I heard about Vinted long before I started using it, but from the second I first opened the app, I knew it was a love affair that would last. I can’t emphasise just how much I enjoy this app.
I only downloaded it because I wanted to clear out my wardrobe and raise some money to dress my soon to be born child, but I was immediately hooked.
I’ve always been a girl who likes to shop so my cupboards were overflowing with clothes. In my defence, I was always quite good at wearing them all and cycling through my different outfits, but when I fell pregnant with my son, my body changed as you would expect it to.
My plan was to get a few bits to see me through the pregnancy, then go back to my regular wardrobe afterwards. However, after my son was born, my body didn’t exactly go back to looking how it had done before, so I had a lot of outfits I just couldn’t wear anymore.
This is where Vinted came in, much to the joy of my other half who was sick of catching his shins on the clothes draws that wouldn’t close properly!
I ended up buying a few bits for my unborn son before I sold anything of mine, but I’ve been a buyer and a seller ever since, and here’s why I think you should be too.
Buying on Vinted
Alright, there are definitely people using Vinted to do something called ‘copping’, which is buying something that is either in a sale or limited in number, then marking up the price and selling it on.
This means you will find items on there that are not only close to full price, but sometimes even more expensive than the regular retail price.
However, the bargains far outweigh the people trying to resell for a profit, and you can regularly find almost new items costing less than 50% of their original sale price.
I’ve used Vinted for a number of years now and I have picked up so many genuine bargains that I have lost count. It’s quite fun to make an offer for something too if you think the seller is being a little bit ambitious with the price, and it feels good to get money off.
I much prefer buying clothes on Vinted to say, eBay, because it’s a far simpler process. Plus, even though Vinted now have lots of other categories, the way the algorithm works means they won’t clog up your feed unless you start browsing them. So you can still use Vinted as an app just for fashion.
I once paid £29 for a beautiful Karren Millen dress that had been over £130 when it went on sale a year earlier, so I paid around 20% of the original shop price. I wore it to an awards evening for work, and no one at the event had any idea it was second hand. Why would they? It was in fantastic condition.
That’s a big Vinted spend for me though, I’m far more likely to spend £6.50 on something from Zara!
The only real downside is that Vinted is so popular now that you will come across lots of items that are just horrible, like wrinkled t-shirts from five years ago for £2.00 🤢 But you can use the advanced search options to filter most of these out. This makes bargain hunting much more effective.
Selling on Vinted
One thing I really love about Vinted is that they don’t let sellers use stock photos of what they are selling, you have to use a picture you have taken yourself.
I don’t know about you, but for me this actually creates more trust in the person I am buying from, because I am looking at the exact item of clothing I am going to get, and can zoom in to look for defects.
So if you want to sell on Vinted then have a little practice with your phone camera, try and use natural light where possible (so take pictures in a room with a big window), and my advice would be to use a neutral background if you can. I’ve written more about how to take the best photos for Vinted on this very site.
Unless you are selling designer gear you’re not going to make a fortune for a single item of clothing. BUT, you would be surprised how much money all of those ‘worn once’ dresses from wedding receptions and ‘still got the tags’ on impulse buys can raise when you add it all together.
So don’t be put off if you can only get £4 for this and £8 for that, because it accumulates!
I tend to have a clear out every 3-6 months, so I will sell lots of items all at the same time rather than in drips and drabs, because that way, the money I make feels more substantial. If £10 from one item goes into my account I will fritter it away, but if I earn £75 from ten items then I can put it towards something nice.
I think it is totally worthwhile, and it’s fun too. You can literally have an item photographed and listed inside 2 minutes using just your phone.
Dressing Your Children
Before I sign off on this one, I just want to say that even if you don’t want to wear second hand clothes yourself, consider at least trying it for young children.
At the rate the little angels grow, even if you stick to supermarket clothes you will spend an absolute fortune dressing your children, but you can get really good quality, branded kids outfits on Vinted for a few pounds.
Some of it has never even been worn!
People over buy for the children all the time, then find the outfits with the tags still on in a plastic bag somewhere, and their son or daughter is already too big for it.
So what do they do? They stick it on Vinted for a few pounds, or as part of a bundle.
It’s especially useful if you want something a bit special for a very young child, because branded stuff is expensive even if it is tiny, and at that age, they aren’t capable of wearing through their trousers so it’s usually in perfect condition.
Take advantage while you still can, before they start having their own opinions about what they want to wear – you can always sell it on again after you have finished with it.