Vinted
Platform · this deep dive is built from the official pages of the platform itself and of the tools that support it.
Overview
Vinted is a European platform for reselling items between private individuals. The seller photographs an item and sets a price, the buyer presses the buy button, the platform issues a prepaid shipping label and holds the money until receipt is confirmed. The key feature the whole product is built around: the seller is not charged a percentage of the sale. The platform states it plainly — "there are no selling fees on Vinted. You keep 100% of what you earn".
The company describes its history like this: in 2008 the founder Milda Mitkute was moving house and could not take all her clothes with her, and Justas Janauskas built a site to give them away to her friends; today more than 2,000 people work at the headquarters in Lithuania and in offices across Europe.
The difference from Poshmark, Shopee or Whatnot is that the economics are inverted. There the seller pays, here the buyer does. Where the platform gets its money from in that case is what we work through below.
Who's here
The only audience figure the platform publishes on its open pages we found in the advertisers' section: Vinted calls itself Europe's largest online C2C marketplace dedicated to second-hand fashion, "with more than 80 million members". This is a platform claim about itself in marketing copy rather than the result of an independent measurement, and the word "members" is not unpacked on the page: it does not say whether these are registrations or active users, or over what period.
Geography can be read from the country domains: the markup of the terms and conditions page lists versions for Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, Finland, France, Greece, Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. The platform gives no audience breakdown across those countries.
Getting started
The age threshold is named in the platform guide: a user must be at least 18; a parent or guardian over 18 may open an account for a minor by accepting the terms on their behalf and taking full responsibility. The same page carries a requirement people often forget: a personal account is opened "for your own benefit and not for professional purposes".
An ordinary account and Pro
There is a separate status for commercial trading. To become a Pro Seller you have to be registered as a sole trader, a non-profit or a company in one of the countries where Vinted Pro is available, be at least 18, and open a separate Pro account; after registration a "Pro" label appears next to your name and your items.
The storefront
A seller's storefront on Vinted is a "wardrobe": a profile with a list of items, without a branded shop. The requirement for a listing: the photograph and description must not be taken from the internet and must accurately reflect the quality and appearance of the item, including all defects and alterations; Pro sellers additionally comply with product safety law, including manufacturer details and labelling.
What you can publish
The permitted categories are listed in the catalogue rules: clothing, shoes and accessories; children's toys, furniture and care products; home and kitchen goods; electronics — cameras, computers, tablets, phones, audio, consoles, wearables; books and media; hobbies and collectibles; sports equipment; new cosmetics. A separate caveat: a small quantity of unique handmade items is allowed if the activity is occasional.
The prohibitions are detailed. You may not sell counterfeits, items that infringe intellectual property rights, and objects promoting violence, discrimination, hatred or terrorism. The list in the help centre adds: cryptocurrencies, items obtained for free, live animals, products made from fur and ivory, devices with the manufacturer's protection bypassed or with a blocked IMEI, cultural property, used cosmetics and underwear, recalled goods, hazardous materials, medicines and food.
How to grow
Vinted is one of the few platforms in this directory that publicly describes how its ranking works. Four groups of ranking parameters are named: item properties (how recently it was listed, price, brand); user behaviour (impressions, clicks, adding to favourites); the buyer's history (their previous interactions with similar items); and Bumps, which temporarily affect position in feeds and search. Note that the platform itself admits a paid service affects the ranking — this is not a guess.
A bump shows an item higher in the feed and in search results for 3 or 7 consecutive calendar days — or until it sells, whichever comes first. The price list adds that the price depends on the item's price, is shown before payment, and the platform may recalculate it if the seller changed the price after buying the service.
Reviews work in both directions: a review can be left within four days of the transaction being completed; the platform does not pay for reviews and does not check them before publication.
Path to monetization
Here is the main question about Vinted: if the seller does not pay, what does the platform earn on? We found six revenue sources, and all of them are named by the platform itself.
1. The buyer protection fee
The main one. The buyer protection fee is mandatory on every order and is added automatically at checkout. The formula in the price list: a flat $0.70 plus 5% of the item price, excluding shipping, additional costs and taxes. The help centre adds that the amount depends on the item's properties, the sum and the type of order (a single item or a bundle). So a transaction fee does exist — it is simply paid by the other side.
2. The Pro buyer protection fee
Purchases from professional sellers have their own scale. The UK version of the help centre: for orders under £500 — a fixed part of £0.3 to £0.8 plus a variable part of 3% to 8% of the item price including VAT; for orders of £500 and above — 3% of the item price including VAT.
3–6. Promotion, shipping, authentication and advertising
Bumps and the wardrobe spotlight are paid seller services, and their prices are shown before payment and are non-refundable. Shipping also goes through the platform: Vinted generates integrated prepaid labels itself, and some options are enabled for sellers by default and cannot be switched off. Buyers are additionally sold authentication of non-electronic items and an electronics check — of attributes, condition, working order and authenticity. Finally, the platform sells brands access to its audience through the advertisers' section.
As for payouts to the seller: the money passes through escrow. The item price, shipping, the buyer protection fee and any paid services go into a separate account until the transaction is completed. The buyer must report a problem within 2 days of the delivery mark, otherwise the order is closed and the money goes to the seller.
Tools and automation
We found no public API for Vinted: the official pages we checked contain neither a developer section nor a description of a programming interface. Automation exists only through third parties.
The cross-posting service Vendoo lists Vinted among the platforms it publishes items to and imports them from. In the footer of its own site Vendoo states that it uses the eBay, Etsy and Facebook Marketplace APIs; there is no such note about Vinted — which means the integration does not work through an open interface of the platform.
Among built-in tools, Vinted names statistics on paid promotion — how many people saw a bumped item and how they interacted with it.
Limits and rules
- Age. 18 and over.
- One account, one role. A personal account may not be used for professional trading; for that there is Pro status with registration as a sole trader or a company.
- Catalogue. Listing prohibited items leads to the item being removed and possibly to the account being blocked, and money paid for promotion is not refunded.
- Consumer law. When buying from a private individual, consumer law does not apply; when buying from a Pro seller it does, and the Pro seller, not Vinted, is responsible for the item.
- The platform's role. Vinted calls itself an intermediary: it neither buys nor sells itself and is not a party to transactions.
Who it's for
It suits you if you are selling off a personal wardrobe and want the full price with nothing deducted: the seller really does pay no commission, and the buyer pays for shipping. It suits European micro-businesses ready to take Pro status: it gives a label, the legal right to trade and obligations towards the consumer.
It does not suit you if your goods fall outside the catalogue: the list of prohibitions is long and unambiguous. It does not suit you if you are counting on automation through an official API: there isn't one. And it does not suit you if you read "no fees" as "free for the transaction": the fee exists, the buyer pays it, and it raises the price they see.
Verified data
The checked data this deep dive rests on.
About the platform
the platform describes itself as follows: «One community, thousands of brands, and a whole lot of second-hand style. Ready to get started? Here's how it works.»
Self-description: this is the platform's claim about itself, not an independent assessment
source, checked 2026-07-28
the platform reports that it was founded in 2008 in Lithuania by Milda Mitkute and Justas Janauskas; today more than 2,000 people work at the headquarters in Lithuania and in offices across Europe
The company's own history
source, checked 2026-07-28
Who's here
Registered members. the platform calls itself Europe's largest online C2C marketplace for second-hand fashion «with more than 80 million members»
A platform claim in marketing copy; the word «members» is not unpacked and there is no date
source, checked 2026-07-28
Getting started
a user must be at least 18; a parent or guardian over 18 may open an account for a minor by accepting the terms on their behalf
source, checked 2026-07-28
Account and access
commercial trading requires Pro Seller status: registration as a sole trader, a non-profit or a company in a country where Vinted Pro is available, an age of 18 or over, and a separate Pro account; a «Pro» label appears next to the name and the items
A personal account is opened «for your own benefit and not for professional purposes»
source, checked 2026-07-28
Business terms
buyers are sold authentication of non-electronic items and an electronics check — of attributes, condition, working order and authenticity
The prices are not named on the pages read
source, checked 2026-07-28
Content
permitted are clothing, shoes and accessories; children's toys, furniture and care products; home and kitchen goods; electronics; books and media; hobbies and collectibles; sports equipment; new cosmetics; a small quantity of handmade items where the activity is occasional
source, checked 2026-07-28
the photograph and description must not be taken from the internet and must accurately reflect the quality and appearance of the item, including all defects and alterations; Pro sellers additionally comply with product safety law, including manufacturer details and labelling
source, checked 2026-07-28
a review of a transaction can be left within four days of its completion; the platform does not pay for reviews and does not check them before publication
source, checked 2026-07-28
Promotion
the platform names four groups of ranking parameters: item properties (how recently it was listed, price, brand), user behaviour (impressions, clicks, adding to favourites), the buyer's history and paid bumps
The platform itself admits that a paid service affects the ranking
source, checked 2026-07-28
a bump shows an item higher in the feed and in search results for 3 or 7 consecutive calendar days or until it sells
The price is not published: it depends on the item's price and is shown only before payment
source, checked 2026-07-28
Advertising
the platform sells brands access to its audience through the advertisers' section; it is an enquiry form, and the formats, minimum budgets and moderation rules are not published
source, checked 2026-07-28
How the money works here
the platform's revenue sources: the buyer protection fee, the Pro buyer protection fee, paid promotion (bumps and the wardrobe spotlight), integrated shipping, paid authentication and electronics checks, advertising for brands
Assembled from the list of services in the platform's guide, the price list and the advertisers' section
source, checked 2026-07-28
the item price, shipping, the buyer protection fee and any paid services go into a separate escrow account until the transaction is completed
source, checked 2026-07-28
the buyer must report a problem within 2 days of the delivery mark, otherwise the order is closed and the money goes to the seller
The protection covers cases where the item did not arrive, arrived damaged or differs substantially from the description
source, checked 2026-07-28
Pricing
the platform states that there are no selling fees: «there are no selling fees on Vinted, you keep 100% of what you earn»
A fee does exist, though — the buyer pays it, see the buyer_protection_fee record
source, checked 2026-07-28
the buyer protection fee: a flat $0.70 plus 5% of the item price agreed between buyer and seller, excluding shipping, additional costs and taxes · the source is dated 2024-07-01
The price list is marked «last updated 1 July 2024»; the values are taken from the US version of the site
source, checked 2026-07-28
the size of the buyer protection fee depends on the item's properties, the order sum and its type (a single item or a bundle); the platform calls 5% + $0.70 the «usual» value
That is, the exact rate is not guaranteed
source, checked 2026-07-28
the Pro buyer protection fee: for orders under £500 — a fixed part of £0.3 to £0.8 plus 3% to 8% of the item price including VAT; for orders of £500 and above — 3% of the item price including VAT
The UK version of the help centre; whether the same values apply in the euro area is unverified
source, checked 2026-07-28
the price of a bump depends on the item's price and is shown before payment; the platform may recalculate it if the seller changed the price after buying the service; if an item is removed for breaking the rules, the money paid for promotion is not refunded
No public price table exists
source, checked 2026-07-28
Restrictions
prohibited are counterfeits and infringements of intellectual property rights, cryptocurrencies, items obtained for free, live animals, products made from fur and ivory, devices with the manufacturer's protection bypassed or with a blocked IMEI, cultural property, used cosmetics and underwear, recalled goods, hazardous materials, medicines and food
The platform notes that the list is not exhaustive
source, checked 2026-07-28
Legal
Vinted calls itself an intermediary: it neither buys nor sells itself and is not a party to transactions; when buying from a private individual consumer law does not apply, and when buying from a Pro seller it does
source, checked 2026-07-28
Languages
the interface language of the home page: en-US
The language is taken from the markup attribute, the versions from hreflang
source, checked 2026-07-28
the markup of the terms page lists the country domains of Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, Finland, France, Greece, Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia
The list is ours, extracted from the page markup; the platform gives no audience breakdown by country
source, checked 2026-07-28
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