I used to spend $600 on Christmas gifts, now I get everything for $100
When Nicole Ratcliffe saw her seven-year-old daughter excitedly leafing through the Smyths Toys catalogue, she felt a wave of panic.
As her girl begins circling potential gifts ranging from Mario Kart to Rainbow High Dolls, Nicole sees only sign marks as the child smiles and turns to her mother.
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“It’s a good thing you and Dad don’t have to pay for them and Santa comes to bring them,” she says.
The thought of how much everything on her daughter’s wish list will cost is enough to put the 42-year-old mother of two in a cold sweat.
In previous years, Nicole, from Manchester, would normally spend £600 on presents for two daughters, seven and three, but the cost of living crisis forced her to make major cuts last year.
Nicole tells Fabulous exclusively: “I wanted my daughters to get the presents they wanted and keep the magic and excitement of Christmas alive.
“I wanted them to have the same Christmas experience I had as a child.
“But I felt enormous pressure. I agreed, secretly hoping that I could convince my eldest daughter to take the items off her list.”
Her eldest’s wish list for Santa was Rainbow High dolls, which cost £40 each.
“It was a lot of money for a doll, but I knew she would be heartbroken if Santa didn’t deliver it,” Nicole says.
But a few days later, in November, the mother was struck by a brain wave.
“I had recently joined Vinted, the site for buying and selling used things, and I was online when I saw Rainbow High Dolls there,” she says.
“At Vinted I was able to buy two used for €16, a fraction of the cost and a saving of €64.”
Nicole set herself the challenge to buy all her gifts on Vinted. She was already using the site to sell items from around the house.
She adds: “I was already making money selling items on the site and realized that if I cleaned out the house and sold enough items, I would have money in my Vinted account that I could use to pay for all the Christmas presents to buy.
“My girls could have everything on their list and it wouldn’t cost me a dime.”
The next day, Nicole started cleaning out the kids’ rooms for old toys that she could sell to boost her Christmas budget from last year.
NICOLE’S VINTAGE SUCCESS IN NUMBERS
Nicole Sold approximately 70 items/bundles, raising £215.20
She bought around 35 items for a total of £160.55
Buyer protection fees and shipping added another $65.09 on top of that. So the total cost to Nicole was £10 in postage, but if you don’t include postage/protection costs, she actually made a profit.
What Nicole bought for Christmas on Vinted
- Skyler doll – £6
- Ruby doll – £10
- Secret Diary £20 (new)
- Bed linen £10 (new)
- 2 x PJs £4
- Pet wallet £8 (new but not in box)
- Magic Whispers Luna £15 (new)
- Mario Cart 8 Deluxe £25
- 4 x Fingerlings plus frame £15
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid books – £10, but this was refunded as the seller did not sell what was advertised
- Learn to draw animation book
- Books
- Games – Don’t get rattled and make crazy sausages
- Walk and glow fire spirit – £4
- Spiderman Laptop £18
- Paw Patrol toys £6 – we also picked up the plane from a charity shop for £5
- Spidey and friends car £4
- Roblox Rainbow Teddy €3
- Bath toys Baby Shark €4.00
- KiddiZoom watch £10
- Minnie and Mickey Mouse Bags – £4
“To my children’s delight, I rediscovered the favorite toys that had been hidden,” she says.
“Before I joined Vinted, the idea of selling things seemed huge, so instead I just kept adding more toys to the piles.
‘I had nowhere to put them and the toys were never played with.
“After I put the toys away, I was thrilled to see my youngest child start playing with toys she had never played with before – probably because she could finally get close to them.”
It felt great to be able to get everything on the kids’ lists without spending anything
Nicole Ratcliffe
Nicole uploaded her items to the popular app where sellers can set the price of items but buyers can bargain for less.
The first item Nicole sold was a pair of shoes for £1.
She says: “It may have only been £1 but it meant someone got what they needed for less. I didn’t put it towards the tip so it became sustainable and I got a little bit of money in my account.”
Nicole also cleared away many of her youngest’s clothes that no longer fit.
“I found the whole process so easy,” she says.
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“I sold jackets, leggings, tops and pajamas and I felt like I was doing something good for everyone.
‘I knew that during the cost of living crisis there would be so many people like me looking for bargains.’
Although Nicole found the sales process simple, she admits there was one prospect she “dreaded.”
“Before joining Vinted, the idea of label printing, decent packaging and endless trips to the post office filled me with dread,” she says.
“I thought it would take a lot of effort. But it’s actually surprisingly quick and easy.
“I found uploading very easy, then I had the surprise of not having to print labels or pay postage and then I discovered the lockers at the bottom of my street.
“I even use old cereal boxes to post things on and just put them in a pedal bin bag for waterproof protection.
“I now also sell items as bundles, because that is even more cost-effective.”
The whole room was filled with presents
Nicole Ratcliffe
As well as her sales success, Nicole, who works full-time as a sleep consultant and runs her own business (baby2sleep.co.uk), has also found some gems while shopping on the app.
She says: “I managed to get incredible bargains on the items on their Christmas lists – as well as the two rainbow tall dolls for £16, my other best buys were a Kiddizoom watch for £10 (usually on sale for £45) and a Fire Spirit for £4 (retail price £25).
“I didn’t just buy Christmas gifts from Vinted – I also bought a whole Brownie uniform and recently bought myself a new jumper, jacket and bag for just £15.
“It felt great to be able to get everything on the kids’ lists without spending anything.
“There’s no way I could have gotten even a quarter of the gifts if they hadn’t come from Vinted. Many items were brand new.
“But even if they’re not in their box, an extra ribbon to make it look like it came straight off the elves’ assembly line can work – and even add to the Christmas magic.
“I also bought decorative boxes from Amazon for some of the toys, so it looked like there were a lot of presents under the tree.”
On Christmas Eve, Nicole’s house was just as filled with gifts as in previous years.
“After the kids were asleep, I put the presents in their Santa bags and put the bigger ones under the tree,” says Nicole.
“The whole room was full of presents.
“Christmas morning was absolutely wonderful, the girls couldn’t believe how many presents were under the tree and in their Santa bags.
NICOLE’S TOP TIPS FOR VINTED
- If you’re looking for something specific, check out the seller’s other items. You may have more things you need. This will save you shipping costs and buyer protection fees. Buying an item for £1 or £2 is really not profitable. They may also have bundle discounts, meaning the more you buy, the cheaper the bundle becomes.
- Don’t be afraid to offer a lower price than what the seller is asking for; most offer them at a higher price with the expectation that they will be knocked down.
- Please make sure you look closely at the photos and do not rely on descriptions. What one person considers ‘very good’ may be ‘satisfactory’ to you.
“Just looking at their excited and happy faces felt amazing – I had given them the magical Christmas I wanted and more.
“I thought they were going to burst with excitement and delight.”
Nicole says she wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Vinted to other mums looking to save on Christmas costs.
“As a sleep consultant I work with many parents of young children, and many are concerned about the cost of Christmas and the cost of living crisis,” she says.
“I recommend Vinted to my customers and my friends.
“Parents are under so much pressure to keep the Christmas magic alive that families are having to pay top dollar for items they can’t afford.
“But why would you do this when you can get items very cheaply on Vinted?
“Plus, it’s really nice to know that by selling items on Vinted we’re helping other people. Why clutter the house with unwanted items when others can benefit from it?”
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