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Vinted has left consumers in the dark, as the app appears to be trialling the option to remove sellers’ ability to pick and choose the couriers they want to sell with. Vinted is a mobile app, known for buying and selling new or secondhand items, mainly clothing and accessories, with over 16 million users buying and selling on the app in the UK.
Vinted sellers have been left confused at the app for this unexplained change, with a popular TikTok stating that some sellers “don’t live close to some posting options”, and voicing that it’s now difficult for them to send their sold items.
Retail payment experts at Dojo , theorise that the move could be an attempt to decrease the number of couriers sellers can choose to send from. This could be in light of increased shipping and delivery fees by couriers.
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This is part of a wider conversation around rising operational costs which have been consistently impacting many UK retailers. In fact, 33% of businesses, from a recent Dojo survey, reported having to cut production costs to mitigate outgoings . According to TikTok user @nico_april_, Vinted Support has been in touch with some users to say the change is a trial that some app users are part of.
Some Vinted sellers have recently noticed the app no longer allows sellers to choose which courier they send their sold items with. Vinted allows sellers to choose from a range of courier services including; Evri, Yodel, InPost, DPD and Royal Mail. Vinted’s ‘help’ section specifies that “we may decide to add, remove, or temporarily disable certain shipping methods if needed.”
Previously sellers could enable and disable which courier services they didn’t want to sell with, now the app is trialling an option where sellers have no authority to choose. Users have left comments on Vinted’s recent post on the social media app, Instagram, saying “why have you taken away the option to customise which postage options suit the seller”.
Retail payment experts at Dojo commented: “Vinted has previously allowed sellers to decide which shipping couriers they use. Although part of a larger online marketplace, this choice enabled sellers to feel like they had some control over their own online ‘wardrobe’ where they could sell pre-loved items.
“Vinted may have introduced this updated shipping policy to combat increased shipping fees from couriers. At the moment the platform is running a trial on a sample set of customers, to gain feedback. Depending on the response, sellers may see the app revert to previous settings. Being able to sell pre-loved items conveniently and with a degree of flexible delivery is a huge part of why users flock to apps, like Vinted, to sell. By making the process less convenient and limiting courier methods, these apps run the risk of impacting their consumer loyalty.
“For example, some sellers may live in rural areas or not be able to drive, leaving them with a limited choice of convenient couriers to send parcels via. In these cases, removing the seller’s authority over couriers could leave sellers with no choice but to cancel orders and lose sales. We could see sellers who don’t agree with this update decide to sell their items on other marketplace sites to have autonomy over where they post from and which courier they choose.
“The response on TikTok really highlights the importance of brands maintaining the aspects and values that created and fed their brand loyalty in the first place. In this case, a brand has built its platform on the back of being a convenient way to sell. When retail brands start to play with these foundations, customer loyalty really can falter.”
