Now, almost a year ago, I decided I was gonna make some cash by selling clothes — a Selkie gown in particular — on Vinted.
I uploaded all the pictures, filled out every info category and wrote a bit of a marketing-heavy, sweetness-and-sentimentality-dripping description.
Upload, and finally wait.
And wait.
And wait.
Wait, whyyy?
I didn’t understand. I had put the dress up faaar below market value, the pictures were good and, most of all, I got absurd amounts of likes for the listing.
So why did no one buy my dress?
And what was wrong with this post, that people would wait for so long to buy such an absolute gem?
The answers to all my questions I would only learn months later, as I slowly got accustomed to the ways of Vinted.
Since then, I’ve sold the dress, as well as roundabout 50 other items of clothing, making an okay buck but honestly spending much more time scrambling to find packaging, taking pictures and haggling with unreasonable customers.
But the real gem of the platform is not making money.
It’s losing it!
And oh, how much I’ve spent - on shipping and Vinted fees, that is. Never on clothes.
Those I got - more or less - for literal pocket change.
An Algorithm to Ruin Your Wallet
Abysmal Vinted buyer protection fees and shipping aside, you can truly and absolutely save hundreds of euros on clothing a month by buying second-hand, even on Vinted.
One of the key lessons I’ve had to learn, however, was the impact of not shopping the front page.
When getting started on Vinted, it is absolutely crucial that you quickly feed the algorithm with all your liked aesthetics, brands and maybe even sellers, if you know some from social media perhaps.
This is gonna lead to a magnificent recommended page that will show you your heart’s desires every day anew.
For a price, that is.
The algorithm works by recommending you items based on past searches and purchases, as well as buzzwords you tend to gravitate towards, such as Y2K, fairycore, lolita, etc.
But there is a third component, where it compares what others with your interests seem to enjoy, especially if they like it.
Now, there is a large group of curators, resellers and even dropshippers who know exactly this and profit from it.
Many times, you will notice their captions display buzzwords and hashtags, and their entire collections are gonna be curated and often promoted.
If you stumble over these sellers, don’t be disheartened. They make up the bulk of what’s recommended to you, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be helpful to you in other ways.
First of all: check the feature where you can compare to similar items.
Oftentimes, I find the exact piece but for a fraction of the trend seller’s price by just browsing this feature for a second.
There it is.
Your first Vinted cheapkate strategy.
The next point is even more important and brings me to my next topic.
Know Thine Vinted Brands
One of your most powerful tools is actually the search bar, which you should use for 90 percent of your purchases.
The only problem: searching for blue Y2K long sleeve is gonna lead you right into curators’ luxurious premium displays.
Instead of looking at aesthetics, specific trending styles or anything that could be described with a buzzword, you won’t see any of the real steals any longer.
Here’s where having - or building - an intricate knowledge of brands comes into play.
If you know what most people bought in the 2000s, you can shop Y2K effortlessly and at low cost.
If you love French vintage, knowing high-quality brand names that are not your usual designers can help you get the highest quality out there at minimum cost.
Try to think back on it.
What pieces do you already own and love that have lasted you seemingly ages?
Look up the brand and shop to your heart’s content.
Chances that top-notch quality is waiting for you are high.
The stakes are exceedingly low.
One important sidenote on searching for brands on Vinted, however: experience has shown that some coveted brands may fetch horrendous prices, comparable to buying new products or at least getting them on sale on the websites.
This applies especially to new, social-media-present smaller brands that are trending really hard.
Some specific retailers that tend to be popular with younger generations, such as Urban Outfitters or Brandy Melville, can also fetch higher prices, as folks like to stay on top of brand names and naturally gravitate to what they already know more easily.
You can use this to your advantage by selling items from these brands and generating a little revenue.
Better Materials, Higher Quality, Lower Cost — Is That Possible?
Whenever I look at the oldest pieces in my closet, the ones I have worn hundreds, maybe thousands of times, the first thing I notice about them is that they are made of excellent-quality natural fibers.
Some of them I bought as early as 2008 (I know, I was a chubby kid), and they hold up to this day.
These very well-loved basics have their well-made fabrication and longevity of fabric in common.
Nowadays, however, buying good-quality garments made from luxurious materials seems near impossible at times.
A silk dress easily comes up to €300, cashmere sweaters average around €200, and even a simple lyocell shirt is usually more than €100 without sales.
Shopping this way can get expensive and frustrating for me, since for long I’ve been wanting to move on from the abundance of polyesters that used to be my closet and slowly integrate more natural, breathable and temperature-regulating garments.
In this regard, buying on Vinted truly changes the game for me.
I like to operate very simply:
I filter through the search mask by type of garment, such as sweater or skirt, size (including a size up and down is recommended for more results) and material.
This way, I often find lovely pieces that otherwise would never have been recommended to me, in amazing condition, that are made of the finest silks, velvet, cashmere or lyocell fabrics.
Linen is tricky at the moment, since it’s trending so heavily.
A Note on Resellers and Dropshippers
As with every freely available sales platform, Vinted has issues every now and then with mass dropshipping and even smaller scammers looking to make a quick buck.
Platforms such as Shein, Temu and AliExpress sell heaps of trendy-looking pieces that emulate styles and looks of vintage brands and fashion movements.
Many times, they are sold on the platform with removed tags and marked as “vintage” or “vintage love”, etc.
Don’t fall into these often expensive, in any case frustrating traps.
There are easy ways to avoid this:
1. Ask to see a tag and look up the brand.
If the seller won’t provide you with one, a Google reverse image search is in order. You should quickly be able to determine a fake there.
2. Have a look at their profile and other items.
Do they sell the same or similar styles multiple times in many colors? Do they have mannequins and professional-looking lighting?
If so, reverse image search.
3. Pay attention to repeated listings.
The same piece could get recommended to you many times from many different sellers.
This is a red flag you should look out for, especially if the seller claims this is an old, unique vintage brand.
Why would you be finding these items again and again?
As always, mistakes will be made and you might fall into a dropshipper’s trap.
If the item is to your liking, keep it.
Throwing it away would be really unsustainable, even if the quality is not the best.
By keeping fast fashion in the cycle and getting use out of it, we are slowly turning it into slow fashion.
I do, however, recommend multiple wash cycles to get rid of chemicals.
Haggling Like a Market Wife
You think haggling is dead?
Think again.
If you are someone who enjoys the playful back-and-forth of haggling, on this platform you are absolutely in for a treat.
Not only is it wise to never buy more than what your object of desire is worth, many times sellers are actually just happy to get rid of their garments that, in many cases, have been up on the platform for literal years.
Even if you are not yet accustomed to this, just give it a try and see how it goes.
You don’t need to rip someone off to get a good deal, and no seller is gonna be offended about a well-meaning offer.
I, for once, set my prices with some room for lower offers, and so do many others.
A good strategy is to look at the item you really like and think:
At what price would I immediately buy this?
If it’s not too unreasonable, make the offer.
Just be careful with lowballing sellers, as they might completely ignore you after the first offer.
Usually, you should be able to save a buck or two.
Sometimes even 20.
Don’t get discouraged and try again.
With bundle offers, some sellers are specifically inclined to go down in price, as it saves them a lot of packaging and shipping effort.
Expand Your Vocabulary!
If you want to become the real Vinted pro, you’re better off studying up.
Beyond basic knowledge of quality vintage brands and fabric types, I have found that getting into the nitty-gritty of clothing terminology is one of the most powerful tools to find exactly what you need.
If you know exactly what the type of item you are looking for is called, you’re gonna have a much higher chance at finding the item.
There are absurd masses of clothes listed on Vinted, and a more narrow search terminology can help loads!
You want to get it down to the last detail and use as many search filters, combined with the correct terms for what you are looking for, as you possibly can.
I myself am at the very start of discovering all the wonders of clothing etymology, and it amazes me how literally every style of hem, knit, sleeve cut or neckline has its own entire correct name.
And worse…
That term is often not even what people list the item as.
This step is a bit of an advanced strategy, but especially if you are not just generally interested in clothing but might also consider getting into sewing a tiny little bit, that might just be some important basic knowledge to build upon.
I have found that as soon as I start properly describing what I’m looking for, I tend to get the best-quality results.
Happy Hunting!
I definitely hope this guide has been somewhat comprehensive and you now feel better equipped to face the wonderful world of online thrifting.
With that, best of luck on your hunt!
I’m sure hundreds of wonderful pieces are just waiting to be found and loved by you.