Blinq is an e-commerce platform owned and operated by Optoro, which is a US-based company that provides returns optimization services to many retail brands. It is said that “there are opportunities everywhere, especially where you’re at; and that you only need your eyes to be opened to the opportunities”. Nothing explains this more clearly than the establishment of Blinq.
Optoro, in its business of managing returns for retailers, saw that for a lack of processing capabilities many retailers discard returned and overstocked items. Seeing this as a missed opportunity to consumers and a burden to the environment, Blinq was founded as a platform where such items are provided at giving away prices, thereby saving customers money and saving the environment (saving returned and overstocked items from potentially ending up in a landfill).
Since 2010 when Blinq was founded, hundreds of products are received daily and are listed at unbeatable discounts, ensuring that the company stays true to its promise of saving customers money and saving the environment. Their sustainability impact reports that in 2018 alone, Blinq shoppers diverted 909,105 units (weighing over 1.37 million lbs) to happy homes, where all those products had been candidates for the landfills before getting to Blinq.
Blinq makes a three-part promise – best price, free shipping, and easy returns.
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The e-commerce platform can be found at www.blinq.com. The website which is available only in the English Language is user friendly. It is compatible with a range of devices including mobile devices and tablets. Thus, you can shop on the go (at any time and from anywhere). Being mobile-optimized, it resizes to fit the screens of your mobile devices for an optimal browsing experience.
“A smart way to shop that offers great savings” is music to the ears of every shopper. However, one of the first questions that are asked when such promises are heard is whether the great savings do not come at the expense of the product. In other words, are priced low because the products’ quality is also low?
Blinq is a legit fashion store online. They are not scams because they will never steal your money or credit card info. And all the items you purchased from the store are shipped to your destination without a problem.
But does Blinq provides quality products?
So the questions that come with Blinq include: Does Blinq actually offer great savings or is the promise just marketing-speak? If they do offer great savings, does it come at the expense of the product? What about their service, does Blinq offer services we’ll expect of an ideal shopping platform (such as a hassle-free buying process, fast delivery, easy returns, good customer service, etc)? In the first place, is Blinq legit?
This Blinq review will examine Blinq in order to provide the information that will help you answer these questions and more.
Blinq is a legit online fashion. It is not a scam. We have tried the website and also read lots of feedback from members of which 90% were positive. A review of an online platform cannot be complete without a clear statement of whether the platform is legit or a scam. This is because there are many scam platforms on the internet ripping people off on a daily basis; and this is often seen in the shopping sphere, where scam stores collect customers’ money in payment for orders but do not deliver the package.
We’ll look at three areas in determining Blinq’s legitimacy. The first is legality. A legit store should first of all be legal, with operating licenses and certificates issued by a competent legal jurisdiction. Blinq.com satisfies this because the website is owned by Optoro Inc. which is a duly registered company in the US. Thus, Blinq is 100% legal. Suffice it to say that scam stores are not backed by duly registered and licensed companies.
The second check of legitimacy is whether the store fulfils orders. Order fulfillments are the lifeblood of online retail business, such that a store that does fulfil orders after payments are made will be called out and disappear. Blinq has been going on strong for about 9 years, which can only mean one thing – that the store fulfils orders.
The last check of legitimacy is whether the items delivered are “fit for purpose” or functional. As we’ve seen from the review, Blinq’s stock includes: brand new, like new, factory refurbished and used (but very good) items. You’ll get decent quality items that are fully functional; but if you’re not totally satisfied with your purchase, there is an easy and free return process, to ensure that you’re not unsatisfied as a Blinq customer.
Thus, since Blinq is a platform that is 100% legal and fulfils orders with fully functional products, there is no doubt that Blinq is legit.
Blinq is also safe for your usage. Your credit card and bank details are highly safe on the site. It is the fear of being ripped off that makes customers go in search of legit platforms. Sadly, even when using a legit platform, there is still risks of being ripped off, although not by the platform itself but by others who could hack the platform.
Thus, the ideal platform should not only be legit but should also be safe in ensuring that unauthorized persons cannot hack the system and intercept the sensitive information of customers (which will include personal information and credit card details).
Like all shopping platforms, Blinq makes the right noises about being committed to protecting the customers’ privacy. They employ different technical and administrative measures in this regard, one of which is the industry-standard SSL (secure socket layer) technology.
SSL create a secure channel for the transmission of data between your device and the servers of Blinq; the technology also encrypts the data ensuring that it is safe during transmission. With the use of this bank-grade security protocol, there’s the confidence that customers’ personal and financial data will be safe in Blinq; and is not likely to fall into the wrong hands.
Retailing faces many problems. Stock too few items and there’s the problem of missed sales because of out-of-stocks, but stock too many items, and there’s cash tied down in inventory that cannot be sold. Finding optimal stock is easier said than done; so for fear of missed sales, retailers and manufacturers err on the side of stockpiling items.
Then there is the customer-focused practice of allowing customers to return items that they are not totally satisfied with. This causes a lot of sales to be unsuccessful. Returned items are costly to retailers in many ways. First, there are shipping and handling cost associated with processing returns; and secondly, the more the items stay out of circulation and is unable to be sold, the more it becomes even more difficult to be sold (the more their value drops).
That said retailers have to deal with returns and overstock items. Many of these retailers don’t have the processing power to deal with the merchandise and re-sell them, and that is where Optoro (the parent company of Blinq) comes in. Understanding the services of Optoro is important to knowing how Blinq works. Optoro helps retailers manage their returned merchandise. If it were not for Optoro, most of the merchandise would simply be discarded, ending up in landfills.
In optimizing returned and overstocked items for retailers, Optoro has systems that determine the highest value channel for each returned item, which will include: return to stock, refurbish, list on a secondary marketplace, donate, etc. It’s in listing in a secondary marketplace that Blinq comes in.
Blinq is one of such secondary markets where merchandise that would have landed in the “landfills” is diverted to. Thus, the items you’ll find in Blinq consist of returned and overstocked items from some other retailers. However, this is not to say that Blinq is a dumpsite.
Though hundreds and thousands of items are received by Blinq every day, only the best make the cut. This is because, upon receipt of items, they are carefully inspected and sorted (by condition), and only good quality items worth listing are put up for sale for the savvy shoppers that use Blinq. Thus, if Blinq must be called a dumpsite, it is a dumpsite of gold.
Thus, as you’ll find quipped in many Blinq’s posts when you buy on the website, you’re saving more than money – you’re also saving the environment. Many of the quality products that you get from the site would have ended up in the landfills and cause more environmental nuisance.
A store or retailing platform is defined by the products it offers. Most buyers want stores that offer a wide product range so that they can buy different items from one place instead of getting them from different stores. Buying items from one place is, first of all, more convenient; also there are cost savings when you pay to ship one order instead of paying separate fees to ship different orders from multiple stores.
In terms of product range, Blinq ticks the box. While some stores focus on a particular niche and offer products only in that niche, in Bling you’ll find a range of consumer products from a wide range of niches. This is because Blinq’s parent company serves many consumer products brands (such as Target, Best Buy, Jet.com, and more), so they are able to divert excess items (returns and overstocked items) from these brands to Blinq.
When shopping in Blinq, the product categories and some items you’ll find in each category include:
That said you’ll find a variety of items in Blinq. The one thing about item listing that we were not particularly pleased with is that there are no individual pictures for all products listed. Blinq explains this by saying that they are unable to provide the pictures because many new items are added each day; and that you should refer to the photos displayed on the product detail pages, as those are representatives of the item that will be delivered. We understand that taking pictures of all items is no mean task, but there are retail stores with such detailing. Online purchases are already blind since one will not see the actual product before paying for it; but while pictures of representatives of the item may suffice, an actual picture of the item will be better.
While a wide product range is good, having a large inventory of each product type is equally good. You’ll not want a store that offers different product types, but only a few items to choose from in each product section. This is because, with a good number of items to choose from, you’ll be more likely to find something that you like.
You’ll not find Blinq flying high in this regard, and this is because of their mode of operation as described above. The inventory of Blinq is determined mainly by returns to retailers; so Blinq’s inventory and its size vary with the rate of returns. As a result, you’ll find that Blinq does have a good stock of certain items during and immediately after the holiday periods characterized by heavy sales.
Thus sometimes, there’ll be only a couple of items of a particular product, and other times there could be only one or none at all. Thus, one drawback of Blinq is that the platform is not a place you’ll reliably find a particular product at any time. That said, if you find any product in Blinq that you’ll like to have, you’ll have to act fast and get it because it could easily be ordered by another person, and there’s no telling when (or even if) something similar will be in stock again.
However, it must be said that at the time of writing this review, the inventory size of Blinq was very impressive in almost all product sections. For example, there were over 10,700 items in the clothing and accessories category, with men’s clothing accounting for over 2,100, women’s clothing accounting for about 4,900, kids’ wear accounting for 380, and handbags accounting for over 500.
Also, there were over 3,000 items in the electronics department; where laptops and tablets accounted for 800, desktops accounted for 200, and phones and accessories accounted for over 600. In the same vein, the Home and Garden category had almost 3,000 items and the Health and Fitness Category held over 1,400 items.
When considering the products offered by a store, even more, important than product range or inventory size is product quality. This is because you want value for your money. Even when buying directly from a manufacturer or when buying first-grade products, customers check the quality of the merchandise.
Thus, it’s not surprising that given Blinq’s business of “diverting excess items from landfills” and putting them for sale on their site, customers ask whether there is any quality to be found in Blinq’s merchandise.
The short answer to that is: Yes. The long answer is that when items are received by Blinq, the company inspects and sorts the products depending on the products’ conditions. With this information, you can determine the product’s quality and make your buy decision. Sorted products are generally classified into four: brand new, like new, factory refurbished, used (but very good).
Quality Grading of Blinq’s stock
It should be remembered that some of Blinq’s stock comes from overstocked items that retailers were sending to the “landfills”. These are basically brand new items with the same A-quality as items you’ll take off the top shelves of these retailers.
Top-quality is guaranteed in this section. Also, it should be said that returns to retailers are not always because of quality failures. For example, for sized items, a wrong size could have been ordered; and other times the customer could have simply changed his/ her mind. Thus, some of the returned items intercepted by Blinq and listed on their website represent A-quality items. And where quality failures were in play, the product could have been remade and passed to be resold.
This is one of the reasons Blinq is described on some platforms as the “best kept retail secret”. This is because you can get top quality products; and as we’ll see in the next section, at giveaway prices.
Whether you’re buying home appliances or clothing, one of the first things you’ll look at is the price. No matter the perceived quality of an item or the utility to be derived from it, no one will be willing to pay what is perceived as unreasonable for it. Thus, the ideal stores should feature merchandise that is perceived as reasonably priced.
This is where Blinq shines the brightest. Items you’ll find in Blinq will turn out to be real steals if you compare their prices with when buying directly from retail stores. You’ll find that items go for as much as 70% off the retail price. Thus, when Blinq advertises that the platform represents “a smart way to shop with savings you can feel great about”, that was no marketing blurb.
Given that you can get A-quality brand new or “like new” items in Blinq, if you don’t want to pay full price for top buys, Blinq is an e-commerce platform you should check.
The first of Blinq’s three-part promises is the best price. To ensure that they always give you the best price, Blinq does price matching. That is when you buy a product from the Blinq website and you find the same item selling for a lower price somewhere else, Blinq will refund the difference to your original method of payment.
However, there are some conditions. First, “somewhere else” is actually not everywhere else, but only some specific online retailers. The applicable retailers are: Bestbuy.com, Overstock.com, TigerDirect.com, Newegg.com, Staples.com, OfficeDepot.com, RadioShack.com, Target.com, HomeDepot.com, Lowes.com, Amazon.com, Frys.com, Apple.com, Microcenter.com, Sears.com, OfficeMax.com, Rakuten.com, Dell.com, Crutchfield.com, BHPhotoVideo.com, HHGregg.com, HP.com, and Walmart.com. It should be noted that the price to be matched must be that offered by these retailers directly, and not by their third-party sellers. Also, the Best Price Guarantee does not apply to flash sales prices, special discounts or coupons, or rebates.
Taking advantage of the price match is also very easy. You only need to send Blinq an email with your order number, a link to the better price, and a note that you’ll want to apply the Best Price Guarantee.
The one thing we didn’t particularly like about the Best Price Guarantee (Price Matching) is the condition that you’ll have to apply to receive a price match within 24 hours of the purchase. It’s our opinion that 24 hours is too short a window.
Promotions represent cost-saving opportunities where customers get to acquire listed items for less than the listed prices, or in some cases for free. Everyone will want to be less and less for items; thus, stores that run promotions are a shopper’s delight.
Prices in Blinq are already the lowest you’ll find in the market, and in case the price of an item in Blinq turns out not to be the lowest, there’s the “Best Price Guarantee” that you may apply to get the lowest price. Thus, we weren’t expecting to find too many promotions. Most often than not, stores with sky-high prices or moderate prices come with a bunch of price slashing offers, while stores with floored prices come with few.
True to that, there weren’t many promotions offered by Blinq. The up to 70% off retail price (or such other) blurbs you’ll find on the website is no special promo but business as usual, only confirming that everything in Blinq is offered at knockdown prices. However, we did find a bonus that promises 10% off the first order (up to $20) if we sign up to receive Blinq’s emails. If you won’t mind getting extra emails in your inbox, then you should be saving that $20 on your next Blinq’s purchase.
What’s more frustrating than meeting nagging issues when spending your hard-earned money? That’s what a difficult payment system gives. Thus, you want an online store that offers a hassle-free buying process; and that starts with having effective payment methods.
In this regard, Blinq accepts all major credit cards, as well as PayPal and Amazon Payments. With the range of cards supported, including PayPal, you shouldn’t have any issues with finding a method to use for conveniently paying for your Blinq orders.
Online purchase and shipping are Siamese twins. The process of acquiring an item listed in an online e-commerce centre is include, you place an order, and the order being processed and shipped to you. Without shipping, there’s no receiving of the package; thus shipping is an important consideration in online purchases. Three important shipping considerations are shipping destinations, shipping times, and shipping costs.
If a store does not ship to your location, it’ll be difficult to receive delivery of any order placed in the store. Thus, you want a store that will ship to your location. In this regard, the ideal online store will ship to as many locations as possible, so that where you’re resident will more likely be covered.
Blinq is a US-facing platform, which means that they ship to only locations in the US. Unfortunately, not only do customers in the US need the huge cost savings that Blinq offers, and not only do US customers care about saving the environment from items that would have potentially ended in landfills. Thus, it’s somewhat disappointing that Blinq ships to only the US.
A review of online shopping has shown that many customers abandon their carts at checkout after shipping costs have been applied. The problem is that when high shipping costs add to the item cost, the item that was initially regarded as acceptably priced immediately becomes too expensive to get. Thus, you’ll want a store to feature shipping costs that are as low as possible.
In terms of shipping costs, Blinq couldn’t do better. The lowest possible shipping cost is zero, that is free shipping, and that is what Blinq offers. The best part of the free shipping offer is that there are no minimum order requirements. Most of the stores that offer free shipping will require you to spend up to some amount to have your order shipped free of charge; where the free shipping qualifying amount is steep, customers will find themselves spending more than planned in order to qualify for free shipping. However, when you shop in Blinq, whatever the order amount, you’ll get it shipped to your door free of charge.
After placing your order, you’ll want your package to be delivered as fast as possible. Thus, you’ll want retail stores that offer fast delivery. There are two determinants of the total waiting time after placing your order; the first is the order processing time, and the second is package transit time.
Where any of or both times are relatively short, the store is able to deliver fast delivery. For the first, Blinq process and dispatches most orders within two business days. If you’ve read reviews of online stores, you’ll find that this is relatively fine.
For the transit times, Blinq packages will take 4 – 6 business days en route to you depending on your location within the US. Thus, the overall waiting time for Blinq packages will be one week to just a little over a week. However, that’s for the continental US States. Orders travelling to Alaska and Hawaii will take longer than the advertised times.
While this is not the super fast delivery we’ll want for a retail store, it is relatively fine for Standard delivery. The very real disappointment with the shipping times is that Blinq offers only standard shipping, so there are no expedited delivery options for customers who’ll want their packages faster than Standard delivery can do.
Retail stores usually offer such expedited delivery options in the form of 2-business Days delivery, and Next Day Delivery; so we’ll want Blinq to offer express delivery options.
Any customer-focused store will allow customers to return merchandise that they are not totally satisfied with. Reasons for choosing to return an item to a retailer are varied. It could be that the item does not meet certain quality expectations you had of it; it could be that something went wrong in transit, and a damaged item is what is delivered to you; and for sized products, it could be that the wrong fit was ordered.
Whatever your reason, you’ll not want to be stuck with an item you’ll rather return back to the store. Thankfully, Blinq does allow returns.
If you choose to return any item back to its retailer, you don’t want to have to confront a difficult process. Thus, you’ll want a return process that’s as easy as possible. In this regard, the last part of the tripartite promise of Blinq is easy returns.
True to their process, returning items to Blinq is fairly easy. You only need to send Blinq an email requesting a Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA), and you’ll receive an email with a prepaid return label and instructions on how to proceed. The much you’ll do next is to package the item appropriately, attach the return label to the outside if the package, and mail it to Blinq.
We like stores that provide return labels; not only do labels greatly simplify the return process, but at least at the time of shipping the returned package, you’ll worry less about the cost of return shipping. This is because return labels are usually pre-paid; which means you’ll not have to pay charges at the time of mailing the package, but the charge will be deducted from your refund.
Stores will only accept items returned to them within a time period. Late returns are rejected, and no refund will be issued. That said you’ll want an extended period so that you’ll not be pressed with time when you choose to return an item.
Blinq offers a 30 days return window, which means you have 30 days from the day of receiving delivery of your package, to return any item in the package back to their fulfilment centre. In this regard, Blinq does relatively well; 30 days is like the industry average because many online retail stores offer a 30-days return window.
Just as with the return process; if you choose to return an item back to its retailer, you don’t want to be put off by the high cost of doing so. In this regard, you want a store that offers return costs that are as low as possible.
Free shipping will win it anytime because zero is the lowest possible cost. Fortunately, that is exactly what Blinq offers. The Return Labels that Blinq provides are not only prepaid but free; which means that nothing will be deducted from your refund as the cost of return shipping. It’s good to find returns absolutely free in Blinq, where some other shops charge fees for return shipping, with some even charging restocking fees.
After returning an item to a store, you’ll not want to wait forever to receive your refund. Thus the ideal store should not only accept returns, and offer an easy returns process, but should also process returns and issue refunds quickly.
Blinq ticks the box in this regard. The process returned items within 1 – 2 business days of receiving the items; if you’ve seen reviews of shopping platforms, you’ll find that this is easily one of the fastest refund processing times there is.
After processing returns, the refund is issued through your original payment method, and it’ll be reflected in your account in a few days depending on your financial institution. However, in rare cases, it may take 3 – 5 business days for the refund to be reflected in your statement. However, on the whole, how long you’ll wait to get your Blinq refunds is one of the shortest in the shopping world.
It’s also good that Blinq‘s refunds are issued through the original payment method. This means that you’ll have the funds as cash in your bank account; and not as store credits. Some stores offer refunds as store credit which will then restrict the customer to using the funds only in the store; but as cash in your account, you may choose to go to another online store for your purchase.
You may have questions about a store or its operation, or there may be issues with orders. Whatever the case, you’ll want a store that addresses your concerns. Thus, the ideal shopping platform will offer an effective customer support centre. The effectiveness of the support centre is mostly measured by the available channels for contacting the support agents; the timeliness of response when contacted; and the helpfulness of the responses given.
Getting help from Blinq
In terms of channels, getting help from Blinq is only through their FAQ and email service. The FAQ holds short answers to a lot of questions grouped into shopping and ordering, shipping policy, return policy, and Best Price Guarantee. The FAQ impressively answers almost every question on those topics. However, if you’ll still need direct contact with a support rep of the company, you can simply send Blinq an email via: care@binq.com.
The response time for email submissions is within a few hours which is relatively fine. However, we’ll like to have instant feedback channels such as live chat or telephone service. Unfortunately, Blinq does not offer such customer support channels. You’ll have to send a mail, and patiently wait for your feedback. Customer reviews also show that in the large part, customers were satisfied with the support received from Blinq which shows that the support service scores passing grades on the “helpfulness” scale.
Blinq is a legitimate shopping platform started by Optoro Inc as an alternative market for the returned and overstocked goods that retailers move on. Thus, you’ll find some dubbing Blinq a dumpsite. If that tag must stick, then it’s a dumpsite of gold, because you’ll find top quality items of different conditions such as brand new, like-new, factory refurbished and used (but very good).
What’s more, you’ll find that prices are up to 70% off retail prices. There is a range of consumer goods ranging from auto parts to electronics and home appliances, to fashion & accessories, and more. Because stock depends on returns, you’ll find that available items at any time can vary greatly; so you’ll have to pick up the desired item fast.
Blinq also offers exceptional service. They ship to only locations in the US; but shipping is free to all locations, returns are allowed within a 30 days window from delivery date, refunds processing is fast, and customer service is largely helpful.
Have you used Blinq before? Is it legit or a scam based on your experience? Kindly use the review form below for your opinion.
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I have a business in a small town offering technology education to those who dont understand how to utilize it or are unable to acquire it using normal channels. I help find computers etc that are within my clients ability to purchase and teach them how to use it once purchased or simply show them how to use technology they may have already purchased and haven't a clue what it does.
I have a family that have been wery good clients for a few years now and purchased a chromebook from Blinq for their Daughter who was returning to her first year of college from winter break. I was going to surprise her and her family with this still very usefull chromebook before she returned to school. I ordered the chromebook and got concerned that after 6 days my order still wasnt shipped. I queued Blinq as to why and pointed out that overnighting my order would be the only way it would arrive in their specified time frame and asked for a reason. No reason was given they just simply refunded my credit card no explanation nothing, leaving my waiting 4 days for my credit card limit to return to where I could try another Avenue to get a chromebook for the student. I will still get the student a chromebook and will surprise her a few weeks after her return to classes. Thanks to Blinq and their antics. This is the first of many purchases I intend to make out of pocket for my clients and their children as the months and years generate good relationships between us. It's just sad that for whatever reason my first attempt at showing my appriciation to my long term clients had to be messed up do to whatever Blinq had going on that they couldnt answer a simple question.
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I ordered a "Microsoft Surface Pro 12.3" Wifi 128GB - Silver (HGG-00001)" with M3 processor and 4 GB RAM. This model comes with a Microsoft surface type cover and the same is advertised in the product details page too. The product got delivered today, but surprisingly the type cover is missing.
I am using Blinq since 2016, but this is my highest value purchase on the portal, which ultimately left me extremely disappointed.
I reported the issue at their customer care email and got connected with Tori, who firstly couldn't understand what the type cover is. I shared screenshots of the Blinq listing clearly mentioning that the type cover has to be included and also an Amazon link to detail out, what type cover means.
As my parents need to carry the product out of US in next 2 days, I requested a resolution by today close of business hours, but it appears that Tori is not interested in helping their customers. Blinq should be shameful and has given me a learning today.
I INSIST OTHERS NOT TO BLINDLY TRUST BLINQ FOR HIGH VALUE TRANSACTIONS. SUB 100 BUCKS IS OKAY, BUT BEYOND THAT, BE A GAMBLER.