Vinted markets itself on there being no selling fees, which is true for sellers and routinely misunderstood by buyers. Buyers pay a Buyer Protection fee on top of the item price, plus postage. The total charged is therefore always higher than the listed price.
| Component | Paid by |
|---|---|
| Item price | Buyer, goes to the seller |
| Buyer Protection fee | Buyer, goes to Vinted |
| Postage | Buyer, unless the seller has covered it |
| Bumps and spotlights | Seller, optional paid promotion of a listing |
Sellers can also be charged, despite the no-fees positioning, when they pay to promote listings. A small Vinted charge on a seller account is usually a bump rather than anything unexpected.
The wallet complicates matters
Vinted holds sale proceeds in an in-app balance. Buying something can draw on that balance rather than your card, meaning a purchase you definitely made may not appear on your bank statement at all. Conversely, transferring the balance out produces a credit to your account that is not linked to any single sale.
If you are reconciling Vinted activity against a bank statement, the wallet is why the two will not line up.
The billing entity is not called Vinted
Vinted operates through a European entity, and charges can appear under a name that does not obviously read as Vinted, sometimes with a location that is not in the UK. This is normal for the platform and is not a fraud indicator in itself.
Refunds when an item does not arrive
Buyer Protection exists precisely for this, and it is the route to use first. Report the issue through the app before the transaction completes and the funds are released to the seller, because recovering money afterwards is considerably harder.
Once the order is marked complete, the seller has been paid, and your route narrows to a dispute with the platform or a chargeback through your card provider.