Hello everyone!
As some of you know, Vinted launched about a week ago an account restriction campaign targeting ads published as « duplicates ». Affected wardrobes are restricted for 3 days (usually) during which they can no longer publish new ads.
The messages received look like this:
Text: Some of your ads have been identified as duplicates, which goes against our Catalog Rules. As a result, we have had to implement a restriction: you will not be able to add items for 3 days, and one or more of your ads have been removed.
or even
Text: We have reason to believe that one or more listings you have posted already exist in our catalog, which is against our Catalog Rules and our Terms and Conditions. As a result, we have had to implement a restriction: you will not be able to add items for 3 days, and one or more of your listings have been removed.
We are opening this post to provide you with our initial findings and to gather more information from people who have been affected to understand what is happening.
Our initial conclusions:
1) There are 2 types of duplicates for Vinted: « wardrobe » duplicates and « catalog » duplicates
Vinted has clearly decided to combat duplicates by penalizing anyone it considers to have knowingly created one. But as the 2 messages above show:up_arrow:, Vinted distinguishes between 2 types of duplicates:
- Wardrobe duplicates: where the Vinted message says « Some of your ads have been identified as duplicates (…) ». In this case, Vinted considers that the recently published/republished ad already exists within this same wardrobe.
- Catalog duplicates: where the Vinted message says « one or more listings you have posted already exist in our catalog ». In this case, Vinted considers that the recently published/republished ad already exists in another Vinted wardrobe.
2) Catalog duplicates are attributable to either the seller or Vinted
If Vinted’s restriction message clearly states « one or more listings you have posted already exist in our catalog », it means you have been flagged for a catalog duplicate.
In this case, there are 2 possibilities:
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Vinted is right: you published the same ad (identical photos) on 2 different wardrobes. You should have modified the photos before republishing the second ad.
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Vinted is wrong: it confused your photos with one of the millions of photos already published on Vinted… Vinted’s robots compare photos with each other and can make mistakes (this would not be the first time). We believe that photos with a light background in particular are more likely to cause this kind of error.
In any case, if Vinted is wrong, it’s not your fault… except for avoiding light backgrounds and appealing for Vinted to acknowledge its mistake.
3) Wardrobe duplicates are harder to explain
Several scenarios can occur. A duplicate within the same wardrobe can be due to:
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A previous duplicate: you had published an item twice at a time when Vinted did not check carefully. Upon republishing, Vinted rechecks the photos and finds the duplicate => penalty
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A mishandling with a republishing tool like Clemz: we have had a few cases of republishing that stop midway (internet issue or other). This left time for a draft to be created without deleting the original ad. The user publishes the draft => Vinted checks all the photos and finds the duplicate.
Our questions
If you have been a victim of a Vinted restriction recently: in which case are you? Wardrobe or catalog duplicate?
We are interested in details about your case (especially photos of the incriminating item) so that we can understand.
Our advice
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Contest all restrictions unjustly imposed by Vinted. This is the only way to tell them « your verification bots are misconfigured! I am innocent. » With the volume of complaints, they will see that they are « casting too wide a net. »
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If you had a duplicate and fear a new restriction, republish by modifying your photos. Clemz allows you to do this easily with quick modifications (see here) and even the « current modification » which allows for frequent changes (see here)
What’s the next step? Your house in the background of the photo isn’t tidy enough?
