Summary: The Charity Retail Association (CRA) has told civilsociety.co.uk that some of its member organisations have had their business accounts on online second-hand marketplaces such as Vinted frozen, pointing to a "flawed onboarding and verification process". Hospice of St Francis, a charity with 10 shops, says its Vinted Pro account has been frozen for at least six months, with funds trapped. Vinted responds that Pro members must comply with the platform's catalogue rules, and those whose accounts are blocked can appeal on a case-by-case basis.

Key points

  • The CRA says some charity accounts were deactivated due to a single spelling error in a name or address, and documents are often rejected without explanation
  • Hospice of St Francis's Vinted Pro account has been frozen for at least six months, with funds in the account unable to be withdrawn
  • Vinted says only organisations registered as Pro sellers (including non-profits) are allowed to engage in commercial selling, and accounts in breach may be temporarily or permanently banned

The Charity Retail Association (CRA) recently told the civil society news website civilsociety.co.uk that some of its member organisations have had their business accounts on Vinted and other online second-hand marketplaces frozen. The CRA attributes the problem to the platforms' "flawed onboarding and verification process", and says helping members resolve such disputes is "far more complicated than it should be", with the crux being weak customer support and a lack of clear communication about the required documents.

A CRA spokesperson said charity retailers' online sales are experiencing significant growth, making it "extremely frustrating" for sales to be halted by review process problems at this time. The spokesperson acknowledged that online platforms must comply with strict financial regulations, but criticised their verification systems as "clunky, highly automated and poorly designed", with no effective fallback mechanism once something goes wrong. According to the spokesperson, customer service often cannot provide substantive help, and some charity accounts are deactivated merely because of a single spelling error in a name or address; submitted documents are also frequently rejected without explanation or clear guidance on what is required.

CRA member organisation Hospice of St Francis runs 10 charity shops in the UK. Sam Lees, the organisation's trading director, told civilsociety.co.uk that its Vinted Pro account has been frozen for at least six months. She said the platform's internal business structure does not truly understand how charities operate, assuming businesses all have directors and simple structures, but failing to understand the trustee governance system—trustees are unpaid yet bear financial responsibility, and the organisation has both a chief executive and directors. The platform does not understand this business model and has not adapted its business practices to accommodate how charities operate.

Lees said she knows of other retailers that have encountered the same account deactivation problem, with funds left in accounts that cannot be withdrawn, and the process of dealing with the platform is very complicated. She noted that although Vinted is investigating the matter, it has repeatedly asked charities to provide large amounts of information. She also gave the example of a similar experience when opening an American Express (Amex) account for a shop, again because the other party did not understand the structure of charities.

A Vinted spokesperson said in response that Vinted is essentially a peer-to-peer second-hand marketplace and only allows certain commercial activity, provided the members concerned register as Pro sellers. Vinted Pro is a free service for businesses (including sole traders and non-profit organisations), allowing them to sell second-hand goods while meeting legal obligations such as tax reporting. The spokesperson said Pro sellers' activity must centre on second-hand goods and comply with Vinted's catalogue rules; accounts may be temporarily or permanently banned for rule violations. Members who believe the platform's decision is wrong can appeal, and each case is reviewed individually by the member support team.

Source: Charity retailers’ Vinted accounts frozen amid ‘flawed’ onboarding process · Originally published 2026-10-01