Mother issues urgent warning to Vinted sellers over sophisticated scam that targeted her 15-year-old daughter

A mother has issued a warning to people who sell on Vinted over a sophisticated scam which targeted her 15-year-old daughter.

The woman, known only as Kerry, from Northwich in Cheshire, told the BBC how the family had narrowly avoided being defrauded, after her teenager almost handed over her bank details to someone on the pre-loved website.

Vinted has become one of the UK’s most popular consumer selling sites in recent years, serving as an online marketplace for second-hand items, and boasts 16million users in the UK.  

Kerry explained how her teenager had put one of her tops on Vinted and was offered the full asking price of £15 within just half-an-hour of it being listed. 

Her daughter, who hadn’t sold items before, was then given a link which pushed her away from the platform asked her enter her bank details. 

The scammer then asked the teenager how much money was in her bank account, when she told them a small sum, they told her the transaction would fail unless the account had more than £250 in it. 

Kerry told the BBC that she overheard her daughter discussing the request and said it sounded ‘extremely dodgy’.

The quick-thinking mum then shut down the account and ensured her bank details couldn’t be used. 

The pre-loved retail platform says it encourages members not to have external conversations with buyers and sellers. 

With such vast popularity, the site has been vulnerable to a variety of scams, but most are related to fake goods. 

In September, a Vinted shopper revealed how they splashed out £400 on designer Christian Louboutin trainers – only that isn’t what arrived in the post.

The savvy shopper thought they’d scored a steal with the Louis leather high-top trainers listed at £400 on the thrift site – a significant discount compared to Selfridges’ retail price of £775.

However, when the shopper arrived at an InPost locker to retrieve the parcel, they were greeted with, instead of high-end shoes, a carrier bag containing two onions. 

In a clip, shared on Instagram by @theluxurysavvy, footage detailed how the buyer had excitedly collected the package, only to apparently discover a plastic bag containing the root vegetables instead of the designer footwear. 

Outraged, the shopper immediately contacted the seller, asking: ‘I opened the InPost locker today and the package was just a bag with two onions inside? Has there been some kind of mix-up? Or have you tried to scam me?’

They also warned: ‘If you have tried to scam me I will be taking this to Vinted and open up an investigation. These are £400 shoes, I need them by Sunday for an event, and now I’m stressing. I’ve got video proof.’

The seller responded with apparent confusion, writing: ‘Two onions? What was the packaging? I sent it in a blue bag but wrapped it securely, I didn’t send any onions. 

‘Please do not accuse me of scamming you. It sounds like you are trying to scam me by pretending you received onions when you know full well I sent the shoes.’

Although shoppers and sellers need to be aware of potential scams operating on second hand sites, it’s possible to make good money from selling one’s old items.

A British-based Vinted seller named Irem recently claimed she had made £100,000 from selling old items on the platform, and revealed on her TikTok account how other people can maximise their chances of selling items.

In a recent clip, Irem warned sellers of three major mistakes they could be making when trying to flog their goods on Vinted – an app that serves as an online marketplace for second-hand items and boasts 105m global users, including 16m in the UK.

The video has amassed an impressive 121,000 views and thousands of likes, with dozens of Vinted sellers thanking her for the advice.

‘Here are three tips if you want to increase your sales on Vinted,’ she said at the beginning of the clip.

‘Obviously these tips are from personal experience but I have almost made £100,000 selling on Vinted alone, so I have pretty good experience doing this.’

Revealing her first way of bolstering sales, Irem urged sellers not to allow customers to ‘reserve items’.

The ‘reserve’ button is popular feature of the second-hand app that allows potential buyers to set aside an item before deciding whether to make a full purchase.

But while this benefits the buyer, Irem insisted that it is not conducive to making sales in the long run, since customers can easily change their minds.

‘Honestly, 90 per cent of the time I guarantee they will not go through with the purchase because you’re giving them so much time to think about it and if they really wanted to buy, they would find a way,’ she said.

‘Personally, I never reserve because I have done in the past and they never bought and you’re just wasting your time and you’re losing potential buyers who might have bought the item,’ she advised.

Her second suggestion was one which may come as a surprise to seasoned Vinted users.

‘Don’t accept anyone’s offer,’ she urged.

When looking to make a purchase on Vinted, buyers have the option of trying to haggle the price of an item by sending a cheaper.

But according to Irem, those hoping to maximise their earnings should never accept an offer on an item as it can sometimes lead to customers abandoning interest.

‘I know it sounds crazy but whenever I do accept someone’s offer, they don’t actually buy,’ she said, explaining the tendentious tip.

Instead, she suggested, sellers should a counter offer of a slightly higher price – so customers still feel they are being given a good deal.

‘But if I counter it by £2 or £3, they always buy,’ she said.

‘I can’t tell you why exactly this works but it just does. And I’ve had so many of my followers messaging me saying this tip actually works and has increased their sales.’

Her third tip referred to how long any given listing should be up on the page.

While it may seem tempting to leave an item on for as long as possible in the hope that someone eventually buys it, Irem said this could put buyers off.

‘Don’t keep all the listing for too long,’ she advised. ‘Because it might deter potential buyers when they see it was listed six months ago or a year ago.

‘Subconsciously, they’re going to think, no one wanted this item so you’re not making a product desirable.

‘What you should do instead is delete the listing, take better photos and re-list the item so the Vinted algorithm will push it to buyers.’