Vinted, the shop window for October 17 loot: listings with no receipt

Vinted, the shop window where the October 17 loot looks for a buyer

On October 17, France proge up to shattered shop windows and an uncomfortable question hanging in the air: where does everything they took end up? The answer, according to the screenshots that circulated that very day, was one click away. On Vinted. The second-hand platform became the improvised showcase for the looting, with listings that made no attempt to hide their origin. One seller described their goods with a frankness that borders on a police report: "bought on October 17, no receipt".

The supply chain worked with an efficiency any multinational would envy. In the morning, shops in central Paris and other cities were burning or being emptied; by the afternoon, the goods already had a product listing, photo and price. Vinted became the marketplace for plunder, and the conversation quickly turned to logistics: selling requires a bank card, an address and an identity that, on paper, leaves a trail.

From the broken shop window to the listing with shipping included

One tongue-in-cheek message summed up the sequence: "the supply chain does not stop". And it didn't. Videos of looting gave way to unboxings: a woman interviewed those who had emptied stores and asked them to present their loot as if it were Christmas presents. From an iPhone to a jacket, each displayed their trophy with pride. The format changed, the substance did not.

The most uncomfortable detail came through the school route. According to a post circulating in the discussion, teachers at Paris high schools in underprivileged neighbourhoods found students returning to class with brand-new Louis Vuitton and Dior backpacks. The anecdote, real or exaggerated, works as a thermometer: the loot did not stay in the boot. It was shown off.

The question Vinted does not answer

Pressure was directed at the platform. One message directly called on Vinted to cooperate with the police to track down looters who were already putting items up for sale. The company's response, as of this discussion, does not appear in the material. What does appear is the confirmation that the filter works poorly: no receipt, no problem.

The argument used to play down the alarm was the usual one: selling on Vinted requires a card, an address and personal details. In other words, the trail exists. Whether anyone trinc it is another matter. Tracing the loot depends on a prior police report, a serial number and the police having time to cross-check listings against inventories. None of those three pieces was guaranteed.

The entrepreneurship narrative

The irony running through the whole discussion is one of vocabulary. What the authorities call looting, the market calls second-hand. What a court record would call receiving stolen goods, the platform calls peer-to-peer resale. And what in a police report is a crime is, in a listing, an eye-catching description.

Some argue that the platform is just a channel and the blame lies with the seller. Against that weighs the argument that a market with no origin verification is not neutral: it is an infrastructure. And infrastructures have owners.

With the Euribor and the cost of living squeezing budgets, second-hand has become a necessity for half of France. That is the perfect cover for loot to circulate disguised among used Zara jumpers. The system does not distinguish. It just takes its commission.