Latest news with #Lithuanians
Scottish Sun
6 days ago
- Business
- Scottish Sun
I'm a Vinted expert – here's three ways sellers can avoid being left with no item AND no payment in new scam
And scroll down for the new Vinted rules to be aware of SELL WELL I'm a Vinted expert – here's three ways sellers can avoid being left with no item AND no payment in new scam WITH the rising costs making our wallets feel tighter than ever, millions of savvy Brits are on the lookout for easy ways to make some extra cash. One such viral side hustle is Vinted - a platform similar to eBay and Facebook Marketplace where you can sell pre-loved clothing, technology and so much more. Advertisement 1 There's a new Vinted 'scam' that sellers are being warned about Credit: Alamy Since its launch in 2008 by two Lithuanians, the platform has grown massively - and in the UK alone, it has an astronomical 16 million users. With sellers enjoying the benefit of listing without commission and the buyer dealing with the service fee of the postage, it's easy to see why the tech start-up has become such a major hit all over the world and amongst Brits. But experts have warned of a growing 'buyer' scam targeting sellers. Vinted users have taken to TikTok to share their experiences of buyers falsely claiming they received an empty package. Advertisement With this in mind, Marc Porcar, CEO of QR Code Generator, has revealed his top tips for protecting your sales and avoiding being left out of pocket. Double wrap your packages As a seller, Marc says it's crucial you double wrap your items before shipping. Otherwise, Vinted is likely to side with the buyer, and you may end up without the item or payment. He says: "Vinted's packaging rules state double wrapping, and by following them you can help tip the balance in your favour if a buyer lies about not receiving an item. "To keep the process more environmentally friendly, reuse packaging from previous deliveries, such as zip bags or padded envelopes, to avoid adding waste to landfill sites or recycling centres." Advertisement Collect photographic evidence Next up, Marc advises taking a series of clear photos while packaging and shipping your packages to use if a buyer falsely claims an item wasn't received. "Some Vinted sellers record themselves wrapping the package, ensuring visual proof of what was included and confirming that you followed the double wrapping practice", he says. I've made £18k on Vinted & a hack means I don't have to hunt for bits I've sold "This can help strengthen your case for disputes. "Be sure to photograph the item before packaging, the item inside the package, the sealed package with the shipping label, and the package at the drop-off point. Advertisement "It's best to include the address on the shipping label to make the package identifiable. "If shipping via a post office that weighs the package, take a photo of the weight at home and again at the counter to help verify the item packaged. "Mentioning to the buyer that the package has been shipped with photographic evidence recorded may help deter any scammers." Advertisement Track your shipping Finally, it's recommended to choose tracked shipping, as the tracking number verifies the package was both sent and delivered. While tracking can't prove the package's contents, it can help support your case. When paired with photographic evidence, it helps create a reliable timeline and increases Vinted's trust in you as a seller. Marc concludes: "Scammers are more likely to target sellers using basic shipping, because there's no proof of where the package went or when it arrived. "While these lengths may seem excessive, these steps go a long way in protecting your profits and reputation on the platform." Advertisement
Scottish Sun
03-06-2025
- Business
- Scottish Sun
I've raked in over £10k on Vinted – I started with my old clothes & now a little-known site helps me cash in
Including new Vinted rules sellers need to be aware of CHA-CHING I've raked in over £10k on Vinted – I started with my old clothes & now a little-known site helps me cash in Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A CASH-SAVVY mum has revealed how she went from flogging items she was no longer using to raking in over £10,000 on Vinted. With the rising costs making our wallets feel tighter than ever, millions of individuals are on the lookout for easy ways to make some extra cash. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 2 The money-smart mum started by flogging items she now longer used Credit: tiktok/@isabella.98x 2 Since then, she's made more than £10,000 on the popular platform - scroll down to find out how Credit: tiktok/@isabella.98x One such viral side hustle is Vinted - a platform similar to eBay and Facebook Marketplace where you can sell pre-loved clothing, technology and so much more. Since its launch in 2008 by two Lithuanians, the platform has grown massively - in the UK alone, it has an astronomical 16 million users – nearly one-quarter of the population, as reported by The Guardian. With the sellers enjoying the benefit of listing without commission and the buyer dealing with the service fee of the postage, it's easy to see why the tech start-up has become such a major hit all over the world and amongst Brits. But if you ever feel like you're not making any sales and the old rags are just taking up unnecessary space in your wardrobe, one seller, mum Isabella, may have the solution. Despite joining Vinted just seven months ago, in December 2024, the cash-savvy mum has made an eye-watering fortune of £10,470. According to Isabella, who posts under the username @isabella.98x, she kicked off the side hustle by flogging stuff she ''no longer used''. However, the mother then ventured into selling items she had spotted elsewhere, such as at car boot sales and second-hand shops. More recently, she shared in a video, Isabella has started sourcing a range of products from a little-known site - Fleek. Whether you're on the hunt for jeans, polo shirts or even Lululemon gear, the wholesale marketplace offers a huge variety of true vintage clothing - which is a strong trend on Vinted. Some of the brands to look out for include Levi's, Burberry, Nike, The North Face, as well as the legendary and iconic Doc Martens - and more. I made £550 in 48 hours reselling clothes but NOT on Vinted - I found a platform where sellers get the full asking price - Spilling the beans on how she's managed to make a fortune, Isabella said in the comments that consistency was key. ''Just been very consistent with posting everyday and trying to source things to sell weekly.'' Following the huge success, the mum has also become ''a fully registered business who declares everything'' to comply with the new Vinted rules. Firms like Vinted now have to pass on customer data to HMRC if a user sells 30 or more items a year, or earns over £1,700. New Vinted rules to be aware of IF you fancy clearing out your wardrobe and getting rid of your old stuff on Vinted, you'll need to consider the new rules that recently came into play. If people are selling personal items for less than they paid new (which is generally the case for second-hand sales), there is no impact on tax. However, since January 1, digital platforms, including eBay, Airbnb, Etsy, Amazon and Vinted, must share seller information with HMRC as part of a crackdown. You're unlikely to be affected if you only sell a handful of second-hand items online each year - generally, only business sellers trading for profit might need to pay tax. A tax-free allowance of £1,000 has been in place since 2017 for business sellers trading for profit - the only time that an individual personal item might be taxable is if it sells for more than £6,000 and there is a profit from the sale. However, firms now have to pass on your data to HMRC if you sell 30 or more items a year or earn over £1,700. It is part of a wider tax crackdown to help ensure that those who boost their income via side hustles pay up what they owe. While your data won't be shared with HMRC if you earn between £1,000 and £1,700, you'll still need to pay tax as normal. The new rules were brought in from the start of 2024. Before that, some people making extra income still had to report their profits to HMRC. But now Vinted and other selling platforms and marketplaces like Depop and eBay share data directly with the taxman. It is part of a wider tax crackdown to help ensure that those who boost their income via side hustles pay up what they owe. ''I also resell on Amazon and eBay so already have a business set up for that so I just added this onto my business too,'' Isabella went on. '10k on Vinted is insane' Since being shared online, Isabella's epic success has left people open-mouthed, as the video racked up close to 250k views in just one day. More than 2,400 social media users gave the clip a like, as a further 162 flooded to comments. One seller cried: ''lmfao i've only made £60 must be nice.'' ''Go on then!!!'' a second chimed in. ''10k on Vinted is insane,'' another couldn't believe the astronomical sum.
New York Times
27-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Caught Between Russia and the U.S., Germany Aims to Be a Stronger Force in NATO
As he takes office, Germany's new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, faces a delicate test: dealing with a Russia willing to flex its muscle on its eastern flank, and with an American president intent on making NATO allies bear more of the burden for their own defense. Squeezed by the two sides, Mr. Merz has been trying to juggle how to move Germany toward more of a leadership role in NATO — without antagonizing a more militaristic Russia. Last week, Mr. Merz traveled to Lithuania to preside over the activation of a German tank brigade that could serve as a bulwark against any Russian invasion through neighboring Belarus, which is seen as a potential staging ground for military action by Moscow. Hundreds of Lithuanians turned Vilnius's famous cathedral square into something akin to a militaristic county fair last week to celebrate the activation of the new brigade, a historic change for a country that the Nazis brutally occupied eight decades ago. The unit, the first fully armored German brigade permanently based outside the country since the end of World War II, also signaled Germany's changing posture. 'Throughout the years of the Cold War, Germany could rely on our allies standing by our side at any emergency — today, we are here, the ones who have a duty,' Mr. Merz told the roughly 700 German soldiers standing in formation in the square. Mr. Merz has made military spending a cornerstone of his agenda, taking out huge loans to finance his effort to rebuild an aging military starved for resources. During his inaugural speech to lawmakers this month, Mr. Merz vowed to make Germany's army the strongest conventional military force in Europe, a pledge that he repeated in Vilnius last week. He also wants Germany to step up on the global stage as the region faces a growing threat from Russia and President Trump pushes for Europe to bear more of the burden for its defense. Mr. Merz is set to meet on Wednesday with President Vladimir Zelensky of Ukraine to discuss, among other things, European aid for the war. The modernization effort has been shouldered by Germany's defense minister, Boris Pistorius, who was given an exceedingly rare second term as minister, even as the entire government around him changed hands. Before Mr. Merz was sworn in as chancellor, he coordinated a vote to change the country's Constitution to decouple military spending from Germany's borrowing limit. When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Mr. Merz's predecessor, Olaf Scholz, took out a loan of 100 billion euros (about $114 billion) to face what he called a Zeitenwende, or 'change of era.' Now freed of debt limits, Mr. Merz's government is poised to spend nearly five times as much on the military. Both Mr. Pistorius and Germany's foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, have recently signaled that Germany is ready to increase spending to up to 3.5 percent of its economic output on defense and another 1.5 percent on critical defense infrastructure. (Mr. Trump has urged NATO allies to commit 5 percent of their economic output to military spending.) The commitment is expected to be a main topic when NATO members meet next month, and it reflects a momentous change for a country that has for years had problems reaching a military spending target of 2 percent of economic output. 'Russia's war has changed everything, especially for the Bundeswehr,' Mr. Pistorius told lawmakers the day before politicians traveled to Lithuania, referring to Germany's armed forces. Those armed forces are in need of much repair and reform. A recent report by Eva Högl, the parliamentary commissioner of Germany's armed forces, found that many military barracks were dilapidated, that some training facilities — like gyms — were permanently closed and that even basic fencing around some military bases required repairs. Some highly trained military staff, like doctors and helicopter pilots, were stuck working administrative jobs and unable to work in the fields they had trained for, it found, and many units were not operational because of staff shortages. And although defense officials have been allocated the €100 billion to, among other things, buy new high-end weapon systems, many units have had to do without sufficient equipment like tanks or howitzers, because so many armaments have been sent to Ukraine. Munitions and spare parts remain too sparse to sustain the army for any length of time in case of an attack. Another problem is the number of soldiers. Even after a banner year in recruitment, the German army currently has 180,000 uniformed troops and about 20,000 unfilled spots. While Mr. Merz's Christian Democrats have been pushing for some form of a draft, their coalition government partners, the Social Democrats, continue to resist the idea. Mr. Pistorius, who was criticized for warning that Germany has to be ready for war, has tried to push party colleagues into a Swedish-style draft model, in which all young people would be registered, giving recruiters a chance to reach out to individuals with personalized offers. Sönke Neitzel, a military historian who has written several books on Germany' military, said that besides staffing shortages, one major problem was that there are too many high-level officers and not enough recruited soldiers to do the actual fighting. 'The German armed forces are still a peacekeeping force that is completely overburdened with bureaucracy and whose personnel structure needs to be fundamentally changed,' Mr. Neitzel said. He and others have been warning that Germany needs to be ready before a potential attack on NATO partners. 'We in Europe must be clear that the hunger for power will not be satisfied, that Vladimir Putin has no qualms about invading Moldova or Georgia next,' said Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, a European Union lawmaker who is an outspoken advocate of German rearmament. The 45th tank brigade that Mr. Merz and Mr. Pistorius activated in Vilnius last week will encompass as many as 4,800 German soldiers once it is at full force in 2027. When Mr. Pistorius announced the brigade's formation two years ago, experts questioned whether it could be done quickly. But Mr. Pistorius made it his personal project, traveling dozen of times to Lithuania, helping to set up not just the military bases, but also German schools and day care centers for soldiers' families, to encourage Germans to volunteer to move to Lithuania. Edmund Kulikauskas, 87, fled German-occupied Lithuania when he was 6. After nearly five decades in the United States, Mr. Kulikauskas returned to his native country in 1994 to help rebuild it. Last week, he braved rain showers at Cathedral Square to enthusiastically applaud Mr. Merz and Mr. Pistorius. 'We've been living peacefully and satisfied, but now sense a real danger,' he said, noting that 5,000 German soldiers stationed in Lithuania would help deter a Russian attack. Asked whether he worried that Germans were once again stationed in his country, he said, 'These are a different kind of Germans.'
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Germany sends long-term troops to Lithuania to protect NATO border
May 24 (UPI) -- Germany is deploying soldiers beyond its border, moving troops into Lithuania to defend its European neighbor. Deploying troops to the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius is an indefinite move, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on X, accompanied by photos of him greeting soldiers. "In Lithuania we are taking the defence of NATO's eastern flank into our own hands: Together, Lithuanians and Germans show that we are ready to defend Europe's freedom against any aggressor," Merz said in the post. "Germany stands by its responsibility. Today. Tomorrow. For as long as it takes." The move marks the first time Germany has installed a permanent military presence in another country since World War II. Merz last month signaled that Germany would send troops to Lithuania on a long-term basis. The deployment is meant to shore up the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's eastern flank and to ensure "the security of our Baltic allies is also our security," Merz said during the event. German officials expect the 45th Armored Brigade to be at full strength in late 2027. At that point, it is expected to have around 4,800 soldiers and 2,000 vehicles, including tanks and will be headquartered in the Lithuanian city of Rudninkai, near the capital. Earlier in the month, Merz said Germany planned to build the "strongest conventional army in Europe," citing a demand from its "friends and partners." Lithuania is straddled by allies Belarus to the east and the Russian province of Kaliningrad to the west. This week, Lithuania accused Belarus of carrying out a massive smuggling scheme and launched legal proceedings against its neighbor at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Only a narrow strip of land known as the Suwalki Gap connects Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia to other NATO territories in Europe. The strip straddles the border between Poland and Lithuania and has a small population, making it a potential target for possible Russian military aggression. In Vilnius this week, Merz mentioned the area while discussing "Russia's aggressive revisionism" in relation to that country's ongoing war in Ukraine.
UPI
24-05-2025
- Politics
- UPI
Germany sends long-term troops to Lithuania to protect NATO border
1 of 3 | Germany is deploying soldiers beyond its border, moving troops into Lithuania to defend its European neighbor. Photo by Toms Kalnins/EPA-EFE May 24 (UPI) -- Germany is deploying soldiers beyond its border, moving troops into Lithuania to defend its European neighbor. Deploying troops to the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius is an indefinite move, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on X, accompanied by photos of him greeting soldiers. "In Lithuania we are taking the defence of NATO's eastern flank into our own hands: Together, Lithuanians and Germans show that we are ready to defend Europe's freedom against any aggressor," Merz said in the post. "Germany stands by its responsibility. Today. Tomorrow. For as long as it takes." The move marks the first time Germany has installed a permanent military presence in another country since World War II. Merz last month signaled that Germany would send troops to Lithuania on a long-term basis. The deployment is meant to shore up the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's eastern flank and to ensure "the security of our Baltic allies is also our security," Merz said during the event. German officials expect the 45th Armored Brigade to be at full strength in late 2027. At that point, it is expected to have around 4,800 soldiers and 2,000 vehicles, including tanks and will be headquartered in the Lithuanian city of Rudninkai, near the capital. Earlier in the month, Merz said Germany planned to build the "strongest conventional army in Europe," citing a demand from its "friends and partners." Lithuania is straddled by allies Belarus to the east and the Russian province of Kaliningrad to the west. This week, Lithuania accused Belarus of carrying out a massive smuggling scheme and launched legal proceedings against its neighbor at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Only a narrow strip of land known as the Suwalki Gap connects Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia to other NATO territories in Europe. The strip straddles the border between Poland and Lithuania and has a small population, making it a potential target for possible Russian military aggression. In Vilnius this week, Merz mentioned the area while discussing "Russia's aggressive revisionism" in relation to that country's ongoing war in Ukraine.
