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.

Thank you @23Oct! I think DH's was set up on my iPad on the home Wi-Fi but I'll try what you suggest! Do you agree that it's the home IP that was flagged?!
You see so many what can only be 'fake' items and they get through. It was obviously my honesty that let me down😔

You've given renewed hope!

As I said in my OP I was a great seller as well as buyer and had 5⭐️ reviews of which I was very proud of. I always left feedback as a buyer and seller too.

On another note I have had items not arrive too, but strangely these were when I'd posted by Royal Mail! I stopped offering this as a buying option as you don't automatically get a refund from Vinted as the seller (you claim through Royal Mail) and it was such phaff for a couple of pounds.

I'd appeal it. I was banned for selling fake RL polo shirts (which they weren't) and having a duplicate account. I unearthed a receipt from 2015 for the polo shirts plus took all the photos they wanted. They agreed they'd made a mistake but said I couldn't list them. Ironic given half of the RL items on Vinted are clearly fake.

When I asked for the details of the duplicate account, transpires they were mistaken on that too. It was eventually resolved once you get past the auto bot stage so keep trying.

@sep135 I tried to appeal but to no avail 😢 According to them I was selling counterfeit goods and to be fair they were correct but it was only something I'd bought in a visor shop and I was totally honest and above board any that.
When DH account was handed they used have duplicate accounts as the issue but it didn't have more than one!

I just washed my hands of it as it was it was really bothering me more than it should have done. I really want to try to get an account though as you can browse Vinted without buying and I've seen some lovely things.

I haven't bought 'new' for 5 years now as I don't want to add to the world wide problems we are facing with textile mountains polluting the Earth.

I have sold about ten good quality items now. I think the key is being very honest, selling stuff that is branded and for a decent price. I like the fact that it is easy to sell. I do not want to be bothered with people buying stuff only to want refunds etc. I give loads of info and only sell stuff that is actually worth the money. I don't bother selling stuff that looks worn or was cheap to start with. Everyone has been very happy with their purchases. I price about two to three pounds more than I will accept as most people like to haggle a bit. Sometimes things do sit for a while before being bought. I had a boden coat on there for about a month before it sold. It was relatively expensive at 45.00 so I had to wait for someone who wanted exactly that item.

I tried to appeal but to no avail

Hmmm I wonder how they link accounts. My kids have separate accounts and they weren't affected by my ban. I'd be tempted to use a separate email and secret squirrel yourself away on the local library computer to register a new account.