December Daily: online shopping

[resonant]

china_shop asks: Do you shop online, and if so, what are some of your favourite sites. (If not, is it a conscious choice or just habit?)

I don't shop much, period, because: perpetually broke one-income family here. And I'm a slightly obsessive thrift-shopper, too.

I do love to shop online, but I don't know that I have any interesting suggestions to offer that everyone doesn't already know about:

- Zappos for shoes, because they're slightly more expensive than elsewhere, but their search capability rocks, and so does their return policy, which is nice for someone extremely picky who needs a knee-high boot in this exact shade of brown with a heel precisely between 1/2" and 1 1/2" for a wide foot and a wide calf.

- eShakti for clothes, because they'll customize to your measurements. I've gotten some amazing fits in dresses from them, but I've never gotten a successful fit in a blouse, because they don't yet have a vertical measurement for me to indicate how long-waisted I am.

- Etsy for handmade stuff. I'm wearing a pair of Christmas tree earrings I bought on Etsy last year.

- Sephora, because I really like perfume and my town can't even support a free-standing Starbucks, never mind a high-end cosmetics store.

- I also have to mention Retailmenot; I don't ever buy anything from anywhere, now, without checking to see if Retailmenot has a coupon.

Comments

[kass]

Thank you for the tip on retailmenot!

I do love eShakti dresses, and have dropped substantial hints to my sweetie that there are two of them which I particularly covet at this time, either one of which would make a fine Chanukah / Christmas gift. We shall see if the message is received. *grin*

[resonant]

I came so close to buying one of their black velvet dresses at the Thanksgiving sale, but in the end I couldn't justify the expense. But how I wanted it!

[ellen_fremedon]

I bought six dresses from eShakti recently (they had a buy-two-get-one offer) and five of them are amazing.

The sixth doesn't fit, and I'm wondering if it's worth customizing, given that you can't set the waist seam height and I'm absurdly short-waisted.

[resonant]

I really do wish they'd allow waist height customization.

[devon]

I'm very short (5'2"), but the waist height is always too short on eShakti dresses if I indicate that. So I mark myself at 5'6" and then have them shorten the skirt. I would love to be buying more of their dresses this year, but I am on a self-imposed ban on buying dresses in general. I'm still trying to weed out my current collection of dresses that I hardly ever wear. Many of them are eShakti, including an old salwar kameez from the days that they were mostly oriented to that style of clothing.

I am a Sephora addict - VIB every year, and then some. I'm terrified of the year that I may become a VIB Rouge. I don't think it will happen, though. I order a bunch of stuff online and then return the stuff I dislike at a local store. No shipping charges that way, and I also get a chance to browse stuff in person.

Thanks for sharing with us!

[resonant]

There's a Sephora in the next big city over, and I love shopping there -- it taps into the fun-paintbox aspect of makeup, as opposed to the grim-fixing-flaws aspect.