How to make thousands selling your old clothes on Vinted: Secrets of the sellers who have turned huge profits - and the mistakes to avoid

Daily Mail​

30-04-2025

High street fashion retailers have suffered greatly in recent years as shoppers head online and turn their backs on traditional brick-and-mortar shops, but business is booming for Vinted, the popular app where users buy and sell second-hand clothes.
The growing Lithuanian-based company revealed today that it has more than tripled its net profit to £65million in a year after revenue rose by over a third, thanks to savvy shoppers opting for cheaper used items instead of buying new.
It follows a dramatic rise for a business founded in 2008 which reached profitability for the first time last year and is now valued at more than £4billion.
Brits using the platform regularly take to social media to share their success stories and pass on their tips to other aspiring sellers who want to make fast cash, but it's not as easy as it first sounds.
With an estimated 16 million accounts based in the UK, standing out from the crowd is no easy task. And with many items listed for just a few pounds, it can be hard to imagine turning a huge profit from old clothes lingering in your wardrobe.
However, with the right tactics you can make money, particularly because you get to keep 100 per cent of the asking price, while the buyer is the one who pays a percentage final price to cover the cost of the service.
Sarah Coles, head of personal finance at Hargreaves Lansdown, told MailOnline: 'When you sell second-hand, you already feel the pain of the difference between what you paid for an item and what you're selling it for, so selling fees add insult to injury.
'When you buy second-hand, you're getting a bargain, so you're less concerned by adding a little extra to pay for postage and buyers' protection. Moving the cost from the seller to the buyer encouraged more sellers, and once there was more choice on the platform, it kept buyers loyal too.'
One of the firm's main competitors - eBay - scrapped selling fees in the UK for private sellers across all categories last October, excluding motors, as it fights back against Vinted and other similar rivals such as Depop.
It's proved a winning strategy for Vinted. Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) were €158.9million (£135.06million) last year, more than double the €76.6million (£65.11million) in 2023.
The company now plans to expand into more countries in 2025, having launched in Croatia, Greece and Ireland last year for a total of 22 markets in Europe.
So how can you cash in on the popularity of the app and make a fortune on your second hand clothing, or claw back some of the cost of that brand new item you never got around to returning?
Here is how the most successful sellers on Vinted make their money - and the mistakes to avoid.
Listing on Vinted is very easy. You download the app, click 'sell', take a few pictures of the item and add some information such as the dress size and brand of the piece.
If you'd rather, you can opt for the website version.
Once someone buys the item, follow the link on the order page and print a postage label.
Luckily on Vinted buyers pay for postage, but you'll need to drop the package off at the relevant parcel shop within five days or the buyer will be refunded.
The tracking shows the item has been delivered and you get Vinted credit which can be withdrawn into a bank account or spent on the app.
Don't undervalue your items - and be patient
Vinted Seller Hannah Bevington has made £6,000 selling clothes on Vinted.
She told TikTok that, despite the app's reputation for cheap sells, you must know the value of your item and price it accordingly.
'Stop selling things for £10 on Vinted,' Hannah said.
'Even my friends do this. They'll have an item which is worth something like £40 and they list it for a tenner.
'What will happen is someone will offer them £8 because the person who's buying the item thinks 'oh, they're just selling it for a tenner and clearly desperate for money'.'
Vinted has a feature that allows buyers to make an offer of up to 40 per cent less than the original asking price.
This means that pricing items according to their value, and even leaving some wiggle room to accept lower offers, will pay off.
'You should only be accepting offers that are ten to 15 per cent of what you put it on for,' Hannah said, urging buyers to be patient.
'If they don't buy it, that's okay. Sometimes it can take months for certain items to go but people will pay it - trust me.'
Although the difference in price could seem marginal, it could amount to an extra few hundred pounds by the end of the year.
Save money on packaging
Even though buyers pay for postage on Vinted, it's crucial to save money where possible at each stage of the shipping process in order to maximise profit.
When packaging an item, don't opt for the post office bags that sell at two or three pounds a pop.
'It's so expensive,' says Hannah. 'I hope people aren't doing that.'
Instead, find jiffy bags or plastic shipping bags online and bulk order them once a year to keep costs down.
Often sellers will repurpose old packaging so they don't have to spend a penny.
Give detailed descriptions
'Kel Sells' has more than 440,000 likes on TikTok and has devoted her social media presence to offering upcycling hacks.
She made £10,000 profit from just two years of Vinted selling.
Kel urged her followers to include as much information as possible in the item description, so that it crops up when people search.
'The be all and end all is: people call things different things,' she said.
'Something you describe as mustard, someone else might describe as ochre.
'And what you call leopard print, someone might call animal or cheetah print'
Sellers have to keep an open mind to all the potential variations of descriptive terms, Kel said.
She suggested brainstorming the general 'vibe' that an item of clothing gives off and jotting that down somewhere in the description, as another person will likely think the same.
So, give as much detail as possible. Instead of 'skirt', write 'Levi's high rise A-line decon skirt, UK size 10'.
And be honest about imperfections and signs of wear and tear - buyers appreciate candidness.
List new items regularly to stand out
Becky Chorlton has generated a staggering £100,000 profit from selling on Depop and Vinted.
What started as a way of earning some extra cash while studying for her masters in 2019 quickly became more financially viable than her part time job.
Although Becky buys and upsells clothes for commercial purposes - as opposed to the average user looking to sell on their old fare - her tips apply nonetheless.
One thing she stresses is listing items regularly and consistently.
This is a suggestion made by all successful Vinted sellers, as the algorithm favours active users.
The more recently you upload, the more likely the app is to recommend your products to potential buyers.
'If you've got 100 items to list on Vinted then try and stagger it throughout the week and list ten items a day,' Becky said.
You can haggle with buyers too
A lesser-known trick is to use the 'make an offer' feature to your advantage.
If a buyer makes a low offer, Becky said, then engage with them, even if you're not willing to accept it.
Let them know you appreciate their interest and give them the lowest figure you're willing to accept on the item.
'You never know, they might be willing to accept it and you could come to some sort of deal.'
Relist items that aren't selling
Another successful Vinted seller is Ellie Paige who has earned nearly £10,000 on the website. One of her main tips for sellers is ensuring their photos are clear and bright.
If an item has been up for two weeks without selling, she also advises deleting it and reuploading it with new pictures.
Photos are key
Becky also recommended taking clear, high-quality photos of the items in natural lighting.
As the first and lasting impression of your item, the photos are vital to the success of the sale.
Angles, lighting and clarity of the image will draw buyers to your piece.
Becky advises taking an image of the piece by itself and even modelling it to give potential buyers a sense of the overall fit.
Chloe Chandler, who has made more than £4,000 on the app, recommends consistency when it comes to taking photos.
There should be enough photos, high-quality photos and they should have an 'aesthetically pleasing background'.
But simplicity is key - even a white door could serve as a suitable background, says Chloe.
'There should be no pictures of items on the floor.
'I just put my items on a hanger and put them on the back of the door and make sure all the photos look similar so it's nice to scroll through my page.'
And include close-ups of the brand and size labels and soles of shoes.
Hold on to postage receipts
There are always a few bad players who falsely claim they haven't received their parcel.
To combat this, it's always useful to keep a paper trail of your postage process to present evidence should you have to.
Take an image of the receipt for safekeeping and send a copy to the buyer to cut down on chancers.
And if the parcel does get lost, having proof of postage will cover you and Vinted should issue a full refund.
Turn on bundle discounts
Vinted encourages sellers to make their own bundle deals and save on postage prices.
So, it's a good idea to list similar items at the same time and offer, say, ten per cent off when more than one item is bought together.
For example, upload all of your sportswear or work attire at the same time and let someone snap it up.
Bundle discounts also incentivise people to buy more than one item from your page.
While they're buying, they may as well save.
Check nearby parcel shops
As buyers pay for shipping on Vinted, they can also pick the postal company.
As a seller, your job is to print the label and drop off the parcel for postage.
But buyers have a choice of Royal Mail, DPD, InPost, Yodel or Evri, so check you have drop-off points nearby.
If you don't, go to 'Profile', 'Settings' and 'Postage' to edit the options available to your customers.
The no printer hack
Not everyone can print off their own postage labels, but that shouldn't stop you from selling on Vinted.
In most cases, parcel shops will print labels for you for free when you go to drop off your package.
Among them are InPost lockers, Yodel and Evri - all major and often-used delivery companies.
Otherwise, your local library should let you print off a page for a few pence.
Although there is an abundance of selling advice online, the fundamentals are the same.
Great photos, thorough descriptions and regular uploads are a good place to start as a beginner on Vinted.
And utilising social media platforms to promote your items can significantly increase exposure.