5 Vinted top tips for great finds
With so many people moving over to the Vinted app for buying and selling their secondhand garments, there is SO much choice. There are literally thousands and thousands of items which can make it a slog to find the good stuff.
The question is: how do you find what you’re looking for?
The below tips are what I think help the most in surfacing those great finds you’ll be wearing for years to come!
1. Use blank searches
Ask 100 people to describe the same item without any clear instructions and you'll probably get 100 different answers without a huge amount of overlap. What most people will agree on, however, is which category the item falls into.
If you're after a certain style of item or something from a certain brand then you can do the following:
1. click onto the search bar
2. hit enter without typing anything
3. apply the filters you want
The filters can be clothing categories as specific as you're after, brands, sizes, colours etc. Searching this way means that listings with spelling mistakes or just a different description than you would have written yourself will now show up!
2. Save searches
If you're after a very specific item save the search you've found to give you the closest match.
All you need to do is tap the little save icon at the top right like in the image below and this search (with all applied filters) will be available on your search page.
Whenever you open the app to check for new listings under this search, you just need to click onto the search tab with the magnifying glass on the bottom bar, then click the search bar. Then you'll see under recent searches “+X” where X is the number of new listings that have been uploaded since you last clicked on each search.
If you save the search it won’t disappear - no matter how many searches you do!
BONUS TIP 1
You can delete a saved search by swiping right on it when you no longer need it!
3. Search with text only
There are also items on the platform that don't fall into a specific category on Vinted. One example is yarn.
It's not clothing, decor, or entertainment according to the categories available...
So you can just do a text search without applying any more filters. You do have to sift through some unrelated stuff but it works once you’ve figured out which keyword brings up the most relevant listings based on what exactly you’re looking for.
4. NEVER trust the labelled size
There's a lot of misunderstanding around what sizes actually mean as well as the huge amount of variation that fast fashion creates for even a single garment labelled as one size.
In my experience it's best to go up/down 1 or 2 sizes in my search for an item of clothing. Here are the reasons why:
The seller didn't realise it was a US size on the label and the garment is actually 2 sizes bigger than what they've labelled it as
The seller thinks along the lines of "it fits me and I'm a size X" - our bodies change all the time and we don't neatly fit into one single size across all brands and items. It’s a nice sentiment but the accuracy just isn’t that great with this method.
The seller labelled it as what they think the size is rather than the actual OR they’ve labelled it as the actual size even though it's clearly larger or smaller. There’s really no winning here.
Basically the best option is to measure yourself (or your best fitting garments) and ask for measurements of the clothing to compare.
Not everyone will share them but it doesn't hurt to ask. Vinted also added a feature while listing to add certain measurements so make sure to expand the details and take a look there!
PRO TIP 2
Do a sense check of the seller’s profile to maximise the chances you get your item and that it’s as described.
Expand their ratings and look at their reviews, check when they last opened the app, even send them a message to double check that an item is still available.
5. Be patient
Vinted is a marketplace where average people list up their old clothes and items. It’s not a shop with seasons and regular discounts.
Sometimes the exact item you’re after will show up straight away but it’s far more likely that you’ll have to keep up the search for weeks, if not months.
Yes, it’s a bit of a hassle but finding that perfect item you’ll be treasuring for years makes it all worth the work!
What do you think?
Were these tips more simple than you thought? Give them a go and see if it helps you out in your search for cute and affordable additions to your wardrobe.
