Demonstrations against rising living costs drew hundreds of thousands of people over the weekend of 17 and 18 October, and in some places they turned into riots. Shops were looted across France, including a Louis Vuitton store in central Paris, Hermès outlets and a Dior boutique. Videos circulating on social media showed raids on luxury brand shops such as Louis Vuitton, Burberry and Celine, and the perfume chain Sephora said several of its stores had been entered by protesters. Louis Vuitton, Burberry and Celine did not respond to requests for comment. Listings of perfumes, designer handbags and Pokémon cards have since appeared on resale sites, including Vinted.
Vinted said it had taken immediate steps to find and delete listings linked to the looting and had increased monitoring of suspicious posts. When its rules are breached, the company said, it takes action against the accounts involved, up to permanent expulsion. Its terms prohibit selling stolen goods, and it relies on reports from retailers and individual users, which its moderation team investigates. The company also said it was actively cooperating with law enforcement and French authorities. Vinted is under pressure from French authorities and trade associations to act against the resale of proceeds from crime.
Police are requesting IP addresses, bank details and identification data of users who offered stolen goods from the platform. In several cases, arrests have already been made at the homes of sellers. Some listings were mixed bags sold at a fixed price, with one seller describing a bag for 10 euros and saying they knew nothing about its contents. Other items included multiple identical new lipsticks, unopened cosmetics and goods still carrying security tags. French law treats buying goods that the buyer knows, or reasonably should know, come from crime as handling stolen goods, which carries up to five years in prison and a fine of up to 375,000 euros.
Vinted was founded in Lithuania in 2008 and grew from a clothing swap service into one of Europe's largest consumer startups. Its latest funding round, led by the Swedish investment firm EQT Growth, valued the company at 8,000 million euros. France is its largest single market, with more than 20 million unique users, and in the second quarter of 2026 Vinted ranked fifth among the most visited e-commerce sites in the country, according to Fevad and Médiamétrie. A Fevad study of 2025 put Vinted second among platforms where French buyers of clothing and fashion products shop, behind Amazon and ahead of Shein.
Data from the article text
Vinted's gross merchandise value across all markets rose from 7.3 billion euros to 10.8 billion euros in 2025, while its revenue grew from 813 million euros to 1.1 billion euros.
Organisers of the Saturday demonstrations have called for more protests and set dates for 24 and 31 October. The coordinators referenced the so-called yellow vest movement when announcing the dates. The main trade unions have called strikes for 5 November in defence of wages, public services, employment and industry.
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Vinted says it has stepped up moderation after listings that appear to contain goods stolen during weekend looting across France began to surface on the resale platform. France is its largest market, and police are now requesting seller data to make arrests.
AI text based on reports by LaVanguardia, Aktuálně.cz, The Telegraph and other publishers. Published .