What is the Vinted Pro controversy?- Why sellers are unhappy with Vinted Pro

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Vinted’s recent rollout of ‘Vinted Pro’ for professional sellers has sparked frustration and concern among users for a number of reasons. 

The many issues have led to halted registrations and an outpouring of dissatisfaction from Vinted Pro Sellers.

What are the issues with Vinted Pro?

Although sellers have reported many issues, we’ll discuss the main three, starting with the most serious.

How Vinted Pro accidentally exposed hundreds of National Insurance Numbers

Some Vinted Pro members discovered that their National Insurance (NI) numbers had been displayed publicly on their profiles for days. This issue is now under investigation by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

Why this is so serious

National Insurance numbers are personal identifiers, and sharing them openly exposes individuals to risks of identity fraud. Dan McLoughlin, a security expert from Lynx Tech highlighted the gravity of the breach, “if your NI number falls into the wrong hands, fraudsters can leverage it to apply for loans or credit cards in your names.”

Although Vinted quickly paused new Vinted Pro registrations and removed NI numbers from public view, users reported the breach had already persisted for several days. One frustrated user shared on Reddit, “I had to put my shop in holiday mode until they sorted this out, which could be quite a lot of lost revenue judging by the time they take to respond.” Another seller who has earned £25,000 on Vinted this year is now considering switching to selling on eBay.

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Issues with slow payments causing cash flow problems

One seller was unable to receive funds even after the buyer confirmed they’d received the delivery and there were no issues. Unlike with ‘private’ sellers, their buyer was not given the option to mark items as received or leave a review, so the order had to wait to be automatically completed after 14 days. 

This meant that sellers were left without funds being released for two weeks after the buyer had received their items. One seller was left waiting for £700 to be released for over two weeks, “I have contacted Vinted support so many times about this and they keep just saying they will investigate and don’t provide a resolution.” This is likely to cause cash flow problems for many sellers to rely on receiving prompt payments to purchase new stock. 

If you're experiencing this issue, we'd recommend checking out our article 'how to improve cash flow with an effective forecasting strategy' and 'what should I do in a cash flow emergency?'.

Sellers using personal banks are struggling to get verified

Many sellers who use a personal bank for their online selling are also reporting difficulties with getting the bank verified due to a mismatch in details. This issue has also been reported to Vinted but is still awaiting adequate response on how to deal with the problem. 

If you're one of these sellers, we'd recommend reading our article on 'how and why to open up a business bank account', and specifically for sole traders 'exploring the pros and cons of a business bank account'.

The future of Vinted Pro – and how Crunch can help

Vinted Pro was designed to streamline the experience for professional sellers, but these recent issues have left many users feeling uneasy, with some even considering alternative platforms. For sellers facing delays in payments, data privacy concerns, or verification issues, an online accounting service like Crunch can offer security and ease in managing finances. With expert support, simple tax advice, and tools to stay organised in turbulent times, Crunch helps sellers focus on business growth without extra financial stress.

If you’re a professional seller dealing with similar challenges, Crunch is here to make accounting stress-free, protecting your finances and helping you keep more of your hard-earned income.
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Vicki Nichols
Marketing communications & content executive
Updated on
November 1, 2024

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