France summons Vinted and other marketplaces over suspected looted goods listings

France summoned Vinted and other online marketplaces on 19 October to examine listings suspected of containing goods stolen during weekend looting across the country. Ministers want platforms to remove suspect listings promptly and help authorities identify sellers, while Vinted says it has already removed potentially linked items and increased monitoring.

Digital Affairs Minister Anne Le Hénanff said platforms should take down the listings in question without delay and work closely with public authorities so people reselling potentially stolen goods can be identified and prosecuted. The government called representatives of Vinted, Amazon, eBay, Meta, TikTok and Leboncoin to a 7 p.m. meeting on 19 October, POLITICO reported.

How France plans to investigate suspicious listings

The response extends beyond removing advertisements. Le Hénanff called for cooperation that could help authorities identify and prosecute sellers, while European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier told POLITICO the issue was a new dimension of illicit trade on online marketplaces that the Commission was willing to examine with French authorities.

What Vinted and eBay say they have done

Vinted said its teams had acted since the weekend to identify and remove listings that might involve stolen goods and had stepped up monitoring. The company said selling or soliciting stolen goods is prohibited on its platform, and that it was working with French authorities and law enforcement to identify suspicious sellers. It said offenders could face permanent account bans.

An eBay spokesperson said the sale of stolen property was prohibited on its site. The company said it used technology to detect suspicious activity and worked with police; it would remove an item and act against its seller if law enforcement confirmed the item was stolen, according to The Telegraph account republished by Business Insider.

Listings raised suspicions after the looting

The Telegraph account described screenshots of Vinted listings for Sephora cosmetics offered well below comparable retail prices, including six lip glosses for €15. It also reported listings for perfumes and packaged makeup. Those examples raised suspicions about the goods’ origin, but a low asking price does not establish that an item was stolen.

The unrest affected physical shops as well as resale platforms. Sephora closed its French stores on Saturday evening and kept them shut on Sunday after several branches were ransacked, The Telegraph account reported. POLITICO said Papin announced a special support fund for an estimated 3,000 local businesses affected by the weekend’s violence.