We have been seeing a lot of people speaking about lower vinted sales, views and overall a worse selling experience with Vinted so we decided to dig deeper and see if anything has changed on Vinted's side and some things have.
Vinted algorithm changes
The Vinted algorithm has indeed changed in the last month or so. Just before Christmas they added a new line to the Pro terms of use that states
'Whether the Item is offered for sale by a User or a Pro User (as the Site is primarily a platform for non-professional Users, Items offered for sale by non-professional Users will have more visibility even if they are of equal relevance to Items sold by Pro Users).'
Source: Found under point 3.1 - https://www.vinted.co.uk/pro-terms-of-use
This means a lot of pro users noticed large drops in listing views suddenly and without warning. In recent weeks, this restriction appears stricter, with many items receiving fewer or no views for longer. Pro accounts may be hidden or rank very low in some search results. This echo's a similar change Depop made last year where larger stores will now rank 1-3 rows below all other searches to prioritise smaller or new shops.
Additionally updates to several Vinted articles now emphasise, that item age greatly affects search relevance.
To adapt and ensure items get the best chance to sell. List new items daily and use the Zipsale relisting tool on older ones or on items with 0 views. Zipsale data shows items typically drop out of most search results after about four months. If you are able to list items over a longer period of time instead of all at once this is also more beneficial. It Now seems that new listing need time to get pushed into the search results, and listing all items at once can lead to some getting lost and stuck on 0 views.
Spotlight feature
For larger stores, the change has been significantly more noticeable, with impressions dropping by approximately 50 to 60 percent. It appears that when a store has a larger inventory, there are now restrictions on the number of items that will be promoted. This limitation seems to be roughly around 10% of the total items listed in the store.
Additionally, the age of the items now seems to play an important role with this tool. Items that have been listed within the last four months are given priority. Unlike before, when all items might have been promoted regardless of their listing date, the tool now focuses primarily on the more recent listings in larger stores, rather than pushing every item available.
The tool is still worth using, and stores with over 3000 items will see around 200-300 new likes each week. If paired with the Vinted auto offer tool, it can lead to a 10%+ sales boost.
Pro account bans
Recently i have seen countless tik toks and Instagram posts, saying they had been banned for being a commercial seller even when they were on a pro account. When checking the accounts it seems to fall into one of the following two reasons.
1) Selling to many new with tag items
In the Vinted Pro terms and conditions, it states
"Sell a large number of brand new items, including items with tags' is against the pro seller rules."
Vinted has always been very strict on the number of new items you can list. Even when on a pro account you are limited. It is best to list these items elsewhere or keep an eye on how many you post.
2) Trying to sell mystery bundles or reseller boxes.
While a great way to sell and clear out sticky stock to others these are not allowed on Vinted. In order to sell bundles of items in an allowed way each item being sold must be shown in a photograph on the listing.