If a Vinted locker opened and the parcel inside wasn't yours — or the compartment was completely empty — this is almost always a carrier mix-up rather than a seller scam, and you are not stuck with it. Photograph the compartment before you touch anything, leave the parcel in the locker if the carrier tells you to, and raise the problem through the order screen within 2 days: that window is what freezes your payment and triggers a refund. Where the courier mixed the labels, buyers are normally refunded and sellers are compensated too.
When you collect a Vinted order from a parcel locker, you are dealing with a machine run by the carrier — InPost and Vinted Go are the two named again and again in the threads, with DPD and Evri lockers appearing too. On a locker shipment the label is printed and stuck on at the depot or at the machine itself, not by the sender at home. That single detail is where most of these mix-ups come from.
The patterns buyers keep describing are remarkably consistent. A compartment swings open with someone else's parcel already inside it, often carrying a label for a completely different town or even a different country. Two parcels sitting in one compartment, both showing the same tracking number. A "ready to collect" notification followed by an empty compartment. Or a parcel that does have your label on it but contains something you never ordered.
The explanations people land on are equally consistent: staff attaching labels to the wrong parcels at the locker or depot; the machine re-issuing a compartment that already holds a parcel because the previous sender never finished confirming their drop-off, so the system believes the door is empty; or a busy period where several parcels end up shoved into one compartment. Sellers also describe parcels being collected, relabelled and sent onward with the wrong label.
The one thing that matters for your claim: in the ordinary case this is a carrier fault, not a dishonest buyer or seller. That is what decides who ends up out of pocket, so it really matters how you describe it to Vinted.
Photograph or film the open compartment with the parcel still inside it, making sure the label, the tracking number and the locker number are all visible. This is the evidence that everything else depends on.
If the parcel is clearly not yours, do not take it home. Buyers who rang the number printed on the locker screen were told to leave the parcel in the compartment so it could be recovered. If you are unsure, call the number on the locker's own Help Center screen — Vinted Go's official FAQ points pick-up and drop-off problems to exactly that number.
Film yourself opening the compartment and closing it, and note the time. Lockers have cameras, but the footage only helps if somebody actually requests it — users repeatedly report being told the recording is only checked when Vinted asks for it.
Whatever you do, do not press "Everything is OK" on the order. That confirms receipt and releases your payment to the seller, and it is very hard to undo afterwards.
Vinted's shipping help page (help 12/234) sets out the correct route under "I have received the wrong order": open the conversation with the seller, press the information (ⓘ) button in the top-right corner, select "Help", then choose the relevant problem and attach your proof.
Vinted also publishes help 745, "The seller has sent a wrong item" — the seller-sent-the-wrong-thing path: you press "I have an issue", both sides see the next steps, you send the item back, the seller cancels and you are refunded.
Use the right one. If what happened was a courier mix-up — a foreign label, someone else's parcel, two parcels in one door — say so in plain words and keep the photographic proof of that. Buyers and sellers in the threads describe the same lesson repeatedly: when Vinted understands the case as a label or courier mix-up, both sides tend to be refunded because the carrier is at fault, whereas when it is logged simply as "seller sent the wrong item" you can be pushed down the pay-to-post-it-back route.
The clock is tight. Vinted states that if they notify you the parcel should have been delivered, you must contact them within 2 days to report the issue — if you miss the window, or if you press "Everything is OK", the order is completed and your payment is released to the seller. Orders placed with Pro sellers are different: Vinted's help says Pro orders get an extended 14-day timeframe to raise an issue.
Vinted's advice on the same shipping page is direct: ask the buyer to raise an issue via the conversation screen, and if they do not respond, contact Vinted yourself. You do that from the order conversation, press the information button, then "Help", and choose the relevant problem — attaching your proof of shipping.
What you should not do is reflexively click the option that makes the buyer return the item at their own cost. Sellers describe how that choice closes the case as though you sent the wrong thing, and once a return is set up they are told it cannot be cancelled — leaving the buyer stuck with a parcel that was never yours while the seller is paid.
So put it in writing in the first message: the buyer has received a parcel that is not theirs, the item you posted was correct, and the label was carrier-applied. Keep your own proof — photos of the item, the packed and labelled parcel, and the drop-off receipt. If a compensation claim follows, that is the evidence it rests on.
This is the sender-side twin of the same fault, and it is far more common than people expect. You scan your code, a door swings open, and there is already an unrelated parcel sitting inside it. Some sellers report five different compartments in a row opening onto someone else's parcel.
Do not just close the door and post your parcel on top of it. Users who did that report their parcel later going missing and a dispute taking weeks to resolve, and the parcel that was already in there is put at risk too. The safer move is to use the help option on the locker screen — users report an option for telling the machine the compartment already contained a parcel — and then pick a different size, compartment or locker.
A related case: your chosen locker is full or out of order, so the carrier cannot deliver. Buyers report roughly three days of failed attempts before the parcel heads back. Vinted's "Parcel was sent back to sender" page (help 463/728) confirms parcels can return because they could not be delivered, repeats the 2-day reporting rule, and notes parcels are sometimes held only two to three days, so collect promptly. If it comes back to you, the order is cancelled, the buyer is refunded, and you relist.
Where the courier mixed the parcels up, Buyer Protection generally refunds the buyer and Vinted compensates the seller. Multiple buyers and sellers in the threads describe exactly that outcome once the case was recognised as a carrier fault. Keep everything inside Vinted — never accept a private settlement or pay outside the platform, because that instantly removes the protection you are relying on.
Expect it to be slow. Investigations and disputes are regularly reported as taking weeks rather than days. Keep the order conversation open, do not close the case yourself, and do not press any confirmation button until the situation is genuinely resolved.
Sometimes the parcel turns up in the end. Sellers report items being returned to them once the carrier has finished its search, and buyers occasionally find that the original order arrives later as well. When that happens, the seller relists and the buyer buys again from the new listing. If your parcel does reappear, tell Vinted in the order thread so the refund is handled cleanly.
If the ordinary forms get you nowhere, Vinted's "Contact us" page (help 615) routes you to its other ways of resolving a dispute, and the dispute-resolution page (help 1253) lists legal@vinted.com for legal or regulatory issues the normal form cannot handle. Use that as a last resort, with a short numbered summary and your photos.
No. Photograph the compartment with the parcel and its label visible, leave the parcel in the locker if the carrier tells you to, and report the problem through the order screen within 2 days. Lockers are covered by cameras and taking a parcel that is not yours is theft, even if the machine let you reach it.
Usually yes. Ring the number shown on the locker's Help Center screen first, then raise the issue on the order within 2 days of the delivery status update. Buyers in the threads repeatedly report being refunded under Buyer Protection even when the parcel itself never turns up.
Vinted's help pages state you must report within 2 days of the delivery status update, either by pressing "I have an issue" on the order or contacting support. If you miss that window, or press "Everything is OK", the order completes and your payment is released to the seller. Pro-seller orders get an extended 14-day timeframe.
Aim to have it handled as a courier mix-up rather than a seller mistake. Where Vinted recognises the carrier mixed the labels, buyers and sellers report both sides being refunded without a paid return. If it is logged as the seller sending the wrong item, help 745 sends you down the return route, where buyers normally pay return postage unless the seller agrees to cover it.
Do not post your parcel in on top of it. Use the help option on the locker screen to report that the compartment already contained a parcel, then choose another compartment, size or locker. Users who sent anyway sometimes had it delivered fine, but others report their parcel going missing and a dispute taking weeks.
If the courier mixed the labels, yes. Vinted's shipping page tells sellers to ask the buyer to raise an issue, then to contact Vinted themselves if the buyer does not. Keep proof of shipping and the drop-off receipt; where the carrier was at fault, buyers and sellers in the threads report both sides being refunded.