You just sold three pairs of sneakers on Vinted and, when transferring your earnings to your bank account, the platform blocks everything. A message asks you for a copy of your ID. The surprise is common, and so is the reaction: you hesitate to send a personal document to a clothing resale app.
This identity verification is not a whim of Vinted. It stems from specific legal obligations related to the operation of the payment service provider managing the transactions. To understand why Vinted asks for an ID, you need to look at European financial regulations, not at the platform itself.
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Mangopay and the Role of the Payment Service Provider in Verification
When you sell an item on Vinted, the money does not go directly from the buyer to the seller. It goes through Mangopay, an electronic money institution licensed in Luxembourg. It is Mangopay that hosts the virtual wallet where earnings accumulate before a potential bank transfer.
As a financial institution, Mangopay is subject to the same obligations as a bank regarding customer knowledge. The technical term is KYC (Know Your Customer). Specifically, as soon as a user reaches a certain cumulative payment threshold, Mangopay is legally required to verify their identity. Vinted merely relays this request.
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This exact threshold is not published by Vinted, which refuses to disclose its payment limits. Several users report a block after a few hundred euros in cumulative sales, but feedback varies on this point. What is certain is that the blocking of funds is automatic as long as the verification is not validated.
Documents Accepted by Mangopay
- The national identity card (front and back), valid
- The passport, page containing the identity photo
- The driver’s license, front and back, depending on the country
An expired or unreadable document will be rejected. Some users report successive rejections related to the quality of the photo sent, not the document itself.
Anti-Money Laundering Directive: The Legal Constraint Behind the Request
Identity verification on peer-to-peer resale platforms is nothing new, but it has significantly strengthened in recent years. The main reason lies in the transposition of the European anti-money laundering directive, which classifies providers like Mangopay among the AML-CFT obligated entities (anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism).
In France, the Monetary and Financial Code requires these actors to verify the identity of their users beyond a certain volume of transactions. The guidelines published by the European Banking Authority since 2023 specifically target C2C marketplaces that offer a wallet, a virtual IBAN, or services akin to electronic money.
For an occasional seller, the process may seem disproportionate. One thinks they are reselling old clothes, not conducting financial transactions. The regulation does not make this distinction: as soon as an intermediary holds and transfers funds, the rules apply, regardless of the unit amount of sales.
Protection of Personal Data: What Happens to Your Documents
Sending a photo of your ID to an app raises a legitimate question of personal data protection. Several European data protection authorities have published recommendations governing the use of identity verification providers, particularly regarding facial recognition technologies or OCR used to analyze documents.
Mangopay, as a licensed institution, is subject to the GDPR. The documents submitted are used solely for the verification process and must be retained according to durations defined by AML-CFT regulations, generally for several years after the account is closed.
Here are some concrete precautions to keep in mind:
- Vinted does not directly store the documents; it is Mangopay that processes them
- The photo of the document must be sent via the official app interface, never by email or private messaging
- Any request received by email with an external link is potentially a phishing scam, a phenomenon regularly reported online
Distinguishing a Legitimate Request from a Fraud Attempt
The legitimate request appears in the Vinted app itself, as a notification related to the wallet. It never comes through an email containing a link to a third-party site. If you receive a message asking for your bank details or card code, it is a scam.
Vinted publishes in its help center the list of accepted documents and the exact procedure. Any request that falls outside this framework (credit card number, unsolicited video selfie, password) does not come from the platform.
Recourse in Case of Rejection or Prolonged Blocking of Funds
The most frustrating scenario: you send your ID, it is rejected, and the funds remain blocked. Some users describe weeks of waiting without a clear response from support.
Under French law, the prolonged blocking of funds without an explicit reason can be contested. Several avenues exist. You can first contact Vinted support, explicitly requesting that the case be forwarded to Mangopay, since it is the latter that validates or rejects the document. If the block persists, it is possible to contact the competent consumer mediator or report the dispute on the European online dispute resolution platform.
On forums and social media, feedback shows that most rejections are related to technical issues (blurry photo, truncated document, glare on the card). Resending the document with a clear, well-framed photo on a plain background resolves most cases.
The regulatory framework imposing this verification will not lighten. With the gradual strengthening of European anti-money laundering directives, peer-to-peer resale platforms will continue to request identity documents, probably at increasingly lower thresholds. It’s best to prepare for this from the first sales.