Online Shopping| What you need to know
As I am sure is the case with many of you, it seems that now a days, we have several friends with children that are getting married. My husband and I have had at numerous weddings in the last few years. A lot of the weddings and showers I had attended had several of the same guests, since my children have such a close circle of friends. With that being said, I wanted to make sure that I wore a different dress to each wedding. So, I headed online to see what I can find.
The ease and convenience of online shopping
Shopping online is an excellent way to find what you need without having to deal with crowds or look for parking spots. Aside from the convenience, you can also find more choices to select from on a website.
For the most part, I’ve always had good experiences with online shopping. This made me think that some of you may be interested in hearing a few pros and cons to online shopping. There are several shopping websites to choose from.
Besides a secure and trusted site, one of my most important concerns with online shopping, is finding a site with great customer service. Since you can’t try on what you are buying beforehand, you want to make sure of the stores return policies. Several of the websites offer a customer service number that you can call directly if you prefer to speak with someone about any return policies, and I often do, you can call if needed.
I found this navy Self-Portrait dress online at a shopping website called Net-a-Porter. Once I decided to make my purchase, I checked with my expert online shopper, my daughter Brittany, to see if this was a legit website. She confirmed that they were very good and I should not have any issues.
If you don’t know anyone that has purchased from a website you are looking at, then it’s important to google their reviews. There was once an overseas website I found that was offering authentic designer shoes at great prices. However, when I googled the reviews, they were all complaints. Needless to say, I did not make a purchase. Not all overseas shopping sites are bad; you just need to research before you buy. If the price seems to good to be true, it probably is.
Check for a secure network
Here’s a little tip that I just learned to help confirm that you are looking at a secure site. When shopping on a site make sure there is “s” in the very beginning of the site’s web address. For example, if you are looking at http://website.com vs https://website you will want the latter. The “s” after http confirms a secure connection and helps prevent against hacking.
Know the company’s return policy
I fell in love with a dress on the site Net-a-Porter. However, the dress was made in the UK and I wasn’t familiar with the sizing. Even though I followed the suggestions the website offered, when my dress arrived, I didn’t exactly like the way it fit. I’ve since discovered that many dresses made in the UK run a little smaller. When I called their customer service for the return it was extremely easy. I dropped the dress off at the UPS store and my account was credited when the dress was received on the other end.
On a plus side, when I reordered the dress it had gone on sale and I was able to get the sale price! A few days later my new dress arrived. The only snafu was that UPS put the dress in my driveway next to our garage. My husband did not see the box and ran over it with his car. There was a huge black tire mark across the flattened box! That’s just the usual kind of craziness that happens around our house. Luckily, the dress was not damaged, thanks to their lovely packaging.
Overall, I was very happy with my online purchase at Net-a-Porter and have since made other purchases.
Credit Card Safety while shopping online
You will want to use a credit card or PayPal account while shopping online. Avoid using your debit card. Many credit cards have price protection and purchase protection policies as part of their rewards programs. In fact, some credit cards will offer a credit if a price of an item you had purchased is reduced within 90 days. And, most credit cards offer purchase protection. If your item is not as described, lost, damaged or even stolen within the first 120 days of purchase, you are covered. My son, RJ had recently explained this to me, as often times, he mentioned, that there are great perks to certain credit cards that we don’t even realize!
If you’re thinking of ordering from a shopping site you aren’t familiar with, please don’t hesitate to contact me. If I’m familiar with them I will let you know.
In the meantime, below are a few other sites that either Brittany and I have ordered from and have been happy with the results.
My favorite online shopping sites:
NORDSTROM
DERMSTORE
Ann Taylor
AMAZON
THEREALREAL
SHOPBOP
THEOUTNET
MARISSA COLLECTIONS
WARBY PARKER
ANTHROPOLOGIE
TJMAXX
SEPHORA
SAKS OFF 5Th
NEIMAN MARCUS
LAST CALL
NORDSTROM RACK
INTERMIX
Net-a-Porter
REVOLVE
DSW
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