Mimi and Weesse: October 2015

Mimi here!

Now, I loves to shop. Like, mega style. Think of that one person you know (we all know one) who shops all the time. Is always wearing something new. Is always coming home or coming into the office with bags and bags of goodies at lunch time. That person to whom you often say, “Nice top/jeans/bag!” and they reply with, “Thanks it’s new”. That person is me. Hi there.

I know where I got my love of shopping, and my love of a bargain, from; my Mum! We affectionately call her Bargain Betty. Always kitted out in chic, stylish ensembles, she has a keen eye for unique, versatile, flattering, fashionable, yet age-appropriate clothes and pairs them with eye-catching jewelery, shoes and bags. And ALL at a fraction of the price it originally retailed for. Whether she needs a top at £2 or not (true story), or whether I need a pair of ankle boots reduced from £15 to an ACTUAL pound (ALSO a true story), Betty can sniff out a bargain at 20 paces and is mighty proud of it. Why pay more, right?

Now, being the busy little bumblebee that I am, I do a lot of online shopping. I wholeheartedly appreciate the sheer convenience of being able to buy online. Sometimes, just looking at a store's new arrivals can help me figure out what I need in my wardrobe, what I need to get rid of, or what sort of look I might go for if I have a particular occasion coming up. I research. Then I buy.

Isn't it strange how there are now shops online that don't have a physical presence on the high street? I am of an age where I remember the pre-online, pre-mobile phone days. Online shopping is great for getting your size in an item that wasn't stocked on your high street, but more and more I find myself buying from retailers that don 't actually exist as physical stores. Trippy, man.

I buy A LOT from H&M and Sports Direct (due to there usually being a discount code or online offer available) and more so from MissGuided and Forever21 also. But it is my love of fashion from the Far East, and their ridiculous prices, that I am going to write about today.

Ladies, welcome to the world of what I like to call “the random Chinese shop".

My first ever armchair-to-overseas purchases were from sellers in China on eBay. I bought a few tops here and there and my experiences were generally a hit or a miss. A great fitting find here, a cheaply made disappointment there. But the prices were SO GOOD that anything I bought that wasn’t up to scratch was put down as a relatively cheap learning curve.

That is why, my friends, I have shopped til I virtually dropped in these Asian online stores and came up with a guide for getting a great deal on a great item without getting stung by the various pitfalls. Yep, I did all that shopping just for you. You can thank me later.

Rule 1: Know your measurements

What is the circumference of your waist? Where is your waist? Nobody know? I want you to get yourself to your local shop and purchase a measuring tape. Then take that measuring tape and wrap it around various key parts of your body:

Your waist (about 1-inch above your belly button)
Your hips (your widest part)
Your bust (straight around your front over the nipples

Take a note of what they are EXACTLY in inches AND in centimeters (because the rest of the world likes centimeters). Make a note of it somewhere you can access easily, like on your phone. The reason? Because when it comes to buying in “the random Chinese shop” you CANNOT rely on the sizes stated.

WHY?

Did you know the average Chinese woman has a 34A bust, is about 5 feet tall and weighs about 8 and a half stone. This average woman may be considered an Asian size Medium. The UK average is a UK16…see the difference? An Asian size Medium is like our size XS-Small in many cases. Most Asian stores online provide a size chart for this very reason where it will provide measurements in centimeters usually. There is usually always some variation, so if you are just fitting into a cute dress based on measurements, go for the next size up…you can always have it altered (which leads me to my next rule)…

Rule 2: Be prepared to Get Your Clothes Altered

I would imagine that there are very few people in this world who are a true size “anything”. With sizes varying so much between shops, it can be very hard to buy something that fits PERFECTLY. It’s always better to overestimate your own measurements and order a size larger from these Asian shops because measurements can vary so much. A lot of what I have bought has been slightly too big, but is easily rectified with a trip to my local seamstress. I tend to go to the same one because they are quick, cheap and do a fabulous job (big up Sew Quick in Bellshill). Yeah the top you want to buy is £5 including postage…but spend that extra £5 and get it tailored to fit you properly…it certainly won’t look like it cost you a tenner.

“But hey, you can just return the item if it doesn’t fit and order the next size up, why err on the side of caution” I hear you cry. Well…

Rule 3: Returns and Fraud

As a rule, eBay has the most reliable system for returns and exchanges because any shops are bound by eBays rules and agreements. If a store gets a bad returns reputation, they will not fare well on eBay, plus I think eBay protects it’s buyers from any tomfoolery.

For example, I bought a bikini from an Asian shop and it arrived. Unfortunately the bottoms fitted and the top was mahoosive. Like, unwearable. So I contacted the shop and asked about their returns process. Helpfully, they said that it would be less hassle for all if they gave me a partial refund and I just kept the top that didn’t fit. So, I paid £6 for a bikini, got £3 back and spent another £6 on a second bikini in a smaller size so I could get a top that fit. I then listed the too-big top and the too-wee bottoms separately to sell on eBay for, yep, £3 each.

NO MONEY LOST.

And no postage costs in returning items either because I didn’t need to return them. This has happened to me a few times and it’s great when it does. It’s even happened when I have been dissatisfied with a product and have wanted to return it. I even received a full refund AND got to keep the item. I think it’s generally just so much hassle to send and receive items from overseas that companies are happy just to make you happy.

I have, however, been burned.

I bought a number of gorgeous dresses (our Kennedy Cupcake polka dot dresses to be precise) from an Asian eBay store. Weirdly, the dresses were MASSIVE (very uncommon) so I had been left with a size small and medium that could be worked with, but a large and XL that were unwearable and unalterable. I contacted the eBay shop and asked to return them (the dresses were around £20 each). Unfortunately the company’s return postage policy was so expensive (tracked to China was going to cost me £40) that it was simply not cost effective to return them. So either way I was out £40 whether I sent them back or not.

Great.

The company didn’t make this explicitly clear on their page and experience has taught me to ask about returns if buying something more expensive from an Asian online store in future.All’s well that ends well though as I managed to sell both dresses on to very happy people, for the price I bought them at.

The second time I (kinda) got burned was when I purchased from an Asian store called SheIn.

I LOVE SheIn. Like, really LOVE IT. The stuff is quite cheap, they have a great selection and actually the quality had been pretty decent so far. Their measurements are accurate about 70% of the time though, which has meant items have arrived that I would like to send back.

I done a quick Google search (“SheIn + returns) and found that many people were extremely dissatisfied with their returns efforts. SheIn have a very swish online system where you can log your return before you pop it in the post, but many people had said that their items never arrived at the other end and that they were left with no item and no refund.

Pants.

Luckily I haven’t fallen victim to this and have just decided never to return to them. Anything I buy that doesn’t fit, can’t be altered or gets put on eBay or given/sold to a friend. I did buy a dress once that was so short my PANTS were visible, so I contacted them and told them their pictures were not accurate representations of the item. I also told them that I was reluctant to send it back to them because of the poor reviews I had heard. They apologised and gave me a full refund and a discount code for my next purchase. DONE. HOW NICE.

***TIP: Fancy a wee £ or ££ off your order with them? Add items to your SheIn basket then close your browser. I can guarantee within 24hours they will send you a discount code. It MAY say 30% off…it’s not. But it’s still a couple of quid off. ***

The moral of this story is basically to be wary. Do a quick search of the shop name and “scam” afterwards and see what comes up, or look up their eBay feedback. This will also highlight any fraud issues too. Read into their returns postage policy and confirm it with the seller. If you are not into their policy, be sure you really want what you are about to buy, or be prepared to buy two sizes.

Rule 4: Be Sensible

With any online shopping be wary of what you are buying. If something looks not quite right, it probably is. For example, I saw a gorgeous dress on SheIn and wanted to buy it...

Something about the photos was putting me off though. They were quite grainy and you couldn’t see the model’s face (it had been cropped). So what did I do? I put on my Mac, got out my pencil and went all Columbo up in their grill. I saved one of the photos and done a Google Images search (go to Google Images and click on the wee camera logo on the search bar…you can attach an image and search for other instances of THAT image on the web…also handy to find out if anyone is catfishing you online). Hey presto what did I find but that the photos had been lifted from ASOS. The ASOS dress (the brand was Chi Chi London) was much more expensive, which made me question whether the product listed on SheInside was going to actually be anything like the one pictured.

I decided against it in the end. If there is a lack of images or the images are poorly lit/too cropped/grainy or appear overly edited, so a quick search and see what comes up.

SheIn also has a helpful feature which encourages buyers to post photos of themselves wearing their items along with their own sizes and the size they bought in order to help people decide if they like the item or not. It helps you actually see what it is like on a real human being. They have also started featuring a “catwalk” for some of their items, meaning a video plays of a model wearing the item. I therefore tend not to order anything from She Inside now that doesn’t have a couple of photos next to it of regular folks who have bought the item. The reviews also allow people to state their dress size etc. and whether the item was true to size or not. HANDY.

Rule 5: Be Prepared to Wait

China is like, far away. Don’t know if you knew that, but it’s like, ages away. All of Asia is actually, so don’t order stuff and expect it to be here in a week, a fortnight or even a MONTH. eBay sellers tend to give an estimate of when an item will arrive and some online shops provide tracking information but not all do (SheIn do and it’s actually pretty good). If in doubt, check out the FAQs of a seller or contact them and ask their average delivery times to your country. I have often forgotten I have ordered stuff and been very surprised when it has arrived 7 weeks later.

I must say that She Inside tends to post quite quickly, and I have received items within 1 week in the past.

So, if you have scrolled past all of the above information in a bid to read some handy conclusions, here they are…

PROs:

Cheap clothes

Online shopping (can be done while in the bath)
Some stores offer discounts
Some stores offer customer reviews
Some returns advantages (50% refund and let you keep the item)

CONs:

Delivery takes an age

Quality can be a hit or a miss
Returns can be extortionate and unreliable
Detective work needed to suss out legit-ness (totes a word)
We haven’t even STARTED to think about the potential ethical issues involved in some companies. As far as I know, SheIn are an ethically run organisation.
ADDICTIVE
People asking you where you got your cute top / jeans / coat. HOW. ANNOYING.

Thought I would share some photos of just some of my purchases from SheIn so far that I have been happy with. Now go buy yourself a tape measure and HAPPY SHOPPING!