UK — Vinted Seller Sues Platform Over Frozen £6,000 Wallet Balance

A UK Vinted seller filed a small claims court case after nearly £6,000 in sales proceeds was frozen in her platform wallet for roughly eight weeks, according to the BBC. Mali Osmelak, who sells second-hand gymwear and signed up as a Vinted Pro seller in March, said the account restriction began when she tried to withdraw funds and was told she needed to complete an identity verification process.

How much money was tied up in the dispute?

Osmelak had generated almost £6,000 in sales within weeks of opening her Vinted Pro account, the BBC reported. She paid £455 in court fees to file claims against both Vinted and Mangopay, the payments company that at the time processed wallet transactions for Vinted sellers. In June, a court issued a default judgment ordering the two companies to pay her £1,207.50 after neither responded to the claim, according to the BBC.

Why was the wallet frozen in the first place?

Osmelak told the BBC the verification process kept failing because of an error Vinted had made with her name, which she says she flagged without resolution. She described being "stuck in a cycle of automated responses" and said contacting Mangopay only resulted in being redirected back to Vinted. "I thought, 'That's OK. It's not rocket science,'" she told the BBC, noting she had an accountant's help setting up the required business paperwork.

What does Vinted say about the account check?

Vinted told the BBC that sellers may be asked to complete verification checks to comply with legal and regulatory requirements, and that 98% of transactions on the platform are completed smoothly without needing support intervention. The company said Osmelak's check "was not successful," according to the BBC's reporting, though the outlet notes the account was verified three days after the court claim was filed, allowing her to withdraw the funds.

How big is Vinted's UK user base?

Vinted counts 17 million users in the UK, according to the BBC, and charges sellers no listing fee. The scale of that user base is relevant to how the company's verification backlog or wallet-access disputes could surface again: the BBC says dozens of other sellers contacted the broadcaster describing similar difficulties reaching money in their Vinted wallets after an earlier report on suspended and banned accounts.

What happens next in the court case?

Osmelak has not yet received the £1,207.50 awarded under the default judgment. Vinted and Mangopay have applied to have that judgment set aside, with a hearing scheduled for December, the BBC reported. "It's been ridiculous and incredibly stressful," Osmelak told the BBC. "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."

The case adds to a running set of seller complaints the BBC has documented involving Vinted account suspensions, verification delays, and wallet access — disputes that, in this instance, moved from customer-support queues into a UK small claims courtroom before the underlying £6,000 was ever released.

Artiglio is A coming-soon iPhone chief of staff for briefings and drafts. Not on the App Store yet.