Yes, you can get your money back — if you don't collect the parcel, report it when it arrives, or keep chasing Vinted until the scammer's account gets banned. The "too good to be true" console listing is one of the most common scams on Vinted right now: a brand-new account with no reviews lists a Switch, Switch 2 or other in-demand electronics at a fraction of market value, and buyers who bite get stuck in a loop where the seller ignores cancellation requests and the order won't cancel. Here's exactly what to do, based on what real buyers on r/vinted and r/vintedUK report actually working.
The listing looked amazing: a Switch 2 for £80, an OLED Switch with games for £56, a console bundle at a fraction of what it costs anywhere else. On Vinted, listings like this appear constantly from accounts with zero reviews and no history. Real sellers who need money fast do list cheap — but a high-demand console at roughly a quarter of retail from an account with no feedback is a scam pattern that buyers on r/vinted and r/vintedUK describe over and over.
The trap closes the moment you pay. You realise it's a scam and hit cancel — but instead of cancelling, Vinted asks the seller to confirm, and the seller ignores you and immediately generates a shipping label. Once that label exists, the cancellation depends on the seller's approval, and a scammer will never approve it. That's the exact moment most buyers panic: "scammed and can't cancel order."
From there the scam plays out a few ways, all reported repeatedly in recent threads: the parcel never actually gets sent (the scammer stalls out the clock), it gets "lost" or "damaged in transit" so both parties are refunded while the scammer still collects a payout, or something does arrive — an envelope of leaflets, a random cheap item, or an empty box.
The moment you believe the listing is a scam, open the order and press cancel with "suspected scam" as the reason. The seller will probably ignore it — that's the point of the scam — but the request puts the order in a state Vinted can see.
Then message Vinted support and explain the seller is a suspected scammer: new account, no reviews, price far below market, refusing to cancel. Support's first reply is often unhelpful — buyers report being told to "wait for it to arrive and press 'I have an issue'" or wait for automatic cancellation. Don't stop there. Multiple buyers report that after repeated back-and-forth, Vinted eventually cancelled the order and banned the seller's account.
One detail worth knowing: if the seller never ships, the order is supposed to auto-cancel after the shipping deadline passes (Vinted's rule is that an order auto-cancels when the seller fails to download the label or send the item within 5 business days). In practice this can lag, which is why buyers are told to be patient but persistent — the money is held by Vinted's payment provider while the order is open, not handed to the seller.
The single most repeated piece of advice in these threads is brutally simple: don't collect the parcel. If the seller has shipped something to a locker or parcel shop and you suspect a scam, leave it there. After the holding period ends, the parcel is returned to the sender automatically, Vinted cancels the order and refunds you in full — item price, shipping fee, and the Buyer Protection fee.
Buyers who collected anyway describe the worst-case outcome: they opened an empty box or a decoy item and then had to fight a "he said, she said" dispute about what was actually inside. Once you physically take the parcel, the seller can claim "that's not what I sent" and the case gets messier and slower.
A caveat repeated in the threads: not-collecting works reliably for locker and parcel-shop deliveries, but home deliveries are different (next step), and some buyers report certain couriers finalising the order even when a parcel goes uncollected — if you're unsure about your carrier, check with Vinted support before relying on this alone.
For home delivery, buyers advise refusing the parcel when the courier arrives, so it goes back to the seller and the order is cancelled and refunded. Some couriers let you refuse at the door; others drop it and mark it delivered either way.
If you can't refuse in time, or already have the parcel: do not press "Everything is OK," do not let the window lapse, and do not just sit on it. You have 2 days from Vinted notifying you that the item should have been delivered to press "I have an issue." Miss that window and the order completes automatically, releasing your payment to the seller — exactly what the scammer is betting on. Report immediately, say the item is significantly not as described (empty box, wrong item, or clearly not the console in the photos), and attach photos of the parcel, the label, and the contents.
A common version of this scam: the seller generates the label, marks the order as shipped, and no parcel ever actually moves. If tracking shows nothing after several days, or the parcel is declared "lost" or "damaged in transit," press "I have an issue" and report the order as not arrived. Under Buyer Protection, if Vinted confirms the parcel is lost you get a full refund — and genuinely shipped parcels are compensated separately, which is why refunding both sides is a normal outcome for a genuinely lost parcel.
The uncomfortable part: some scammers exploit exactly that rule. They ship a worthless parcel, it gets declared lost or damaged, and Vinted refunds you while the scammer also receives a payout. You still get your money back — but the scam stays profitable for them, which is why these listings keep appearing and why Vinted keeps banning the accounts and hiding the posts.
Every thread on this scam ends with the same warning signs, and they're worth memorising because the listings resurface daily under fresh accounts:
A price that is obviously wrong — a new-in-demand console like the Switch 2 going for under £100, or an OLED Switch with games for under £60. Check what the item actually sells for elsewhere before you believe it.
A brand-new account with zero reviews selling one high-value item, often with stock-style photos and a vague description. Scammers create accounts constantly because Vinted bans them — the account being new IS the red flag.
A listing that appears and sells within minutes of being posted. Scammers price items so low they sell instantly, before anyone can report the listing.
A seller who ignores questions and messages but immediately generates a shipping label the second you pay — that's the tell that the cancel window is about to slam shut.
If you already bought and you're reading this: don't beat yourself up — experienced buyers in these very threads admit falling for it. Vinted's Buyer Protection refunds buyers in this situation in the overwhelming majority of cases. It's slow and annoying, and it usually ends with the scammer's account banned.
Not on your own. Once a shipping label exists, a cancellation request has to be confirmed by the seller — and a scammer won't confirm it. Keep the cancellation request open anyway (choose "suspected scam" as the reason), report the seller to Vinted support, and either wait for the order to auto-cancel if nothing is ever shipped, or follow the don't-collect / report-on-arrival steps above.
After the holding period ends, the parcel is returned to the sender, Vinted cancels the order, and the buyer is refunded in full — item price, shipping fee, and Buyer Protection fee. That's why buyers in scam situations are repeatedly advised to leave the parcel rather than collect an empty or wrong item and then fight a dispute over what was inside.
2 days from the moment Vinted notifies you the item should have been delivered. If you press "Everything is OK" or let the window lapse, the order completes automatically and your payment goes to the seller. Received an empty box or the wrong item? Report it as significantly not as described within that window and attach photos of the parcel, label and contents.
Yes. When an order is cancelled because the parcel is returned to the seller, never arrives, or is significantly not as described, your refund includes the item price, the shipping fee you paid, and the Buyer Protection fee.
Keep pushing. Buyers report Vinted's first reply is often boilerplate ("wait for it to arrive or auto-cancel"), but several who kept replying and explained the scam — new account, no reviews, unrealistic price, refusal to cancel — eventually got the order cancelled and the seller's account banned. Your payment stays frozen with Vinted's payment provider while the order is unresolved.
A new-in-demand console at a fraction of retail from a zero-review account is a scam pattern so common that buyers on r/vinted and r/vintedUK treat it as a rule of thumb. If the price is only slightly below market, the seller communicates normally and actually ships, new sellers can be legitimate — but the deep-discount, no-reviews, refuses-to-cancel combination is the scam signature.