Resale sites swamped after French riots

Vinted and eBay removed suspicious listings after riots swept France. Perfumes, designer handbags, cosmetics and Pokémon cards appeared on second-hand marketplaces following a weekend of violence that saw shops ransacked.

Stolen beauty products undercut retail prices

Screenshots showed Sephora cosmetics advertised for a fraction of retail cost. Six lip glosses sold for fifteen euros when Sephora France sells comparable own-brand lip glosses for around thirteen euros each.

Pokémon cards and designer goods listed

Pokémon trading cards allegedly stolen from Le Coin des Barons in Lille were advertised on Vinted with original price stickers still attached. Christian Dior perfumes were listed for two hundred fifty euros.

Esports trophy stolen and resold online

A silver StarLadder Counter-Strike trophy from French esports club Team Vitality was advertised on eBay for one thousand two hundred fifty euros. Team Vitality confirmed its Paris premises were looted during Saturday's unrest.

Riots cause France's worst unrest in years

More than half a million people joined demonstrations on Saturday over cost of living and deteriorating public services.

Vinted and eBay step up enforcement

Vinted said it had zero tolerance for stolen goods sales and stepped up monitoring to identify and remove listings.eBay said it used technology to identify suspicious activity and worked with police to investigate criminal behaviour.

“The sale of stolen goods, or soliciting them, is strictly prohibited on Vinted, and we have zero tolerance for it.”

Retailers count cost of widespread damage

Supermarket giant Carrefour reported damage to fifty stores, including twenty that were looted. Sephora closed its French stores on Saturday evening and kept them shut on Sunday after several branches were ransacked.