Choose a side: Vinted v disabled users

[Supersimkin2]

Please say what you think. Vinted asked NDN to verify her ID, which she’s happy to do, or they won’t let her withdraw the £300 she’s made selling her stuff.

Life on disability benefits not so easy right now. Her £300 a big deal.

But she can’t do the checks - cos the only ID Vinted accepts is a passport or driver’s licence, neither of which she has as she can’t travel. All the other ID proofs - she has loads - Vinted won’t accept.

We’ve appealed to Vinted three times and they won’t budge. Mangopay, their money platform, refer us to
Vinted.

So Vinted are keeping NDN’s money. They say ‘We hope you will understand’.

YABU = I’m with Vinted.
YANBU = Shame on Vinted.

Thank you so much! 💐

they’ve just refused to accept anything else for the fifth time.

Why in the world should disabled people (or others) spend money on an expensive driving licence or passport, neither of which they may use, to prove who they are? Both the driving licence and the passport have to be renewed every so often. Am astounded that anyone thinks that this approach is reasonable!

Vinted T’s and Cs must change!

PenguinLord

Because being disabled means you often don't work and rely on benefits, and if you dont travel you dont need to spend £100 on a passport you will never need, I think it's pretty clear and you have to be super thick to not make that link.

Oh the irony!

A few more functions of the travel document:

To start a company or self-employment

For anything related to inheritance/probate

To file self-assessment tax returns with HMRC (which might become very relevant if the neighbour keeps on selling on Vinted)

To get a new SIM card/phone number

To open an Only Fans account and to get paid own earnings from Only Fans. All of their 'creators' clearly have managed a photo ID despite the fact they don't leave their bedrooms, ever

Of course they won’t because just keep repeating the same question isn’t going to get a different answer.

It’s all linked to Europe wide money laundering regulations. Like it or not any company dealing with clients money can be heavily fined for not having strict enough rules in place so they’re doing absolutely the right thing.

I work in financial crime and it’s pretty much universal for most financial institutions to insist on a passport or DL as ID. This isn’t new.

Useful
to know! Especially if it’s legally questionable. The banks get to obey laws too, not that imho they appear to like it much.

Even Vinted press office hasn’t responded within the time they tell you they do.

I don’t know if that has already been suggested but could she get someone who is verified to list something for £300 and she can buy it out of her balance and then they can withdraw the money from
their Vinted when they get paid and give it her. She will loose a little bit with packaging costs but better than missing out on £300

Is it free ID with photo? I had always assumed there was an admin fee.

https://www.gov.uk/passport-fees the passport is £88.50 for 10 years.

Photos and the application can be done at home. I took my photo on my phone. The passport arrived after about a week.

People including with disability need one for ID for many reasons as mentioned it is extremely useful even if you never set out of the country.

You might get some joy by looking up the CEO and messaging him (plus Vinted) direct on Twitter/X.

If that's no good I'd probably try Watchdog (on the One Show), or RipOff Britain, or the Guardian consumer rights champion or something. Even the local press.

Shame Vinted and also publicise this so that others don't get caught out.

True but it is fiddly and takes loads of attempts or right first time passport photo. Really annoying when the photo they accept is exactly like the ones rejected. That's why I get someone to take it instead of a selfie (can't seem to get the right angle

Without reading all the comments - I'm disabled and I don't have a passport or driving license. I can't fly because I use a powerchair and have clots on my lungs. I would be refused a driving license if I applied for one. Luckily I can use my disabled persons bus pass as photo ID to vote and I look too old for Challenge 25 😄

Edit - work have always accepted an official document + my driving license + explanation of above. I did have a provisional before I got glaucoma but since it expired I have no official ID. Like others have said - why would I pay all that money for a passport I can't use. It is ableism. Especially as 3 in 5 wheelchair users (surveyed by the civil aviation authority) cannot fly due to lack of assistance.

She has got ID, but not the right sort of ID for Vinted.

And all they’ll do is explain it’s not Vinted who make the rules it’s the company they use for their payments who are bound by EEA wide financial crime and money laundering regulations - which has been repeated on here many times but is being ignored.

Any of the consumer programmes will be fully aware of the fact it’s money laundering regs - which companies can be heavily fined or sanctioned for not adhering to

So regardless of whether Doris from Wigan thinks it’s fair or not - she’s not the one who will be penalised by the financial regulator

Would you be refused a passport though? That's the issue here, really. It's understandable why you and the OP's friend would choose not to get something that you can't use for travel. But passports are more than just travel documents. They are a form of ID required by some companies. Like Vinted. Disabled people are not refused passports, which means Vinted is not being discriminatory.

But it’s clearly stated in the T&C’s she signed up to so if she wasn’t happy with that she should raised it before opening get account.

YANBU - if a disability hinders your ability to drive, travel and earnings potential, which it undoubtedly does for many people; except for those with a strong familial support network, mostly underpinned by 'economic advantage', then it's pretty obvious why someone wouldn't be wasting any money on irrelevant passports and driving licences.

Vinted needs to change their policy or hang their heads in shame; random MNetters, also maybe.

Vinted don’t tell
you it’s only passport and ID.

It’s there in the T&C’s

And Vinted have no right to withold this person's £300 just because the "computer says no".

I'll sign any petition. I don't use Vinted and I'm not disabled so no skin in this game but being cross about things that shouldn't happen to other people, yep I shed a bunch of skin every time. Maybe I'm a snake?

In those T&Cs it also says bank statements and/or proof of residency (eg: a council tax bill, rental agreement. etc). So Vinted are wrong to refuse to release the £300.

They can ask for all of them it’s not either/or

They have every right to withhold funds from anyone who doesn’t pass the KYC that the financial institution holding the funds is blind to by EEA financial regulations.

I do this as a job. We won’t even open an account without a passport or driving license plus a bank statement or utility bill. The FCA set the rules not individual companies.

And there’s also regulations around treating every client with the same standards. Exceptions can not be made.

I sell on Vinted, never been asked for ID, just put my bank details on so I can buy/withdraw money to the same account.

Well under those FCA rules Vinted shouldn't have even opened up an account then but they did and owe the OP's nb £300. Bit late to quote FCA rules after the fact.

Take it to Customer Services OP - refer to the DDA, above FCA rules and if no budge threaten to take it to the Ombudsman and/or MP. And act on the threat. Matter of principle if not the £300 owed.

I think there is more discussion to have on why a passport (a travel document - some people may not be able to travel, especially disabled people) and driving license (some can't ever drive) are the only forms of acceptable government issued photo ID allowed for various things. That's the discrimination element. Not just disabled people but those on a low income. Yes I could buy a passport but I would be buying something that will never be used for it's intended purpose. I wouldn't get one easily anyway as I don't know my birth family and I was born before my mother's date of birth, occupation etc was needed when registering - I only have her name. My father doesn't use his birth name and has never had a deed poll. Goodness knows how he has got by without changing it legally. I suspect length of time he's been known by that name. His birth certificate doesn't match mine, we're not in touch. I contacted the passport office and they said I need a statement from a solicitor to confirm he goes by a different name to the one he used to register me. It's going to cost me so much money that I don't have due to how life has turned out (because of my disability). Not a sob story just a real situation people can end ip in. If we need ID to vote, open bank accounts, work etc - to live, should we not have another, more accessible (to everyone) option?