Resisting Temptation Of Sales
Hello Darlings, Online shopping is one of my favorite things to do, and is evolving into quite an addictive challenge. Obviously online retailers are not stupid, and seemingly are amping up the stakes creating more and more high-pressure scenarios with time limits with so-called "special sales".
No one forces me to press the enter key to buy clothes or shoes. Most often I play online shopping in the evening relaxing in my home. So the excuses blaming a store for my bad buys are pretty much nil, such as there's no "skinny mirror" or pushy salesperson to influence my decisions. The blame is all mine, or is it?
Check out this email from Bluefly entitled "Bluesale Just Got Better..." with their pitch "Further Reductions... Now handbags Up To 85% Off". Sure, I "opt-in" to receive these emails, so figuratively I open the door to allow Bluefly into my life. But what concerns me is how these are really special sales, when every day they send me a similar email offering another similar "1-day" sale?
Another example are emails from upscale U.S. store Neiman Marcus, such as their "Midday Dash". I click on the email and in big bold purple print the ad says "Take 50% Off... 2 Hours Online Only". Reading on, they say "begins at 11:30 am and ends at 1:29 pm... or when they're gone". At least Neimen Marcus emails are only every second day, albeit they too usually have the same pressure-packed pitch.
The tone is almost always that I need to act fast, or miss out on their fantastic sale. So be it that it's buyer beware. It's my own fault if I fall for pressure tactics, which I did recently when buying these Giuseppe Zanotti lace-up boots on The Peacock Parade. At the time of clicking "buy", I couldn't resist their auction-style promotional offer. However, soon after buyer's remorse kicked-in since the boots were still a lot of money, and I already own a similar pair of Manolo Blahnik's.
I AM WEARING: Club Monaco Tristan Silk Blouse // Juicy Couture Lace-Up Jeans // Ray Ban Wayfarer II Sunglasses // Alexander McQueen Razon Necklace // Kate Spade New Bond Street Sawyer Purse // Converse Chuck Taylor Slim Sneaker
More to the story, then I posted this article Would You Keep Them? with a poll asking your advice. Somewhat surprisingly 89% (50 people!) said "return them". So I tried, only to find the conditions were "final sale, no returns, no exchanges". Totally my fault, and lesson learned to always READ THE CONDITIONS before clicking the enter key - regardless of the time constraints!
Has this ever happened to you?
With Love...
Marta