An example of a questionable listing for a wedding dress

I recently saw a sold listing on a second hand wedding gown website which raised red flags that I wanted to warn my dear readers about.

I do not place any blame whatsoever on the people who run this website but rather the individual bride who has listed and sold this dress. 

In this listing, when you read the first paragraph, it appears that the bride has already worn the dress and the buyer is buying a wedding dress that has only been worn once. It seems like such a bargain - only worn for 5 hours. It's in very very good condition! It's a very sought after label, so any poor bride reading this would think it was the bargain of the decade. 

However read the listing carefully and it becomes clear that the bride has listed her gown before her wedding. In later paragraphs, she states that the gown will be dry cleaned after the wedding and the dress will be available after mid November 2013. There are absolutely no wedding photos at all - just photos of this girl in the studio in her dress. 

Buying a wedding gown from a bride before she has worn it for her own wedding, is fraught with problems. If anything happens to the dress at the original owner's wedding and the dress gets stained or torn and these cannot be cleaned or repaired, then the buyer has absolutely no recourse and their money is lost. 

What could damage the dress permanently:

(i)   Salty water which can cause discolouration; 

(ii)   Wet grass:

(iii)  Red wine;

(iv)  Coffee or tea;

(v)   Fake tan;

(vi)  Heavy Perspiration;

(vii)  Rips from guests stepping on the dress;

The only winner here is the bride who has onsold her dress and has recovered part of the price of her wedding dress from a buyer who has effectively subsidised the original bride's choice of dress.

If you are considering buying a dress with an arrangement like this, I have one piece of advice for you - Don't!