Information
How Vraic works, what we ask of the people who use it, and where to find us when something needs a person rather than a page.
01 — About
For centuries Jersey families worked the low tide, carting wrack off the beaches to feed the fields. Nothing bought, nothing wasted — what the sea returned was put back to use.
That is the whole idea. Vraic is a marketplace for second-hand clothing on one island, run to island rhythms: auctions that open with the water and close at low tide, handovers in St Helier rather than a warehouse in another country, and wardrobes that circulate instead of filling skips.
There are twelve parishes and one tide table. Everything here comes from somebody within a few miles of you.
“We built Vraic because good clothes were leaving the island in bin bags while everyone shopped off-rock. It seemed a strange way to run a place this size.”
The vraic story
01
Every February, Jersey farmers could cut vraic — seaweed — to fertilise their fields. Cutting could not begin until the tide had fallen far enough to expose the iron markers set into the rocks of St Ouen's Bay. The water, not the calendar, decided when the island could take.
02
A defined season, defined stretches of beach, and parish officers sworn in to supervise the fair division of the harvest. Nobody living close to the shore was allowed an unfair advantage over the country parishes.
03
Loose vraic torn free by winter storms was free to anyone who gathered it. It was ploughed into the potato fields, dried in stacks at L'Etacq, or burnt for its ash. The granite slipways were built so carts could haul it home.
04
The car parks where islanders now leave their cars to swim were once sorting and selling grounds. Vraicking is one of the few Jèrriais words that survived into everyday island English.
Wool from the island's flocks was knitted into the garments that gave the jersey its name. Cloth was mended, handed on and worn until it could not be worn again. Waste was not a moral position; it was simply unaffordable.
Clothing is now the opposite. Production has roughly doubled in twenty-five years, garments are kept for half as long, and most of what an island discards leaves it by boat.
Vraic puts clothing back into island circulation. Every piece already exists here, is photographed here, and is collected in a parish or delivered island-wide. The tide sets the manners as well as the metaphor — the Auction House brings the hammer down on every lot together at low water.
02 — Marketplace Rules
Clothing, footwear, accessories and jewellery you hold in Jersey and can hand over or post yourself. No dropshipping, no sourcing to order.
Your own images, natural light, no stock shots or brand campaign imagery. At least one photo of the whole garment.
Pilling, marks, altered hems, missing buttons, replaced zips — say it plainly in the listing. An accurate flaw sells; a hidden one is a dispute.
Replicas, unauthorised reproductions and misrepresented labels are removed on sight and the account closed. Unsure of a piece? List it as unsigned.
Underwear and swimwear worn next to skin, counterfeit goods, fur from unverified provenance, anything requiring a licence, and items not permitted to be sold in the Bailiwick.
Reply within two days, meet where you said you would, and pay when you have agreed to. Jersey is small — behave as though you will see each other again, because you will.
Collection in a public place is the island default. If you post, use tracked island delivery and share the reference in messages.
Raise it in messages first, within 48 hours of receiving the item. If it stalls, contact us with both sides and the photographs; we decide, and the decision is final.
A winning bid at low tide is a commitment to buy. Withdrawn bids and no-shows cost you access to the Auction House.
Listing is free. Vraic takes 6% of a completed sale, taken at payout. Nothing is charged on items that do not sell.
03 — Contact
A small team on the island reads every message. Expect a reply within two working days — sooner if you are reporting a listing.
04 — Help
Cast an item, add photographs and a price, and it surfaces in All Items within the hour. You keep the piece until it sells; we take 6% at payout and nothing before that.
Payment is taken when the buyer confirms. For collection, funds release once you both mark the handover complete. For delivery, they release on tracked receipt.
Auctions open with the water and close at low tide. The highest bid at close wins, provided any reserve is met. Timings follow real Jersey tide tables.
Give the label size and flat measurements in centimetres — chest, length, shoulder, waist. Vintage sizing is unreliable, and measurements prevent most returns.
Second-hand sales are final where the listing was accurate. If an item arrives materially different to its description, tell us within 48 hours and we will resolve it.
Email us from the address on the account and we can reset access, change your parish, or close the account and remove your listings.
Still stuck? Use the form above and mark it General — we would rather answer twice than leave you guessing.
Vraic — Jersey, Channel Islands
