Encouraged by your feedback, I’ve put a few books on eBay. Only old and expensive books, definitely not stuff for a few euros. We’ll see if there’s any interest.
For now, I have zero views…
Don’t rely too much on views, there are never many on the ad display. It’s more telling in the seller hub statistics.
yes exactly I rely on the seller hub, it’s more telling
Perfumes and everything related to the VERO code.
Yes, eBay is well suited for professionals.
I wonder what their positioning is now?
Yes, Vinted didn’t work for a long time. They had large funding rounds and it still wasn’t taking off.
Diversifying, why not, but into a specific market, meaning very low cost (like Foir Fouille), or luxury.
Here there’s everything, from 1 euro to luxury, all products, there’s no clear image.
Le Bon Coin had the image of local, which still works for quite a few products.
eBay had the image of auctions, of antiques too, of beautiful items. a rare vinyl, an Avirex leather jacket or fur, an old video game.
Vestiaire Collective is focused on varied luxury in clothes and bags, but luxury.
I think Vinted is starting to get saturated, the comments here, plus quite a few videos on the subject, prices are dropping, the supply is too large, over 3 years the drop in jeans prices has been quite significant, to sell you need more work on photos, ironing, even wearing the item for photos; shirts have become unsellable, really.
And a lot of supply means lower prices, customers think they will always find cheaper, and they are not wrong.
So you need to find a niche within this, a very specific one.
Communicating vessels, people who stayed on eBay will see much less competition, and since it’s difficult to do specific searches on Vinted, some are returning to eBay.
The problems are starting again since that famous Thursday, May 8.
There was a big issue on the site.
What exactly is happening? From my end, I can sell when I publish or mass republish, otherwise, I have tried 3 paid boosts individually without conviction.
I don’t know what’s going on, but I sell on 4 platforms and right now Vinted has gone from being my main platform to the last one. Last week, I even made more on Beebs, and that’s really a sign that there’s a problem.
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This is the first time yesterday. No sales. More of a follow-up…
Since the weekend of May 8th. It’s ghost-like. Something is wrong.
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Oh yes, to that extent? Wow!
I agree with you, the paid boost individually was not the paid option that convinced me the most either! (0 results with each test!)
On my end, sales have been at their usual level in recent weeks. I upload about thirty listings daily via Clemz, and that generates 1-2 sales. In addition to new listings.
Commerce is a cycle that I will try to explain briefly through an example.
Vinted is reaching its operational peak, a saturation.
This is classic and applies to all sectors.
I will take an example: electronic cigarette stores.
1: When it first opened, it was eldorado; the first ones in place sold a lot, which led to new businesses launching. It worked, demand was growing, people got into it, it even became a bit of a trend. Anyone could open a shop and it would work.
2: We started seeing shops on every street corner, e-commerce sites. The first ones opened were no longer growing but maintained their figures thanks to a loyal customer base and a market that was still rising. Everyone was still finding their niche.
3: Demand reached its maximum, shops continued to open, and the first ones began to see a drop in foot traffic and revenue. The supply far exceeded the demand.
This is Vinted’s current stage.
4: It continues, the less rigorous, less motivated, less attractive, or more expensive ones, or whatever you want to call them, started closing. Mid-tier businesses became shaky, on the verge of profitability. If they don’t change anything, they will sink. The biggest ones, those who know how to innovate, adapt, and be original, do good marketing and hold on.
The keyword is adaptation. If you stick to the same model, the same products, the same methods, you’re done for.
This is the difficulty of a business, passing the 3, 5, 7-year mark.
5: After weathering the storm, supply and demand balance out. Only the most resilient or clever, those who worked hard, sought solutions, thought things through, or whatever you want to call it, survived. Far from the initial frenzy, but the business is running.
6: Then a new online sales site appears, a new product to sell, new legislation, a new trend, an unforeseen event (Taleb’s black swan). And the cycle begins again.
This cycle is more or less long and rounded; we don’t move from one stage to another, and they overlap. But there are signs that must be listened to, analyzed, and understood in order to adapt.
Most will complain and look for all sorts of reasons, as I’ve seen on professional seller forums: the site is poorly designed, there are bugs, some are visible and others aren’t, it’s unfair, customers are idiots, the legislation is poorly made, competition from those selling their jeans.
Of course, at no point will they ask themselves why some sell and they don’t, without realizing that the problem partly comes from themselves. The first to sink will benefit those who remain, who manage to weather the storm and be sustainable.
This has been the cycle for many domains, Vinted is no exception, and I would even say its cycle is faster. This is due to communication methods, those who want to create sales training businesses by saying there’s room for everyone (everyone « reasons » from their own position and self-interest, as Marx said), which will lead many to launch, making phase 2 very rapid, and we are already in phase 3, with phase 4 beginning.
Have a good day.
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Meh. The two bookstores at the bottom of my street haven’t changed their business model in 20 years, and they don’t seem to be threatened.
All of this would be valid if Vinted had invented everything. Sales platforms and sellers on these platforms existed before Vinted. In my market, it has simply shifted in part to Vinted from Ebay and Rakuten. And concretely, not much has changed.
It’s just that there’s a rotten context in France. That’s actually where I’m struggling. Because on international sales, I’m progressing. And then Vinted doesn’t help with its many bugs, its stupid blocks, etc. …
I see it now, I had my listings deleted last weekend, they told me they were lifting the restrictions on my account (although I didn’t even know I had any) and I haven’t sold anything since, and it’s picking up again since last night. As usual, as soon as there’s a problem, it’s a week lost.
Besides, I advise everyone to avoid using vacation mode as much as possible; last summer it was very complicated afterwards.
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Good evening, following your message, I extracted the personal data. I had 50 reports, mostly for photos taken from the web. In short, I sent a solid email to Vinted and they replied completely off-topic. If you have any tips for contacting competent people there, I’m all ears.
Have you contacted them at legal@vinted? If not, it’s useless, it’s the bot that answers.
Yes, yes, I contact them very often via legal Vinted. I am attaching the typical example of a response I receive.
Yes, not surprising, a typical off-topic answer.
Yes, that’s exactly what I was telling you 
So, I’ll go back to my first question:
How did you manage to get constructive feedback from them?
Thank you for your analysis, it’s very structured and interesting to read.
That said, I don’t entirely agree that Vinted is in phase 4 or in full saturation.
Certainly, we can feel an increase in competition, especially for generic items or « easy » niches, and some sellers are stagnating. But at the same time, we are also in the midst of a cultural and economic boom for second-hand goods:
- The media talks about it every day
- Politicians encourage circular consumption
- More and more people want to consume better, at a low price
→ For me, the demand is expanding, not contracting.
The real challenge isn’t the platform, it’s the quality of the offering: those who work on their image, their titles, their restocking, their customer relations… continue to grow.
So yes, we may be at the end of a phase of easy euphoria, but certainly not at the end of the cycle. We are entering a more professional, more demanding phase. And personally, I find that rather healthy.
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I think it’s because I had an ongoing sanction (ad removal and account restriction), so they investigated the matter. Now you just have reports without consequences, so they don’t care.