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Jumping on the Vinted Bandwagon… can you really make money from the contents of your wardrobe?

Jumping on the Vinted Bandwagon… can you really make money from the contents of your wardrobe?
5th January 2023 Sarah Gray

It felt as if I was the last person on Earth to jump on the Vinted bandwagon.

For as long as I can remember, clothes that no longer served me were almost always bagged up and donated to a local charity.

I had occasionally dabbled in Ebay selling but for the most part, my surplus clothes were earmarked for charity or passed on to family members. That’s how I cleared the decks (well, the wardrobe!).

Until I heard friends raving about Vinted and how easy it was to  buy and sell clothing on the app. 

The great thing about Vinted if you are a seller is that it’s the buyer that pays charges. So you can clear out all your unwanted items without worrying about sellers fees. This is great if you’ve got kids too. We all know how quickly they grow out of clothes. But it doesn’t stop there. Whilst the app is predominately for the trading of clothes, you can also list homeware and electricals.

But let’s focus on the clothes.

I finally took the plunge, downloading the app and setting myself up with an account (which was easy by the way so don’t let that part put you off). I was amazed at how quick and easy it was to post and sell unwanted items, and I’ve got to say, there was a little bit of regret about all the beautiful pieces I’ve given away for free in the past!

So, maybe you have surplus clothes you want to get rid of that could bring in a few pennies?  Let’s get you started on your Vinted journey. Here are my top tips for you if you’re thinking of setting yourself up on Vinted.

SET UP

These tips assume you’ve already downloaded the Vinted App onto your phone and set up your username and details.

 

LISTING ITEMS

It seems Vinted filters the items you see to what’s newly listed. Therefore, it is recommended to upload fewer items more often. For example; if you have a lot to upload, do them in small batches rather than all at once. This is more likely to keep your items in people’s feeds and it doesn’t become a huge task for you either.

When to upload can be a tricky one. Evenings are the busiest time on Vinted so could be worth uploading then, but if you are hoping to sell multiple items, you could try batch uploading at different times to test out what works best for you. 

Another tip is to upload your items around ‘pay day’, a trick often used by retailers as it’s immediately on or after pay day that buyers are highly active and more likely to spend!

 

PRICING

This was my biggest worry! How should I price things? I started pricing things very low, just to see if they would sell. They did. So, as I got more confident, I increased the prices slightly. It’s worth researching your item to see what price point others are offering it for, both on and off the app and then choosing your price accordingly. It may stop you from pitching too low.

If you are willing to accept offers on your items – (people love a bargain!) – consider pricing slightly higher so it allows room for offers without you losing out too much. You can decline any offer if you don’t wish to accept it.

Always be realistic on your pricing. Don’t expect to get anywhere near what you paid for it. 

If you have lots of items of the same size, it might be worth turning on the bundle discounts option. I haven’t yet used this yet but it allows you to offer a discount on 2 or more items to one seller.

 

PHOTOS

In my opinion, this is the most important consideration. Your photos must be of good quality if you are going to sell your items. No-one will click through to your item details if  your photos are not appealing.

Put yourself in the buyer’s shoes…would you buy something that is crumpled and difficult to see the full garment? You can upload up to 20 photos.. use as many as you need. 

My top photo tips are: 


Take photos of the entire item
– show the full length
– the front

  1. – the back
    – the side
    – close up on details, pattern
    – brand label
    – fabric label 
  2. Defects: if the item has defects: take photos and put details in the description. Always be honest. 
  3. I use my tailor’s dummy to display all my garments. It gives a very good impression of the items. Maybe you have a tailor’s dummy, mannequin that you could use? If not, you could photograph yourself or someone else wearing it (chop off your head in photo) or at the very least, hang the item. 
  4. The item needs to be as clear as possible so ensure your background is plain. Against a plain wall or cupboard door is ideal 
  5. And don’t forget, the lighting needs to be good. Daylight is by far the very best light in which to photograph. We all know that our phone cameras can distort the appearance of colour so on some of my listings, I have mentioned if the colour is lighter or darker than the photos show.

    POSTAGE options:
    It is entirely your decision on which postage options you select. As default, all of them will be selected which means that your buyer will be able to choose between courier, Inpost and royal Mail. Personally, I have disabled the Royal Mail option because of the current service issues, so just be aware and adjust accordingly..

    Your choice will depend on what courier drop off options you have local to you. I’d not heard of Inpost before but have discovered that Inpost lockers are all over the place and these have so far proved to be the most efficient in delivering my parcels. The whole concept blows my mind slightly as all you have to do is package up the item as you would to send it, download the QR code, pop along to the closest lockers and pop the parcel into the locker. Inpost take care of the rest!

    IMPORTANT: Within Vinted (and in the email you receive relating to that sale) there will be a link to the Inpost website where you can check the availability of lockers. I recommend you check this before you go to the lockers. It will tell you if the locker size you need has availability. 


PAYMENTS

As a seller, you are only paid once the buyer has completed the transaction which means they have received and accepted the item. 

You can keep the funds in your Vinted account and spend them within Vinted…a friend of mine kept all of her funds within Vinted and then treated herself to a designer handbag for a fraction of the retail price. 

Or, you can withdraw the funds to your nominated bank account (once you have verified your account details)

There is a referral system too which I have not used yet but it seems that every Vinted user has a referral link. If you share this link with friends, who then sign up and sell, you could earn yourself vouchers to spend on Vinted.

NOTE: I have had a parcel delivered to the recipient in the Inpost lockers and that person did not collect it. The parcel was returned to me. This happens occasionally, so you’ll lose out on the time you took to parcel up and deliver to the box, but you won’t have lost any money.

All in all, it’s brilliant. I’d recommend anyone to give it a go. Personally, I found it easier to use than Ebay mainly because of the speed and simplicity of uploading an item. Once you have completed the initial set up and taken the photographs for your items, the uploading process is a quick step by step.

Most of all, I like the fact that the buyer covers the postage fees because it  makes the job of the seller much simpler which I am in favour of!

I’m not a lover of fast fashion and the waste this creates in the fashion industry so to be able to shift out clothing that isn’t serving you any longer while boosting your bank balance at the same time…it’s got to be a win!

If you do give it a go…let me know how you get on!