Vinted U-turns on delivery changes after backlash

Posted by author August 8, 2024 Bussiness

Getty Images A woman adjusts a dress hanging on a wall in her home, while she holds her phone with the camera app open — Vinted provides an online marketplace for users to buy, sell and exchange clothes

Second-hand clothes app Vinted has abandoned an update to its delivery options after users said it would make selling more difficult.

Vinted is popular in part because of the range of courier options it offers, with sellers able to deselect those that don’t suit them – for example, if a company requires them to print a label and they don’t own a printer.

But users reported this week that this list of shipping options had disappeared from their profiles, and voiced their anger on social media.

Vinted told the BBC its in-app shipping options had returned to their previous settings, after listening to user feedback about the change.

‘Really annoyed’

There are more than 16 million Vinted accounts in the UK.

Olivia Lott, who lives in rural Devon, said she turned off InPost as a shipping option because her nearest drop-off point was a 30-minute drive away in Exeter.

“I had a buyer ask me if I could do InPost, and I said that was fine, but I went into my settings and I couldn’t turn it on,” she said, because the list of couriers wasn’t there.

Olivia Lott said she has to drive 30 minutes to post parcels with a drop-off locker

Olivia Lott Olivia Lott, a 30-year-old woman, takes a selfie indoors while looking at the camera and wearing a striped blue and white shirt — Olivia Lott said she has to drive 30 minutes to post parcels with a drop-off locker

While Olivia said the change was inconvenient to her, others were more frustrated.

TikTokker Kerry said: “I’ve had to go and cancel five orders, which I’m really annoyed at. That was £60 worth of orders.”

Some, like Theodora Philcox, hoped it was a glitch.

She posted on X, formerly Twitter: “@Vinted Please fix the glitch in the shipping settings. I have had to cancel sales and others are doing likewise. This will ruin your platform if it doesn’t get fixed quickly. A huge number of people don’t have printers – you’re making Vinted impossible to use as a seller.”

Allow Twitter content?

This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read and before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

Users in certain areas cannot access all shipping options – InPost does not operate postal lockers in Northern Ireland, for example.

Twenty-five-year-old Abbie from Yorkshire said that she couldn’t use InPost or Yodel to send packages as there are no drop-off points near her.

“Additionally, Royal Mail post offices are only open when I work, so it rules them out,” she told BBC News.

Vinted told the BBC that the change was made on Monday.

In a statement, the company said: “We regularly test and trial different things to evolve Vinted.

“Recently, we made some changes which meant some of our members had a different experience with managing their shipping options.

“We heard the feedback and confirm the shipping options have returned to their previous settings, there are no further actions needed from the members.”