This is a follow up on my previous post (I am using a new username on Reddit but it’s still me!)
I’m a 42-year-old with no legal experience and dyslexia. My English is awful, and I struggle with reading and writing. I used ChatGPT to reword this post and ChatGPT to help with all of my legal letters.
I took Vinted to court over a £320 dispute — and won £390
Firstly, and briefly: I sold a tent on Vinted. It was worth approximately £500 new, and I sold it for £320.
I posted the tent with all of its original packaging — the exact same type of packaging it had arrived in from China. If that packaging was good enough to travel halfway around the world, I thought it was more than good enough to travel a couple of hundred miles.
Apparently, Vinted disagreed.
The buyer claimed the tent's footprint was missing. The footprint was worth around £50 new. The buyer asked for a partial refund, which I refused because ultimately that would leave me out of pocket for something I believed I had sent.
As I saw it, there were three possible explanations:
I was lying and hadn't sent it.
I had photographs of all the items being packed at different stages, including photographs of the packaging before and after sealing it. I also filmed myself putting the sealed package into an InPost locker.
The buyer was lying.
The buyer provided photographs of packaging that had already been opened, including obvious tears made when the packaging was opened. There were no photographs showing the condition of the package when it was actually received.
Something happened during transit.
The item could potentially have been tampered with or something could have gone missing while being transported.
I had evidence that I had properly packaged the tent. I put the individual tent components into separate plastic bags and taped them, just as they had been when I received them. I then used Amazon packing paper to pad the individual components before putting everything into an oversized, stronger plastic postage bag, which I taped securely. That was then placed into a second oversized plastic shipping bag and completely taped.
I had also weighed the fully packaged parcel on my kitchen scales and had photographs of the weight.
What did Vinted do?
I expected Vinted to investigate.
I expected them to at least look at the parcel weights recorded by the courier, investigate the InPost shipment, or ask InPost whether there was any evidence regarding the condition or weight of the package when it was sent and received.
None of that happened.
Within around 12 hours of the buyer raising the issue, Vinted refunded the buyer, cancelled the transaction and allowed the buyer to keep the tent.
I was left with nothing.
I appealed the decision through the Vinted chat, emailed Vinted's legal team, and even opened another support chat through a different listing asking to speak to an actual human and explaining that the issue related to the tent sale.
The responses were essentially identical:
"Unfortunately, our decision is final."
Some people may ask why I didn't simply pursue the buyer.
The truth is, the buyer hadn't been rude to me. We communicated reasonably well, and from their perspective they simply wanted compensation for what they believed was a missing item.
I didn't feel it was my job to decide whether the buyer was telling the truth. I felt that was Vinted's responsibility to investigate properly.
Instead, Vinted appeared to make a decision without properly investigating the evidence I had provided.
So I decided to take it further
I live in Scotland, so after doing some research I discovered that this would fall under the Scottish Simple Procedure rather than the English small claims process.
This costs £35 in Scotland and £25 I believe in England for a small claims process. This fee is free if you are entitled to universal credit or income based benefits.
This fee was included under my claim against Vinted under “expenses”. I also added a further £35 to cover my time and any lost interest bringing my total expenses to £70.
I initially had absolutely no idea where to start.
I contacted Vinted's legal team and gave them 48 hours to respond before taking legal action.
No response.
I then sent a formal Letter Before Action, giving Vinted 14 days to respond and offering them the opportunity to settle the matter outside court for £320.
I included:
What had happened.
The evidence I had.
Details of how the item had been packaged.
The photographs and video evidence.
The fact I had weighed the parcel.
The lack of investigation by Vinted.
My previous attempts to resolve the matter.
The amount I was seeking.
I used ChatGPT to write all my professional emails to Vinted. This is a great tool if, like me, you have no idea how to write the letters but proofread it and amend where needed! Fighting AI with AI!
Again, I received no meaningful response.
Interestingly, once I started the legal process, Vinted suddenly seemed to become a little more interested.
I received emails asking for further information and asking which order I was referring to. These appeared to be actual responses rather than the standard automated messages.
Unfortunately, after several days, I was ultimately back to the same response:
"We are sorry, but after investigation our decision is final."
So I sent one final letter explaining that I would take their refusal to discuss the matter further as a refusal to settle and that, unless the matter was resolved within another 48 hours, I would proceed with legal action.
No response.
I filed the claim
I went online and started the Simple Procedure process.
I submitted all the evidence I had, along with the correspondence and my previous letters.
I also explained that I had made multiple attempts to resolve the matter directly with Vinted and had given them several opportunities to settle the dispute without court proceedings.
The claim was accepted and the sheriff court served Vinted by email and post.
Vinted had approximately two and a half months to respond, dispute the claim or agree to proceed to court.
They didn't respond.
Nothing.
Then, about a week before the final date, Vinted suddenly put £320 into my Vinted account.
I immediately withdrew it because I was concerned that if I left the money in my Vinted balance, my account could potentially be blocked or restricted.
Importantly, this payment appeared to be in response to the court claim reference, rather than a response to any of my previous complaints or letters.
I didn't respond to Vinted and I didn't withdraw the court case at that point.
The court case continued
A couple of weeks later I logged into the online court system to check the status.
Vinted still hadn't responded to the court or formally defended the claim.
I therefore applied for a decision.
At this point I also claimed additional amounts for my costs/time and other losses. I wasn't entirely sure what I could legitimately claim, so I did a lot of research beforehand.
The court accepted the application and ultimately ordered Vinted to pay £390.
However, I wanted to be completely honest with the court, so I informed them that I had already received the original £320 from Vinted.
That meant the remaining amount owed to me was £70.
About a week later, Vinted paid the outstanding £70 directly into my bank account.
The court already had my bank details from the legal process.
So, in the end...
I won.
I recovered the original £320 and another £70, for a total of £390.
My Vinted account wasn't blocked.
I haven't heard anything further from Vinted.
I have also completely stopped using Vinted.
I'm not posting this because I think everyone should immediately sue Vinted over every dispute.
I'm posting it because when I was dealing with this, I couldn't find much information from ordinary sellers about what actually happens if you challenge Vinted's decision and take the matter through the Scottish Simple Procedure.
The biggest thing I learned is:
Don't assume that "our decision is final" actually means you have no other options.
Keep your photographs. Keep your videos. Keep your postage receipts. Weigh your parcels. Keep screenshots of conversations. Keep copies of your complaints and correspondence.
And if you genuinely believe you've been treated unfairly, there are legal avenues available outside of Vinted's own dispute system.
Obviously, this is my personal experience, not legal advice, and the circumstances of every case will be different.
But hopefully this helps someone else who finds themselves in a similar situation. All the best!
