Vinted is a popular online marketplace that allows people to buy, sell and swap secondhand clothes, accessories and other items. It's gained a lot of attention for its user-friendly app, no-seller-fee model in many countries and its focus on sustainable shopping. While buyers and sellers are often drawn to it because they can list and purchase items with little friction, many wonder how a platform like Vinted actually makes money. Despite offering free listings to individual users, the company has built a strong and profitable business model based on a few key revenue streams.
Buyer Protection Fees
One of the main ways Vinted generates income is through a buyer protection fee. When a user purchases an item on the platform, a small extra cost is added at checkout. This fee covers things like secure payment processing, order tracking, and customer support. Buyers see it as peace of mind, and for Vinted, it’s a consistent source of revenue tied directly to the volume of transactions on the platform.
This approach allows Vinted to offer free listings for sellers, which makes the platform more appealing and helps keep a steady flow of items. The more listings and purchases, the more fees collected from buyers. It’s a clever way to encourage growth while still generating income.
Shipping Partnerships
Vinted has also created partnerships with shipping providers. While the buyer typically pays for postage, Vinted facilitates the process, often offering discounted rates through these agreements. In some cases, Vinted receives a small cut or rebate from the shipping providers for each transaction, contributing to the platform's overall earnings.
Managing the logistics through integrated shipping also helps improve the user experience, which in turn boosts trust and encourages more sales. That cycle supports Vinted’s wider revenue structure without having to introduce heavy fees that might scare off users.
Promoted Listings
For users looking to sell faster, Vinted offers paid promotional tools. Sellers can choose to “bump” their items, which places their listings higher in search results for a limited time. These boosts are paid-for services and are entirely optional, but they’re a significant source of income.
Because Vinted has millions of users, competition on the platform can be fierce. Many sellers are happy to pay a small fee to increase visibility and potentially sell an item more quickly. This creates a steady stream of revenue from users who want to speed up their sales.
Business Seller Accounts
Although individual sellers make up the bulk of Vinted's user base, the platform has introduced features to support business accounts in some regions. These professional sellers pay fees to access the platform and benefit from additional tools or services. This segment gives Vinted a more traditional B2B revenue stream while still focusing on secondhand goods.
This shift also allows Vinted to expand its reach into more commercial territory, where margins and sales volume are higher, all while keeping the casual user base intact.
Advertising
Vinted occasionally runs in-app advertising, which brings in additional revenue. These ads can be from external brands or internal promotions, such as encouraging users to try paid bumps. Because of its large and active user base, advertisers are keen to get visibility within the platform. Vinted can monetise this attention while keeping the main user experience relatively uncluttered.
Scaling Through Volume, Not Margin
Vinted doesn’t rely on high per-transaction profit margins. Instead, it plays a volume game. Because it doesn't charge sellers in most regions, it encourages more listings and more transactions. This means more buyer protection fees, more shipping handled through their system, and more eyes on promoted listings. It’s a scale-based strategy, not a high-fee one — which is why Vinted can keep growing without changing its low-cost appeal.
Data and Insights
While Vinted doesn't directly monetise user data in the way advertising giants do, the platform’s data has huge strategic value. Knowing what people are buying, how trends shift, and what types of listings perform well allows Vinted to improve its user experience and tailor its promotional services. For example, it can suggest the perfect moment for a seller to “bump” an item, based on previous sale patterns. That kind of insight drives more use of paid features.
Market Expansion and Localised Features
Vinted is expanding into new countries across Europe. With each new market, it adapts its monetisation based on local behaviour. In some places, seller fees are tested or introduced in specific categories. In others, shipping partnerships might offer better deals that increase Vinted’s cut. The flexibility in how it monetises different regions lets it grow without being locked into a single strategy.
Controlled Ecosystem
Vinted keeps users within its own ecosystem. Payments go through their platform. Shipping is integrated. Messaging is in-app. This closed-loop system reduces the risk of off-platform transactions and lets Vinted maintain control over the user journey. More control means more chances to earn money at each step — even if it's just a small percentage per transaction, it adds up across millions of users.
Investor Support and Long-Term Play
It’s worth noting that Vinted has raised substantial investment over the years. That funding allows it to grow aggressively, keep user costs low, and still expand its services. While the company is profitable, part of its money-making ability lies in long-term vision: grow the platform, dominate the European secondhand market, and then slowly layer in more revenue features without alienating users.
Summary
Vinted makes money through a mix of buyer protection fees, promoted listings, shipping partnerships, advertising and professional seller accounts. Its business model is built to maintain a smooth, low-cost experience for individual users while still generating revenue from the services and features that make the platform more efficient and appealing. By focusing on trust, convenience and a growing user base, Vinted has managed to stay profitable while supporting the rising demand for secondhand fashion and sustainable shopping.