A vent about Vinted ! And what would improve it…

[Notcontent]

As a long-time buyer of second hand clothes (but from charity shops) I decided to give Vinted a go. So over the last 6 weeks or so I have bought quite a few things for myself and for teen dd. Have also spent too many hours browsing. I therefore think I have quite a good snapshot and experience of it.

it’s been very mixed. Some lovely sellers whose items have matched the description. But you do have to be very careful. Biggest issue is that many sellers misdescribe the condition of the item. “New without tags” usually means that the item has been worn but still looks good. “Very good” is completely meaningless - I have had a jumper that was shrunk and a top crusted with deodorant.

this can’t be just my experience so I was a bit puzzled initially why all sellers have 5 star reviews. The only time people seem to get negative reviews is if they failed to send the item. But now I understand why - because if a buyer does not leave feedback, the seller automatically gets a five star rating. I did actually consider leaving a bad review for a couple of sellers - but I was concerned about retaliation or being blocked from the site. Surely a better system would be to only award ratings based on actual positive feedback…

anyway, rant over. I will keep using Vinted but have learned the hard way to be very careful.

Agree that the auto feedback can give a misleading picture.

I’ve also had mixed experiences. Some great items from there, but also a couple which weren’t as described. One jacket was described as perfect condition and when it arrived it had marks all over it - to Vinted’s credit they did resolve it (I got a full refund as the seller didn’t respond to their message raising the issue and it was a £100 jacket!)

I think my tactics now are to be careful with asking questions beforehand, looking carefully at the pics, reading a seller’s reviews etc.

Also if you return an item, even if not as described (and pay return postage yourself as that is Vinted policy), then you can't post feedback. So repeat offenders get away with it as nobody knows.
Having said that I have had some great bargains over the years and on the whole these have outweighed the disappointments. I have found recently though that the disappointments are becoming more frequent, possibly due to the ad campaign.

I assume auto-feedback is not-great feedback and factor this in. Tbh, the auto-negative for not sending the item bothers me less - if they don't send what I order the worst thing that happens is I get a refund.

I've used Vinted loads and had very few bad experiences but you have to be a bit careful.

One thing to be aware of is scammers. There are more and more new accounts setting up with copied pictures/listings (usually offering Royal Mail postage). The usernames are all nonsense letters, the pictures are copied, their listings don't 'match' each other in style (all on different backgrounds, or with descriptions obviously written by different people), and sometimes the images are reversed (labels backwards). I've no idea what the 'scam' is - presumably they send an empty envelope and rely on buyer inaction? There are loads recently so it's worth being aware.

Yes, you do have to play detective and ask questions etc. I was looking at a coat and realised that the belt was not visible in the photos. When I asked about it the seller confirmed that the belt was missing - but this was not mentioned in the description and the item was described as being in perfect condition!!

There's definitely an art to using vinted.

I agree with the above comment that large numbers of auto feedback is probably a red flag.

I've had some really great buys but quite a few things that are only good for the bin.

@NeedANewPhone1 yes, I noticed that!!! You can spot a pattern with the user names and the kind of things they are offering for sale. I also wondered what the scam is. The worrying thing is that they are very clearly suspect but not being picked up by Vinted as some remain in there for a few days.

To be fair, they seem to deal with them quickly if reported. But I don't report all I see - I'd be there for hours!

Oh, I get so caught up in life I forgot to leave feedback. I can also see I’ve got some auto feedback, which, if what people are saying above is true, is very annoying as all my items are true to description. Mostly sell massive Playwear bundles for £1 so people know what they’re getting.

Amending the pay to return if an item SNAD would make it much better. Just bought a jumpsuit for my dd. It’s the wrong size (listed as 18-24 but it’s 12-18) but it would cost more to return. Seller wouldn’t refund or partially refund either. So she got negative reviews then blocked.

Ha - yes also true that I've occasionally not got round to it so it's not a foolproof guide to a seller being rubbish!

I like selling on Vinted, but after one experience of buying, I'd be cautious in the future. got an item that was not as described (and smelled funny) so I returned (which costs me money - if the item isn't as described, I think the seller should buy the return costs). At each step (sending, and collecting return both took 7-8days, confirming the return) took ages. And then I couldn't even leave feedback, wtf!

And more rant. Some of the sellers take horrible photos and very limited information. Not even putting very basic info like what material clothes are!

I'm looking after some leather jackets but all the ones i like are from sellers that have no ratings so that's a red flag

Also a regular Vinted buyer / seller and have learned a lot over the years.

New with Tags - can be an item clearly worn but with the original label fixed to the tab with a safety pin.

New without Tags - are often worn

Very Good - meaningless often has marks / stains

Stock Pictures for an item - meaningless - I want to see the actual item I am buying

Screwed up wrinkled clothing - at the very least demonstrates how they have been stored and I wont pay an almost new price for such items.

Duplicate pictures on several different accounts, often with back to front labels and no seller reviews = almost certainly a scam. These seem particularly prevalent on Toast listings probably because Toast items are expensive.

Non arriving items - the reason I always ask for Royal Mail when buying and ship my items Royal Mail. At least I can track.

Seller sending the wrong item, always inferior to what I have paid for and always ‘woops, I made a mistake’. Total rubbish and I always report and ask for a refund.

Having said all that I have bought some great items at reasonable prices and sold a lot of bits and pieces. The key to Vinted is to carefully look at the pictures, check the seller reviews and work out how many are written rather than automatic reviews, check out the whole seller listing and other items for sale, ask questions, request extra photos if necessary and track delivery.

If selling, be scrupulously honest on your listing about the condition, photograph any flaws, stains etc, photograph the item in the box / bag on a set of scales to prove the weight and ship via a method that records the weight and delivery.

Also understand that if you sell NWT items at too low a price they may be immediately relisted with the buyer profiting from your lack of understanding of the items true worth.

I'm sure Vinted is getting worse!

I bought my son a swimming set for £1 last week (+ shipping) and it was described as new without tags. Well it arrived and there were ink stains on the swim hat and swim shorts. I messaged the seller who claimed to have no idea how that happened, but the picture had been staged to cover where the stains were on the items. I managed to get one stain out but not the other. Seller even claimed that they hadn't staged the picture to cover the marks but it was so, so obvious.

I appreciate the seller thought it was a cheap item but by the time you add in postage, it's really frustrating to not have something in the condition you thought you were buying.

I think part of the problem is as it gets bigger more and more 'business' sellers get drawn to it so the listings get flooded with 'small businesses' who don't know what they're doing and don't comply with UK laws around online selling.

And consumer's don't know the laws either (which is why businesses are meant to be clear about them).

I'm quite new to Vinted, having been an eBay buyer and seller for many years....thought I'd try Vinted because everyone raves about it. But I'm very much on the fence as to how good it is. Not sure if that's because my opinions are coloured by eBay, but anyway....

Selling (or at least listing) on Vinted is simple, because there's hardly any info to enter - if you are used to eBay's extensive categorisation and filtering it seems a bit too good to be true. But nothing of mine ever seems to sell! Maybe because I haven't paid extra to boost/promote items. There was a small flurry of "favouriting" just after I listed, but then nothing. Stuff just sits there, week after week. At least on eBay the lists "refresh" every time an auction starts again. I sold one item out of eight, and even that I was beaten down to £2 - barely worth the sellotape on the parcel. I reckon as a new seller I have to work harder to be seen, too.

In terms of buying, that lack of categorising comes back to bite you, because if you have something specific in mind you just don't have the filtering options to be able to find it, and have to wade through all sorts. Some of the photos and descriptions are pants. And don't get me started on the weird S/M/L sizing.....Anyway, I have bought four items so far, and three were actually as described. The fourth item was never posted, so the sale was cancelled after a few days - on eBay there would be a sanction for this, but Vinted doesn't seem bothered. Looking at the listing, it had been sitting on Vinted for nearly a year, so the seller had probably totally forgotten about it! This must happen a lot! But I do think the prices are good.

Interesting what you say about scams. I don't buy anything high value, but I'll be looking closer from now on.

And I'm going to stick with eBay for selling. It seems a lot more organised and professional.

I have stuff to sell but it seems too much of a faff. Not very expensive stuff. Uniqlo, Trespass, Superdry stuff. In mint condition- bought wrong size for DD and she failed to tell me- but I might be better off donating it to charity?

I'm sticking with eBay for selling. Even with the fees I get better returns.

@Swedishwood‘s summary is spot on. I think perhaps the fact that Vinted is so easy to use is as much of a minus as a plus - in that isomer of the sellers might not be dishonest as such, but a bit naive and don’t seem to appreciate that they are entering into a legal business transaction and need to ensure they are not doing anything that is misleading.

I remember once talking to a younger colleague at work and she said she was planning to buy a dress to wear to an event and return it to the shop the next day. I made a light hearted comment questioning it (while being pretty shocked as this was someone working in a professional, responsible job) but she really didn’t get it. With some Vinted sellers it’s the same kind of thing but on an even bigger scale.

This.
I had a look at Vinted a few times but I can't bring myself to buy anything from it...the pics are horrible! I am scared I will end up with a lemon that I will have to try to resell (on Ebay) or give to a charity shop.

I think the fact you can't leave negative feedback when you have had to return something really skews the feedback to positive. I had a seller post me the wrong pair of shoes, admitted her mistake as soon as she posted but I had to pay return postage to send it back to her. That makes no sense and I cannot leave any feedback on the order either

I love Vinted but the amount of times my stomach has turned because I've clicked on the photo of an item only to see someone's manky bare foot peeking into the frame... yuck!

What's most missing for me in terms of site set-up of item information is the material. On ebay I just filter for 100% cotton and cotton and though the latter gets me some mixed listings where they've listed it as Cotton, Polyester, I can at least avoid some of it. On vinted you're just dependent on the seller.

I complain about lack of measurements, but that's on the sellers and not the platform. I'm seeing a lot of items listed as being size X only to turn out to be size Y from the pictures, without any acknowledgement/justification/measurements provided in the description. Similarly, items listed in the men's section when they were manufactured and sold for women - women's tops are largely too short and too narrow on the shoulders for me, so this is frustrating.

I like Vinted but also don't spend any more than I'm willing to lose. Usually stick to brands/sizes that I know. Had a few duff items and returning is often more hassle than it's worth. Also sent an item once, the plastic mailing bag was ripped on delivery so left a mark on the top, but I had to refund as apparently I should have packed it better in cardboard?! (If it was me, I would have just washed it ......).

Also cautious about sellers - if an item has been listed for ages or the user hasn't shown as being active for a while, I always make an offer (even 50p less) to check the seller/item still exists! Also need to be cautious about sizing, I always check for a photo of the label too!

(If it was me, I would have just washed it ......).

It might be damage that won't be washed off. Vinted gives you only 2 days to mark the item as fine or not. The buyer might be willing to take the risk, but they shouldn't have to.

I think it's hard to get the balance right. I sold items on eBay for years and saw an increase in buyers lying about the condition of the items I had sold or purposefully damaging items to get out of paying return delivery. I now don't bother with eBay at all.