Entrepreneur: Polly Arrowsmith
Age: 58
Industry: Vinted
Location: London
“I started selling on Vinted when I had to drastically downsize my home. It seemed like the most convenient way to get rid of a lot of stuff in a short space of time. As a result, I made over £6,000 in less than a year.
“I’m really good at shopping – I’m known as the ‘yellow label queen’ because I know all the tricks to get great products at a great price. I put this to good use by setting up a project where I’d buy Christmas gifts for vulnerable people. I’ve done this for 16 years, so I got into the habit of shopping throughout the year, picking up toiletries and beauty products when they were on offer, so I’d have a good stock ready for Christmas. Along with all my own stuff, I’d bought lots of these gifts – and it all had to go.
“The beauty of Vinted is that it’s a user-friendly interface. Unlike eBay, it requires less description and some of the information is pre-populated, so it takes less time to upload – I can upload an item, including photographs, in less than 10 minutes. There are no seller fees, the buyer pays for postage upfront, and once the transaction is completed, the seller gets paid within a couple of days.
How to win at Vinted
“My initial sales took a bit more work because I didn’t have any reviews. I got around this by over-delivering, which meant people were more likely to give me a five-star rating. I bought silver padded envelopes and sticky address labels from Amazon as nice packaging does make a difference, and I created a letter template so I could add a signed, personalised note to each parcel, explaining that I was new to Vinted and asking for a review. I popped a free sample in every parcel, I kept my prices low, and I made sure my product descriptions were accurate.
“I now have over 500 reviews, which gives people confidence to buy from me. I’ve also learned how the Vinted algorithm works – it rewards people who are posting regularly. Professional sellers will post three times per day, but if you’re just starting out you might want to try listing one item a day as that will give your items greater visibility. Of course, if you just want to make a sale, or need to clear your space, it works to list items really cheaply. My average sale is about £20, but you can also offer a bundle deal which means that when people buy two more items you give them a discount. I’d much rather sell multiple items to the same person as it saves me time and money on postage and packaging.
“Although I keep my prices low, I’ve also learned to price things a little over what I’d be willing to accept. This means that I don’t lose out if people buy a bundle, and people can make me an offer and feel like they’ve got a bargain.
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Vinted and tax
“I’m a qualified accountant, which means I have a good understanding of the tax regulations that apply when you sell on platforms like Vinted, eBay, Etsy and Airbnb. Since the end of 2024, these platforms have been required to report anything you earn over a set amount to HMRC. All the platforms are slightly different, but for Vinted, the trigger is £1,700, or 30 sales, in one calendar year.
“If you’re a typical seller who is just having a clear out and selling your stuff then it’s very unlikely that you’re making a profit – you’re almost certainly selling things for less than you paid for them. As a result you won’t need to pay any tax. Even so, if you’ve made more than £1,700 in a year, you need to be able to show HMRC that you’re not a professional or commercial seller, and you do this by submitting a Self Assessment tax return.
“January 2026 is the first time that people will be caught out by this, due to the way the tax system works. So if you know that you earned more than £1,700, or sold more than 30 items, between 6 April 2024 and 5 April 2025, then the onus is on you to complete your Self Assessment by 31 January 2026. The important thing to remember is that there are really only two main things you need to fill in: the total amount of your sales, and the total amount of your costs. So, if you spent £2,000 on clothes (your costs), wore them and then sold them for £1,000 (your sales), you haven’t made a profit – you’ve actually made a loss – so there won’t be any tax to pay. This is my situation, which is why I won’t need to pay any tax on my Vinted earnings.
“I understand that there’s a lot of anxiety about this, but all you need to do is fill out an online tax return. For most sellers there’s absolutely nothing to worry about.”
Image credit: Polly Arrowsmith
About the Author
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