching, logos and materials used in the design.

"Original documents may be reviewed, but they do not automatically guarantee successful verification."

It added all purchases, including those with item verification, were subject to its buyer protection policy.

Vinted added: "If the buyer still doubts the item's authenticity after our experts have checked it, they can raise an issue within two days of receiving the item."

Customers who buy goods from what are known as "pro-sellers" have 14 days to raise an issue.

Figures from Citizens Advice in 2025 showed a 30% rise in complaints about counterfeit goods being sold online over the previous year.

Reporting from BBC News contributed to this story.