Vinted makes selling free and charges buyers instead — €10.8B GMV by 2025

Vinted began in 2008 in a Vilnius apartment with a mission to make second-hand fashion the first choice, but the economics did not cooperate for years. Sellers faced listing fees and commissions, casual sellers hesitated, inventory stayed thin, and by 2016 the company had roughly €400,000 left on its balance sheet.

The pivot, led by Thomas Plantenga, who joined as a strategy consultant that year, inverted who pays. Vinted removed every seller fee: a seller keeps 100% of the sale value, and the buyer pays a protection fee — typically around 5% plus a small fixed amount, such as €0.70 in France — which funds escrow-style payment holding, refunds and dispute resolution between strangers.

Vinted also built the surrounding logistics: integrated shipping labels, delivery to pick-up points, and later its own Vinted Go locker network, which lowered delivery cost and carbon at the same time. Optional paid 'bumps' for visibility, display advertising and a Pro subscription for business sellers became secondary revenue streams on top of the buyer fee.

The company gambled its remaining cash on a French TV campaign explaining the change, and France took off. As marketplace CEO Adam Jay later put it, thin margins are the point: 'That is what reduces friction.' The model was then rolled out market by market — France first, Germany only succeeding on roughly the seventh attempt.