Thread #79000 about Vinted but I need to know: is it an effective way to declutter when you are time-starved, menopausal and knackered?

[ToriTheStoryteller]

I have lots of stuff. In my house and my parent's house. I've tried selling on Facebook and Ebay but end up giving up after selling a few things and taking a car load to charity shops.

I do really need to try and actually sell a lot of things that are left - good quality things, plus I need to generate some extra cash for some work that needs doing.

Realistically, what's the time/effort to success/cash ratio I should expect? If the consensus is an hour to list and post 10 items that netted £50 then that's great, but if you end up relisting and there are hoops to jump through re packing/posting, then it might not work.

For context, I'm pretty intelligent and use various systems/online platforms for work, but for some reason working out how to change a password/bring my PayPal account back to life freaks me out and makes me feel like a complete dunce, so it needs to be easy to actually do!

Nothing to add, but I'm following as have too much stuff myself and need to get rid! Some of the BNWT it feels extravagant to donate without at least trying to sell it first. I have used the local auction for bits of furniture, paintings etc but they don't usually want brown furniture as it sells for peanuts. I'm finding it a nightmare TBH! On top of that my DH died recently and relatively young at 71 and there's a load of high end motorbike clothing/boots that I need to research prices for and list, the bike itself was quite easy, the dealers he bought it from offered a fair price and came and collected it.

so I hope you don't mind me jumping on, I feel the same as you about is it with the time/effort so it just sits there and I keep procrastinating...

I started selling my old clothes that were too large at the end of January and have made just under £900 so far. I've taken about £300 out to my bank account and have used the rest for buying stuff on Vinted.

Always list for a bit more than you'd be happy to take for it as people do offer less. Some brands have a good resale value, others less so. You can print shipping labels or have them printed at the drop off point if they offer that. I print mine as I'd get confused with too many parcels otherwise.

I think it's great for decluttering, I put things on at fairly low prices and have been surprised at what has sold, I even sold one item I couldn't give away locally! I have found it quicker and easier than eBay.

It’s really not that different to EBay these days so if you’re not having an success there, I wouldn’t bother.

I find it really good. I only use the in post option. You just take the parcel to the locker, enter a code and job done. Nice and easy.

When I was just selling odd bits, I fiddled around with ad hoc packaging (brown paper, reuse stuff etc).

For having a big clear-out I bought eco mailing bags from Kite Packaging. Those are big enough for most clothes (the bulkiest being a denim jacket).

Also think about your preferred mail carrier. Eg I prefer Royal Mail as the post office is nearby. I use their reduced online mailing to get a QR code to show in store for them to print a label.

Think about seasonality. Eg save your winter stuff til Oct/Nov. Get your summer stuff out now.

If you have a handy teenager you could put them in charge for 10% commission 😉

I started using vinted 9 months ago and it's really worked well for me and I've made a good whack of cash in the time. Once I list something I move it to the drawers in the spare room so that it's still cleared out of my space.

For me, once I've spent the time, ironing, taking the pics, uploading and describing, then I just put the item in storage and forget about it. Some things have taken months to sell, but (just did the sums) it's given me an average of £69 per week for that 9 months.

I wait until I have a few things to upload. I'll remove the odd thing that doesn't gather any interest and drop them at the charity shop, but some things are seasonal, so I'll hang on to them.

I also now keep a lot of the packaging from the things we buy on line and reuse that with my vinted sales, so all I'm paying for is packing tape.

I find vinted easy, haven't sold anywhere else so can't compare.

I think Vinted is generally great. I’ve been decluttering for the last 18 months, and my sales so far are just over £5,000. I’ve sold mostly clothes, shoes, and toiletries. It’s very quick and easy to list things, and you can easily list ten items in half an hour, including taking and editing photos. I think it’s really important to have good clear photos of uncrumpled clothing and set aside half an hour to quickly iron clothes before I take photos. A lot of people take the piss with the offers they make for items. So far I’ve not been scammed, either as a seller or buyer. The only real downside is that Vinted’s customer service is beyond awful and you will have a real battle to get sense out of anyone if you have a problem. Because of this, I never buy or sell anything over £50, and use eBay for anything a bit more specialised.

I sell a lot. This is how I do it. Buy the A4 & A3 postage bags from home bargains. Have them & a Sharpie ready together.
List 5 things a day (the algorithm likes this) & it's achievable. If you do more, great. I have a standard hanger & a skirt hanger and a door with a hook ready. Photo of front, back & size label. Set for a reasonable price. Once listed item goes in a big bag until sold. Set postage options to ones easiest for you, evri, yodel etc.
When sells pop in a postage bag & then write on the bag what it is & postage method. I usually wait 24hours before posting to see if anything else sells to save 2 trips. I tend to ignore offers for 24hours as quite often the person wants it and will purchase full price. I've made £160 on bits & bobs in the last week.
If no interest in a month I send to charity.

I find it pretty good. Some sell really quickly - no idea why, but it's easy to take a few photos & write a quick description. Definitely worth a go... only had one problem when buying something, and that was me risking buying a face-cream! 💐

It depends how quickly you want the stuff out and how much spare time you have.
I did a good clear out of clothes yesterday and had two large bags of stuff. I could have listed a lot of it on Vinted and some on a group for that particular brand of clothing and probably made £100-200 out of it all. But the mental freedom of actually getting rid of it and being able to move on to something else was immense. Plus I am a bit time poor at the minute.

i Think it’s important to consider the Mail carriers you use. I’m in an area where I can get to drop off points for all services that Vinted use except for Relay, and I think it can reduce your sales if you restrict the services you offer. It’s also important to build up your feedback, and I alway post everything within 24 hours, and take care with packaging. I buy a supply of brightly coloured patterned mailing bags and pretty tissue paper every couple of months and I always include a thank you card, which I buy in bulk really cheaply on eBay. It’s surprising just what a difference it makes to feedback comments.

Thank you, this is very helpful. I just started selling last week and have shifted £130 worth of clothes. InPost is a revelation, so easy!

I prefer to sell stuff for cheaper on neighbourhood FB groups

I have found it great for decluttering, it becomes addictive and you start to sell everything that isn't nailed down .

I do set a time limit now though, because some stuff can take a while to sell and the whole point is to get the stuff out of the house, not have it here for months waiting to sell.

Check everything before you list it, and describe any faults/flaws and be honest about the condition. Take lots of photos, front, back, label, any special bits.

I sell cheap and cheerful for most things as I don't buy expensive stuff. I have sold clothes, makeup, jewellery, toiletries, toys, books.

I have a shelf that everything goes onto as soon as its listed, so that it doesn't go astray. I clear that out every 2-3 months if not sold and add new stuff as I continue clearing stuff.

I have made several hundred pounds over about 3 years, and used it mainly to buy DD Christmas presents. She loves second hand if it means that she gets more stuff. I got some Musical Theatre books that retail at £35 new for £10-£15 and they were immaculate.

I’ve sold around £50 in last couple of weeks but anything less than £5 automatically goes to the charity shop. It does take time to iron and put the stuff on, but it’s a very easy process. Saddo that I am, I find it quite exciting to see what sells, and it’s usually the stuff you don’t expect to sell that does!

I’m also a cheap skate. I reuse the bags that my next stuff or other deliveries arrive in, and just turn the bags inside out. I don’t buy new bags to sell them in.

Think about how you want to post them. One day, I had stuff being sent by Evri, Royal Mail, yodel and Inpost - four different delivery methods!

I don’t think it’s a quick way to instant fortune, but it’s nice to declutter and get some money back.

Batch tasks - I photograph everything and then list while watching tv wed or thu.
Price to sell i dont reallllly care so much about the cash.
Friday PM packaging the 10 or so things sold.
Sat AM drop every off in one go.

Inpost is the devil imo. The lockers are always full or malfunctioning. I hate them. I also find people dont collect in time and it gets mailed back.

Evri and yodel all the way.

What happens when it gets mailed back, @Lafufufudoes that mean the sale is cancelled?

Yup.. so you packaged and posted it for nothing 🥴

I think it can happen with yodel or evri but I've never had it happen - they give you a lot longer to collect

I've sold £696 this month, all clothing. I have all my items on eBay and VINTED. 91 sold on eBay and 7 sold on VINTED. In my experience eBay is far superior to Vinted.

Oh I forgot to come back to this! I will read it all properly once DS is in bed 🙂

What’s the reduced online mailing, if you don’t mind me asking?

Wow this is all really helpful! Thank you everyone for taking the time to give me all that info.

I think I'll give it a go but go through all your tips to be more efficient, eg iron, photograph and list lots in one go, put them in another space once listed so they are out of the way, etc etc.

I'll also need to check out which postal methods are easy for me. I have a post office next to work but I'm not sure whether any others have drop-offs nearby.

@Growlybear83 Do you find it a pain doing a tax return or do you do one anyway for being self employed?

I’m self employed, so yes, I do a tax return anyway. But as far as I’m aware there aren’t any tax implications if you’re just selling your own possessions for less than you paid for them. I don’t think I’ve ever made a profit on anything I’ve sold, and just use Vinted as a way of decluttering.