Closing a Vinted account after a death: the 3-month wait

When someone dies with a Vinted account, there are several things that need attention – and some of them are time-sensitive. Active listings may still be visible to buyers. Completed sales may have left money sitting in the Vinted wallet, which is an asset of the estate. And if a sale was mid-transaction at the time of death – the buyer has paid, but the item was never posted – there are obligations to resolve.

This guide explains how to close a Vinted account after a death, recover any wallet funds, deal with active listings and pending orders, and navigate the common problem of not being able to log in.

Quick reference:

• Contact Vinted: via the in-app or online Help Centre at vinted.co.uk/help – there is no dedicated bereavement email or phone line
• Data deletion request: feedback@vinted.com (use as a fallback if account access is unavailable)
• Documents: death certificate + your photo ID (+ probate documents if wallet balance is significant)
• Account closure: Vinted uses a three-month deactivation period before permanent deletion
• Wallet funds: must be withdrawn before the account is permanently deleted – these are an estate asset
• Tell Us Once / Death Notification Service: Vinted is not part of either scheme – contact Vinted directly

Vinted’s approach to bereavement

Vinted does not have a published bereavement policy or a dedicated bereavement team. There is no specific email address for deceased account notifications, no phone number, and no dedicated form – unlike banks or insurers, which are required by financial regulation to have bereavement procedures in place.

All contact with Vinted goes through their Help Centre at vinted.co.uk/help, either via the website or within the Vinted app. Support is handled by automated help topics first, with the option to escalate to a human agent if the automated responses do not resolve the issue.

This is not unusual for marketplace platforms of this type. The practical implication is that you may need to persist through the general support flow before reaching someone who can handle a bereavement request – and you may need to be explicit that you are acting as the representative of a deceased account holder.

Tell Us Once and the Death Notification Service do not apply to Vinted. Tell Us Once is a government scheme covering HMRC, DWP, DVLA, and local councils – it does not extend to private companies. The Death Notification Service is a UK Finance initiative for banks and building societies; Vinted is a marketplace platform and is not a member. There is no shortcut here: you must contact Vinted directly.

How to close a Vinted account after a death

The process has two stages: notifying Vinted that the account holder has died, and then formally requesting closure. Before closure, you will need to deal with active listings and withdraw any wallet funds – both explained in the sections below.

Step 1: Try to access the account

If you have the deceased’s login details – email address and password – you can log in and handle several things directly: withdrawing the wallet balance, removing active listings, and reviewing any pending orders. Having account access makes the whole process considerably simpler.

If you cannot log in (for example, because of two-factor authentication on the deceased’s phone, or because you do not have the password), skip to the section on account access and 2FA below.

Step 2: Contact Vinted’s support team

Go to vinted.co.uk/help and navigate through the Help Centre to reach the contact option. Explain that the account holder has died and that you are acting as their representative or estate executor. Vinted will typically ask for:

• A copy of the death certificate
• Proof of your identity (passport or driving licence)
• Your relationship to the deceased
• Details to identify the account (the email address, username, or mobile number used to register)

Once Vinted’s team have verified your identity and authority, they can freeze or close the account, end active listings, and advise on releasing any wallet funds.

Step 3: Understand the deactivation period

Vinted does not delete accounts immediately. When an account is closed, it enters a three-month deactivation period: the profile becomes invisible to other users, but the account is not permanently deleted. After three months without reactivation, the account is permanently removed and personal data is deleted (except financial records, which Vinted retains for 13 months as required by payment regulations).

This deactivation period exists to allow Vinted to resolve any outstanding transactions, disputes, or wallet matters before permanent deletion. It is not something you can shortcut, but it is also not something that should cause concern – the account is effectively dormant during this period.

(Source: vinkit.co – how to permanently delete a Vinted account, verified May 2026.)

The Vinted wallet – recovering funds for the estate

The Vinted wallet (also called the Vinted balance) holds money earned from completed sales. When a buyer marks an item as received, the sale proceeds move into the seller’s wallet, typically within two days. The wallet is e-money, not a bank deposit – it is held by Vinted Pay Limited, which is authorised and regulated to issue e-money. Any funds in the wallet at the time of death are an asset of the estate.

How the wallet works:

Withdrawing funds from the estate:

Vinted requires wallet funds to be withdrawn before an account is permanently deleted. If you have account access, you can withdraw directly by adding a bank account in the name of the estate (or an executor account) and transferring the balance. If you are administering the estate and can log in, this is the cleanest route.

If you cannot log in, or if account access is disputed, contact Vinted’s support team and explain that you are seeking to recover wallet funds as part of estate administration. You will likely need to provide:

• A copy of the death certificate
• Your photo ID
• Grant of probate or letters of administration, if the balance is substantial

Vinted does not publish a specific threshold below which probate is not required – this is assessed case by case. For smaller balances, Vinted may work with you on an alternative approach, but you should contact them directly to confirm what they will accept in your situation.

KYC verification and the wallet:

Vinted’s payment processing is handled by Mangopay, a regulated electronic money institution. Mangopay is required by anti-money laundering regulations to verify the identity of users who reach certain transaction thresholds. If the deceased’s account was flagged for identity verification and they did not complete it, the wallet may have withdrawal restrictions – funds might be visible in the account but not withdrawable until identity verification is resolved.

If you encounter this, explain the situation to Vinted’s support team. They will advise on what documentation can be used to satisfy the verification requirement in a bereavement context. This may require additional evidence of the deceased’s identity, and possibly your own identity as their representative.

(Sources: vinted.co.uk/help – money withdrawal issues; vinted.co.uk – Vinted Balance, verified May 2026.)

Active listings and ongoing transactions

Active listings – items still for sale

If the deceased had items listed for sale on Vinted at the time of death, those listings remain live until they are manually removed or the account is closed. Buyers can still purchase from active listings, which creates problems – a buyer pays, the estate receives the money into the wallet, but there is no one to send the item.

If you have account access, the first step is to delete all active listings. On Vinted, listings are removed through the app or website: go to the item, tap the menu, and select “Delete item”. This removes the listing immediately and prevents new purchases.

If you cannot access the account, notify Vinted’s support team as quickly as possible and ask them to suspend the account’s listings. They can freeze the account to prevent new transactions while the estate is being administered.

Pending orders – buyer paid, item not shipped

The more urgent issue is any order where the buyer has already paid and is waiting for an item to be posted. Vinted gives sellers five business days to ship a purchased item. If the item is not marked as dispatched within that window, Vinted automatically cancels the order and refunds the buyer. The buyer may also receive negative feedback on the transaction.

This means that, in most cases, buyers who paid for items that were never shipped will receive automatic refunds within a week or two – you do not necessarily need to take action on their behalf. The buyer protection mechanism handles this.

However, if you have account access and can identify pending orders, it is worth contacting the buyers through Vinted’s messaging system to explain the situation and confirm that a cancellation and refund is underway. This is the considerate thing to do, and it prevents buyers from being left wondering why their item has not arrived.

What about items that were shipped but not yet received?

If the deceased had recently shipped items that are still in transit, those deliveries will proceed normally. Once the buyer receives the item and marks it as received, the sale proceeds will appear in the wallet – where they can be claimed as part of the estate, as described above.

(Source: Vinted – what happens if a seller doesn’t send the item, verified May 2026.)

Vinted Pro – what it is and what to check

Vinted Pro is the platform’s account tier for business sellers – sole traders, limited companies, and other registered businesses selling second-hand or pre-owned goods commercially. As of May 2026, Vinted Pro does not charge a subscription fee: there is no monthly or annual charge, and Vinted Pro accounts pay the same zero seller commission as standard accounts.

(Source: vinted.co.uk/pro, verified May 2026.)

If the deceased had a Vinted Pro account, the key differences are:

• 14-day return window: Vinted Pro accounts are required to accept returns within 14 days of delivery. If there are any live orders or recent deliveries, buyers may initiate a return request. Notify Vinted’s support team so they can handle any such requests appropriately.
• Business registration details: Vinted Pro accounts include business registration information. If the deceased was a sole trader, these details are tied to the individual and the account should be closed as part of the estate administration. If a limited company continues to trade, the company’s directors may need to take action separately.

Since there is no Vinted Pro subscription to cancel, this simplifies matters slightly compared to other platforms. The account closure process is the same as for a standard Vinted account.

2FA and account access

Two-factor authentication (2FA) means that logging into Vinted requires not just a password but also a code sent to the account holder’s mobile phone, or confirmation from an authenticator app on their device. If the deceased’s phone is unavailable – locked, lost, or wiped – you may find yourself unable to log in even with the correct password.

This is one of the most common access problems with marketplace accounts after a death.

If you cannot get past 2FA:

1. Contact Vinted’s support team directly via the Help Centre at vinted.co.uk/help. Explain that the account holder has died and that you cannot complete 2FA without their phone. Vinted’s support team can verify your identity and authority through other means and may be able to disable or bypass 2FA for a bereavement request.

2. If the phone is available but locked: Some phones allow access to SMS messages without unlocking the full device (for example, on the lock screen). The 2FA code may be visible there. Alternatively, if you can unlock the phone through biometrics or by contacting the network provider, you may be able to access the authenticator app or SMS messages.

3. Use GDPR erasure as a fallback: If you cannot access the account and cannot get Vinted’s support team to help, you can submit a data deletion request under GDPR (the UK General Data Protection Regulation). As a UK-based platform, Vinted is obligated to respond to data subject requests – and as the deceased’s legal representative, you can act on their behalf. Send a written request to feedback@vinted.com citing your right to erasure under the UK GDPR and providing your authority (death certificate and probate documents). Note that this route closes the account but does not automatically release wallet funds – you would need to address the wallet separately. Vinted has been fined in the past for failing to comply with data erasure requests, so this is a legitimate escalation route if other channels fail.

(Sources: Ashurst – Vinted GDPR fine, verified May 2026; vinted.co.uk/help, verified May 2026.)

Scotland and Northern Ireland

The steps for contacting Vinted are the same wherever you are in the UK – go through vinted.co.uk/help regardless of whether the deceased was based in England, Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland.

Vinted is a marketplace platform, not a regulated financial institution, so Scottish Confirmation and the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service (NICTS) grant of probate do not change the Vinted-specific process. However, if Vinted asks for evidence of your authority to administer the estate, the document to provide depends on your jurisdiction:

• England and Wales: grant of probate or letters of administration
• Scotland: Certificate of Confirmation, issued by the Sheriff Court
• Northern Ireland: grant of probate issued by the Probate Office in Belfast (applications via the NIDirect Probate Portal)

For small estates in Scotland (under £36,000), a simplified confirmation process is available – see mygov.scot for details.

What documents you will need

Photo ID means a current UK passport or driving licence.

Grant of probate is the court document confirming your authority to administer the estate. If the estate is small and you are not applying for probate, explain this to Vinted – for small balances, they may work with you on an alternative approach. You can apply for probate at gov.uk/applying-for-probate.

If you need additional certified copies of the death certificate – which you will, since banks, pension providers, and HMRC will each want one – copies cost £12.50 each in England and Wales, ordered from the General Register Office at gov.uk/order-copy-birth-death-marriage-certificate.

Things to watch out for

Vinted holds no physical inventory. Unlike Amazon sellers who may use fulfilment warehouses, Vinted sellers hold their own items at home. This means the physical goods the deceased had listed may still be in their home. Active listings may generate buyer interest, so dealing with listings promptly – either removing them or, if the estate wishes to continue the sales with the help of a family member, transferring control – is worth considering early.

Buyer Protection fees are not refundable in the event of non-delivery. When a buyer purchases an item on Vinted, they pay a Buyer Protection fee – typically 3–8% of the item price plus a fixed fee of around 30–80p. This fee is the buyer’s cost, not the seller’s. If an order is cancelled because the seller did not ship, the Buyer Protection fee is refunded to the buyer along with the item price. The estate does not absorb this cost.

The wallet is not a bank account. Vinted’s e-money is not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), which protects deposits in UK banks up to £85,000. However, Vinted Pay Limited, as an authorised e-money institution, is required by law to safeguard customer funds – meaning they must be held separately from Vinted’s own money. The practical risk is low, but it is worth noting that wallet funds have different protections from a bank deposit.

Check for linked payment methods. If the deceased was a buyer as well as a seller on Vinted, they may have had a bank card saved to the account for making purchases. While there is no ongoing subscription charge for a standard Vinted account, it is worth confirming that no unexpected charges are being applied. Removing or blocking the saved payment method once the account is being administered is sensible.

Vinted has no phone number. All support is through the Help Centre. If you are not getting a response through the automated system, try submitting a clear, written request through the platform and be explicit about the bereavement context. If support is unresponsive, the GDPR erasure route (feedback@vinted.com) is your escalation option.

Summary

Vinted does not have a formal bereavement process, but the account can be closed and wallet funds recovered by working through their general support channel at vinted.co.uk/help. Contact them with a copy of the death certificate and your photo ID. If the wallet holds significant funds, you will need grant of probate or letters of administration.

Before the account can be permanently deleted, active listings should be removed and any wallet balance withdrawn. Pending orders where the buyer has already paid will be auto-refunded by Vinted within five business days if nothing is shipped – buyers are protected and the estate is not liable for this.

If you cannot log in because of 2FA on the deceased’s phone, contact Vinted’s support team first. If that does not resolve it, a GDPR erasure request to feedback@vinted.com is a legitimate fallback for account closure.

Key steps:

1. Try to access the account (or contact support if you cannot)
2. Remove active listings
3. Identify and resolve any pending orders
4. Withdraw the wallet balance to an estate bank account
5. Notify Vinted of the death and request formal account closure
6. Retain documentation in case of any later queries

For related guidance, see our pages on how to notify eBay when someone dies, how to close an Etsy account when someone dies, how to close a Depop account when someone dies, how to notify PayPal when someone dies, what happens to digital assets when someone dies, and the what to do when someone dies guide.