The woman says Vinted will only give her £1,500 if she has a passport

A woman says Vinted is refusing to hand over the £1,500 in her account unless she applies for a new British passport. The woman tried to prove her identity in several other ways – but Vinted insists it will only release the money if she buys a new passport.

The woman, who asked not to be named, started selling clothes on Vinted using an account created with the help of her adult daughter, who recently died. She made sales of £1,500 – but was unable to withdraw the cash.

She told ThisIsMoney: “Vinted says I have to prove my identity by sending a driver’s license or passport, which I don’t have. I don’t drive and my passport expired some time ago. I don’t think I will. I’m traveling abroad soon, especially since I was going on vacation with my daughter and now I’m alone.

“Applying for a new one is a hassle and an expense I could handle right now.”

Part of the problem was due to the email address, which the woman has not accessed since her daughter died. She managed to get Vinted to release the email address by providing them with her daughter’s death certificate. But they won’t release the money without some form of official identification — even though it’s in the woman’s Vinted account, not her daughter’s.

They will not accept any form of ID other than a driver’s license or passport.

Helen Crane, consumer expert at ThisIsMoney, said: “Boats cannot simply forget their older customers and we felt they could have done more to help you, especially given your difficult circumstances. The app advertises itself as fast and easy to use, but in your experience, it certainly wasn’t.”

She added: “Identity checks are commonplace on online sales sites now as they seek to protect against fraud. Ebay, for example, will sometimes ask new sellers or those who haven’t used the platform for a while to provide photo ID, while Depop asks to be paid.”

Helen said: “While these websites need to protect themselves from fraud, I don’t see why they can’t accept alternative – and cheaper – forms of identification. Also, I think Vinted could have shown you more compassion in your time of need.”

She said Vinted declined to comment.

The woman will now have to pay for a new passport and wait for the application process to access her money.