I buy and sell on Vinted every week - 3 things mean I always find the best bargains

If there's one thing you need to know about me, it's that I absolutely love a bargain. Having grown up in an eBay household, piles of postal bags and clothes folded up waiting to be photographed were common sights at the weekend.

So I'm embarrassed to admit I was pretty late to the party with Vinted, only placing my first order at the start of 2024. I've made up for lost time since then, however, and now I'm buying and selling on the platform every week. I largely use the platform to sell books and clothes my toddler has grown out of, before buying more of the same, but I've also been known to buy the odd pair of shoes for myself too.

Over the months, I've made a small yet reliable amount of money on the side, perfect for keeping aside for frivolous purchases like takeouts and hot yoga classes (sorry, but I don't think I could ever do yoga in a cold, well-lit space again).

After almost two years using Vinted, I finally think I've cracked it, so here are my simple tips for finding the best bargains.

1. Time of day

The Vinted algorithm is pretty good at picking up on what you want to see more of, and it serves its suggestions in the home feed. This isn't automatically ordered by the date listed, but when you first open the app, freshly uploaded things it thinks you might like do tend to rise to the top.

But if you're after something in high demand-for me, this is often a newly released book or special edition everyone's talking about-you'll often find they're snapped up quickly in the daytime, or are priced highly.

My tip? If you're up and about early in the morning or late at night, take a quick look at your feed. I often find just what I'm looking for, uploaded just hours or even minutes before, for pounds cheaper than the average selling price.

2. Use the search bar

My second piece of advice is to make good use of your search bar, especially if you're after something specific. Vinted helpfully saves your recent searches and shows you how many new items with those key words have been uploaded since you last looked.

If I'm looking for one thing in particular, I'll make sure to search a couple of times for day, and I'll often find a new listing that slipped through the algorithm's net and didn't show up in my feed.

3. Look for mistakes

And finally, keep an eye out for listings with mistakes or bad images. These will often have flown under the radar as people scroll their feeds, so may have been reduced in price once or twice already.

Things I look for are spelling mistakes in the title as well as dark, out of focus or overly zoomed in lead photos. Sometimes, all it takes is a swipe through the full listing to see the item is actually in brand new condition, it just doesn't look it from the first photo.