My Tips for Using Vinted to Buy Secondhand Clothes & Items (Cheaply!)

I'm not the most experienced Vinted shopper, but there are a few things I've learned while shopping on the platform that I'd like to share.

These are pretty intuitive tricks for the most part, but some of them really need to be stated outright because you might not assume them to be the case having shopped on platforms like Etsy or eBay.

It's important to keep in mind that Vinted sellers are for the most part regular people just trying to make an extra buck on the side off of items they no longer use.

They are not professionals and this is not their job, and as such, you can't expect the same level of service you do on Etsy or eBay.

I go over this more in my section titled "Be ready for cancelled & delayed transactions." Wanted to mention it here, however, as I think it's important enough to state twice.

Anyhow, onto my tips for using Vinted to buy secondhand goods & clothing items.

My Tips & Tricks for Using Vinted to Buy Secondhand Clothes & Items

How to Get Better Pricing & Good Deals on Vinted

1. For deals & steals - use a very narrow search with a very particular price point.

If you want to start out searching for an item to gauge pricing, no problem. But once you've figured out the rough pricing of an item, try to hit that sweet spot where you'll see a lot of options, but are still on the lower end pricing wise.

Use narrow search terms, like "wrap" Zara dress instead of simply "Zara dress," or "leather" Longchamp bag instead of merely "Longchamp bag" so that you don't have to comb through a lot of items you really don't want.

2. Favourite every item you're even mildly interested in & wait to see if the seller will offer you a discount before buying.

Not all, but many sellers will actually offer you a discounted price on items you favourite to encourage you to buy their items (and to remind you their products exist, which I think is a really good thing for them, it works!).

Favourite items you think maybe you'd be interested in buying regardless on if you're sold on them 100%. And if you can wait, wait at least a day or two before buying, so that the sellers have some time to send you lower prices if you can.

3. Buy multiple items from the same seller.

You won't want to do this if there's literally nothing besides what you initially saw from the seller, but since shipping can be grouped together, it's wise to try to check out with multiple items from the same seller if you can.

Many times sellers will have other items you'd like, since style is usually fairly consistent across a store. They will also often have discounts for buying multiple items.

If you know you like a particular item that you've seen available as being sold by multiple sellers, you might want to buy from the seller with the most things you like rather than the one with the lowest price on the item.

The price of lowered shipping (and less hassle of picking up multiple times) could be worth the slight price increase on one item. It usually is for me.

4. Ask for lower prices.

If you'd like to get a lower price on an item, you can always ask!

Especially if you're planning on buying a number of items from a particular seller, or if you're buying an item that's been listed for a long time, there's no harm in trying.

5. You absolutely can get items currently being sold in stores.

Don't assume that if something recently came out and is still being sold in stores that it won't appear on Vinted.

Do a quick search to make sure because you might be surprised at what you find!

How to Not Get (Too) Annoyed with Shopping on Vinted

1. If you really like something, check out with it right away.

These are secondhand items, meaning there's a good chance someone else will have it, but you really don't want to be taking that chance if you like an item a lot.

It's not as though you can call up a second store to see if they have what you want in stock if it's no longer available from the retailer you're at. Grab what you want if you really love it and can't find many duplicates of it.

2. Be ready for cancelled & delayed transactions.

Don't get something on Vinted if you're hoping to wear it for a particular occasion that's really short term.

Yes, most of the time, things get to you pretty promptly, but you can't predict that for certain, so at least have a back up plan in case you want to wear something to an event that's pretty soon.

As I mentioned before, most Vinted sellers are regular people just trying to make some spare money on the side of their regular job from items they no longer use.

And regular people go on vacation, have nights out where they don't feel like doing a particular chore too quickly, and so on. Just expect delays from Vinted so you're not disappointed.

3. If it's a clothing item, you might want to gravitate to items that are being worn in pictures.

I've had a lot more problems with items I bought of pieces of clothing that were just photographed as is than of clothing pieces that were photographed while being worn.

It's just a heck of a lot easier to visualize what clothes will look like on you when they're on a human body (or mannequin even!) than it is to imagine what they'd look like when they're just photographed.

Not good at visualizing? Stick to items that are being worn in the listing pictures. Really bad at visualizing? Try looking for sellers with a similar body type to your own to get a better picture of what things will look like on you.

4. Try not to be too upset by the fact that men's items are way more of a bargain than women's.

It's just a fact, you can get a lot better items on Vinted if you're looking for men's items.

My theory is that, when women clear out their own clothes to sell on Vinted, they don't care too much if they don't sell them, because they think they might one day wear them if they're in their closet for a long time.

The second part of my theory is that women are selling a lot of the men's items on Vinted, and they're doing so to clear out closet space for themselves, so they want these items gone, and don't care too much how much they get for them!

Of course you can use the fact that men's items are so much cheaper on Vinted than women's items to your advantage - whether you're shopping for pieces for your boyfriend or husband or even a brother or cousin for a Christmas or birthday present, for instance.

You can also spin this to your advantage by buying unisex pieces, like desert boots or oversized men's shirts that you can style whatever you want.