Finding a good deal on an item on Vinted is a brilliant feeling. I had this very feeling a few weeks ago when I found an old black Ganni dress for £25 and couldn’t believe my luck. And when my offer was accepted by the buyer? I squealed internally, overjoyed with my find as a result of days of scrolling. Vinted, and the similar UK-based platform Depop, have caught on with shoppers in recent years, cutting into eBay’s original dominance of the secondhand clothing market. Founded in Lithuania in 2008, Vinted has grown massively in recent years and now has 16 million users on its platform in the UK – making Vinted Europe’s biggest secondhand selling platform.

But with this growth and success comes a new set of issues. In a new Channel 4 Dispatches investigation, journalist Ellie Flynn looks into the darker side of Vinted in a new documentary, Vinted’s Dirty Laundry. Here are the surprising things we learned from watching the new Channel 4 documentary.

Counterfeit and fake items are common, including prohibited items

Even though they go against Vinted’s terms and conditions, the documentary reveals that there’s a significant number of fake products being sold on the platform. In late 2023, Vinted launched its optional verification service for luxury and designer items for sellers looking to sell high-value and genuine products.

Interestingly, Flynn also found that there were users who were selling products that were prohibited by Vinted, such as open and used beauty products, which are deemed risky and unhygienic. There were sellers posting used eyeshadow palettes, lip products and skincare items like retinol. Recalled products were also found on the platform, especially unsafe items such as baby sleeping bags and self-feeding baby pillows, as well as some prescription drugs.

Users have experienced harassment and inappropriate interactions

I’m sure we’ve all heard some wild and outrageous stories from people’s interactions on Vinted and, sometimes, these can be pretty funny. However, there is a darker side to some of these interactions.

In the documentary, Flynn finds that some users have experienced harassment, hateful language and inappropriate and unwanted messages and images. Flynn talks to one man in the documentary who was harassed and threatened with violence at his own home because he wouldn’t pay for an item he never received. There have also been reports of women being sent unwanted sexualised images from users.

Women have had their images stolen and used in a sexually explicit way

Perhaps the most shocking part of the Dispatches documentary is Flynn discovering a website where people have stolen the images of women from Vinted and sexualised them on a misogynistic and derogatory website. Images that are simply being used to display and sell clothing are being taken and hyper-sexualised (with links to their Vinted profiles) and many of the women had no idea this was even happening. Flynn contacts many of the women she finds on this website and one woman, 28-year-old Lydia, agrees to be shown these pictures and is horrified. “It’s very disturbing. I had no idea this was happening, and it has made me feel extremely unsafe,” she says in the documentary.

On these reports, Vinted said: “We are taking the allegations seriously… We act as swiftly as we can against anything that violates our terms and conditions. We’re very sorry to hear of these experiences and commit to take the necessary action against members who violate our community standards. We have a number of measures in place to uphold safety on the platform and are constantly updating these processes and improving our level of personal member support.”

You can watch Vinted’s Dirty Laundry: Dispatches on All4