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An alert setup has three parts: the listings you want, the checks that look for them, and the notification channel you will notice. Keep those separate when something goes wrong. A quiet phone may mean no matching stock, a restrictive filter, an expired alert, or a notification problem.
The cover and scene images are illustrations, not actual listings, product screenshots or transaction evidence.
This is a setup guide for InstantAlert, our own service. It monitors searches and notifies you about new matches; it does not reserve items, buy them, or guarantee that they remain available.
Saved searches, followed sellers and InstantAlert
Vinted's saved-search help describes returning to a search and seeing a counter of new items. Its finding-items guide separately says following a member can notify you about new uploads. Those are different features, so it would be inaccurate to say Vinted never sends listing notifications.
InstantAlert watches a configured search in the background and offers email and push delivery. If you only need to inspect one seller's current stock, start with the free wardrobe search. That is a one-time lookup rather than ongoing monitoring.
Define a search you can judge
Write down the item, acceptable size and condition, and maximum checkout total. Then reserve room for shipping and buyer-facing fees before setting the item-price limit. The bargain-pricing guide works through that calculation.
For a hypothetical search, “Barbour Bedale, medium, acceptable wear, under my item-price ceiling” is easier to evaluate than “nice jacket”. The example is a search specification, not evidence that a matching item is available at a particular price.
Create the alert
- Sign in to InstantAlert and start a new alert. You do not need to supply your Vinted password.
- Select the Vinted source marketplace. Use the countries guide if you are deciding between sources; visibility does not establish delivery eligibility.
- Add the search term and relevant native filters: category, brand, size, colour, material, condition and price. Start with the fields that determine whether you would consider the item.
- Choose email, push, or both. At least one channel must be enabled when saving. For push, check notification permission on the device you intend to use.
- Save, then review the alert's active status, settings and results. Check its expiry as well as your subscription status.
On every plan, including the free trial, you can add reusable word, seller and country lists. The custom-filter guide explains matching modes and exclusion tradeoffs. An inclusion list narrows candidates; adding a word there does not widen the upstream Vinted search.
For additional requirements such as included accessories or visible wear, follow the AI Filter setup and prompt examples.
Check frequency is not delivery latency
The standard schedule and public plan comparison currently describe:
| Plan | Monitoring approach |
|---|---|
| Free trial | Scheduled checks every minute |
| Casual | Scheduled checks every 3 minutes |
| Premium | Scheduled checks every minute |
| Ultra 3, Ultra 7, Ultra 11 | Continuous Checking, with 3, 7 or 11 alerts respectively |
Continuous Checking makes an eligible alert ready again after its previous check and the minimum safety interval have completed. Protective backoff, failures and capacity can delay the next check. None of these cadences is a promise to notify you a fixed number of seconds after a seller uploads an item. Fetching, processing, email or push delivery, and your device also take time.
The subscription applies to your account, not a separately purchased speed setting on each alert. Choose the plan around the searches you need to run and the capacity you need. Faster checking cannot make a poor match useful or an unavailable item buyable.
The free trial includes two alerts, each running for 48 hours from its own activation. Pausing does not extend that deadline. Paid alerts also have a lifetime and require extension if you want to keep them running; the current pricing page gives each plan's limits.
Diagnose the result you are seeing
| Symptom | Check first | Useful next action |
|---|---|---|
| No results | Active/expiry state, then the same search on Vinted | Loosen one constraint and compare; no matches is not proof of a failure |
| Results are irrelevant | Category and ambiguous search words | Correct the native query before adding custom exclusions |
| Useful listings disappear after a filter edit | Inclusion terms, matching mode, exclusions and seller-country restrictions | Revisit the changed list; remember exclusions can match reassuring phrases too |
| Results appear in InstantAlert but no notification arrives | Enabled channels, email spam folder, device permissions | Check delivery separately from search relevance |
| An item is sold when opened | Time of discovery, delivery and opening | Consider cadence, while accepting that no plan guarantees availability |
If a problem persists, keep the alert name, approximate time and affected channel ready for support. Never send your Vinted password. A specific example is more useful than changing every filter at once.
Stop monitoring when the search has done its job
Review whether the latest results were worth opening and change one rule at a time. Pause an alert when you have found the item or no longer want it. Monitoring is useful when it saves attention on a defined search; the number of notifications is not a measure of success.
