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Mali Osmelak never anticipated that her venture into selling clothes on Vinted would escalate into a legal dispute over nearly £6,000. Initially, she began using the platform to generate income while managing her Crohn’s disease and looking after her young daughter. However, after becoming a professional seller in March, Mali encountered problems completing Vinted’s required verification process. Consequently, she found thousands of pounds locked in her Vinted wallet, inaccessible for withdrawal. Despite weeks of attempts to resolve the matter, she ultimately resorted to legal action.
Vinted explained that sellers might need to undergo verification to comply with legal and regulatory standards, emphasizing that 98% of transactions are completed without assistance from their support team. The app enjoys substantial popularity in the UK, boasting 17 million users, and notably does not charge sellers any listing fees. Following media coverage highlighting account suspensions and bans, many users reached out to report similar issues with accessing funds held in their Vinted wallets.
Mali joined the platform in 2024, starting out as a side project. Her second-hand gymwear listings quickly gained traction, leading her to establish a limited company to formalize and grow the business. She opted for a Vinted Pro seller account this year, which is designed for high-volume sellers registered as businesses. Within a few weeks, Mali had amassed close to £6,000 in sales. However, when attempting to withdraw her earnings, she discovered her account had been restricted pending verification. Despite providing all necessary documentation and flagging an error Vinted had made with her name, her verification attempts repeatedly failed, leaving her caught in a frustrating loop of automated replies.
In an attempt to break the impasse, she also contacted Mangopay, the payment provider handling Vinted sellers’ wallets and transactions at that time, only to be directed back to Vinted. After eight weeks without accessing her funds, Mali took both companies to small claims court, incurring £455 in fees. Shortly after filing the claim, her account was unexpectedly verified, allowing her to withdraw the money. Nevertheless, she continued with the legal case to recover court fees, costs, and interest. In June, a default judgment ordered Vinted and Mangopay to pay her £1,207.50 after neither company responded to the claim. Despite this, Mali has yet to receive the payment, as both companies have applied to have the judgment set aside, with a hearing scheduled for December.
Reflecting on her ordeal, Mali described the process as “ridiculous and incredibly stressful,” stressing her urgent need for the funds and vowing to fight the case. She criticized Vinted’s system for being “completely broken” and expressed frustration over the lack of support. Addressing the situation, Vinted stated that the initial verification had failed because the documents provided did not match the name on Mali’s account but confirmed that they later helped her update the information and successfully verified her account. The company did not comment on the ongoing legal proceedings. Meanwhile, Mangopay declined to discuss the case, citing professional secrecy and data protection regulations
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