Stacey Solomon spent years building a carefully curated empire of supermarket homeware ranges, jewellery collaborations, co-owned beauty brands and primetime television contracts.
But last week, pieces of that empire quietly began appearing on the resale app Vinted for as little as £2.
And the seller is none other than her older sister, Jemma Solomon.
Just weeks after tearfully announcing the closure of her company The Label Lady – a home organisation business launched in 2020 and backed by Lord (Alan) Sugar – Jemma has resurfaced with a strikingly different hustle: reselling brand-new products from Stacey’s ranges at reduced prices online.
Among the items on Jemma’s Vinted page are several products from her sister’s At Home With Stacey Solomon collection for George at Asda. These include boxes of wine glasses listed at £2 (retail £8) and a three-pack of candlesticks priced at £2 (retail £14). A black tablecloth and matching napkins are on sale for £4 (worth £23 combined).
It’s not just her sister’s Asda range that Jemma is flogging. She’s also listed a wash bag from the haircare brand REHAB – of which Stacey is a co-owner, investor and partner – for just £2. The Vinted listing comes just a week after Jemma posted pictures to Instagram of Stacey launching REHAB products in Selfridges, captioned: ‘Watching you smash life brings me so much joy.’
And then there’s the limited edition ‘Designed by Stacey’ Abbott Lyon ‘Moon and Back Two Tone Belgravia 30 watch’ – part of Stacey’s jewellery collaboration with the brand which currently retails for £149 – now reduced to £10 on Jemma’s Vinted page.
Jemma Solomon, right, with her far-more-famous sister Stacey
Jemma at the Selfridges launch of REHAB, the beauty brand of which Stacey is a co-owner, investor and partner
Elsewhere on the account, which has more than 17,000 followers, the inventory veers from the branded to the bewildering: 18 till receipt rolls for £2, a small plastic storage box for £1.50 and a packet of paper napkins for £2.
When Jemma promised a ‘new beginning’ after shutting down The Label Lady, few imagined it would involve repricing her sister’s retail empire at bargain-basement rates.
While Jemma has said proceeds from the sales will go to charity, the listings however form part of a paid collaboration with Vinted, meaning it’s likely she will be compensated for them as part of the promotional partnership itself.
And that’s only half of the story. As sales at The Label Lady started plummeting, with Companies House filings showing the business’s net assets had fallen for three consecutive years as cash reserves plunged from £630,000 to £342,000, Jemma attempted to re-position herself as an influencer.
Her social media page has increasingly mirrored her sister Stacey’s: curated posts about her home life with husband Lee and their three children Darcy, 12, Mila, 10, and Hudson, seven, as well as the family’s recent move into their ‘forever home’ following a decade living in a four-bedroom detached house in Kelvedon Hatch, Essex.
Not so long ago, Jemma was openly angling for a coveted blue tick on Instagram (a verification badge which confirms an account belongs to a celebrity or public figure) – a move that raised eyebrows among those who felt her pursuit of validation online was becoming overly transparent.
So it was no surprise that Jemma took to Instagram in January to announce the closure of her business in a tearful seven-minute video.
‘I suppose it’s scary saying we will no longer have a job, like it’s a weird feeling,’ she said, adding that her husband Lee was ‘very nervous’ about the decision.
‘I will be honest, we don’t quite know what that new beginning is yet,’ she continued. ‘And we’re going to be a little bit selfish.’
Gemma’s social media pages have increasingly mirrored her sister Stacey’s, including curated posts curated posts about her home life with husband Lee and their children
Among the items on Jemma’s Vinted page are several products from her sister’s At Home With Stacey Solomon collection for George at Asda, including a three-pack of candlesticks priced at £2 (retail price £14)
It seems that, alongside her new Vinted gig, Jemma’s ‘new beginning’ lies in influencing. In recent days, she has appealed to her followers to use her Amazon affiliate link so she could reach a February commission bonus.
Amazon influencers like Jemma can earn a percentage of commission when people click through personalised links on their social media pages and complete a purchase. Jemma urged her followers to do so after posting a video to Instagram, telling followers she had a ‘favour to ask’.
In one video she told followers she was making: ‘A plea to say if you shop on Amazon today or tomorrow, could you please please please use my link.
‘I’ll be so grateful because I really want to hit my bonus, and if I do, then I will do a big giveaway with vouchers as well.’
Text overlaid on the video reinforced the message: ‘By the way NO pressure, I just mean if you are planning to buy anything today or tomorrow (it can be anything) please use my link.’
She attempted to explain the mechanics of her earnings, saying: ‘I know that you guys aren’t going to judge me and I feel like I can ask you because I’m honest, I’m transparent. I’m quite open with everything I do.
‘You all know I do my Amazon affiliates and I share my links and deals here. Basically if you sell a certain amount at the end of the month you get a bonus and if you hit your bonus it’s about 3.5 per cent so it makes up for the s*** commission.’
Here’s where Jemma’s appeal runs into trouble. Amazon’s Associates Programme rules clearly state that participants are prohibited from offering ‘any person or entity any consideration, reward, or incentive (including any money, rebate, discount, points, donation to charity or other organisation, or other benefit)’ in exchange for using affiliate links. The policy also explicitly forbids implementing any kind of ‘rewards’ scheme designed to encourage users to visit Amazon via a personalised link.
So, by offering gift vouchers to ‘winners’, it looks like Jemma was plainly breaking the rules – something that some of her fans noted.
A few furious followers claim they have reported Jemma’s appeal to Amazon, while others have taken to gossip forum Tattle to share their dismay.
One user said: ‘She’s happy just to beg for people to click a link and buy anything just so she can get her bonus. No effort, no care, no shame. It’s an absolute joke.’
Another added: ‘Behaviour like this, as well as going against their T&Cs, is putting me off parting with my money to Amazon. I am more than happy to shop elsewhere.’
This, combined with her Vinted endeavours, has certainly left a bad taste in Jemma’s followers’ mouths. So could this ‘new beginning’ turn into the end of her career as an influencer?