The archive · Commerce & Marketplaces · Strategic decision · 2026
Vinted's US blitz: Europe's zero-fee resale model tops US app charts
Vinted relaunched in the US in January 2026 with its no-seller-fee model; downloads jumped nearly 800% and it hit #1 among US shopping apps by June.
Vinted
What the business is
Vinted runs a peer-to-peer marketplace for secondhand fashion and home goods across Europe: sellers list and sell for free, buyers pay a protection fee, and the group owns shipping and payments arms. It has been available in the US since 2013 but treated the country seriously only in 2026, when it relaunched starting in New York with an advertising push and expanded into Australia.
Starting capital：No new round was needed for the push: Reuters (2026-04-09) reported 2025 revenue of €1.1 billion, up 38%, GMV of €10.8 billion, up 47%, and net profit of €62 million after investment in new countries; CM-CM reported an April 2026 secondary share sale valuing Vinted at €8 billion.
How it started
Vinted was founded in Vilnius in 2008 and grew into Europe's largest secondhand marketplace, reaching €1.1 billion revenue in 2025. The US app existed since 2013 but averaged only about 500,000 downloads a year. In January 2026 the company announced a real US expansion starting in New York — its first properly funded push outside Europe — and CEO Thomas Plantenga told the Wall Street Journal he would pitch secondhand as an economic choice, not an environmental one.
What happened
The downloads followed within months: Appfigures measured 2.6M US downloads in January–April 2026 against 286K a year earlier, with April's 1.2M passing Depop's 1.1M, and CM-CM reported Vinted became the most-downloaded US shopping app in June 2026, ahead of Amazon, Walmart, Shein and Temu. By the September 5, 2026 AppStoreStatistics snapshot it sat at #3 in the overall US iPhone top-free chart, behind MapQuest and ChatGPT, with rival Depop at #14.
How it ended up
The bet is still being tested: Plantenga told Reuters that 2026 profit depends on 'whether the US test is going to work.' Early signals are strong — the company repeated the playbook in Australia, opened a UK–US air corridor for parcels, and its April 2026 secondary sale valued it at €8 billion — but US resale incumbents and the cost of building marketplace liquidity from scratch remain the open question.
Background
Vinted is Europe's largest secondhand marketplace: sellers list and sell for free while buyers pay a protection fee, and the group owns its own shipping and payments infrastructure. The app has been downloadable in the US since 2013, but for years it averaged only about 500,000 US downloads annually.
In January 2026 Vinted announced a properly funded US expansion starting in New York, and CEO Thomas Plantenga positioned secondhand as a money-saving choice rather than a sustainability statement. Appfigures measured the result: 2.6M US downloads in January–April 2026 versus 286K in the same months of 2025, with April's 1.2M passing Depop's 1.1M.
By June 2026 Vinted was, for the first time, the most-downloaded shopping app in the US, ahead of Amazon, Walmart, Shein and Temu, and on September 5, 2026 it held the #3 spot in the overall US iPhone top-free chart. The company repeated the launch playbook in Australia and opened a transatlantic parcel corridor.
The company's April 2026 secondary share sale valued Vinted at €8 billion, but the US remains an open test: Plantenga told Reuters that 2026 profit depends on whether the American expansion works.
What has to be true
- The zero-seller-fee model removed the main supply friction in a US market where Depop and Poshmark both charged sellers, so new US listings had no price barrier.
- A decade of presence without investment had proven the app alone could not grow in the US; the January 2026 New York launch finally funded brand awareness, logistics and critical mass.
- Reframing secondhand as an economic deal, not an environmental cause, widened the pitch beyond the eco-minded audience the category had been speaking to.
- Cross-border logistics — a UK–US air corridor capped at 2kg parcels — let early US buyers and sellers transact before dense local inventory existed.
- Risk: marketplace liquidity is local, and rivals like Depop and Poshmark already own dense US buyer-seller networks, so downloads must convert into lasting two-sided activity.
What can be applied
A proven model does not sell itself: Vinted's US downloads barely moved for a decade until a funded relaunch, New York first, made secondhand an economic pitch — then adoption compounded.
Aftermath
As of September 2026 Vinted is still mid-bet on America: its app ranks #3 in the overall US iPhone top-free chart, but the company has not reported US GMV or revenue, and CEO Thomas Plantenga has framed the push as a test whose outcome will shape 2026 profit. The group's April 2026 secondary sale valued it at €8 billion, and it extended the same no-seller-fee playbook to Australia while building international parcel logistics with partners such as InPost.
Sources
- Vinted Is Finally Coming for America
- Second-hand fashion platform Vinted reports 38% jump in revenue
- Pourquoi Vinted ne misera pas sur l'écologie pour conquérir les États-Unis
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