Vinted has killed off my Vinted habit

[Fairyflaps]

I've bought a lot of clothes through vented over the past year or two - it's been a godsend after my dress size changed and I had to replace a lot of my wardrobe. I've also sold off clothes that no longer fit me or suit me, but I've definitely spent more than I've earned.

And I admit I got a bit addicted to looking for bargains, clothes that I would never be able to afford brand new. If it didn't fit or didn't suit me I could just re-list it, or take it to my local charity shop. The heatwave came, there I was snapping up summer dresses that I could wear for work. And it's always fun getting parcels once or twice a week. But not any more.

My feed is now full of stuff from Australia. Even if I search for something specific, there will be Australian stuff come up. Nothing against Australian clothing - some of it certainly looks great - but I don't want stuff to be shipped to me from the other side of the world. Nor do I want to be shipping my old clothes that distance. There is no way of filtering out listings from overseas. Indeed Vinted seems to be actively bumping Australian listings judging by the proportion of prices ending in odd numbers in my feed. I can't even opt out sending stuff overseas.

I am now rarely logging onto the app, and am thinking of quitting it altogether. Anyone else feel the same way?

Yes I agree. About both sizing and international. I bought a pair of sketchers in the wrong size, from the US!

Charity shops in posh areas are better!

I wonder if I'm getting US sellers too. I'd assumed they were Australian - from the brands and the few I clicked through to the seller's details.
The sizing thing is going to be even more of a nightmare as more territories get added. US sizing is totally different to the UK, and I assume Australian is different too.

Grouped sizes are very frustrating, I always have to ask the actual size, and I can’t stand the very short return window. I recently bought a top, all looked fine so window passed but the first time I washed it all the printed design washed off! No way back at all, complete waste of money

Yes! the number of shoes listings that don't show the sole.
I have been very lucky with my shoe purchases from Vinted, but I wouldn't buy any without a photo of the sole.

Sellers will see the sizing options in their local sizing which will map onto the UK sizing. So what Vinted call a size M in women’s clothes, is UK 12-14, US 8-10, and EU 40-42. Apparently Australian sizing is the same as the UK.

Wow it's insane that you can't filter by location or specify it anywhere as a buyer.

I don't use it much and I imagine they'll need to bring this in pretty sharpish.

I still use it occasionally, but agree it’s really gone to shite in the last year.

Algorithm is shot (no matter how many times I try, I can’t stop it flooding my feed with kids’ clothes and toys, which I don’t want or need and have never searched for); sizing is ridiculous; loads of fakes, scammers and people not disclosing that stuff is damaged/stained; having to pay to send back anything that’s unsatisfactory/not as described.

Plus the sheer volume of tat you have to wade through and the CF ‘offers’ for things you’ve already listed cheaply … yeah, I’m now getting to the point where it’s definitely not worth the effort.

It used to be something like 8/S, 10/M etc. One day they switched it to 8-10, 12-14, and also changed where the small/medium/large size boundaries were. If you previously listed something as, for example, 10/M, it changed the size on your listing to the new medium which is 12-14, etc. It's a pain if a seller hasn't listed the size - so I'll search for size 10 trousers and have to check if a pair has the label showing as if there's no label or listed size I don't know if it's 8 or 10.

Part of the appeal of Vinted has also been the recycling element, so shipping around the world doesn't sit well with me and I'd rather not either send or receive internationally.

I use Vinted a lot both to buy and sell, and I agree it is getting more annoying to use. My suggested items list this morning was almost all odd pricings, suggesting it's stuff from the US or Australia. I don't understand why they're purposefully making the site more difficult to use.

However, it's fine and still useable. If you search by new you can find stuff in the right sizes (as anything older than a year or so will be wrong). I tend to search by brand now rather than random.

The best thing they could do is delete anything listed more than a year ago. This would surely save them a huge amount in server size, would get rid of everything with the wrong size from when it was changed, and would get rid of people who listed something then took it to the charity shop/lost it but didn't take it down, which is always annoying.

Oh, and if you list a large item (furniture for eg), you actually get a lot of traction, but the sizing and postage options are totally ridiculous and unworkable - often amounting to as much or more than the list price. So you end up having to take the sale offline or onto another platform which is a real PITA. Totally pointless.

I’m getting loads of stuff from the US with no indication of postage costs, which drives me crackers.

@DeafLeppard it says the postage cost on the listing and again when you get to the checkout. Most of the US listings for clothing that I’ve seen have a £2.99 shipping cost listed.

You can't filter this our but if you put 'uk' after your search topic it does filter out most of them.
I was just seeing US stuff all the time. Now I don't.

Totally agree. It hasn't been up h of a problem selling as I'm mostly selling my sons stuff which is by age. But buying as a total nightmare. And I don't want to ship to or from abroad.

I'll try this.

Yes, it's the algorithm that's shot. I used to open the app and get suggested items that closely matched my searches, items I'd favourited and things I'd bought. Now the feed is, I'd say, 90% or more overseas items.
Hey ho, this will probably save me money. And there's enough in my wardrobe to last me for years.

Its so annoying type in relevance shows stuff from 6 months 2 years etc. Change to newly listed and it removes the relevance, what you were looking for.

I've never had much success buying on Vinted. The last time I bought sonething was some trainers that were disgusting (they weren't being sold for fetish, they were being sold as "excellent condition"). The seller said "that's what you get for buying second hand". Vinted found in my favour and gave me a refund. The seller appealed and she also got to keep the money.

Are people back to using ebay? I prefer the buyer protection.

I use it with caution, only when I can see the exact size or measurements and the material (why on earth do so many sellers not make these clear?!). I've had some lovely friendly exchanges with people both as a buyer and seller. It really pisses me off though when I go to the trouble of posting to a buyer and they don't bother to pick it up so it gets returned and I get nothing for my efforts! I'm not sure if Vinted even charges them the wasted postage if the sale doesn't go through. There doesn't seem to be any way of leaving negative feedback unless a sale actually completes & there's no proper customer service support for reporting dodgy sellers. There's massive scope for another company to come in and do what Vinted do but do it well.

I assumed it was just me as I have purposefully been searching for Australian children’s clothing. Weird that everyone is getting loads of Australian stuff!

My feed is Australian only, it happened overnight and its driving me mad. Brands I've never heard of nor want. My saved brand and size preferences are ignored. Its become unusable basically. On the selling side, sales have dropped off a cliff. I can only assume lots of others have given up on vinted too.

I had a full blown addiction.

Then about three months ago my sales just dried up. I was doing everything the same as usual, putting two or three items on every day. Low prices, good photos etc. Nada.

So my stuff is just sitting there languishing. I reposted a few things but it made little difference. I think it’s just completely flooded with items now.

I might try again in a month with autumn stuff but I’m not expecting anything.

I don't mind buying from closer by. Very odd that Vinted didn't prioritise buying from countries near/bordering the UK - like the republic of Ireland, France, Belgium or the Netherlands. I'm closer to Rotterdam than I am to Edinburgh.

My mum is in Belgium and can buy from much of Europe.

On the upside - perhaps we'll get cheaper merino wool clothing?

It’s a giant fence for stolen goods and counterfeits.
Had a woman scam me just last month.

It’s the sizing for me too I’m 16-18 in real life and people keep sending me size 12! I’ve tried size 20-22 but rather annoyingly they come in actual 20-22. I’ve never seen anything from USA or Australia though