Nearly £6,000 locked up as Vinted sellers face verification disputes

By Grace Kim

Mali Osmelak obtained a £1,207.50 default judgement against Vinted and Mangopay after she spent eight weeks unable to access almost £6,000 in sales through Vinted. She filed the claim with £455 in court fees.

Osmelak said: "It's been ridiculous and incredibly stressful." She added: "I need that cash. I will fight it. I'm going to tell the court their system is completely broken. I needed help and nobody helped me."

How did the payment dispute start?

Osmelak said she joined Vinted in 2024 as a side business to earn income while managing Crohn's disease and caring for her four-year-old daughter. Demand for her second-hand gymwear grew rapidly, and within months she set up a limited company to expand the business.

In March, she signed up for a Vinted Pro seller account, designed for people who sell high volumes of items and operate registered businesses. Within weeks, she generated almost £6,000 in sales. When she tried to withdraw the money, Osmelak said Vinted had restricted her account and told her to complete a verification process.

She said: "I thought, 'That's OK. It's not rocket science,'" and added: "I'd set up the business with the help of an accountant and had all the information they needed."

Osmelak said Vinted had made an error with her name. She flagged it, but "again nothing was done and the verification kept failing." She spent several weeks trying to resolve the restriction and received a cycle of automated responses.

She also contacted Mangopay, which at the time operated Vinted sellers' wallets and processed transactions on the platform. Mangopay directed her back to Vinted.

After eight weeks without access to the money, Osmelak took both companies to small-claims court and spent £455 on court fees. Three days after filing, she said the account was "magically verified" and she could withdraw the funds. She continued the case to recover the fee, costs and interest. The account worked again, but the legal claim remained alive.

What did the court award?

In June, the court entered a default judgement after neither Vinted nor Mangopay responded to Osmelak's claim. The order required the companies to pay £1,207.50. Osmelak has yet to receive the money.

Osmelak said Vinted and Mangopay have applied to set aside the judgement. A hearing is scheduled for December. The £1,207.50 award still awaits payment, with the companies' challenge set for December.

What do Vinted and Mangopay say?

Vinted said: "Ms Osmelak's check was not successful because her documents did not match the name on her Vinted account. We have since helped her update it, and her account is now verified." The company did not respond to the BBC's questions about the legal action.

Mangopay said it was "bound to professional secrecy and data protection obligations. We are, therefore, not allowed to comment on individual cases involving our clients or their users, nor can we share details about specific accounts, transactions or legal matters."

Vinted said sellers may have to complete verification checks to comply with legal and regulatory requirements. It also said 98% of transactions finish smoothly without help from its support team. Vinted has 17 million UK users and charges sellers no fee to list items.

The BBC's earlier reporting on users whose accounts had been suspended or banned prompted dozens of people to describe difficulty accessing money in their Vinted wallets. Vinted blames the failed checks, while Mangopay cites client confidentiality and data protection.

What is Azri Mukthar's dispute?

Sportswear seller and businessman Azri Mukthar told the BBC he has tried to withdraw almost £2,500 from Vinted for more than a year. He was already a registered limited company and said he willingly became a Pro seller.

Mukthar said: "I submitted all the documentation they requested and got the go-ahead from Vinted. So then I uploaded all the products and got 30 to 40 sales immediately." When he tried to withdraw his earnings, Vinted told him his verification was pending.

Mukthar said repeated document submissions produced immediate rejection notices. "It's frustrating and annoying as there's no clear system to follow. You contact customer support and they say you've not submitted X, Y or Z. But I know I have done all they're asking for."

Mukthar said Vinted declined a requested certificate from Companies House 15 times. He has stopped selling on the platform and said he will have to start legal action.

Vinted said: "Mr Mukthar's check could not be completed because he did not provide all the required documents. Our support team is currently in touch with him to help with his verification." Mukthar has stopped selling and now expects to take legal action.

What happens next?

The December hearing will decide whether Vinted and Mangopay can set aside the £1,207.50 judgement, while Azri Mukthar says he will have to start legal action over the nearly £2,500 he says he cannot withdraw.