By Fashion

Hi loves, welcome to my first blog post! To kick off my blog, I want to share my dirty little secret with you…I HATE shopping. At least in person, in stores. I don’t want to get dressed, drive to the mall, search through rack after rack, and try stuff on in a cold dressing room with awful fluorescent lighting…when I could be sitting in the comfort of my home, wearing my coziest sweats, and have all the best shops in the world at my fingertips!

When I tell my girlfriends that I prefer shopping online, they always say the same thing – “But how do you know if you will like it? I have to see something in person and try it on.” And they do have a point…with online shopping, there are usually a lot of returns. Sometimes an item doesn’t fit, or the color or fabric is totally different in person than it looked online. But right now everyone is stuck at home and forced to shop online, so I want to share a few tips to make the whole process easier.

Benefits of Online Shopping

But first let’s talk about all the reasons that online shopping can benefit you. Other than being in the comfort of your home in pajamas, there are lots of other reasons to shop online:

  • You can search the entire world for any specific item you are looking for. I regularly use the Google search field for searches like “puffed sleeve smocked top” and then I click on the Google shopping tab and view all the different choices from there.
  • You can search for the item you want in all your favorite stores without having to drive from place to place. If I can’t find what I want in a Google search, I try the same search within the search field of all my favorite online boutiques.
  • Stores that have both physical retail shops and online shops always have way more choices online. They have a larger stock to choose from online, and more sizes and more colors available.
  • You can almost always find a coupon or discount code online. This is much harder to do in person…have you ever gotten to the checkout counter and realized you forgot your coupon, so you frantically search your phone for a discount code while a line of customers grows behind you?
  • You can try on all your new clothes from the comfort of your own home.
  • It takes less time to package a return item and run it to the post office than it does to scour all the stores in your entire town to find something you like.

Click here to shop this outfit.

Tips for Shopping Online

So now you get why I love shopping online…but of course, I see nothing wrong with shopping in person if that’s what you like! It’s wonderful to support your local stores and I would be extremely sad for all the physical retail shops to close down. My 15-year-old daughter prefers shopping in person, so I do a lot of that with her. Anyway, let’s talk about how be a savvy online shopper! If you’re going to shop online, you can try some of the methods I’ve learned over my many years of online shopping:

  1. Use an old email address that you no longer use, or create a separate email address and use it for all the online orders you sign up for. Otherwise your personal email will be flooded with spam from all the different stores you buy from.
  2. Always use a coupon! I almost always find a coupon before I make a purchase online. I check the website’s homepage first, as there are often codes listed right there or at the very top of the screen. If there are no active deals going on, I check the very bottom of the screen for a “Sign Up for Emails” section. Often it will say you can receive 10% off just for signing up for emails (remember, this is why you’re using a separate email address for all your online orders!) If that option is not available, try googling coupons for a particular store. For example, I will type something in the Google Search Field like “Nordstrom Coupon Codes.”
  3. Before committing to a purchase, google the the item to see if it is sold anywhere else for a cheaper price. If the item is the same price everywhere, find out if any of the different stores offer a discount code.
  4. Check the store’s return policy before you shop there. This is extremely important! You need to know how long you have to return items, since some stores only allow 14 days. Also check to see if any items are NOT returnable – a lot of times jewelry, swimsuits and lingerie are not returnable – and sometimes sale items are marked as FINAL SALE. Finally, you want to find out if the store offers refunds for returns. Many smaller boutiques only offer store credit for returns, and it’s a real bummer to find this out AFTER you’ve already made the purchase and want to return something!
  5. Find out the return shipping address. If you purchase items from an overseas boutique and they don’t offer free return shipping, you might be looking at a $100 return shipping fee! However, lots of my favorite boutiques from other countries offer U.S. return shipping addresses for U.S. shoppers! And some stores offer an international return label for a very good price (like $8) that you can print from your home. Showpo (Australia), Shein (China), Pretty Little Thing (England), TopShop (England) and Hello Molly (Australia) all offer easy returns for U.S. shoppers.
  6. Consider buying from online shops that also have a local store so you can return the items in person. I prefer to shop for bras and panties online at Victoria’s Secret rather than in my local store, because the local VS store never has what I want in stock or in the right size. Also I love shopping for jeans at American Eagle and Express, but it’s torture to unfold pair after pair of jeans at the store and try to find the right style and right size. With their online shops, I can find exactly what I want with just a few clicks. But it’s nice to be able to run to the local store to return items, rather than having to package and mail them back.
  7. Watch out for stores that charge a lot for shipping and try to buy from stores that offer free shipping. For example, I always find great deals at Macy’s and I’ll be really excited to buy something there at a fabulous price…and then I go to check out and I’m shocked that the shipping costs almost $20!

Click here to shop this outfit.

Buying Clothing Online

So now let’s talk about buying CLOTHES online – because that’s the hardest, right? I have some tips for you there too:

  1. When you find an item you like, ALWAYS read reviews before you buy! This is KEY! If there are no reviews, try searching for the item on Google to see if any reviews for the item show up at other stores. Read as many reviews as you can. Look at what customers say about the fit, color, and material of an item. Often other shoppers will complain that the color is not as pictured, or the item runs too small. When I see a few reviews stating that sizing is off, I adjust the size I buy according to what others recommend. If other shoppers say the item looks cheap or the material is not nice, I don’t buy it. Some sites display the height, weight, and measurements of the customer reviewing the product, or the customer might provide their own weight and measurements within their review. I search reviews for this type of info and try to compare it to my own height, weight and body shape.
  2. Check the size charts included with the item. Size charts can vary widely and it really helps to see the store’s recommendations on size. If you don’t know your measurements, invest in a $3 sewing measuring tape to get your measurements. You will want to measure the largest part of your chest, the smallest part of your waist, and the widest part of your hips. Then, write these measurements down so you don’t have to do it over again! You may also want to measure your inseam, which is the length from the top inside of your thigh down to the bottom of the inside of your foot. Beware of international sizes being completely different than U.S. sizes! For example, I am a U.S. size 2 or 4 which is an 8 or 10 in Australia! When looking at size charts online, make sure you look for “U.S. sizes.”
  3. Check the measurements of the model and check which size she is wearing. Most online clothing boutiques provide the size and/or measurements of the model somewhere on the item page. You can find it by reading more in the product description or sizing description of the item. This is very helpful! For example, if the model is 5’10 and it looks like the dress is way too short on her, since I am 5’5 I know the dress will be about 5 inches longer on me. And if the model is wearing a size 2 and she is clearly one to two sizes smaller than me, then I know I need to buy a size or two up from her size.
  4. Look at how the clothing hangs on the model. If the model is wearing a size small and the item is tight on her, you can assume it runs pretty small. If the item is hanging off of her and looks like it is 2 inches too big, then the item may run large and you should size down. If the item digs into her skin or looks odd and misshapen, or has weird bunching in one area, you can assume it is ill fitting and you may not want to buy it.
  5. Look at all of the pictures of the item carefully, including the back and sides of the item. Sometimes an item will have a slit on one side and not the other, or something else that you miss unless you look at all of the pictures. Click on the item to blow it up on your screen if possible, to see it in more detail.
  6. Read the description of the item closely as this will often tell you things that you may not notice from the picture. For example, the description might say the item is backless and you just assumed it had a back because there is no picture of the back! It will often also tell you other important things, such as whether it has a zipper or if it has a raw edge seam. Trust me, there are lots of things you can miss from just looking at the pictures!
  7. Try to figure out what type of fabric the item is made of. Fabric can be very different in person than it looks online. Blow up the picture to see it more clearly, check reviews for mentions about fabric quality and feel, and check the product description to see if it mentions fabric. If you have never heard of that type of fabric, google it! Make sure it’s what you think it is. A lot of times, the product description will give an exact breakdown of the materials included. You may also want to see if the item looks extremely wrinkled on the model. If this is the case, the material might wrinkle too easily and you may want to avoid it.

Tips for Returning Online Items

I know that list was extremely long and exhausting…but it’s not really that hard to shop online. I do all of these things naturally and quickly every time I buy something, and I end up getting better quality items and returning less. Also, let me leave you with a few last tips for mailing those return items back:

  • Don’t remove any tags until you know you are going to keep the item! Most stores will not accept any returns if tags have been removed.
  • Save ALL the packaging – the plastic wraps that come around the item, the envelope or box it came in, and all the packing wrap. You will need all of this in case you have to return something.
  • If you are going to shop online a lot, invest in some packing tape. I package all of my return items at home so that my packages are completely paid for and ready to go when I run them into the post office or UPS. That way I never have to wait in line – I just leave my packages on the side of the counter and make sure the person working there knows they are ready to ship.
  • Most online stores offer a shipping label. Even if they charge you for it, this option is almost always half the price of paying for it at UPS or the post office. Most stores offer shipping labels for $5.99-8.99, so if they have this option you should take it! You can print the label at home.
  • For stores that don’t offer a shipping label, sign in to usps.com and ups.com to create your own labels. You can pay for and print the labels at home so you don’t have to wait in line and pay for them at the post office.

I hope this was helpful to you. Leave a comment below to let me know if there is anything in here you will use! Or if you have any additional tips, I would love to hear them đŸ™‚