Online scams are rife, and with more and more people struggling due to the cost of living crisis, many people are turning their hands to common scams to try to make more money. When it comes to buying and selling on Vinted, you might be worried about the Vinted scams that you may have heard of. If you are looking to stay scam-free whilst buying and selling on Vinted then we have all the information that you need to keep you safe from the potential risks from buying and selling online.
What is Vinted?
Vinted is a marketplace for buying and selling unwanted items.
Vinted have these main aims:
- Sell simply – make money by easily listing your preloved items. See more about selling on Vinted.
- Shop smarter – find amazing brands that you love at a fraction of the RRP.
The Vinted app is available both on iOS and Android, and you can also use the Vinted website on a desktop or laptop.
Wondering if you need to pay tax on Vinted sales?
Common Vinted Scam – Asking For Your Email Address To Complete The Purchase
When you sell something on Vinted the purchase needs to go entirely through Vinted.
Buyers are able to connect their payment method to Vinted, and when they purchase something from you the funds are temporarily held by Vinted until the buyer receives the item.
You might receive messages like this on Vinted, asking you for your email address.
It could be to complete the purchase, or to ask for additional photos or other additional information.
Or you might even see an item on Vinted listed like this.
These messages are one of the common Vinted scams you might find on the online marketplace.
This scam is so that once they have your email address they can send you an email, of which the options are endless.
Here are some of the ways they could try to scam you once they have your email address:
- Send you spoof or phishing messages pretending to be Vinted complete with the Vinted logo. With this email they could:
- Send you to a fake Vinted website or app to log in. This could result in you putting your bank card, credit card details or other personal information on a dodgy website.
- Pretend to send you a ‘your item sold’ email with their address and ask you to post the item, even though you haven’t been paid.
- Send you a fake Paypal email saying that you have been paid more than your item was listed for e.g. your item was £5 and they ‘accidentally’ sent you £50, asking you to refund the £45. Since the email is fake, by sending them the ‘over payment’ of £45 you will be £45 down.
- Ask you to confirm information such as your bank details, card number, address and date of birth.
- Selling your email address to scammers.
Other similar scams on Vinted include asking you to email over additional photos – again this is a ploy to get hold of your email address.
To avoid this scam on Vinted keep all conversations on Vinted, and don’t give out your email address. You also want to make sure that all payments go through Vinted where the buyer pays for buyer protection.
Vinted Scams – Buyer Claiming The Wrong Item Was In The Parcel
This is a scam I hear a lot of people talking about, especially with items worth over £50 or other luxury goods.
Sometimes as a seller you DO mix up parcels – especially if you are using QR codes or barcodes to print your postage in store.
However, some scamming buyers do claim that they received something entirely different to what they ordered.
If you are concerned that this could happen then take a few extra moments to film yourself packaging up the parcel and then showing the parcel packaged up.
If a buyer claims they have received the wrong item you can ask for photos and match them up. If this gets escalated to Vinted’s customer service then you can provide your video evidence to Vinted.
Vinted Scams – Receiving The Wrong Item
Similar to the scam above, another scam is that you buy something on Vinted and receive something else entirely.
The first thing to do is to check that the seller hasn’t mixed up two sales, as it does happen especially when listing and selling lots of new items. If this has happened then you can communicate with the seller to figure out what to do. Remember that the seller shouldn’t be giving out your personal details to anyone, so you will most likely need to return to the seller and then get them to send out the proper item.
Another thing that happens quite a lot with InPost deliveries is that the courier adds the wrong label to the parcels when they haven’t been printed at home. This is not the fault of the seller at all, and working with Vinted will help you to get a refund.
If you cannot get a response that you are happy with then escalate this to Vinted’s customer service on the online platform, with evidence in the form of photos or videos.
You may want to consider filming the opening of your packages if you are worried that this could happen to you.
How to contact Vinted
There are many reasons why you might need to get in touch with Vinted’s support team. Perhaps you’ve fallen for a common Vinted scam or you have a Vinted item not as described.
If you are looking for how to get in touch with Vinted then look no further than our useful article: how to contact Vinted.
Buying From Someone With No Reviews – Could It Be A Scam?
We all have to start somewhere, and that means that sellers who are scammers and sellers who are legit both start with zero feedback.
Here are my tips for finding a reputable seller on Vinted.
You can exercise caution when buying from someone with no reviews by checking out their profile.
Legitimate sellers are more likely to have changed their Vinted username and filled in their profile on Vinted, including a profile picture – although the absence of a filled in profile doesn’t mean the seller is a scammer, and the use of a profile picture doesn’t mean the seller isn’t a scammer.
Ask yourself if it seems too good to be true – does the seller have lots of similar, high-end items listed at too good to be true prices, then they are likely to be a scammer. Some of the tell-tale signs of a scam is that it looks too good to be true.
If you don’t receive your item or you are unhappy with your purchase then you can escalate things to Vinted’s customer services for a return and/or refund.
Related: Vinted vs Depop
Selling to someone on Vinted with no reviews
We all have to start somewhere as Vinted users, and that means not having any feedback on the online marketplace.
Without any feedback it can be hard to judge whether a buyer is trustworthy, or whether you will fall victim to a new scam. Take it on a case-by-case basis – if something feels off then trust yourself or get some practical advice from other Vinted users using online forums or Facebook groups.
I have never looked to see if a buyer has any feedback on Vinted, however if you are concerned then be sure to take photographs or film video of you packaging up the sale, and use the Vinted shipping label provided. If you are using Royal Mail then be sure to get your proof of postage, which is included in the price.
Same photos, pricing and Details
Another one of the Vinted scams you might spot whilst browsing is seeing the same item, the same photo and the same details listed a few times by different sellers.
This happens a lot with Converse, Ugg boots, Doc Martens and similar items.
It could be bots making the listings, or scammers trying to get you to purchase.
There are some listings with duplicate photos that are legit – sometimes a buyer has purchased something that didn’t fit and asked the original seller if they could use the same photos from the original listing. However, you shouldn’t be seeing these sold listings within the Vinted search.
Seller Account Blocked After Buying
Have you ever had it where you’ve made a purchase on Vinted and then gone to look at the buyer and it displays their account as blocked?
This is usually because Vinted have identified them as a scammer or a bot and removed their account.
When this happens you can either cancel the sale or wait for Vinted to refund you.
Vinted Scams – Receiving Counterfeit Products
It is so disheartening to have spent your hard earned money on something on Vinted, and then receive a counterfeit item.
I personally like to give the seller the benefit of the doubt and reach out to them with my concerns first.
Be sure to check out this post to see how to sell on Vinted without a printer.
If we cannot reach an agreement then I would escalate this to Vinted’s customer service.
Vinted have a new service where you can pay £10 for the seller to send your purchase to Vinted’s team to check for authenticity and then if legit, they will post the item you’ve purchased to you.
Vinted Scams – How To Report Someone On Vinted
If you find yourself needing to report someone to Vinted due to potential scams, counterfeit items or other red flags then you can follow these simple steps:
- Open up the Vinted app or go to the Vinted website and make sure that you are logged in.
- Navigate to the user’s profile page of the person that you want to report to Vinted.
- Tap on the three dots (…) or the report flag icon that you will see on their profile.
- Select the appropriate reason for reporting from the options that Vinted provides.
- Continue to provide any additional details or evidence to support your report, such as photographs or videos.
- Submit your report to Vinted.
Unhappy with your Vinted Purchase? Here’s What To Do
If you receive something from a seller on Vinted and you receive the wrong item, the item is faulty or it is significantly not as described, here are the steps to take:
- Double-check the listing – you will be surprised at how many times a buyer can overlook something mentioned in the listing.
- Take photos – take clear photos of your item that show any damage or discrepancies.
- Do not click ‘Everything is OK‘ – clicking this releases the funds to the seller and lets Vinted know that there were no problems. You will not be able to make a claim through Vinted if you have pressed this button. Items are also automatically marked as OK 48 hours after delivery, so be sure to raise an issue before then.
- Contact the seller – get in touch with the seller via Vinted to discuss any issues you have. Provide any evidence you have, and the outcome you would like. For example, do you want to return the item for a refund, or is it something you can fix and would prefer to get a partial refund? Note that partial refunds do not occur via Vinted and you would have to use something like Paypal for a partial refund. Usually our advice is to keep everything on Vinted, however Vinted do no support partial refunds. Be sure to keep the conversation on the Vinted platform.
- Open a dispute with Vinted – if you and the seller cannot agree on an outcome then you can open a dispute with Vinted. They will be able to see your communication with the seller as well as the photos you have uploaded. They can then use this information to make a decision or ask for more information. If they find in your favour you will get a refund through Vinted’s secure payment system.
- File a chargeback claim – if you are still unable to get a satisfactory result from Vinted and need futher help then consider creating a chargeback with your bank or payment provider.
Stay safe on Vinted
Remember that one of the best ways to stay safe from new scams on Vinted is to keep everything on Vinted and use their integrated systems for chatting and posting out your items. If you are concerned about suspicious activity then you can reach out to Vinted’s support or ask in Vinted Facebook groups for practical advice to have a successful transaction.
