Vinted buyer says the parcel was empty. What to do in the next 48 hours.

The first thing worth knowing is that your money has not gone anywhere. When a buyer reports an issue, Vinted holds their payment while it investigates. Nothing is released to you and nothing is refunded to them until that concludes. That buys you a little time, and time is the thing most sellers waste arguing in the chat.

Why the weight scan matters so much here

In a contents dispute you have your word, the buyer has theirs, and Vinted has to decide. The carrier’s recorded weight is the only input that comes from neither side.

A parcel accepted at 480g is difficult to reconcile with an empty mailing bag. It is not conclusive, and it will not always exist, but it is the single strongest artefact available to a seller who did not record the packing. Ask early: scan data is not kept indefinitely.

Two processes, not one

1. 1

   The Vinted investigation

   Runs on Vinted’s timetable, with the payment held throughout. Vinted may take it up with the carrier itself, which it says can take several weeks. Supply anything you have when asked, and keep it factual.

2. 2

   Your own courier claim

   Separate, and yours to open. Evri asks the sender to claim, within a recommended 28 days for UK services, with photographs of contents and packaging. That deadline runs regardless of where the Vinted case has got to.

Who claims against the courier depends on the label

Step 2 above assumes you bought the postage yourself. If the order shipped on a prepaid, Vinted-generated label, the compensation route runs through Vinted rather than the courier’s own claim form. Vinted runs its own scheme for integrated labels: standard and Pro sellers can be compensated up to £500 if the shipping provider confirms the parcel was lost or damaged. The scheme covers the carriers Vinted sells labels for, including Evri, InPost, Yodel, DPD and Royal Mail.

If you used custom shipping, Vinted’s help pages say to check directly with your carrier about compensation. That is the case where the direct Evri claim is yours to open as the sender.

Two conditions in Vinted’s scheme are worth reading twice. The loss or damage must be confirmed by the shipping provider, which is why the carrier’s own records matter so much in a contents dispute. And Vinted says it can only compensate for a damaged parcel if it was properly packed. Evidence of how you packed is not decoration there, it is the eligibility condition.

There is no “empty parcel” button. The bucket decides who investigates.

Vinted’s refund policy has no empty-parcel category. The buyer’s report lands in one of a few buckets, and the bucket decides whether the carrier’s records ever get read.

• Damaged in transit. The parcel arrived damaged. Vinted says it will investigate the damage itself or send the issue directly to the shipping provider. This is the bucket where weight scans and handling records come into play.
• Significantly not as described. Vinted’s SNAD definition includes missing item parts and accessories, and bundles with missing items. This one runs between you and the buyer: you review the claim, and you can offer a full or partial refund and let them keep the item, or ask for a return.
• Item missing from a bundle. Its own route in the refund policy. You can refund the missing items and let the buyer keep the rest, or ask for the remaining items back.

The clock is short. On a standard account the buyer has 2 calendar days from Vinted’s notification that the order should have been delivered to press “I have an issue”, or 14 days when buying from a Pro seller. If nothing is reported in time, the order completes and the payment is released to you.

Whichever bucket the report lands in, Vinted asks the buyer for photos of the item, the outer and inner packaging, and any visible damage, plus the shipping label with the tracking number legible, and it recommends keeping the packaging until the request is resolved. If you ask for a return: the buyer pays return postage unless you provide a Vinted-generated label, and must send the item within 5 business days of your request.

The first 48 hours, message by message

1. 1

   Hour one: message the buyer

   Something like: “Sorry you’ve opened it to that, let’s get it sorted. Could you photograph the packaging before it goes anywhere: outside, inside, all sides, with the label showing? Vinted will ask for the same photos, so please keep the packaging until this is resolved.” One request, no accusation, and it matches exactly what Vinted’s own process asks of them.

2. 2

   Same day: ask the courier for the acceptance weight

   In writing, quoting the tracking number: “Please confirm the weight recorded for this parcel at acceptance and at any later scan.” Scan data is not kept indefinitely, so this goes out before anything that can wait.

3. 3

   Day one: put your evidence on the order

   Reply inside the Vinted conversation, not off-platform: listing photos, your packing photos, the drop-off receipt with its weight, and the recording if you made one. Facts and dates, no adjectives. The payment stays held while the order is suspended, so precision costs you nothing.

4. 4

   Day two: answer the return question deliberately

   If the report came through as not as described, the choice is yours: a full or partial refund with the buyer keeping the item, or a return. Where the claim is that nothing arrived at all, a return has nothing in it to send back, so requesting one mostly signals that you dispute the claim. Weigh that against the value of the order before you choose.

Before the next one

Being blunt about the economics: on Vinted the average sale is small enough that a lost parcel is annoying rather than serious. The parcels worth protecting are the outliers: the designer coat, the boxed trainers, the piece you listed for three figures.

• Seal along the join rather than across a flat face, so the parcel cannot be opened without visible damage.
• Photograph the item in the packaging, then the sealed parcel with the label legible, every time. It costs ten seconds.
• Keep the drop-off receipt with its weight. That is the number you will want later.
• For anything above about £50, record the pack. Not for Vinted’s benefit, but for the courier claim, where evidence is genuinely read.

Common questions

Source: Vinted’s published help pages on parcel issues and refunds. Policies change, so confirm on vinted.co.uk before relying on a timescale.