The always new excuses from Mädchenflohmarkt

The second-hand platform has been struggling for months with massive problems to finally pay out its users. First it was allegedly fraudsters who were to blame, now it is said to be a relocation that is causing problems. Users are furious.

Cosy, Comfy, Happiness: These are the first three words that beam at the users of Mädchenflohmarkt these days when they look at the site. But the vast majority feel neither cozy, nor comfy, and certainly not happy: for as pretty as it looks on the Mädchenflohmarkt site at the moment, the problems behind the backdrops trimmed for fall are ugly.

Desperate users have contacted Startbase in droves, reporting massive problems with the payout. In some cases, they have been waiting for months for money that is rightfully theirs. Some are already speculating that there may be serious problems at the start-up and that the money may have run out. Because Mädchenflohmarkt simply won't or can't pay out the customers. So what's going on there?

Mädchenflohmarkt in trouble: The problems have existed for months

The platform for second-hand fashion has already been struggling with massive problems for months. Startbase first reported on this in February of this year after more and more female users contacted us. Actually, they were supposed to sell their goods such as T-shirts, dresses or shoes on the website, send them and then receive money from the buyers in return. To prevent fraud among the users, Mädchenflohmarkt acted as a trustee and collected ten percent commission for each completed payment. But suddenly there was a huge problem: the money flowed to Mädchenflohmarkt, but from there it did not continue. Users waited days, then weeks, and finally months for the three- or four-figure sales they made with second-hand fashion on the platform.

Fraud at Mädchenflohmarkt: Gangsters allegedly the reason for delayed payments

Then in April 2022, the news from Mädchenflohmarkt, which Startbase in turn reported exclusively: they had indeed had a problem - and it allegedly had it in spades. According to the founding team, fraudsters had tried to fleece the start-up with several scams. On the one hand, fraudsters bought clothes with stolen credit cards, and on the other, they tried to sell clothes in circles to launder money. And then there was the referral program: Windy scammers had exploited this to cash in, and co-founder Peter Ambrozy even spoke of "gang crime" to Startbase.

In addition to this explanation, Ambrozy also made a promise: From now on, everything should go back to normal, and payments would be disbursed in just a few weeks.

Girls' flea market problems remain after five months

That was on April 20, 2022, but more than five months later, the users are no longer angry, no longer annoyed, they are simply frustrated. Peter Ambrozy's big promises have not materialized, the payments, they are still delayed by months - and the users are going on the virtual barricades, as already the first three entries on Trustpilot, a rating platform for customer satisfaction, show.

Experiences of users at Mädchenflohmarkt

The first user writes:

"I have demanded my payouts today for the umpteenth time. And again comes this stupid email that there will be delays in the payout until mid-September. I am so unspeakably angry and upset. Finally, stop putting us off with such a lie! IT'S ENOUGH!".

A second user writes:

"I don't get my money paid and no one is available. Hands off this portal, I will call my lawyer."

And a third comments on the platform:

"I will file a complaint. For a year only have to run after the money and beg to get a small part of it. On Facebook , on the Internet you read only that people have to beg and wait for their money, and often get only a part for reassurance."

Mädchenflohmarkt now cites new reasons for the delay

Mädchenflohmarkt brings that renewed in distress. After the disastrous last few months, the female users are already again or still angry at the start-up, which has now found a new excuse. Since the beginning of September, the start-up has been sending its users a standardized email in which it explains that the warehouse is currently being relocated and that the company has to change its own billing system. The changeover would lead to "delays that are expected to last until mid-September," says the e-mail, which is signed with the founders' names Maria, Thorsten and Peter.

Mid-September, that would have been around September 15. But even two weeks later, chaos apparently still reigns. The user comments, which complain about missing payments, pull themselves far into September purely and also the users, who announced themselves with Startbase, have - conditions 30 September - still calculations in the partial four digit range open. In response to an inquiry in mid-September, Peter Ambrozy wrote to Startbase that the e-mail quoted above was currently being sent to all users. And: "There is currently nothing more to say from our side." Whether this will reassure users remains to be seen.