WE all love scrolling through online marketplaces like Vinted, but have you ever considered making cash instead of spending it?
I’m a big fan of buying clothes, but I’m not very good at letting them go when I have no use for them anymore.
But with a baby on the way and the need for more storage space and extra cash, I started to wonder how much money I could make by selling my clothes online.
With a growing number of apps and websites for reselling clothes, it is now easier than ever to sell second hand clothes online.
With this in mind, I rummaged through my wardrobe to see what I could part with in the hope of making some extra cash.
Vinted is one of the most popular online marketplaces and you can pick up anything from clothes, shoes, jewellery and homeware.
It first launched in the UK in 2014 but only became a household name after the pandemic ended.
It’s free to sign up and there are no fees for sellers.
Instead, buyers have a small fee added to their purchases, and they pay for postage on top too.
This is what made it an attractive choice for me.
I started listing my items for sale on Saturday morning.
This is because members are most active over the weekend, according to Vinted, and I wanted maximum visibility to get things gone quickly.
The first thing I listed was my husband Henry’s Hugo Boss leather jacket that was now too small for him.
The jacket originally cost around £300 several years ago, but it had been barely worn.
As we wanted a quick sale, and based on other items available on Vinted, we decided to list it for £25 and it was snapped up pretty much instantly.
I also sold two mens t-shirts, from Fred Perry and Farah, and got £5 and £2.50 for them respectively.
Among the items I was keen to sell were a Zara silver handbag, a River Island playsuit and a cowboy hat and jumper from bridal website Six Stories.
They had all only be worn once, so I was able to list them as being in very good condition.
Vinted shared with The Sun some of the most popular items on the app:
They went to four different sellers and I was able to sell them for a total of £35.
I found that Topshop and Topman clothing bought in its high-street heyday sold well on the app.
A pair of women’s embroidered jeans sold for £4.50 and a denim mini dress went for £3.
Meanwhile, a my husband’s skinny jeans sold for £2.
Below is the full list of items I have sold on Vinted so far and how much I got for them:
In total, I have made a whopping £110.50 in the space of a week.
With plenty more clothing items to list, I could be on track to make hundreds of pounds by the end of the month.
It is important to remember that once you have posted your parcel or agreed on a sale the money you made will not go into your account straight away.
Once the order has arrived to the seller you’ll receive your earnings within two days in your Vinted balance.
You then have to transfer your earnings from your balance to your bank account.
When it comes to selling on Vinted there are some important do’s and don’t’s to make sure you’re not wasting your time.
One of the main things to make sure you’re including in each listing is clear images of the item.
This is one of the first things that any potential buyer will see, so the photos of the garment need to be clear and attractive.
What’s in the images is important too.
I recommend using a picture of the whole item initially and then adding more close-up ones after.
Also include photos of the labels and any issues with the item too – it’s important to be upfront.
I have also found that listings that include pictures of the items being worn also help the item to sell faster.
You should also make sure to provide concise, but detailed descriptions.
You don’t need to have essays, but you will want a detailed description, as the more information that you have on your listing the more likely you will attract a buyer.
Make sure that the descriptions are honest and that you only list clothes in good condition as you will want good reviews as this helps others build confidence in you and what you are selling
A good description is made up of a short snappy title and also makes sure to include the brand or shop of the item.
Being accurate with sizing is also important.
You can also put bundle discounts onto your profile.
This means that if a buyer looks to buy more than one thing they can get an extra discount.
What bundle discounts do is entice people to look at your other items to get the discount, meaning you sell more.
I haven’t given this feature a try yet, but I will definitely give them a go in future.
Meanwhile, a shopping expert has revealed the five things to always buy on Vinted and five to avoid.
Plus, two savvy shoppers have revealed how they bought a T-shirt for £2 from a charity shop – but resold it for £220 online.
SINCE January 1, digital platforms, including eBay, Airbnb, Etsy, Amazon and Vinted, must share seller information with HMRC as part of a crackdown.
You’ll only be affected if you sell a certain number of items or earn over a certain amount across one financial year.
Firms now have to pass on your data to HMRC if you sell 30 or more items a year or earn over €2,000 (the equivalent of £1,700) – check now if this applies to you.
This is because anyone selling items online might be liable to pay tax if they earn £1,000 or more.
If the money a member makes on online marketplaces over a year is less than the amount they paid for the items they are selling, then there is no tax to pay.
But those “trading” for profit might need to pay tax.
But new rules introduced at the beginning of January mean marketplaces must now pass on seller’s earnings directly to HMRC.
It is part of a wider tax crackdown to help ensure that those who boost their income via side hustles pay up what they owe.
This isn’t a new tax. Those who earn over £1,000 have always had to declare income and fill in a self-assessment tax return, but it gives the taxman greater visibility over what you earn.
Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@news.co.uk.
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A FORMER Celebrity Big Brother contestant who says she was in the “most explosive series ever” has spoken out, calling it both “brilliant and horrendous”.
Loose Women star Nadia Sawalha was on the 2015 series of the show, and joined the likes of Fatmoon Scoop, Michelle Visage, Katie Hopkins, Calum Best and Patsy Kensit.
American actor Jeremy Jackson also got the boot from the Big Brother house for inappropriate behaviour during the dramatic series.
And as a new batch of Big Brother contestants hit our screens this week, Nadia opened up on her experience in the house.
She told The Sun: “It’s funny because I never watched any of it when I came out and just couldn’t bear it. But my daughter, like a couple of months ago, went, ‘mum, just watch this’. And it was a load of highlights.
“And I’m not kidding. I watched it. And I was like, ‘bloody hell, you’re just exactly yourself’.
“You know, when people go, ‘I’m going to go in and I’m going to be true to myself’. And I just like never really understand what that means. It really made me laugh because my family are going ‘Yeah, you’re exactly like you are’.
“So I thought, ‘Oh, that’s quite a success’.”
The 59-year-old continued: “It’s horrendous. And it’s brilliant. And I always say it because it really is true.
“That it is so easy to judge before you’ve done reality. But when you do it, it’s so, so, so different.
“I was excited because I’ve done lots of acting and I’ve been in lots of different casts for years. I was very much a lone presenter on BBC. And I hated it.
“I love being with a cast. I’m like, Oh, brilliant. Great. So I have such a laugh and be chatting all day finding out people’s stories.
“And it was the most explosive one ever.”
Nadia went so far as comparing it to Loose Women, on which she’s a regular panellist, and said: “You want like a magnifying glass on society. You want like every kind of person that you can. It’s a bit like Loose Women.
“It’s a bit like a soap. You know, you’ve got somebody there you love, somebody that you hate, somebody that you’re always annoyed with, somebody that you agree with everything.
A brand new batch of Big Brother housemates are living it up in the famous compound.
Meet the cast of the 2024 series:
“That’s what I think is part of our 25 year survival. You never quite know what’s going to happen. And that’s why these reality shows and the early Big Brothers, they really were just watching people like guinea pigs.
“I love it. I’m a people watcher.”
Meanwhile, away from screens, Nadia has been leading a campaign to raise £150,000 for legal costs to appeal a decision that means thousands of women will miss out on a life-extending cancer drug.
Enhertu – which is used to treat patients like them in 25 countries including Scotland – was denied for use on the NHS by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) due to its cost.
It’s estimated to be around £10,000 per patient per year in the US where it is available to cancer patients.
Nadia’s close friend Hannah Gardner, 37, whom she calls her ‘daughter’, is currently on Enhertu as part of a clinical trial that sees her also having to take a more toxic drug as part of its conditions.
So far, the mum-of-one’s tumours have responded well to the life-extending medicine, but the delay in getting onto the trial allowed her stage 4 cancer to spread.
Nadia explained why the group is having to self-fund lawyers to contest NICE’s decision.
She said: “Big Pharma told us that NHS England have been offered it [Enhertu] at the lowest price of anyone else that’s taken Enhertu. And so that’s NICE then, who are in charge of approving.
“I was in the [Royal] Marsden many times with Hannah and them saying, ‘oh, well, it will come through. There’s always a bit of this back and forth and it will come through’.
“You know, it’s an amazing drug. Nothing’s had this reaction since Herceptin, which we know has saved hundreds of thousands of women’s lives.
“So everybody thought it was a dead cert, but what happened is there’s something called a severity modifier; if you imagine, secondary breast cancer was in the column of a severe disease and there was a certain pot of money for that, but they moved it across the column to moderately severe. Now there is no cure for secondary breast cancer.
“So for those women to be told that their disease wasn’t severe and was only moderate and that that pot of money that was over there is now no longer available to buy this drug was just devastating.”
FROM Bridget Jones’ central London apartment to the cluttered flat in Only Fools and Horses, TV and film have given us some unforgettable homes.
But, in today’s sky-high property market, the cost of living in these iconic addresses would be enough to make even Del Boy wince.
Let’s take a closer look at what these much-loved TV and movie homes might cost in 2024.
From the Bridget’s infamous rendition of All By Myself to Mr Darcy’s street fight with Daniel Cleaver, Bridget Jones flat remains the centrepiece of the iconic film franchise.
The exact location is 8 Bedale Street in Borough Market, London and is located just above a pub called The Globe Tavern.
While Bridget’s one-bed flat is often shown as dingy and cramped in the films, the flat is actually worth a huge amount today.
In the 1990’s, Borough Market wasn’t quite the hustle and bustle the way it is now.
At the time the flat would have sold for approximately £190,000 according to Time Out Magazine.
According to estate agents, today Bridget’s flat would be estimated to close £1 M with it’s SE1 postcode – 10 times more than what it was priced back then.
The BBC sitcom was created by John Sullivan and ran for just seven series and is still adored to this day.
Nelson Mandela House was used as the backdrop for Del Boy and Rodney’s home in the show.
At one point the three-bedroom flat, located on a Peckham council estate, was home to up six members of the Trotters clan, including Uncle Albert who moved in after grandad’s death.
However, the actual tower block is located in Ealing, West London and is still in use by residents.
Foxtons estate agents have valued a similar three-bed in the area at an eye-watering £593,706 in today’s prices.
Depending on the property, sales can range between £300,000 to £1,300,000.
However, it was previously revealed the building is due to be torn down and replaced by flats worth £850 million.
Latest reports suggest the demolition will take place in three years’ time in 2027.
4 privet drive was the home of boy wizard Harry Potter in the hit film adaptations of JK Rowling’s world-renowned books.
The three-bedroom house featured in the first film of the franchise and was the backdrop for Harry’s cousin, aunt and uncle – The Dursleys.
The house is actually 12 Picket Post Close located in Bracknell, Berkshire and in 2016 the house was put up for sale for £495,000.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was filmed at the real house in Bracknell, but the house was later recreated as a set in a studio for the following film.
The infamous cupboard under the stairs that Harry is forced to live by his relatives, also features in the house.
The iconic home of Edina Monsoon and daughter Saffy is located at the fictional address 34 Claremont Avenue, in the borough Kensington and Chelsea.
Throughout the show Edina continuously insists that the three-storey property is located at the exclusive Holland Park.
Edina continues to claim home is worth £1.5 million and is quick to shutdown claims that the house is closer to Shepards Bush.
Today the home would be worth at least £3 million.
That’s double the £1.5 million she claimed it was worth back in the 90’s – an increase of £2.5 million in value since the television series first aired.
Dower House while smaller than its counterpart Downtown Abbey (Highclere Castle) is still an impressive 8-bed Georgian house.
In the show the house was the home of Lady Violet Crawley, played by the late Dame Maggie Smith.
The house was in fact built around 1686 and its history dates back to the 7th Century.
Throughout the series the dowager duchess brands the residence a “little cottage”.
The “little cottage” is actually called Byfleet Manor located in Surrey and was on the market in 2015 for a whopping £3.95 million.
Despite the asking price, the home has now sold for an impressive £5.9m to a UK buyer.
The best renovation to add value totally depends on your property, the local market and your potential buyers.
Zoopla shared a list of upgrades that will instantly add value to your home.
CHOOSING the right advent calendar can make the countdown to Christmas even more magical.
It’s no longer about indulging in a single square of chocolate. Instead, children can open a toy a day which is not only healthier, but it lasts longer too.
And there is something for all children, whatever their interest.
From Lego to Lilo and Stich, and Harry Potter to The Gruffalo, there are calendars themed around almost every kids’ character around.
Here mum-of-three Lynsey Hope, 43, from West Malling, Kent, picks her favourites:
This one is a great choice for Harry Potter fans. Featuring 25 mystical gifts, this calendar includes whole notebooks, goo, a key chain and spy pen.
All the items are good quality and though the calendar might seem expensive at first, you do get quite a bit for your money.
There are about four character rubbers so would perhaps of preferred a bit more variety, but it went down a storm with all three kids.
A particularly impressive version for 2024, my son’s eyes lit up when he saw this calendar.
There is something particularly Christmass-y about Star Wars. This has five unique mini-figures including a Christmas Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia and a number of mini builds including The Emperor’s Shuttle and The Crimson Firehawk.
No matter your age, you’re never too old for Lego and this advent calendar will delight adults and children alike during the festive countdown.
Even though Stitch was invented by Disney more than 20 years ago, this loveable character is still having his moment and as a result, this calendar will go down a storm.
It’s full of gentle bath and body treats including a range of bath fizzers and clay masks, foot lotion, hand cream, bubble bath and lip balm.
It was easy to open and none of the products seemed to irritate my daughter Olive’s skin.
She is seven – and loved this. It was her top choice for the countdown to Christmas, even over chocolate.
This contains great quality bits of train set which will fit with other Brio track if you have any.
You get one Mr & Mrs Santa Claus, a snowy train and trailer, some track, signs, fences, parcels and a little bunny. The doors were quite hard to open and my four-year-old needed help every time.
There’s not loads on its own but it’s great that it goes with the rest of her wooden train set. Ivy really loved the two Christmas figures.
Hidden behind each door is a set of instructions allowing you to gradually build a mini pinball machine for the 25th.
It was easy to assemble and comes with swirly glass marbles allowing you to start playing as soon as the machine is made. It was a real hit with the kids once built and provided hours of entertainment.
My only complaint is that some of the doors were a little dull as you have to wait all month until its ready to go so definitely one for more patient kids.
No glue is used in the making, so this can easily be broken down and recycled when the time comes.
Sure to draw the eye of any football fans, this Panini calendar is bigger and better than ever.
It has 18 supercharged special card categories including Hypersonic, Breakthroughs and the much-coveted, ultra-rare Invincible cards. In total there are 18 packets and six limited edition cards.
My ten-year-old son Jacob loved this and was the envy of all his friends.
Be warned, however, it is quite big and bulky if you are tight on space.
This is a super attractive and reusable advent calendar which is actually nice for the whole family.
It contains 24 wooden figures including Father and Mrs Christmas, Rudolph and snowmen.
The sides of the box open out to create a play scene and unlike some of the other, rather unsightly and bulky boxes, this does create a bit of a decoration for the home too.
Rocks, fossils, minerals and gemstones – this calendar has them all.
The kids loved opening geodes, pyrites, agate, urchin and more, and on the last day they will receive a special rose quartz.
It also comes with a magnifying glass – a great option for budding scientists.
Open the doors of this retro looking calendar to find a new electronic component each day.
The parts allow you to build 24 different old fashioned games including Code Breaker, Memory, Whack a Mole and Wire Maze.
This one is great for older kids that like building and electronics.
Be aware you do need three AA batteries, which don’t come behind the doors – you’ll need to buy them separately.
A cute musical calendar that plays three songs from the Gruffalo’s Child soundtrack.
Behind the doors you’ll find pop-up scenery, stickers and dancing characters that are able to skate around the music box base as you count down the days to Christmas.
It has three magnetic characters: The Gruffalo, The Gruffalo’s Child and Snake.
It needs three batteries, which are included, and this can be reused for years to come making it great value for money.
A rather messy calendar but it will keep the kids busy on the run up to Christmas. It’s very fun with gifts including 16 fluffy slimes, eight glitters and seven little toys.
The slimes do come in a pot to keep them fresh. You could make quite a lot with the contents and it did keep the kids happy for some time.
If Harry Potter isn’t your thing, Smiggle also has this option, which contains 25 complete surprises.
The various goodies include a magic cube, a squishy, a bouncing ball, a rainbow pencil, a kaleidoscope and a fidget spinner.
Every single day, these toys were well received by old and young children alike. It’s quite bulky to store, but that’s my only complaint.
HUNDREDS of thousands of pensioners feeling the pinch are failing to claim Pension Credit with around £2billion going unclaimed each year.
Not only do you miss out on payments averaging of £3,900 each year, but Pension Credit also unlocks further financial help and support worth thousands more.
The benefit is designed to help older people on low incomes who may otherwise struggle to manage everyday living costs.
Yet, there are up to an estimated 880,000 households across the UK eligible for Pension Credit who are yet to claim.
The benefit is different and separate from your State Pension.
On top of the cash payments, Pension Credit opens doors to other support, including the Winter Fuel Payment, help with housing costs, council tax and heating bills.
It is important to claim if you can so that you can get all the financial help that is available to you.
You could be eligible for Pension Credit if you are aged 66 or older and your income is below £218.15 a week if you’re single or £332.95 as a couple – this is known as the ‘guarantee’ part of the credit.
Even if your income is higher, you could claim if you meet other criteria, such as being a carer, having a disability, have extra housing costs such as service charges or have a child or young person living with you.
If you have more than £10,000 in savings, you could find that your payments may be cut or reduced – but it is still worth applying even if you only get a little extra each week.
You could get the “savings credit” part of pension credit if you reached State Pension age before April 6, 2016, and you saved some money for retirement, for example, a personal or workplace pension.
This is worth £17.01 for single people or £19.04 for couples.
Applications need to be made on the government website gov.uk/pension-credit or by calling 0800 99 1234.
You can get a friend or family member to ring for you, but you’ll need to be with them when they do.
You can also claim by post but you’ll need to download and complete the form from the gov.uk website or call for one to be sent out to you.
You then need to send completed forms to Freepost DWP Pensions Service 3.
When applying you’ll need your National Insurance number, as well as information about income, savings and investments.
You can start your application up to four months before you reach State Pension age – currently 66. You can claim any time after reaching State Pension age but your application can only be backdated by three months, making it even more important to claim as soon as you are entitled.
The Sun’s Winter Fuel SOS campaign will see a team of experts help answer your queries on energy bills, the Winter Fuel Payment and how to qualify, you can email questions to winterfuelSOS@the-sun.co.uk or call 0800 028 1978.
There are free online benefit calculators that you can use to see how much you might be able to claim and through which benefit including Pension Credit.
Age UK has a free and anonymous Benefits Calculator at benefitscheck.ageuk.org.uk.
Use Policy in Practice’s calculator to find out which benefits you could receive and how much cash you’ll have leftover each month after paying for housing costs.
Charity Turn2Us’ benefits calculator works out what means-tested benefits you might be entitled to, as well as whether you qualify for carers allowance.
In England and Wales you can also get in person help through your local Citizens Advice.
Find out more via: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/contact-us
Or you can call Citizens Advice on 0800 144 8848 in England or 0800 702 2020 in Wales.
When you claim Pension Credit, you will also qualify for further support including the Winter Fuel Payment.
In total this extra help can add up to an extra £9,665 a year, according to Policy in Practice.
This includes:
HUNDREDS of thousands of pensioners are missing out on Pension Credit.
The Sun’s Assistant Consumer Editor Lana Clements explains why it’s imperative to apply for the benefit..
Pension Credit is designed to top up the income of the UK’s poorest pensioners.
In itself the payment is a vital lifeline for older people with little income.
It will take weekly income up to to £218.15 if you’re single or joint income to £332.95.
Yet, an estimated 800,000 don’t claim this support. Not only are they missing on this cash, but far more extra support that is unlocked when claiming Pension Credit.
With the winter fuel payment – worth up to £300 now being restricted to pensioners claiming Pension Credit – it’s more important than ever to claim the benefit if you can.
Pension Credit also opens up help with housing costs, council tax or heating bills and even a free TV licence if you are 75 or older.
All this extra support can make a huge difference to the quality of life for a struggling pensioner.
It’s not difficult to apply for Pension Credit, you can do it up to four months before you reach state pension age through the government website or by calling 0800 99 1234.
You’ll just need your National Insurance number, as well as information about income, savings and investments.
PENNY* JOHNSON was horrified when she became responsible for a family friend suffering with dementia – and quickly realised he was falling victim to scams on a regular basis.
Penny took in neighbour Michael, who she had known for 50 years, when his health began to deteriorate after being diagnosed with dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Mike’s health deteriorated after his wife died, leaving him distraught.
“That was really when I got involved. Up until then I popped in to see them every now and again and we led different lives, but when Jane died, she asked me if I would look after Mike,” she said.
“But things started to deteriorate and he was soon being scammed by people coming to the door and trying to lay a new driveway, he would lose his keys and he had a few rogue locksmiths.
“Then, a couple of years ago, he started getting some quite nasty scam phone calls, like trying to get him to pay his gas and electricity.
“We looked together at his bank statement and realised money was coming out left right and centre – several thousand pounds had disappeared.”
It was then that Penny looked into how she could get help protecting Mike’s finances.
She contacted charity The Alzheimer’s Society, and they suggested a new type of card by a firm called Sister.
Sibstar is a debit card and app for people with dementia and their carers. It allows the carer to help manage the person they are caring for’s every-day spending.
So, if the person makes a transaction, the carer can review it and figure out if they’re being taken advantage of, or are overspending by accident.
“From then, when Mike tried to give out his card details, it didn’t work,” Penny said.
“For example, he was charged £57 for a trip that should have only cost him £5 or £6 – but I got a notification from the Sibstar app, and I realised he had been overcharged by mistake.
“He wouldn’t have realised that, but I was able to sort it out for him.”
With Sibstar, you can also switch off the ability to withdraw from an ATM, as that is a classic way scammers target people for their cash.
“If he needs cash, I take him to the ATM and we can go and get some if he needs it,” Penny said.
“We kept the contactless so he can be independent and do his own shopping, but we’ve blocked using it online, which is where he lost thousands of pounds.”
Sibstar was created by Jane Sibley, who watched her own mum suffer from dementia and start erratically spending her money.
She would forget she’d bought things, accidentally overspend, and would even withdraw large amounts of money several times away and hand them out to people on the street.
The CEO of Sibstar, who lives in Southampton wanted to create something to help prevent this while allowing the personal with dementia the dignity to remain financially independent.
“It is critical that people with dementia remain financially included in the world and have the financial tools to allow them to do that,” she said.
Ms Sibley presented her idea on TV show Dragon’s Den earlier this year, where she won a £125,000 investment into growing the business.
Dragons’ Den investors, Sara Davies and Deborah Meaden backed the business, saying it could “transform lives”.
The business is now backed by the Alzheimer’s Society, which signposts people to its cards.
To use the card and app, there is a £4.99 card set-up fee, and a £4.99 monthly subscription fee.
Withdrawals from an ATM with the card also cost 99p.
However, Sibstar’s website says 7.5% of this goes back to the Alzheimer’s Society.
*Name changed on request
Dementia – the most common form of which is Alzheimer’s – comes on slowly over time.
As the disease progresses, symptoms can become more severe.
But at the beginning, the symptoms can be subtle or mistaken for normal memory issues related to ageing.
The US National Institute on Aging gives some examples of what is considered normal forgetfulness in old age, and dementia disease.
You can refer to these above.
For example, it is normal for an ageing person to forget which word to use from time-to-time, but difficulting having conversation would be more indicative of dementia.
Katie Puckering, Head of Alzheimer’s Research UK’s Information Services team, previously told The Sun: “We quite commonly as humans put our car keys somewhere out of the ordinary and it takes longer for us to find them.
“As you get older, it takes longer for you to recall, or you really have to think; What was I doing? Where was I? What distracted me? Was it that I had to let the dog out? And then you find the keys by the back door.
“That process of retrieving the information is just a bit slower in people as they age.
“In dementia, someone may not be able to recall that information and what they did when they came into the house.
“What may also happen is they might put it somewhere it really doesn’t belong. For example, rather than putting the milk back in the fridge, they put the kettle in the fridge.”
