I'll be straight with you: I'm an eBay person. I have been for over twenty years. So when someone asks me which platform they should start with, I have to consciously hold myself back before I answer, because my gut response is always going to be eBay. But the honest answer is more nuanced than that, so let me give you both sides and let you make your own mind up.

I do sell on Vinted. It would be daft not to. It has a large and growing audience, particularly for clothing, and the fee structure is genuinely appealing. What you list it for is largely what you get. Vinted charges the buyer a protection fee rather than taking a percentage from you as the seller, which means there's no mental arithmetic about what disappears off the top. You set a price, it sells, and that amount lands with you. It's a clean, simple model.

That sounds brilliant, doesn't it? And in principle it is. But I made a mistake when I first set up on Vinted that I really want to save you from: I registered as a pro seller.

On paper, pro status makes sense if you're selling regularly and in volume. In practice, what it meant for me was that my funds were held pending for an uncomfortable amount of time. I once waited three weeks to receive £2.50. Three weeks. The reason was that the buyer hadn't pressed the order complete button, which is how Vinted signals to the platform that everything is fine and the transaction can close. Buyers don't always remember to do that, or don't bother, and until they do — or until Vinted's automatic release period finally kicks in — your money sits there. On eBay, funds release within a few days as standard and the whole process is considerably more predictable.

I also find listing on Vinted more effort than it needs to be. eBay has a quick listing flow I've been using so long I could complete it in my sleep. Vinted requires a bit more input per item, and when you're listing regularly and in volume, that difference adds up over the course of a week.

Then there are the offers. Low offers happen on both platforms and you have to make your peace with that — it's the nature of secondhand selling. But I find Vinted can feel more relentless for it. One thing eBay does really well is the minimum offer feature. You can set the lowest price you're willing to accept, and anything below that is automatically declined without you ever seeing it or having to respond to it. That one tool alone removes a surprising amount of friction from the process.

To be fair to Vinted, its audience is genuinely different to eBay's. It feels more social, it skews younger, and it can move everyday clothing quickly at accessible price points. If you have a clear-out of high street brands in decent condition, Vinted can shift those fast. The no-seller-fee model also makes a real difference on lower-value items where eBay's percentage can feel particularly punishing.

So if you're starting from scratch and wondering which one to open an account on first, here's my honest answer: start with eBay. It covers more categories, it has a bigger and broader audience, and the tools available to you as a seller are more developed and easier to navigate when you're getting started. eBay works just as well for larger items, unusual items, vinyl records, vintage toys, sporting equipment — all things we'll be getting into on this blog. Vinted is much more clothing-led. Get your eBay rhythm established first. Once listing, packaging, and posting has become second nature, then add Vinted as a second channel alongside it.

The one thing both platforms absolutely share is this: consistency is everything. Listing regularly, even just a small number of items each day, keeps you visible in search results and keeps sales moving. A burst of fifty listings over a weekend followed by three weeks of nothing is one of the most common mistakes new sellers make. The algorithms on both platforms reward sellers who show up steadily. Think of it less like a sprint and more like a habit you build slowly and then don't break.

If I had to summarise it in one line: Vinted is worth being on, but eBay is where I'd build the foundation. It's where I've built mine, for more than twenty years, and I'm still here.