Vinted’s verification checks may be necessary, but this case shows why a compliance process needs a working route to correct errors before a seller’s completed-sales money is locked away for weeks.
The BBC reported that Mali Osmelak, a Vinted Pro seller, generated almost £6,000 in sales before she was unable to withdraw the balance from her Vinted wallet. She said verification repeatedly failed after she spotted an error in the name on her account, leaving her caught in automated responses. After eight weeks without access to the money, she brought small-claims cases against Vinted and Mangopay, the payments company then operating sellers’ wallets, and paid £455 in court fees.
Osmelak said her account was verified and the funds became withdrawable three days after the claim was filed. The legal dispute did not end there. The BBC reported that she obtained a £1,207.50 default judgment in June after neither company responded to the claim, covering fees, costs and interest. She has not received that amount, and both Vinted and Mangopay have applied to have the judgment set aside. A hearing is scheduled for December.
Vinted said Osmelak’s check had failed because her documents did not match the name on her Vinted account, and said it later helped her update the details and verify the account. It also said sellers may be asked to complete checks for legal and regulatory reasons, and that 98% of transactions are completed without support-team help. Those points matter: a verification requirement is not, by itself, evidence of wrongdoing.
But the useful test is whether a seller who has the requested business documents can reach a person able to resolve a correctable mismatch promptly. The BBC also reported another Pro seller, Azri Mukthar, saying he had been unable to withdraw nearly £2,500 for more than a year; Vinted said he had not supplied all required documents and that support was assisting him.
December’s hearing concerns the default judgment, not a final finding that either company acted unlawfully. Yet the case already raises a practical platform-governance question: automated safeguards cannot be the last word when they prevent access to funds from completed transactions.
Sources
- BBC UK · Source date: 2026-11-10
Independent editorial content. WUA is not affiliated with any political party. 2026-11-10