If your Vinted order shows as delivered but no real parcel arrived — or the parcel contained nothing but a printed “thank you” note — a scam seller has faked the delivery: they send a cheap tracked letter or use a fraudulent shipping label so tracking updates to “delivered”, then wait out the short “Everything is OK” window so the order auto-completes and their payment is released. Act now: in the order chat press “I have an issue” and submit a refund request to suspend the order and keep your money safe.
The posts keep appearing on r/vinted and r/vintedUK — often several in a single day: the tracking on an order flips to “delivered”, but what actually shows up is an envelope containing only a printed “thank you for your purchase” note, or nothing arrives at all while the courier insists the parcel was delivered. Buyers describe waiting for the “real” parcel to follow, only to realise the note was the parcel.
This is a delivery scam, not a courier mix-up. The seller never intends to send the item. The account behind it is usually brand new: an auto-generated username of random letters and numbers, no profile picture, no reviews, often a single listing with screenshotted photos at a price far below what a genuine seller would accept. It has spread widely enough that UK newspapers have warned readers about parcels containing just a thank-you note, and Facebook Vinted scam groups share near-identical stories.
It looks legitimate: there is a real tracking number, a real delivery scan and sometimes a delivery photo. The trick only collapses when you open the parcel — or dig into where the label actually delivered.
Variant one is the junk parcel: the seller ships a cheap letter or envelope — a thank-you note, a crumpled piece of paper, similar filler — using the real Vinted shipping label. The parcel is genuinely tracked, so the order shows as delivered, but the weight the courier records is a fraction of what the real item would weigh — your proof later. One buyer opened the envelope only after returning from holiday, once the window to report had already closed.
Variant two is the fraudulent label. The seller creates or alters a label so the parcel travels to a completely different address while the tracking number on your order still updates as “delivered”. Buyers who asked at their local delivery office were told the label was fraudulent and the parcel had gone to someone else’s house under their tracking number. When there is a delivery photo, it often shows a floor or a doorstep the buyer doesn’t recognise.
A softer cousin is the drop-shipper: the seller sends a letter to generate a tracking number while the real item crawls over from abroad. The item may eventually arrive, but the seller is still running down the same timer.
The engine of this scam is Vinted’s auto-complete. When an order is marked delivered, the buyer is expected to confirm receipt — and the app runs a short countdown, around two days in practice, before the order completes on its own. Vinted’s help page (“Parcel didn’t arrive”) states it plainly: “If you don’t report any issues within this time (or if you press ‘Everything is OK’), the order will be completed and your payment will be released to the seller.”
The scammer bets on three things: that you’re away or busy when the junk parcel lands, that you press “Everything is OK” without opening it, or that you assume the real item is still coming and wait. Once the order completes the money is released — and the account is soon deleted or blocked, leaving nobody to chase.
That’s why the advice in every thread comes back to one rule: never press “Everything is OK” until the item is actually in your hands — a delivery scan is the start of a deadline, not the end of the story.
First, do not press “Everything is OK”, do not “Resolve this issue”, and do not accept any offer from the seller to settle privately or with a partial refund in the chat — that trick keeps the order moving. Keep everything in the Vinted chat so there is a full record.
Open the order conversation and press “I have an issue”, report that you haven’t received the item (or that it’s significantly not as described) and submit the refund request. Vinted’s help page confirms what happens next: “Once you submit a refund request to the seller, your order will be suspended. This will keep your money safe until the issue is resolved” — and if the loss is confirmed, the order is cancelled and you’re fully refunded under Buyer Protection.
Gather evidence while the case is open. Photograph the parcel as it arrived: the envelope or box, the label with its recorded weight, and the contents (or lack of them). Screenshot the listing, the seller’s profile and the chat. Check the courier’s delivery photo and location — if it isn’t your door, that’s your answer. If the label looks wrong, ask at your delivery office or contact the courier to trace where the parcel actually delivered; buyers who did this were told the label was fraudulent — hand that finding to Vinted in the ticket.
Report the seller too, so the account gets banned before it hits the next buyer. If the order already auto-completed, don’t give up: contact Vinted from the order thread with your evidence and ask for a human review. If the standard channel stalls, escalate to Vinted’s legal contact (listed on their “contacts for dispute resolution” help page). As a last resort for card payments, a chargeback through your bank — though Vinted may close your account over it.
The listings have a signature. The price is the biggest tell: branded bags, electronics or designer goods at a small fraction of what they resell for anywhere else — “too good to be true” is the phrase buyers keep using afterwards. Check the account, not just the item: a username of random letters and numbers, no profile photo, zero reviews, an account created days ago, or a profile where every listing appeared in the same hour.
Look at the photos. Genuine sellers photograph their own item in their own home; scam listings use screenshots, stock images or photos that are clearly not all taken by the same person. The same bargain listing reappearing repeatedly from different accounts is another sign. Watch what happens after you buy: a “shipped” notification within minutes — sometimes in the middle of the night — before any human could plausibly have printed a label.
Keep the whole transaction inside Vinted and treat your instincts as evidence. If a deal looks impossible, assume it’s a scam until the parcel in your hands proves otherwise. The safest buys come from established sellers with real review histories — and from alerts that surface genuine listings the moment they’re posted.
If the seller is a fresh account with a random-letter username, no reviews and a price far below market, it very likely is. Scammers fake deliveries so tracking shows “delivered” and the order auto-completes. Raise the issue in the order chat immediately.
The note is the parcel. The seller sent a cheap tracked letter so the order would show as delivered; the real item is not coming. Don’t wait for a second parcel — raise the issue now, while the order can still be suspended.
The order completes and the payment is released to the seller — Vinted’s help page says this explicitly. You can still contact Vinted from the order thread with photos of the parcel, the label weight and the delivery location, and ask for a human review — or escalate to Vinted’s legal contact.
Two ways: they post a real but worthless tracked letter (the thank-you-note trick), or they use a fraudulent label so the parcel goes to a different address under your tracking number. Your delivery office or courier can trace where the label actually delivered.
Yes. Buyers who asked were told the label was fraudulent and the parcel had gone to a different address under their tracking number. Screenshot that finding and send it to Vinted — it is the strongest evidence you can have.
If you report within the delivery window and the loss is confirmed, Vinted cancels the order and refunds you in full under Buyer Protection. Report fast, keep the packaging and label, and don’t press “Everything is OK” before the real item is in your hands.