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Vinted users complain AI is causing unfair suspensions

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Brighton, UK
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The resale app is the latest platform facing backlash for its use of automated tools.

Thousands of Vinted sellers have said they were suspended unfairly or permanently banned after automated fraud detection deemed them to be using the app inappropriately.

The BBC reported that several users feel the platform’s integrated AI tools are failing to monitor the resale platform appropriately, leaving some – including those who for whom Vinted is a vital source of income – with sudden bans and suspensions.

Single mum Emma Neil was among those interviewed. She told the BBC that she’d been permanently banned from Vinted after trying to sell a pair of sandals for £2. Neil had recently purchased the same pair for £3 on the platform, only to find they didn’t fit.

‘I did feel like a criminal,’ she told reporters. Vinted’s integrated AI tool wrongly stated that Neil had been trying to sell fake designer sandals. When she tried to contact customer service, Neil said she was met with countless AI generated responses.

Vinted has quickly become one of the biggest resale platforms, with around 17 million UK users. But handling this much traffic has led to artificial intelligence technology overhauling much of the interface. Vinted is hardly the first app to introduce AI, but the personal, low-fi nature of the platform has made the shift especially jarring.

Neil is one of 4000 users to have logged their suspension or ban experience on ‘sadvintedface.com’, a site dedicated to complaints about Vinted. Catherine Warrilow set up the website after becoming frustrated with the platform.

‘It was the number of hours I was spending sending irate messages back to Vinted and getting what felt like automated responses, copy and paste… I was going around in circles, and I was the one losing out,’ she Warrilow the BBC.

Her site has logged 2,609 users being banned or suspended. ‘I think the automation they’re using isn’t working properly.’

For many of us, a Vinted ban is just a frustrating inconvenience. But some people have started using the platform as a viable source of income. For them, a sudden suspension or ban can have huge financial consequences.

Matthew Connor is one of the biggest professional sellers on Vinted and relies on it for his livelihood. He’s amongst those who’ve noticed negative changes on the platform.

‘I noticed at the start of this year, there were a lot of fake items on there. I think they panicked, rightly so… and they’ve reactive with AI.’

But Connor then found himself permanently banned because of ‘fraudulent activity, such as selling counterfeit items’ after listing a used North Face fleece.

This is my livelihood,’ he told the BBC. ‘I wouldn’t jeopardise my business by selling a fake.’

‘Essentially someone has walked into my business and sacked me, removed my business from the internet with no prior warning.’

Luckily, the ban was lifted two weeks later after Connor appealed, and Vinted admitted they had made a mistake. But the temporary block meant he lost thousands in potential sales.

Critics are now asking broader questions about the power companies are willing to hand over to automated systems. AI can certainly be useful when a platform is dealing with millions of listings, particularly when it comes to spotting counterfeit goods. But technology is only as effective as the systems behind it.

That can be particularly frustrating on Vinted, where the relationship between buyer and seller is supposed to feel relatively informal. Unlike a traditional retailer, sellers are often ordinary people clearing out their wardrobes to make a little extra money.

The platform’s growing popularity has also blurred the line between casual seller and professional business. The app has become an increasingly important marketplace for people making a regular income from resale.

As these platforms grow, however, that autonomy increasingly comes with an invisible layer of algorithms deciding what is legitimate. For users like Neil and Connor, the issue is not necessarily that Vinted is using AI, but that there don’t seem to be adequate strategies in place for when the technology gets it wrong.

Enjoyed this? Click here for more Gen Z focused style stories.

Senior Remote Writer Brighton, UK

I’m Flo, (She/Her) a Senior Remote Writer at Thred. I recently completed a Masters in Visual Anthropology, and seek to interrogate the ways digital spaces can amplify marginalised voices in the arts and cultural sectors. Follow me on LinkedIn or ping me some feedback via email.

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