Onine Stores

Rose Wholesale is an international online fashion store. Not much can be found online about its origins or the company that operate the website. However, a footer on its website suggests that the site was started in 2013. Other searches also revealed that it is based in China.

Rose Wholesale says its goal is to provide its customers with “high-quality products at competitive factory-direct prices”. It draws items from a lot of manufacturers/ factories; making it able to offer a vast selection and offer factory (aka low) prices.

One thing that sets Rose Wholesale apart from other fashion stores in the industry is that it caters to both the personal buyer and the business owner. That is, whether you want to shop fashion products for your personal use, or you own a store and want to shop fashion items to stock it; you’re welcome to walk into Rose Wholesale.

Rosewholesale is an international online fashion store. It says it “focuses on the very latest in affordable fashion styles, both attire and accessories”; and it adds that its goal is to provide “high-quality products at competitive factory-direct prices”. Three things stand out in those blurbs – latest, affordable, and high quality.

Yes, Rosewholesale is legit. It is not a scam because they will never steal your money or not ship the products you purchased. And you will receive the products you ordered without any problem.

The first question that pops up is whether Rosewholesale actually offers an extensive range of the latest (that is, trendy fashion clothing). Since keeping up with trends can easily be expensive; affordable fast fashion stores are a modern requirement. Thus, another question is whether Rosewholesale actually provides affordable fashion styles as it claims. Also, the “what you pay for is what you get” syndrome is so true in the fashion world that most often than not cheap clothing features cheap quality. Thus, another question is whether Rosewholesale actually offers high-quality products as it claims.

If Rose Wholesale does have the product (affordable, high quality, trending fashion styles), what about its service? Does it offer quality service (such as fast delivery, easy returns, effective customer service etc) that we’ll want to form the ideal online store? In the first place, is Rose Wholesale a legit online store or just another scam?

Yes, Rosewholesale is legit. It is not a scam because they will never steal your money or not ship the products you purchased. And you will receive the products you ordered without any problem.

This Rosewholesale review will examine Rose Wholesale in order to provide the information that will help you answer these questions and more.

Rose Wholesale review at a glance

• Website is rosewholesale.com
• Offers an extensive selection of high-quality trendy fashion clothing for women, men, and kids
• Serves both personal buyers and store owners
• Ships merchandise worldwide
• Offers free shipping on certain products
• Offers a 30 days return warranty (that is, 30 days from date of delivery)
• Customer support available via Email (support@rosewholesale.com – 1 day response time), telephone (+001 202-318-2579 – available 24/7) and live chat (available during business hours)

Is Rosewholesale Legit?

Rosewholesale is legitimate. This review will not be complete without answering definitively whether Rose Wholesale is legit or a scam. There are many ways to establish the legitimacy of an online store. We usually look at whether the store: is backed by a 100% legal company, has wide recognition, has a long operating history, and is fit for purpose.

While there is virtually nothing about the company backing Rose Wholesale, there is nothing either to suggest that it is not 100% legal. On the other fronts, Rose Wholesale is an international company recognized by many industry leaders and followers; it has been operating for over 6 years, which will be impossible for a scam store; and it is fit for purpose in that it actually provides affordable and high-quality fashion products. That said; there is no doubt that Rose Wholesale is legit.

Another important thing is that the store is safe. When you use Rose Wholesale, you won’t have to worry that your sensitive data will leak out to unauthorized users. This is because it employs different security measures to safeguard users’ sensitive data, including the industry-standard SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) technology.

Products

Product Range

The ideal online store will have a wide product range so that it can be a one-stop-shop which allows customers to get many of their items in one place. Rose Wholesale does well in this regards. It says that the first of the four reasons you should use it for your shopping is that it offers an “extensive selection of the very latest.

True to that, you’ll find that Rose Wholesale provides everything in women fashion, while also providing men’s clothing and accessories, kid’s fashion items, and many other fantastic items. When shopping in Rose Wholesale, the product categories and the items you’ll find in each category are as follows:

Women

• Dresses – Maxi dresses, Vintage dresses, Lace dresses, Bodycon dresses, Club dresses, Print dresses, Sheath dresses, Casual dresses, Long sleeve dresses, Chiffon dresses, Summer dresses, Mini dresses, Sweater dresses, Bandage dresses, Two-piece dresses, etc
• Tops – T-shirts, Blouses, Tank Tops, Waist Coats, Crop Tops, Long Sleeves, Sweater and Cardigans
• Outerwear – Jackets and Coats, Blazers, Hoodies and Sweats
• Bottoms – Pants, Shorts, Skirts, Jumpsuits, Rompers, Leggings, Safety Short Pants
• Swimwear – Bikinis, One-piece, Tankinis, Cover-ups and Kaftans, Bottoms
• Activewear – Gym Pants and Leggings, Gym outfits, Yoga
• Maternity – Tanks and Camis, Tights and Hosiery, Suits, Vests, Coats
• Intimates – Babydolls, Corsets and Bustiers, Bras, Panties, Bra Sets, Pyjamas, Sexy Dress wear, Teddies
• Accessories – Scarves, Hats, Ear Muffs, Hair Accessories, Beauty (Makeup Tools), Sun Glasses, Socks, Gloves, Belts

Plus Sizes

• Tops – Blouses, Tank Tops, T-Shorts, Sweater and Cardigans
• Dresses – Casual dresses, Vintage dresses, Lace dresses, Print dresses, Bodycon, Maxi dresses, Shirt dresses, Midi dresses, Off the Shoulder Dresses, Floral Dresses, and Prom
• Outerwear – Hoodies and Sweatshirts, Jackets, and Coats
• Bottoms – Leggings, Pants, Skirts and Jeans
• Swimwear – Tankinis, Bikinis, One-Pieces, Cover-ups
• Activewear – Sports pants, Shorts, etc
• Intimates –

Men

• Apparel – T-Shirts and Tank Tops, Shirts (Short sleeve and long sleeve), Outerwear (Hoodies, Jackets, Coats and Blazers, Cardigans and Sweaters), Bottom (Pants, Shorts), Waistcoats, Activewear, Underwear, Swimwear
• Accessories – Hats, Scarves, Ties, Gloves, Belts, Cuff links, Socks, Jewelry

Hair

Synthetic Wigs, Human Hair Wigs, Lace Print Wigs, Cosplay Wigs, Hair Extensions, Feather Hair, Men’s Wigs, Hair Pieces, Accessories and Tools

Jewellery and Watches

• Watches – Women Watches, Men Watches, Kid’s Watches, Pocket Watches, Sports Watches
• Fashion Jewelry – Necklaces, Earrings, Rings, Bracelets, Brooches, Anklets, Body Jewelry

Home

• Bed and Bath – Blanket and Throws, Throw Pillows, Bathroom Products, Bathroom Accessories, Carpets and Rugs, Window Treatment, Bedding Sets and Collections
• Home Décor – Wall Tapestries, Stickers (Wall, Door, Floor), Canvas Wall Art, Decorative Novelty and Artificial Flower
• Kitchen – Table Cloth, Kitchen Tools, Bakeware, Drinkware, Knives and Flatware, Place Mats, Aprons
• Festive and Part Supply – Events and Part Supply, Masquerade Masks, Christmas Decoration Supply
• Lighting – LED Decorative Lights, Ceiling Lights, LED bulb, Wall Lights
• Sports and Outdoor – RC Toys, Outdoor Lantern and Flashlight, Camping and Hiking items, Cycling items, Bicycle Glasses, Athletic Clothing, Exercise clothing, Fishing and Hunting Supplies, Water Sports Supplies
• Smart Home – Headphones, Language Translator, Sound subwoofer, etc
• Toys and Hobbies – Hand Spinner, Puzzle and Educational, Key Chains
• Mobile Phone Accessories – Charges, Power bank, Phone cases, USB Cables, Car Mount Phone Holder, etc
• Pet Supplies – Toys, Small Animal Carriers, Collars, Harnesses and Leashes, Habitat Décor, Bedding and Liter, Exercise Wheel, Feeding and Watering Supplies, Grooming

Shoes

• Women Shoes – Pumps, Boots, Flats, Wedges, Sandals, Peep Toe, Platform, Slippers
• Men’s Shoes – Casual Shoes, Sneakers, Boots
• Sports Shoes – Golf Shoes, Hiking Shoes, Walking Shoes, Dance Shoes

Bags

• Women’s Bag – Shoulder bags, Crossbody bags, Clutches, Backpacks, Tote Bags, Wallets, Cosmetics Bags
• Men’s Bag – Backpacks and Messenger Bags
• Sports Bag – Gym Bags, Athletic Bags, Racquet Sports Bags

Kids

• Girls – Swimwear, Sports Suit, Summer Dresses, Jumpsuit, Long Sleeve Dresses, Jackets and Coats, Casual Attire, Shirts, Overalls
• Boys – T-Shirts, Sports Suit, Shorts, Shirts, Jackets and Coats, Sweaters and Cardigans, Long Sleeve
• Babies – Coverall, Bibs etc

It’s clear that Rose Wholesale has a wide product range. In addition, the store provides a large inventory for each product type. Thus, you’ll be able to find different styles of a particular product. With that, you’ll be very likely to find a fashion product that appeals to you when shopping in Rose Wholesale no matter your style preference. Also, Rose Wholesale keep their listing fresh; new and exciting products are sourced and are listed on the website on a daily basis.

The Plus Size category is very robust and one of its star categories. Unlike other fashion stores that just provide a few Plus-Size clothing almost as an afterthought. Rose Wholesale covers Plus Size clothing in depth. You’ll find different product; and within each product, you’ll find different styles and colours.

Product Quality

Even more important than an extensive product selection is product quality. When buying from any store, while you’ll want to find a wide selection to choose from, you’ll want the products to be of high quality, so that whatever you choose will be of satisfactory quality.

Rose Wholesale does relatively well in this regards. There are many things that inform our position in this regards. First, Rose Wholesale describes a detailed quality control process that its items pass through, which start from carefully selected manufacturers, to quality checks, and more.

Also, as we’ll find there is a 30 days warranty, which is buyer protection. Stores confident about its quality will not be focused on pushing out products but will be open to allowing customers to return items that do not meet certain quality expectations.

The most important check of the quality provisions of a store is its reviews. Except a store is brand new, you’ll find many persons that have used it; and in this digital era, there are many online customers’ review platforms where customers share their experiences. A look at some of the top platforms shows that Rose Wholesale has a relatively good performance in terms of quality. It is rated 7/ 10 in Trustpilot.com (1,308 reviewers); it is rated 3.3/ 5 in Sitejabber.com (3,295 reviewers); it is rated 9.1/ 10 in Resellerratings.com (1,125 reviewers). In this platform, you’ll find many customers with raving comments about the quality of Rose Wholesale.

Though, there are also some who complained of the quality of their orders; but the positive reviews of quality far outweigh the negative review. Thus, Rose Wholesale comes out as a store that offers good quality items.

Using Rose Wholesale

You’ll have to be a registered member to use Rose Wholesale for your online purchases. Unlike some other stores, you cannot place guest orders. However, registration is relatively easy.

Also, the Rose Wholesale website is simple and intuitive. You can find what you need by checking the product categories. There’s also a search bar; you can type in a short description of what you need, and it will fetch products related to your search inquiry.

You can click on any product to view details of it, including pictures. You’ll find a size chart to help you in buying the right fit. It’s also simple to add an item to your shopping bag. You can click on the bag icon at any time to be able to view items in your shopping cart. If you wish to delete any item from the cart, simply click on remove button net to the item. You can also easily change the quantity of any item you wish to purchase by simply entering the new amount in the “Qty” column. It’s easy to proceed to checkout, and complete payment. Once your payment has been received, the company will send you a notification email informing you of the order.

After making a payment, you can still change your shipping address by contacting the Support Service. But you’ll have to act fast because your request will be granted and the item shipped to the new address supplied only if you initiate the request when the order is still processing. When the order has been dispatched for shipment; the shipping address cannot be changed.

Pricing and Related Policies

Pricing

The selling point of Rose Wholesale is that it offers its hundreds of thousands of products at factory low prices. As a personal buyer, you’ll want to get the best deal possible; and as a store owner, you’ll want low-cost price so that you can make profits. Thus, you’ll want a supplier with prices as low as possible. Rose Wholesale says it is the right supplier for you.

It leverages on an extensive network of professional manufacturers, factories and distributors; and it connects you directly with them to give you factory low prices. At the time of writing this review; we checked the different categories, and found that:

In that apparel category, almost all the women dresses cost $4.68 – $26.36; and women’s tops ranged from $4.64 to $25.68. In the shoe category, some women’s boot went for $10.71, while there were elegant flats, embellished heels, sneakers and more for under $20. In the hair category, synthetic wig ranged from $5.66 to $34.59, while human hair wig ranged from $22.03 to $337.41. You’ll easily find that prices in Rose Wholesale are relatively low as promised.

Promotions

The search for the best deals make stores that are generous with promotions very attractive, as promotions allow you to get items free of charge or for less than their full prices. Thankfully, Rose Wholesale comes out as a promotion generous store.

At the time of writing this review, we found many promotional offers on the landing page of the Rose Wholesale website. There was a “top list” promo with three offers: $5 off every purchase over $49, $12 off every purchase over $99, and $20 off every purchase over $149. There was a promo which could get you as much as 50% off new arrivals; there was a welcome bonus, where first-time buyers can get 15% off and up to $89 cash exclusives. In the clearance page, you’ll find: up to 80% off Plus Size, up to 75% off Men’s clothing, up to 80% off fashion wigs, women dress starting at $3.99, and more

Any particular promotions will run for a specific time period, so you’ll have to keep checking the site to know what promotion is running at any one time. Alternatively, you can sign up for Rose Wholesale emails, and you’ll get alerts of exclusive deals, and new arrivals. The store rewards you with 12% off your next purchase when you sign up for its email.

Payment Method

The ideal online store should offer convenient payment methods which will allow customers to easily pay for their orders. Rose Wholesale ticks this box. The online store accepts a number of secure and convenient payment methods that include PayPal, Credit cards, and wire transfer. Wire transfer is available only for orders exceeding $500.

Shipping

Shipping Destinations

You can only use an online store that ships merchandise to your location. Thus, it’ll be fine for a store to ship to many worldwide locations so that your location is more likely to be served. Rose Wholesale does well in this regards. It ships merchandise worldwide.

Delivery Times

The ideal store should offer fast delivery so that after placing an order, you’ll not be waiting too long to receive the package. The delivery time is determined by the order processing time and the shipping time.

The order processing time is how long it takes from when you place your order to when your order is dispatched for shipping. Rose Wholesale advertises that depending on the purchased item, its order processing takes 1 – 4 business days.

Shipping time is how long it takes from when your order ships to when it gets to your shipping address. Rose Wholesale offers different shipping options. The shipping time depends on the particular option selected, as well as the shipping address (where you’ll receive delivery of the order). The shipping options and how much time each will take are:

• Flat Rate Shipping: 10 – 25 business days
• Standard Shipping: 7 – 10 business days
• Expedited Shipping: 3 – 7 business days

It should be said that Rose Wholesale is not plagued with late delivery as some other China-based stores. This is not to mean that there are no cases of late delivery. However, these do not dominate the web as you’ll find with some other stores. Rather, you’ll find many reviews of customers satisfied with the delivery time. We even found reviews of customers who claimed to receive their order early. That is a rare sight among the China-based stores.

Shipping Costs

You’ll not want high shipping costs; since the total spend on online purchase is an addition of its price and shipping costs, high shipping cost can easily make a reasonably priced item expensive to purchase.

Shipping costs in Rose Wholesale are determined by the shipping option selected, the shipping address, and the weight of the purchased items. Thus, shipping cost varies. Your applicable shipping cost will be calculated and displayed at checkout. However, it is found that Rose Wholesale generally offer shipping cost that is relatively okay.

There is also free shipping, but it is only available for selected items. Rose Wholesale does not have the regular free shipping terms where customers get free shipping for orders above a certain amount. In Rose Wholesale, you’ll only get free shipping if free shipping is available for the item you are buying.

Returns

Return Process

The disappointment of receiving delivery of an unsatisfactory item is enough; when returning the item to its retailer, you won’t want to be frustrated with a difficult return process. Thus, the ideal online store should offer an easy return process.

To return an item to Rose Wholesale, you’ll have to first contact its After Sales Customer Service, and provide the original order number, the reason for returning the item, and photographs showing the problem. The Customer Service will then review your request; after which it will get back to you. If the return request is approved, you’ll be sent an RMA number, which you will include in the return package.

You can then package the unwanted item appropriately and send it to the return address. Rose Wholesale has Return Labels for US orders. Once you move past having to get approval for the return and explaining yourself (the reason for the return), you’ll find that the return process is relatively straight forward. The provision of return label for US orders make it even easier for the concerned customers, this is because such labels are pre-paid and pre-addressed.

Return Window

Typical of every online store that allow returns; you don’t have forever to return an unwanted item. The store will only accept return package that gets to their warehouse within a specific time from the delivery date. For this, you’ll want an extended period so that your returns will not be late. Thankfully, Rose Wholesale gives such an extended time.

The store gives a 30 days return warranty which starts from the date you receive your product. If you have any problem with an item, you’ll have to act immediately to contact the Support Service, get approval, and send back the unwanted item to Rose Wholesale within 30 days of your receiving it.

Eligible Return

However, it is not every item that can be returned. Rose Wholesale items that are not eligible for return include discounted or clearance, as well as any item listed under women’s underwear, intimates and swimwear.

On the former group (clearance items), it’s true that online stores put restrictions on clearance items. However, there are some stores that allow their returns but with a reduced (usually half the regular) return window. Thus, the no-no of Rose Wholesale on all clearance/ discounted items is not very friendly. This is especially so given that many customers will be buying from the clearance page in order to get better deals.

Also, on the latter group of products ineligible for returns (women’s swimwear, underwear, and intimates); it is also true that stores put restrictions on these for hygiene reasons. However, there are many stores that will accept the return of any such item if its hygiene strip is intact/ unbroken. Thus, the no-no of Rose Wholesale on these items also does not come out as very customer friendly.

For items that are eligible for a return, they must be in the same conditions they were when delivered. That is, they must be unused/ unworn, undamaged, unaltered; all tags and labels must be intact, and they must be in their original packaging.

Return Cost

When it comes to cost, customers always like to pay the lowest possible. The lowest possible return cost is zero, which is free returns, where the retailer bears the cost of return shipping.

Unfortunately, Rose Wholesale does not offer free returns. When you buy from Rose Wholesale and have to return any item to the store, you’ll have to cover the cost of return shipping.  If you are a US customer and use the Return Label, its cost will be deducted from your refund.

Customer Support Service

The ideal online store should have an effective customer support service that’ll answer any question that persons will have, and resolve any issue that customers may have with their orders.

The first place for getting answers in online platforms in an FAQ page; and Rose Wholesale provides a very detailed “Shopping FAQ” accessible in the Customer Service page of its website. For easy navigation, the self-help articles of the FAQ are categorized into different subjects as follows: Shopping FAQs, Payment FAQs, Shipping FAQs, After Sales FAQs, and Wallet FAQs. These cover many of the questions that you’ll have about shopping in Rose Wholesale.

For direct contact; you can reach a support rep of Rose Wholesale via email, telephone, or live chat. To send an email; you can either use a contact form (online ticket) accessible from the “Contact Us” page of the Rose Wholesale website, or you can send a regular email using the email address support@rosewholesale.com. The good thing about the email service is its response time. Rose Wholesale guarantees to reply all email support submissions within 1 business day.

For the telephone service; the numbers to call are +(1)202-318-2579 (US customers only) and +(001)202-318-2579 (all customers). The telephone support service is exemplary in that the service is available round the clock (24 hours a day; 7 days a week). However, at the time of writing this review, telephone support service was available only for presale assistance. All after-sale inquiry/ queries (such as order status/ tracking, returns, refunds, etc) have to be done via submitting a ticket.

Thus, it’s good that there is also a Live Chat service. The live chat can be accessed from the Rose Wholesale website, and it is available during standard business hours. Though Rose Wholesale has a relatively fast response time for its email service, it’s also good that it has instant feedback channels of telephone and live chat.

Sites Similar to Rosewholesale:

• Gearbest
• LightInTheBox
• Wayfair
• NewChic

Pros:

• Offers a vast product range consisting of apparel and fashion accessories, as well as home items
• Offers high-quality products
• Prices are relatively low
• Cater to both personal buyers and business owners who need suppliers (to stock a fashion store)
• Ships merchandise to worldwide locations
• Free shipping is available for certain products
• Delivery is relatively fast
• Offers a generous 30 days return warranty
• Offer the trifecta of customer support channels – email, telephone, and live chat
• Email response time is relatively fast (within 1 business day)

Cons:

• Discounted items are ineligible for return
• Customers bear the cost of return
• A return label is only available for US orders
• Telephone support is available for only presale assistance

Summary

Rosewholesale is a legitimate site that is posited on providing a wide range of products at wholesale prices. It is a legit online fashion store that serves both the personal buyer and the business owner. Thus, if you want to keep up with fashion trends but don’t want to break the bank, you can use Rose Wholesale as your one-stop fashion store for a range of products. Also, if you want to stock your fashion store with an assortment of the latest in an affordable, high-quality fashion, you can also use Rose Wholesale. What characterize this store include: thousands of product lines, relatively high quality, and low factory prices.

Though it is based in China, it offers relatively fast shipping. It also protects buyers with a 30 days returns warranty. And if you have any question or complaint, you’ll find different channels for contacting the Support Service.

Overstock is department store that was established in 1999 when Patrick M. Byrne acquired Deals.com and changed its name to Overstock. Before then Deals.com had been operating since 1997, and its name suggests was a place to find bargains.

The 1999 change in ownership might have caused a name change; it might have also caused a change in the operation of the Company; however, it did not cause the Company to deviate from its purpose. Overstock continued to provide good value, and barely a year after was already being named as “the best place to find bargains”.

Overstock is a department store that advertises as “passionate about doing [their] part to make life better”. If you were wondering how they do that; they add that it’s by “providing high-quality merchandise, great value, and exceptional customer service”.

Given that the bulk of the company’s business is from close-out merchandise, one big question is whether the company really provides high-quality merchandise. If they have the quality, do their prices really represent value for money? Also, does the company offer services that we’ll want from the ideal e-commerce platform (such as easy ordering, fast delivery, effective customer service, and more)? In the first place, is Overstock genuine?

This Overstock review will examine Overstock in order to provide the information that will help you answer these questions and more.

Overstock review at a glance

• Website is www.overstock.com
• Founded in 1999 (but its roots can be traced back to 1997)
• Offers a wide variety of products ranging from home items, outdoor items, apparel, jewellery, and more
• Overstock is essentially a discount retailer, so prices in the store are significantly lower than those of the regular retailers
• Ships merchandise worldwide
• Free shipping is offered
• Return window is 30 days from the delivery date
• Customer support is available via email, telephone (text and call), live chat, and social media

Overstock Overview

Business Model

The change in operation is that as Deals.com, the Company was connecting small businesses who deal on close-out inventory to retailers and manufacturers needing to clear their inventory; but as Overstock, the Company simply buys the close-out inventory from the manufacturers and retailers needing to clear their inventory and then directly provides the items to customers. Thus, the change was from one of liaison to retailing.

In a world of trends, items quickly become “yesterday items” that need to be pushed out; and that is one of the reasons for all the clearance sales offered by retailers. However, most often than not, these clearance sales do not completely do the required clearing out, and the retailers are left with surplus inventory. That is where companies like Overstock come in.

Overstock mop up this excess inventory (which also include returned inventory), and put these items up for sale on the platform. Because Overstock gets the close-out inventory at give-away prices, they are able to list the items at discounted amounts. Thus, Overstock is a discount retailer.

When Overstock re-launched in 1999, becoming a discount retailer, the Company exclusively listed and sold close-out merchandise. However, over the years, Overstock has started new listing items exclusively manufactured for the Company. Also, some of the products you’ll find in Overstock are offered by third-party sellers. On getting to the product information page of any item listed in Overstock, finding “Sold and Shipped by an Overstock Marketplace Seller” tells you that the item is one of the items not directly sold by Overstock.

Social Responsibility

Overstock will make a fine destination for conscientious shoppers because of their strong social responsibility focus. Apart from actively supporting several local and national charities, this can be seen in their operations.

The company offers carbon-neutral shipping; and since 2010, all products made from exotic animal skins have been removed from the site, making Overstock a true fur-free and ivory-free retailer.

Products

Product Range

You’ll want a store that holds a variety of products so that you can get most of your needs in one place. Making all your purchases in one place is desired not only because it is convenient, but also because it results in cost savings. For example, you may qualify for a large order discount and you will have to pay to ship one order instead of paying to ship multiple orders from different online stores.

Overstock does excellently well in this regards. The platform, being a department store, holds a wide range of product. The product categories that’ll open in their menu (and the various items you can get in each category) are as follows:

• Home and Garden – Area Rug, Home Décor, Art Gallery, Garden and Patio, Housewares, Kitchen and Dining, Small and Large Appliances, Home Improvement, Bath
• Furniture – Living Room Furniture, Bedroom Furniture, Dining and Bar Furniture, Bathroom Furniture, Kids’ Furniture, Garden and Patio, Home Office Furniture
• Rugs – Indoor Rugs, Outdoor Rugs, Rug Pads
• Bed and Bath – Fashion Bedding, Sheets, Down Bedding, Baby Bedding, Kids’ Bedding, Teens Bedding, Blankets and Throws, Bed sheets, Mattress Pads, Mattress Protectors, Mattresses, Pillows, Memory Foam, Bath and Towels
• Clothing and Shoes – Women Clothing (Dresses, Tops, Plus Sizes, Pants, Intimates, Suits and Suit Separates), Men’s Clothing (Shirts, Suits and Suit Separates, Shorts, Athletic Clothing, Sports Coats and Blazers), Shoes (Women – Boots, Flats, Slippers, Wedges, Bootie; Men – Boots, Sandals, Slippers, Loafers, Designer Shoes, Sneakers), Designer Tops, Children’s Clothing, Sunglasses, Accessories (Belts, Scarves, Shawl, Hats, Wallets, Umbrellas), Handbags
• Jewellery – Rings, Wedding Rings, Necklaces, Earrings, Bracelets, Fashion Jewelry, Men’s Jewelry, Women Jewelry, Other Jewelry
• Watches – Men’s Watches, Women Watches, Children’s Watches, Watch Accessories
• Health and Beauty – Beauty Products (Haircare, Makeup, Make-Up Brushes and Cases, Bath and Body, Skin Care), Perfumes and Fragrances, Fitness and Nutrition, Health care and Supplies, Holistic Supplies, Mobility and Transportation (Rollator/ Walker)
• Electronics – Cell Phones and Accessories, Computers and Tablets, Cameras and Camcorders, Home Theater and Audio, TV and Video, Home Office Equipments, Telephones, Monitors and Displays, Printers and Scanners, Computer Hardware and software, Home Automation and Security, Video Games
• Sports and Outdoor – Exercise, Winter Sports, Outdoors, Gold Equipments, Women Sports Clothing, Men’s Sports Clothing, Sports Collectibles, Recreation Room
• Luggage – Luggage Sets, Wheeled and Checked Luggage, Carry On Luggage, Bags, Business Cases, Garment Bags, Travel Accessories, Kid’s Luggage,
• Baby – Clothing and Shoes, Baby Gear, Feeding, Baby Bedding, Nursery Décor, Diapering and Potty, Baby Furniture
• Craft and Sewing – Scrapbooking, Die Cutting, Crafts, Stamping, Lamps and Magnifiers, Sewing and Quilting, Knit and Crochets, Cross Stitch and Needle Work
• Office – Office Furniture, Office Electronic, Filing and Storage, Presentation and Audio-Visual Supplies, Office Wall Art
• Food and Gifts – Gift Baskets, Gourmet Foods, Flowers and Plants, Jewelry and Watch Boxes, Musical Instruments, Humidors and Cigars
• Toys and Hobbies – Games and Puzzles, Outdoor Play, Dolls and Doll Houses, Pretend Play and Dress-Up, Bikes and Ride-Ons, Kid’s Electronics, Remote Control Toys, Action Figures, Arts and Crafts, Building Blocks, Die-Cast and Toy Vehicles, Learning and Educational Toys, Recreation Room, and Musical Instrument
• Pets Supplies – Bird Supplies, Cat Supplies, Bee-keeping Supplies, Chicken Supplies, Dog Supplies, Equestrian Supplies, Fish Supplies, Reptile Supplies and Small Animal Supplies
• Emergency Preparedness – Warmth and Shelter, Emergency Apparel, Water Storage, Sanitation and Hygiene, Emergency Power, Survival and First Aid Kit, Food Storage, Emergency and /Survival Gear

On the landing page of Overstock’s website, you’ll find the words: “Sign In and get Best Shopping Experience”. As every online shopper will know, a good shopping experience starts with easy ordering. The Overstock website makes ordering a breeze. You can easily find particular items because the items are properly categorized.

For instance, in the apparel department of most stores, you can only see sections for men and women; and in each section, you’ll find subsections for the different clothing products (dresses, shirts, etc); and that will be all. But in Overstock, you’ll get further subsections. For example, the dresses section is further divided by dress length (into midi dresses, mini dresses, knee length dresses, etc), by occasion (into cocktail dresses, work dresses, etc), by material (into chiffon dresses, lace dresses, silk dresses, knit dresses, etc), and much more. Thus, you can get easily get at particular items.

Inventory Size

Will you want to find only two items to select from when shopping, or will you want a large inventory to select from? Many shoppers will go with the large inventory; and so will I. With a large inventory, you are more likely to find pieces that match your preferences/ tastes. Thus, the ideal store will not only provide a variety of products, but a large inventory of each product type.

Overstock does relatively well in this regards. One cane that was used against Overstock was that getting an item in the store is “hit and miss”. This was because the store operated exclusively on close-out merchandise; thus, the items it could list depended on the items it could get as surplus inventory from the retailers that served it. However, with Overstock beginning to list new items manufactured for it, the store has been able to largely address that problem.

For example, at the time of writing this review, we were able to find products in all sections and subsections of the various departments in the store. More importantly, the inventory in any product section was impressive. For example, in the women section in the Apparel department, there were 2,125 items in the Dresses subsection, and 713 items in the Pants subsection. Also in the Jewelry department, the fine jewellery section had over 85,042 items, with fine necklaces over 20,000, and fine earrings over 30,000.

That said; you won’t be short of options when shopping in Overstock, no matter the department of the store that you visit.

Product Quality

High-quality merchandise is one of the first things that Overstock promises to provide in order to make the lives of their customers better.

Overstock ticks the box in this regard because, on the whole, the quality of their items is very good. The Company goes to length to ensure that the close-out items it absorbs meet high-quality standards. Also, its new items are sourced from suppliers committed to high-quality standards.

Items listed in Overstock are also well reviewed. On the product description page of every item, you can find reviews dropped by customers who have bought and used the particular item. If you do not trust reviews on their site, you can also review in independent online platforms. Though you’ll find some negative reviews thrown in, on the whole, the reviews are largely positive. Thus, it’s safe to say that Overstock holds good quality items.

Price, Promotions and Related Policies

Price

One of the first thing customers looks at when shopping prices. With money not growing on trees, customers want to get the best value for money at all times; and thus will be attracted to stores that offer quality merchandise at affordable prices.

It should be said that Overstock’s operating model means the store should provide items at prices lower than the regular retailers. One of the three promises of Overstock is “great value”; in other words, providing the best prices around. Thankfully, Overstock does excellently in terms of pricing.

Barely one year after the platform launched, Overstock.com was already being named “the best place to find bargains”, and a few years later the store was also called the “place for price-conscious holiday shoppers” by Time Magazine. Fast forward to today and Overstock still remains one of the best places for the best deals. This is because all the items in the store are listed at discounted prices. In fact, Overstock prices easily beat that of many other stores.

We looked at the prices of some of the items in Overstock and compared it with what is obtainable in the industry. For example, we closely checked the apparel department, particularly the women section, and we saw that items listed were 20% – 56% off the prices you’ll find in even fashion stores regarded as offering low and affordable prices. One Maxi Boho Harem Long Sleeve Dress got our attention for the numerous reviews it had.  Most importantly, the dress started selling at $25.19; but in many “cheap” fashion stores, similar dresses can easily hug $50.00.

Promotions

The search for the “best value for money” make customers seek out promotions. This is not hard to understand as promotions allow customers to get items for less than the regular prices or even for free.

Given that Overstock items are already discounted, we didn’t expect to find many cost-saving opportunities. However, we were set for a good surprise. Overstock runs different promotions that knocked their already low prices even further down.

At the time of writing this review, Overstock was advertising a “memorial day blowout” sale that promised up to 70% off prices (+ free shipping) of selected items. Another prominent promo promised 25% off “summer Refresh Essentials by Safavieh”. There was also a welcomes offer; which rewards you with $30 when you spend over $300 on your first purchase. There were other countless coupons which knocked off various percentages off listed prices.

Most of these promotions are time-limited, so you’ll have t check the website from time to time to know what promo is running at any particular time. Alternatively, you can subscribe to Overstock’s newsletter, for direct info on current deals. Signing up for the newsletter is even incentivized; as you’ll get 10% off your next purchase. That said; with the right promotions, you can really clinch wonderful deals in Overstock.

Financing

If you must have an Overstock item but cannot currently cover its price, you don’t have to let the item pass you by. This is because Overstock has different financing plans that allow you to buy now and pay later. With the Overstock credit card, you can access four different interest-free financing plans. However, there are minimum order requirements as follows:

• 6 months plan – requires a minimum order of $249
• 12 months plan – requires a minimum order of $499
• 18 months plan – requires a minimum order of $1,499
• 24 months plan – requires a minimum order of $1,999

Apart from these financing plans, when purchasing Mattresses, there are a 60 months special financing plan that is offered. However, the plans are only interest-free if the purchase balance is paid in full within the promotional period. Where payment is not completed, interest (29.24%) will be charged to the account.

Shipping

Since your order has to be shipped from the warehouse/fulfilment centre o the online store to your address, shipping is important when reviewing online stores. The most important shipping considerations are shipping destination. Shipping times, and shipping costs.

Shipping Destination

Perhaps one of the first things you should check in an online store you are considering to make your purchases at is whether the store ships to your destination. It’s a no-brainer because if the store does not ship to your destination, even if you somehow succeed in placing an order, it will be difficult to receive delivery of your order. Thus, you’ll want a store that ships to many worldwide locations so that your destination is more likely to be served by the store.

Overstock does very well in this regards because the department store ships merchandise to all corners of the world. Their coverage span 54 countries in the Americas, 40 countries in Europe, 43 countries in Asia – Pacific, 9 countries in the Middle East, and 34 countries in Africa.

This shows that Overstock has one of the widest shipping coverage amongst online stores. However, it should be noted that not all products in the store can be shipped to international destinations. For example, furniture and perishables cannot ship to most countries.

Shipping Times

No one will want to wait endless after placing an order to receive delivery of the package. Thus, the ideal online store should feature fast delivery.

Waiting time for an order is dependent on order processing time and package shipment time. Overstock ticks the box on both counts. For order processing; all the items are at an Overstock warehouse, so it takes the store only 1 – 2 business days only to process orders and dispatch them for shipping. With some stores taking up to 5 days to process orders, Overstock’s processing time of 1 – 2 business days comes out as quick. Thus, orders are ready to ship relatively faster.

Shipping times for orders are varied depending on where the item will be shipping to. You’ll find applicable shipping times displayed during checkout. However, the shipping times are always relatively fast times.

Shipping Costs

The acquisition cost of any online purchase will include its purchase price and its shipping charges. Thus, even when an item is acceptably priced, high shipping charges may make it too expensive to acquire. That said; the ideal online retailer will offer shipping costs that are as low as possible.

The lowest shipping cost one can get is free shipping. Thankfully, Overstock offers free shipping (albeit, with minimum order requirements). If your order is over $45, you can get it shipped to your door free of charge. However, the offer applies to only US customers, so you’ll have to be in the US to receive free shipping. Where free shipping does not apply, Overstock charges fair shipping prices, which you’ll find displayed during checkout.

Returns

Online purchase is different from traditional purchase where you walk into a brick and mortar store, pick and assess an item, then pay for it and walk out with it. Online purchases are characterized by blind purchase where you have not physically assessed an item. Even with the resources, the store provides to help in your buy decision, there’s the possibility that the physical item, when received by you, does not wow you as it did when viewing the product images. Also, things could go wrong in transit, and an item that leaves the retailer’s warehouse sound may get to you damaged. Lastly, it’s possible that an entirely wrong item is delivered to your door.

Thus, the ideal store should allow customers to return items that are less than satisfactory. Overstock (like any serious retailer) allows returns of items, and their return policy is set out below.

Return Process

You want an easy return process, and that is what Overstock provides. To return an item from your Overstock order, the first thing to do is to cancel the transaction contract. However, to cancel, you’ll have to contact the Company using the “My Account” link at the top of each page of the Overstock website.

After signing into your account, click on “My Orders” to view your orders, then click “return an item” next to the item you want to return, provide the necessary return information, and then submit.  You can then proceed to print your return label. After that, you’ll have to return the item to the Company. You can proceed to package the item appropriately, attach the shipping label, and then ship the package to the return shipping address.

It should be said that while the process is not overly cumbersome, it’s not the simplest there can be. Most online stores don’t require you to contact them to make returns; they do this by enclosing a return label with the order (eliminating having to print a label).

Return Window

Retailers accept returns getting to them within a time period, and Overstock is no different. That said; so that your returns will not get to the retailer late and be rejected, you’ll want an extended return window.

In this regards, Overstock has a very friendly policy. The Company offers a return window of 30 days from the delivery date. That is, every item to be returned to the store must get to the return shipping address within 30 days of the item being delivered to you. However, since you have only 14 days from the delivery date to cancel the contract (communicate the intention to return an item to Overstock).

This offer is good in itself because 30 days is the industry average return window. However, returns that get to the store after 30 days may still qualify for a refund; albeit a partial refund which will depend on how late the items are received.

Condition of Return Items

Almost all retailers have policies that read along the lines of “items to be returned must be in their original new condition”. In these stores, returned items that show any sign of usage are, most often than not, rejected.

Though Overstock also states that items to be returned must be in the conditions they were in when delivered to you; that is for you to qualify for a full refund. If upon inspection, items are determined to show sign of usage, instead of outright rejection (as most other retailers will do) Overstock will apply a partial refund, the sum of which will depend on the condition of the item.

Cost of Return

When you have to return an item to its retailer, the last thing you’ll want to meet is prohibitive return costs. Thus, the ideal online retailer will offer the cost of returns that are as low as possible.

The lowest possible return cost is zero (that is, free return shipping). Overstock does offer free return shipping, but only if the return is necessary because of an error by Overstock (where incorrect items are sent), or if the return was for a defective or damaged item.

Where returns are made because of buyers’ remorse (such as where customers change their mind about the order, or where the wrong size has been ordered, etc); the customer will have to cover return shipping.

Returns Processing and Refunds Policy

Overstock issue refunds as cash via the original payment methods. This means you can proceed to another store and use the funds there for your future purchases. This is way better than stores that exclusively issue store credits for returned items, as store credits tie the customer to the store, meaning that the funds must be used in the particular store for future purchases.

Also, Overstock does not refund the original shipping cost, except where the returns are for defective, damaged, or incorrect items that were delivered.

To how long you’ll have to wait to be refunded after sending in the unwanted item, Overstock is one of the better performers in the business. You can expect to receive your package within four weeks of shipping it to the facility of Overstock. However, this four weeks waiting period includes the return shipping time, which may be up to 14 days, and the fund processing by your financial institution which may take up to five days. The actual time it’ll take Overstock to process returns and issue refunds is just about five working days.

This is one of the fastest returns processing time in the industry. There are online platforms that take weeks to process returns alone; if you add return shipping time to that, you’ll end up waiting almost endlessly in such stores.

Customer Support Service

If you are considering using an online store, you’ll have questions about the store, and its offerings. Therefore, you’ll want a store that provides answers to questions that customers will have. Also, after placing an order, you may have issues with the order; and you’ll want a store that gives customers needed assistance. Therefore a review of an online store is not complete without looking at its customer support service.

For direct contact with a customer care agent of Overstock, a number of channels are provided, which include an online contact form, email support, live chat, text messaging support, telephone support, and social media support. This covers almost every customer support channel in use in the modern world. Thus, you’ll not be short of options if you need assistance from Overstock.

For the email service, you can contact an Overstock agent through a contact form available on the Overstock website, or you may send an email directly from your account to the email addresses: customercare@overstock.com (for US customers) and international@overstock.com (for international customers). For text support, you can send your messages in at any time of the day; and the number to use is 1-385-257-9241. However, with these channels, you’ll need to wait a few hours for the support service to respond with the needed assistance.

If you’ll rather get an instant response, you may use the live chat (accessible from the website) or the telephone service. The numbers to call are 1-800-843-2446 (for US customers), and 00-1-919-576-9926 (for international customers). For social media support, you can reach Overstock through its handles on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

However, customer support of Overstock is not available round the clock. Even when you can send a support email or text message at any time and any day, you’ll expect to receive a response only during the active period of the support service. The service is active for US customers between 8:00 am – 12:00 am EST (Mondays – Fridays) and between 9:00 am – 9:00 pm EST (Saturdays and Sundays); but for international customers, the service is available only between 8:00 am – 10:00 pm EST (Mondays – Fridays), while it is closed on weekends.

While it’s already disappointing that a world-serving platform like Overstock does not offer 24/ 7 customer support, it is even more disheartening that international customers cannot get help on the weekends.

Not only does Overstock provide different channels to reach its support department, but the store also provides fast and very helpful feedback. Overstock has received different awards for effective customer support, and you’ll also find positive reviews of the support service in online platforms with customers satisfied with the promptness and helpfulness of feedback received. Visit Overstore similar stores at Zappos and Fashionmia.

Pros:

• Holds a wide range of items, which range from home items to outdoor items, and from apparel and beauty products, etc
• Socially responsible retailer (e.g. does not offer any product from exotic animal skins)
• A discount retailer that provides knock-off prices
• Ships merchandise to all corners of the world
• Offers a return window of 30 days from the delivery date
• Give partial refunds for returned items received late or in used condition
• It takes about 5 days from receipt of returns to process returns and issue refunds
• Support a lot of options for contacting customer support service

Con:

• Customer support is not available round the clock

Summary

Overstock is a legitimate store that provides virtually everything; you’ll find a wide variety of items that range from home items, electronics, apparel, and more. As its name suggests, Overstock merchandise consists mainly of close-out inventory of other retailers. However, you’ll high-quality pieces.  As a discount retailer, Overstock is able to provide very low prices.

Thus, Overstock will be a fine destination to anyone looking to get good bargains. Relatively fast delivery, friendly return policy, and an effective customer support service complete the service offering, making Overstock an e-commerce platform with one of the best shopping experience around.

Blue Nile is a popular store for different kinds of beautiful jewelleries. In around 1995, a small company (internetdiamonds.com) was started to sell diamonds online. Having been unsatisfied with an in-person shopping experience in 1998, Mark Vadon found internetdiamonds.com and purchased an engagement ring from them.

In 1999, Mark Vadon acquired internetdiamonds.com with about $6 million. He revamped the website and changed the company’s name to Blue Nile.

Blue Nile soon became one of the biggest diamond retailers in the world. The company went public with an IPO in May 2004 raising about $76 million.

After many years of operating primarily online, Blue Nile opened its first showroom in 2015 in New York. This was followed by many more showrooms bring established across the US. In 2017, was taken private again when it was acquired by Bain Capital Private Equity and Bow Street LLC.

Despite the fact that the company has changed structurally over the years, they have remained committed to their main goal, which is to offer a smooth diamond shopping experience.

As a result, Blue Nile is one of the most popular names in the jewellery retail business. That was no error; they’ve since expanded their product offering beyond diamonds, and now offer pearls, gemstones, and precious metal (gold, silver, platinum) jewellery.

 Blue Nile advertises as the “first and largest online retailer dedicated to helping you find the perfect piece that lives up to your love“.

Yes, Blue Nile is a legitimate online retailer of jewelry. They have been in business since 1999 and are one of the largest and most trusted online retail jewelers. They are a member of the American Gem Society, a sign of their commitment to quality and ethical standards in the jewelry industry.

The promises of Blue Nile do not stop at offering the perfect diamond or piece of jewellery; they say confidently that no other jewellery retailer can beat their price.

It may not matter to many that Blue Nile was the first online diamond retailer. It may also not matter to many that Blue Nile is currently the biggest. However, claiming to offer excellent quality jewellery at unbeatable prices will grab the attention of any jewellery shopper.

The question is whether that is just advert-speak or the real deal.

This Blue Nile review will also provide the information that will help you reach that decision. First, we will check why Blue Nile is legit, then we will proceed to shine the spotlight on the quality of their products and services.

Blue Nile review at a glance

• Legit online jewellery shop founded in 1999 by Mark Vadon, but currently owned by Bain Capital Private Equity and Bow Street LLC.
• Offers a humongous selection of diamonds, and other jewellery
• Guarantees to give the best prices for your diamond and jewellery pieces
• Offers free shipping, free returns and exchange, and some enticing warranties
• Allows returns within 30 days of order shipment
• 24/7 customer service via email and telephone

Is Blue Nile legit?

Blue Nile is legitimate. It is not a scam since you will get your product from the store. It’s no news that fraudsters around on the internet; it’s also no longer news that these sc artists use online stores as a scamming front, where unsuspecting customers will pay for products but will not receive the delivery. Therefore, it’s important to pop the question: is this online retailer legit?

There’s no doubt that Blue Nile is a legit online jewellery store. First, they have been operating (as Blue Nile) since 1999, which is almost two decades. Suffice it to say that no online scamming shop can operate for that long.

Another thing is that Blue Nile traded as a public company from 2004 to 2017. To go back as a private holding, the buying company spent about $500 million to buy off shares at $40.75 per share. Suffice it to say that no scam shop will launch an IPO. But even if one gets that far, the best bet is to disappear with the funds raised ($76 million), and not to continue operation and make a sizeable profit for shareholders.

Another thing that is a pointer to an online shop is legit is that the shop has the capacity to fulfil orders, backed by physical fulfilment centres (physical shops/ showrooms, etc). In this regard, Blue Nile has a physical existence. The company is headquartered in Seattle (Washington). Though they are known primarily for their online operations, they also have different showrooms in shopping malls across the US. Some of the locations are Long Island (New York), White Plains (New York), Tysons Corner (Virginia), Salem (New Hampshire), Tigard (Oregon) and Bellevue (Washington).

These fulfilment centres hold a variety of merchandise, and from these centers Blue Nile ships out items when orders are placed. This capacity to fulfil orders proves that Blue Nile is legit.

Also, Blue Nile has received a lot of awards from industry watchers over the years. Some of the awards that Blue Nile has received include:

• com’s “Circle of Excellence Platinum Award” – this award recognizes industry-leading retailers who, through the exceptional quality of service, make their customers a priority and raise the industry bar at the same time.
• Seattle Times’ annual Northwest 100 List (Blue Nile has ranked between #8 and #14) – this list recognizes companies that efficiently uses its resources to earn a return for its owners
• Forbes’ 100 Most Trustworthy Companies In America (this was when Blue Nile was still public) – the list screened over 2,500 publicly-traded non-financial American companies with market caps of $250+ million to determine the companies that ‘consistently demonstrated transparent accounting practices and solid corporate governance’

Blue Nile has also been featured in Wall Street Journal, Time magazine and other A-rated bodies. Suffice it to say that a scam shop cannot receive seals of approval from these industry watchers.

The combination of nearly two decades of seamless operation, physical fulfilment centres with the capacity to fulfil orders, and seals of approval from different independent third parties show that Blue Nile is a legit online jewellery store.

You can also find Blue Nile similar stores like Dresslily, Zaful, PrettyLittleThing.  etc.

Is Blue Nile safe?

Blue Nile is safe and secure. The information that Blue Nile collect from you when you buy from them include your name, shipping address, gender, occupation, birthday, marital status, credit card information, and more. You don’t want this information getting into the wrong hands; thus, it’s important to make sure that Blue Nile will safeguard your personal/ sensitive data.

In this regard, Blue Nile uses SSL (secure socket layer) encryption technology. This creates a secure link between your device and Blue Nile’s servers to ensure that all data transferred in the link is protected from third parties. The data is also encrypted to ensure that even if captured, it is gibberish to the hackers.

With the use of this industry standard security protocol, there’s no doubt that Blue Nile is safe.

Blue Nile complaints and feedback:

Blue Nile complaints and feedback are listed below so you can know what the customers are actually saying about Blue Nile. We gathered both Blue Nile bad reviews and good reviews from members so it is not biased.

• Jane says:

Cancelled my order after some of the worst customer service I’ve ever had. Spent several hours researching diamonds and choosing the right one on their website for an engagement ring. The website was good and easy to build your own custom ring. Once paid for I received an email asking to call them to confirm the order. The experience I had in the phone (over several calls) was totally unacceptable and eventually led to a call with one of their advisors telling me if I didn’t like what they were saying I’d have to cancel and when I said I would then have to cancel my order the phone was hung up on me. The experience worried me to the point where we contacted our credit card provider as thought we must have been subject to a scam but it turns out it was just very bad service. When I contacted them to advise I was unhappy I was told it was just their security team doing necessary checks. I work on a transactional website and you can make security checks without being incredibly rude and unhelpful. Wouldn’t use again.

• Mary says:

I ordered a gemstone necklace, and had to wait several weeks. They were nice about it on the phone. When the gemstone arrived, it had lots of little spots on it, that I didn’t see in the picture. I considered returning it, but stuck with it.

• David says:

Very good service. Phone staff very helpful. Item I wanted was not in stock however they managed to get to me regardless wtihin a tight time frame. After doing some shopping around I found their like for like products to be cheaper than most.

Blue Nile Diamonds:

Blue Nile Engagement Rings:

Blue Nile Wedding Rings:

Features

Education Page

Maybe you want to buy a diamond or another piece of jewellery but do not know what to look out for. For example: What setting should you choose? What diamond carat or shape will fit a particular setting? How will the finger size affect how the diamond will look? And more.

Blue Nile does help you with that. They do not just list the merchandise; there is a detailed education page that helps you with all you should look out for when deciding on the right diamond.

For example in the diamond education page, you’ll find the most important elements to look out for in a diamond, including why each matter. They also add a suggestion of what grades of the 4Cs (cut, clarity, colour and carat) will give your diamond the best sparkle. There is also a discussion of settings, and what unique advantages each one will give.

The education page comes complete with video and illustrations. For example, you’ll see how different carat grade will look on an average finger.

360° Viewer

When making any purchase, you’ll want to physically assess the item to make sure it does not have unacceptable imperfections. In online purchases, physical assessment of item(s) is not possible before the purchase. Whatever assessment is done will be made by relying on product descriptions and product images.

Product description in Blue cannot be more detailed. For example, when you choose a particular diamond, you can view details like Carat Weight, Shape, Cut, Color, Clarity, Length/ Width Ratio, Depth percentage, Table percentage, Polish, Symmetry, Girdle, Culet, Fluorescence, Measurements. Also included are it’s price and delivery date.

In terms of product images, you’ll find good quality pictures of pieces listed in Blue Nile (albeit not the HD pics you may find in some other stores). Also, Blue Nile has now added a resource that is even more effective than images in helping you with your assessments, which is a 360° video viewer.

The industry-leading technology gives you a complete and magnified view of the diamonds, not just from specific-angles photo shots. It is almost like you’re holding the diamond in your hand and turning it as you please for a full inspection.

With such a detailed and magnified view of their diamonds, you’ll be able to see inclusions (tiny imperfections in diamonds) that are visible to the naked eye. However, not all diamonds in the store can be viewed with this technology.

Astor by Blue Nile™ Diamond

Astor is Blue Nile’s premium diamond offering. The Astor by Blue Nile diamonds features the highest cut grading.

Diamond cut is the most important of the 4Cs to consider when buying a diamond. Without a high cut grade, even a diamond of high quality can appear dull and lifeless; thus, the cut is the biggest factor in creating sparkle and fire.

The Astor by Blue Nile™ Diamonds is cut to gather and reflect the lightest possible, as a result, they have very high grading for brilliance, fire, and sparkle. Fewer than 15 out of every 10,000 diamonds qualify as an Astor by Blue Nile™ diamond.

Needless to say, these premium diamonds are pricey.

Build your own Diamond

Blue Nile allows you to build your own diamond ring. It’s a simple process where you’ll select a diamond, a setting, and complete your ring.

There’s a long list to select from (over 150,000 loose diamonds and 300 settings), but there’s a filter tool that can help you narrow your search. Alternatively, you can look at is what customers have built recently to draw inspiration from in the building of your own perfect diamond.

One good thing of the customized diamond ring shopping experience is that if you do not get your sizing right, Blue Nile offers complimentary (free) resizing of “build your own ring” diamond rings.

Ethical Sourcing

If for good reasons, you have concerns about purchasing conflict diamonds, you can rest assured that Blue Nile has a zero-tolerance policy toward conflict diamonds.

The company only deals with suppliers who adhere to and enforce the standards established by the Kimberley Process (a process which tracks diamonds from mine to market to prevent conflict diamonds from entering the mainstream diamond market).

For other metals, Blue Nile also has a strong policy on responsible mining, which makes them deal with only suppliers that meet the highest human rights, social, and environmental criteria.

Products Offerings

The ideal store should holds a wide range of products as well as a good number of inventories for each product. You are more likely to find the right item when choosing from a huge list. Also, a good product range allows you to buy similar products from one place.

Blue Nile ticks the box. Though their main business is engagement rings, expansion over the years have seen them include non-engagement jewellery; and they now stand as a one-stop online jewellery shop. In terms of the number of inventory, Blue Nile is a clear leader.

The product categories (and items in each category) on their site are as follow:

• Diamond – the different types you’ll find are round, princess, radiant, Asscher, cushion, emerald, pear, oval, marquise, heart, Astor by Blue Nile, Colored diamonds
• Engagement rings – you can build your own ring
• Wedding – men’s wedding rings (platinum, white gold, yellow gold, rose gold, tungsten, titanium) women’s wedding rings (diamond, eternity, platinum, white gold, yellow gold, rose gold), diamond wedding rings, designer wedding rings, and wedding gifts
• Jewellery – earrings, necklaces, bracelets, rings, diamond jewellery
• Gifts – gifts for her, gift for him, anniversary gifts, birthstone jewellery

One big advantage of shopping in Blue Nile is that they have a large inventory. They accomplish this by signing exclusivity deals with suppliers all over the world. For example, there is over 150,000 loose diamond. There’re also more coloured diamonds than you’ll find in almost every other stores. With such s huge selection, you’re more likely to find a piece that matches your preferences and budget.

Prices, Promotions and Others

Prices

You should own a high-quality diamond, but shouldn’t pay over and above what is reasonable for it. That is what Blue Nile says. To ensure this, Blue Nile uses a business model which is now being imitated by online diamond retailers.

Traditionally, retailing entails buying inventory from manufacturers and/ or wholesalers, and reselling them. Blue Nile is redefining that by not actually purchasing and holding inventory, but simply listing the diamonds directly from the manufacturers and/ or wholesalers.

This kind of cut off the middle man and all it’s overhead, and so Blue Nile is able to offer their diamonds at unbeatable prices. Blue Nile calls the business model disruptive, and it does disrupt the traditional retail setup. In fact, no physical diamond retailer can compete with Blue Nile in terms of price. And in the online sphere, Blue Nile is also a clear price leader.

Blue Nile says on their site that you’ll find their prices 20% – 40% less than that of traditional jewellers. True to that, it’s not uncommon to see pieces almost identical to the ones in Blue Nile costing significantly more in other stores.

We are talking diamonds and precious metals, so prices are in the hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands. However, you can get elegant pieces for less than $100. Some heart-shaped necklaces, bracelets, and earrings go for $40.

Price Match Guarantee

One very attractive service/ feature of Blue Nile is their “Price Match Guarantee”. As part of the commitment to offer unbeatable prices, Blue Nile undertakes to match the price of a comparable diamond being offered at a lower price anywhere else.

That is, if in your search of diamonds in other shops, you find a diamond similar to one offered in Blue Nile but lower in price, all you need do is call Blue Nile at 1-888-565-7641. They’ll check out the diamond (using a consultant), and if it’s the same spec with theirs and graded by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), they’ll match the price. That is, they’ll give you the diamond in their store at the lower price you found the similar piece being offered elsewhere.

Promotions

Blur Nile run promotions some times which allows customers to get items for less than their full prices.

These promotions are usually time-specific, so you’ll need to check their website for what promotion is being offered at any particular time.

At this time of writing this review, one of the enticing promotions is off Black Friday sales. Another promo offered $100 to customers for signing up for newsletters. However, you redeem the bonus by having $100 knocked off your next purchase (which has to be over $1000).

There’s a referral program that can help both you and your referral save as much as $100. If the friend you refer makes a successful purchase, both of you will save $20 on your next order of $100 or more, $50 on your next order of $500 or more, or $100 on your next order of $1000 or more.

There are no discounts on pieces, but Blue Nile explains that their competitive prices and the “Diamond Price Match” guarantee more than makeup for this.

Payment and Financing

Payment

The ideal shop should support a number of payment options so that you can readily find one to conveniently pay for your purchases. Also, the ideal shop should support a wide range of currencies so that you’ll not have to worry about currency conversions when buying internationally.

Blue Nile ticks both boxes in this. They support a variety of currencies which include: AED (UAE firham), AUD (Australian dollars), BGN (Bulgarian Lev), CAD (Canadian dollars), CHF (Swiss franc), CZK (Czech koruna), DKK (Danish krone), EUR (Euro), GBP (Great British pounds), HKD (Hong Kong dollars), HUF (Hungarian forint), JPY (Japanese Yen), MOP (Macanese pataca), MXN (Mexican peso), NOK (Norwegian krona), NZD (New Zealand dollars), PLN (Polish zloty), RMB (Chinese renminbi), RON (Romanian leu), SEK (Swedish krona), SGD (Singapore dollars), TWD (New Taiwan dollars), and USD (US dollars).

In terms of payment methods, they also support a variety of options depending on where you’ll be shipping to.

For orders shipping to most international addresses, payment methods supported include:

• Bank Wire / International Money Transfer (IMT) / Telegraphic Transfer (TT) – This payment method is even incentivized. You get a 1.5% discount when you arrange payment through your bank.
• Credit Card – Visa, MasterCard or China UnionPay (where applicable), American Express (for orders placed in USD, GBP, AUD, NZD, HKD, SGD & CAD), and Discover, Diners Club, or JCB card (for orders placed in USD). You may use other credit cards via PayPal
• Financing Programs (The Blue Nile Credit Card) is available to only customers from the United States, Puerto Rico, Guam, US Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands; and for only purchases made in US dollars.
• Online Payment Partners – PayPal is available for orders in USD and CAD
• Alipay – this is primarily for China orders

The different payment options supported means that Blue Nile affords you stress-free transactions.

Financing Options

The Blue Nile Credit Card is more than just a payment method. Holders of the Blue Nile Credit Card have access to some exciting financing options.

Apart from offering convenient payments, some of the best advantages of the card include the flexibility to pay overtime and special access to card member-only offers and promotions.

There are two financing options available with the Blue Nile Credit Card:

• No interest if paid in full within 6, 12, or 18 months. The 6 months financing is for orders between $500.00 – $1,499.99; the 12 months financing is for orders of $1,500.00 and up; while the 18 months financing is for only Astor by Blue Nile™ orders, but of $2,000.00 and up
• Equal payments and 9.99% APR if paid in full within promotional terms. Also, the financing terms depend on the order amount. You have a financing plan of: 24 months for orders between $2,000 – $2999.99; 26 months for orders between $3,000 – $3,999.99; 48 months for orders of $4,000+; and 60 months for orders of $6,000+.

In either financing option, if payment is not made when due, the APR jumps to 29.99%.

Services

Shipping

Shipping is one of the most important considerations for online shopping. You don’t want shipping costs to take your total expenditure on items to unacceptable levels, and you also don’t want to wait forever to receive delivery of your package.

In terms of shipping cost, free shipping wins it all the time; but where free shipping is not available, customers would want shipping cost to be as low as possible.

For domestic shipping (US addresses), there are three different shipping options. There is the FedEx Ground shipping which may take up to 3 days; there’s FedEx 2Day shipping, and there’s FedEx Priority Overnight shipping. Thankfully, Blue Nile offers free shipping. There’s free Ground shipping for orders under $500, free 2Day shipping for orders between $500 – $1,000, and free Priority Overnight shipping for orders $1,000 and over.

Blue Nile also ships internationally. Shipping to Australia takes 3 – 10 days. Shipping to Canada may take anything between 1 – 8 days depending on the province. Shipping to China takes 2 – 4 weeks. It will take 1 – 4 days to get to European addresses.

It takes: 3 – 6 business days for Guam and Hong Kong (SAR); 2 – 8 business days for Japan and Mexico; 4 – 7 business days for Macau (SAR); 3 – 10 business days for New Zealand; 3 – 8 business days for the Northern Mariana Islands; 2 – 5 business days for Puerto Rico; 3 – 7 business days for Singapore; 3 – 7 business days for Taiwan; 7 – 14 business days for United Arab Emirates; and 1 – 3 days for the Virgin Islands.

The processing times for items differ and is not included in the shipping times advertised, so you’ll have to allow for items processing time when expecting delivery. However, most of the items in Blue Nile are processed and sent for shipping the same day the order is placed (if orders are placed before 6 PM EST).

Wedding bands with diamond may take 3 days for processing, while most loose diamonds may take up to 7 days, while “build your own jewellery” with diamonds may take up to 10 days.

Returns Policy

You should want a store that allows returns just in case you are not totally satisfied with the item when you receive delivery of it. Therefore a review of the returns policy of an online shop is as important as anything else.

Blue Nile has a very likeable returns policy. First, it is backed by 30 days no-questions-asked money back guarantee. The offer is one of the best you’ll find. Apart from the fact that you have a full 30 days (of shipment of item from their facility) to return the item, you don’t have to explain yourself. Another perk is that all returns are free of charge.

At the time of writing this review, Blue Nile was offering an extended holiday returns, that allows orders shipped from Blue Nile starting November 15 (2018) to be returned free of charge to Blue Nile through January 15 (2019). Also, Blue Nile makes concessions and will allow returns from military addresses that get to them after the normal 30 days window.

However, it should be noted that Blue Nile allows two complimentary (free) returns per customer in a new. Once you initiate the return process, a free FedEx returns label is emailed to you. If you’ve exceeded the two times limit, you can still return items, but you’ll bear the cost. For that Blue Nile offers some shipping options and insurance at discounted rates.

Also, for the returns to be acceptable, the items must be in their original purchase condition and include all product documentation. And while you are at it, you should note that Blue Nile does not assume responsibility for lost or damaged returned shipments.

If your item is delivered to you damaged, you may refuse the shipment, or call Blue Nile immediately (at 1-800-242-2728) to arrange its return. You shouldn’t wait for more than five days after delivery to report damaged items, as well as missing items.

When your returns reach Blue Nile’s facility and are approved, you’ll be issued a full refund. However, you’ll have to allow up to two weeks for the returns approval/ refund processing. Efforts are made to issue a refund through your original payment method; for orders paid for with PayPal, your PayPal account will be credited. But where bank wire is the original payment method (and the amount under USD $1000), you will be refunded via check.

There are certain items that cannot be returned. These include:

• Engraved jewellery items (other than rings). While you may return engraved rings and get a refund, engraving fees are non-refundable.
• Diamonds purchased through the Blue Nile Diamond Upgrade Program (but can be exchanged within 30 days)
• Special orders

Also, there are some items that cannot be resized, so you’ll have no luck returning them for resizing. These include: diamond and gemstone eternity rings with a specific number of gemstones per finger size; milgrain or ornate bands; some silver rings; or rings with alternative metals such as Tungsten.

Change Order

If you change your mind about an order, Blue Nile allows you to change or cancel the order, as long as it has not been shipped out.

Where it has already been shipped, you’ll have to wait to receive delivery of it and process a return. However, cancelling or changing an order does not apply to special orders.

Lifetime Manufacturer Warranty

If you want a diamond retailer that stands by their products, you’ll be hard pressed to find one better than Blue Nile.

With their lifetime manufacturer warranty, Blue Nile warrants that all their items will be free from manufacturing defects, not only when you receive delivery of them, but throughout the life of the products.

If at any time you determine that your item has a manufacturing defect, you can return it to Blue Nile. If after inspection, the item is passed damaged due to a manufacturing defect, they will repair it at no cost, or replace it with another, or issue a refund equal to the selling price of the original item.

However, if they determine that the damage is not due to manufacturing defects, you’ll be notified. You may then have them effect needed repair at your own cost, or have the items sent back to you.

Lifetime Diamond Upgrade

No matter how long you’ve used your diamond, if you decide you want a bigger rock from Blue Nile, you can return your diamond to them and get a full refund of the original purchase.

As you would have guessed, there ate some conditions. First, the piece you are returning must be in its original condition with the original grading report. Also, the new diamond you want to get must be at least twice the price of the one you’ll be returning.

Complimentary Cleaning and Inspection Services on Diamond Rings

Blue Nile offers free cleaning and inspection service on diamond rings. To extend the life of the jewellery, the inspection and cleaning may be necessary after using the ring for some while or when it undergoes major trauma.

Thankfully, the service is free. You’ll only pay for the shipping to Blue Nile, and they will even bear the cost of the return shipping. However, you’ll bear the cost of repair to ring mounting.

Customer Support Service

You may have questions you will want answers to, or issues you will want to be resolved. Thus, the ideal shop should have an effective customers support service.

A review of the customer service of Blue Nile will examine the different channels they provide for assisting customers and the effectiveness of these channels.

The first step to getting help from Blue Nile is the FAQ section on their website. The section holds articles that answer many questions that you may have about: Blue Nile, merchandise returns, discounts, shipping, financing, warranty, and their products (diamonds and diamond Jewelry).

If you’ll rather have direct contact with a customer rep, Blue Nile supports an email service and a telephone service. Both services are an area available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You may send them a mail (at service@bluenile.com). They endeavour to answer all email inquiries within a few hours. However, if you want instant feedback, you can use the call them (at 1-800-242-2728).

It should be noted that another area where Blue Nile has seen a lot of positive reviews is customer service. The many customer reviews have it that Blue Nile’s consultants are especially helpful in walking customers through almost every situation. Also, these consultants are not commissioned so they do not pressure customers in any way to make purchase commitments.

I like

• The largest collection of diamonds online
• Competitive prices and the price match guarantee
• A 360° diamond viewer technology
• Free shipping, free returns and exchange
• Different financing options available via Blue Nile credit card
• Complimentary resizing
• Complimentary cleaning and inspection
• Lifetime manufacturer guarantee
• Lifetime diamond upgrade program
• 24/7 customer service

I didn’t like

• Not all pieces have 360° viewer
• No discount on their stones

Summary

Blue Nile is legit; there’s no way they’ll rip you off. Blue Nile is also safe; there’s no way shopping there will expose you to other scammers.

Now that that’s off the way. Blue Nile is definitely an online jewellery store you should check if you need a piece of jewellery, especially diamond. They are the biggest online jeweller; as they have the most robust inventory of diamonds. Not just that, they give you too quality pieces at very friendly. Their prices are simply unbeatable.

They also mesmerize in terms of service with a good number of convenient payment options, smooth and free shipping and returns, effective customer support service, and a host of juicy warranties

Do you have experience with Blue Nile? Good or bad, kindly use the review section below to give us your brief Blue Nile review.

Abercrombie is the website of the US fashion retailer Abercrombie and Fitch. The company was started in 1892 in New York by David Abercrombie. Ezra Fitch bought a sizable share in the company in 1900; and when the company was officially incorporated in 1904, the brand name “Abercrombie & Fitch” was born.

Today, the company is one of the most popular fashion brands in the world; but it wasn’t always an out and out fashion brand. They started as an outfitter for the outdoorsman. At the time, they provided high-end sporting, outdoor and excursion items such as fishing rods, boats, tents, shotguns etc.

Yes, Abercrombie & Fitch is a legitimate clothing company. Founded in 1892, the company has been providing stylish and quality apparel for men and women for over 100 years.

However, the company went under in 1977. Oshman’s Sporting Goods bought and resurrected the brand name in 1978, and started retailing hunting wear and novelty items. However, the brand’s journey to being the robust apparel retailer it is today began in 1988 when it was acquired by “The Limited”. The focus shifted to clothing pieces for young adult, and the rest is history. Shortly afterwards, the company went public and traded in the New York Stock Exchange.

As the company grew, many more stores were opened all over the US. The international operation started in 2005 with the opening of a store in Toronto (Canada). Not long after (in 2007), Abercrombie & Fitch moved to Europe with the opening of a store in London; other stores followed in many more European countries.

The move to Asia was with a store in Tokyo in 2009, and that has been followed by other stores all over Asia including the Middle East. Currently, the company operates more than 1,000 stores (across all four brands) across sixteen countries.

Abercrombie.com is one of the websites of the US clothing giant – Abercrombie & Fitch. The company says that they are committed to offering products of enduring quality and exceptional comfort which will allow consumers around the world to express their own individuality and style.

Abercrombie and Fitch is a legit fashion store. It is not a scam because they will never steal your money or credit cards details. And also, you will definitely get the item you ordered from the store.

The question is whether Abercrombie & Fitch actually provide high-quality clothing pieces. What about the other elements that the go-to fashion shop should have (such as affordable prices, easy payment, fast delivery, easy returns, and effective customer service); does Abercrombie & Fitch have these elements? In the first place, is Abercrombie & Fitch genuine?

This review will examine Abercrombie and Fitch in other to provide you with the information required to answer those questions.

Abercrombie and Fitch at a glance

• A US fashion retailer that was started in 1892
• Offers a wide product range for both men and women, but specializes in casual everyday wear
• Offers a good number of price slashing promotions
• Offers a wide range of convenient payment methods
• Ships to the US and 80+ international countries/ regions
• Does not offer free shipping
• Allow returns within 30 days (60 days for US in-store returns) of the delivery date, and issues refund to the original payment method
• Customer support available via email and telephone

Is Abercrombie and Fitch Legit?

Abercrombie and Fitch is legit, not a scam. There are many cyber fraudsters crawling the internet, and if you do not determine that an online platform is legit before sending them your money, you may realize too late that you’ve been ripped off.   Therefore, a review of any online store should include information for determining whether the store is legit or a scam.

In this regard, there is no doubt that Abercrombie & Fitch is a legit fashion retailer. First, the company is duly incorporated, which means they have 100% legal backing. Suffice it to say that no scam/ fake store will seek company registration. Also, Abercrombie & Fitch is a public company that has been trading in the New York Stock Exchange since 1996. This will be impossible if the store is a scam company; because even if a scam store will fake registration certificates to deceive the customers, there is no way they can use such fake certificates to be listed in a Stock Exchange.

Also, Abercrombie & Fitch started in 1892; even when they went under in 1977, the next owners spent big to acquire the brand name. There is no way that will happen if the brand is not legit and reputable. After its rebirth in 1978, Abercrombie & Fitch has been operating seamlessly and has grown to be the giant fashion retailer it is today. Suffice it to say that no fake/ scam store can operate for that long a time.

Lastly, a scam store can be summed up as a store that will take people’s payment but will not deliver. Abercrombie & Fitch cannot be a scam store because they have the capacity to fulfil orders and have been doing so for decades.  Their 1000+ stores in 16 countries across the world hold hundreds of thousands of merchandise, and from those centers, they ship packages when customers place orders.

Is Abercrombie and Fitch Safe?

Abercrombie and Fitch are safe to use. When you create an account and shop in an online store, you share personal information such as your name, email address, telephone number etc, as well as sensitive data such as your payment instrument details. You want to make sure that such information is protected by the store; because if it is allowed to fall into the wrong hands, you’ll be defrauded. Thus, the ideal store will not only be legit but also safe in protecting customers’ data.

In this regard, Abercrombie & Fitch ticks the box. First, the online store section of their websites uses Transport Layer Security (TLS) and works with only web browsers that permit communication using the protocol.

TLS is a protocol which is used to create a private communicating link between a device and a web server on the internet. The secure link ensures the privacy and integrity of whatever data is shared in the link. TLS also use encryption to ensure that even if the data is intercepted it cannot be read by the hackers.

The use of TLS shows that Abercrombie & Fitch prioritizes the safety of customers’ data. This is because of most of the online fashion retailers in the market us SSL technology. While SSL is secure, TLS is a successor to SSL, it uses stronger encryption algorithms and has the ability to work on different ports.

Organizationally, Abercrombie & Fitch limits access to the databases that contain personal data. Also, they do not share customers’ data to unauthorized third parties. That said; there is no doubt that Abercrombie & Fitch is safe.

Brands

Apart from Abercrombie.com that sells Abercrombie & Fitch-branded products, the company operates three other brands – Abercrombie Kids, Hollister Co., and Gilly Hicks.

As the name suggests, Abercrombie Kids specializes in kidswear; Hollister Co. targets teens (13 – 18 years); while Gilly Hicks specializes in women’s underwear and loungewear.

Product Range

One thing to look out for when checking a store is its product range. The ideal store would have a wide product range so that you can get all your related items in one place. Getting all your products in one place is, first of all, convenient, as it saves you the time and effort of checking out other stores. Also, it gives significant cost savings. If you get all your items in one store, the high order amount may qualify you for price discounts and other promotional offers. Also, you’ll be able to save from shipping only one order (if flat shipping rates are offered), as against shipping different items from multiple stores.

In this regard, Abercrombie & Fitch does well in their niche. The company provides fashion styles for both men and women; they hold different clothing items but focus on casual wears. In the website, you can shop from either the men or women section. The different items you’ll find in each section are as follows:

• Men – Coats & Jackets, Tops, Bottoms, Sleepwear, Underwear, Swimwear, Accessories, Shoes, Cologne & Body Care, and Jeans (Extreme Skinny, Super Skinny, Skinny, Athletic Skinny, Straight, Boot)
• Women – Coats & Jackets, Tops, Bottoms, Dresses & Jumpsuits, Sleepwear & Bralettes, Swimwear, Accessories, Shoes, Fragrance & Candles, and Jeans (Jean Legging, Super Skinny, Slim, Straight, Boyfriend, Mom Jean, Boot, Flare & Wide Leg)

That said; if you want formal office wears (such as men blazers) or special occasion dresses, Abercrombie & Fitch may not be the right shop to go. However, if you want casual wears and everyday wear, Abercrombie & Fitch fits the bill.

Another important consideration is the size of inventory in a store. It’s not enough that the ideal store holds different clothing types; it’s also important that the store has a large inventory of each clothing type, so that customers will have a big inventory to choose from. For example, you are more likely to find a jumpsuit that you like in a store that holds hundreds of jumpsuits than in a store that holds only a few jumpsuits. In this regard, Abercrombie & Fitch comes out strong. The store holds a large number of items in each product category. You’ll find about 100 different styles of Coats and Jackets, Women Dresses, Jeans, and other items. With their large inventory, there’s no way you won’t find a clothing piece that you like.

Another important consideration is product quality. The ideal fashion retail store should also hold products of high quality. In this regard, it should be said that Abercrombie & Fitch is not some high-end brand that focuses on super-quality products; rather they are a brand that provides everyday wear with okay-ish quality to survive the everyday rigour.

As a result, you’ll find that on many independent customer review platforms online, there are many negative reviews of the quality of items from Abercrombie & Fitch. That said; if you want timeless clothing items with premium quality, Abercrombie and Fitch may not be the best online shop to go into.

Prices, Promotions and Related Policies

Prices

Price is very important in any purchase. Though some customers will pay readily pay more for some perceived quality, there is still a limit above which they will not pay. Thus, the ideal store should have products that customers perceive as reasonably priced.

In this regard, Abercrombie & Fitch has made serious movements over the course of its existence. The company started as an outfitter for the elite, and they supplied items that were widely recognized as expensive. The movement to being the giant apparel company that they are today also caused a movement in their identity, from being a provider of luxury items to being a provider of near-luxury items. That shift meant that prices of listed items in the company came down from outright expensive to pricey (but not expensive).

For example, you’ll find costs and jackets at $100 – $200; you’ll find cute women dresses at $50 – $80; and you’ll find a lot of men and women gift items for under $50, and for $50 – $100. That said; if you want to shop cheap, Abercrombie & Fitch may not be the place for you; but their prices are not over the tops.

Price Adjustment

In order to provide customers with more value, Abercrombie & Fitch offer Price Adjustment. If you purchase an item from the store, and it is marked down within 14 days of your purchase, you can contact the company and they will credit you the price difference. Thus, you do not have to worry about not having waited a few more days before making your purchase so that you can get the best value.

However, a price adjustment is a one-time only offer; and it is available for only items purchased at full price.

Promotions

Almost every business offer promotions; and the online fashion retailing business is no different. They offer promotions to drive more patronage. Promotions give customers the opportunity to get free products or to get products for less than their full prices; thus, the ideal online fashion retailer should offer a lot of promotions regularly.

In this regard, Abercrombie & Fitch ticks the box. They run price discount promos regularly. Like every other store, the promos are applicable to only specific items and for only a specific period of time. One enticing promo that was being offered at the time of writing this review is a price discount of 60% on many items.

Another promo promised 10% off your next purchase if you subscribe to newsletters from Abercrombie & Fitch. However, the company does not offer student discounts or a referral bonus.

That said; you’ll need to regularly check the homepage of the company to see what promo is being offered at any particular time.

Payment Methods

The ideal store should support a wide variety of convenient payment methods. So that as long as you are in a supported country, you won’t have any problem finding, at least, one supported banking option to pay for your order without stress.

In this regard, Abercrombie & Fitch ticks the box, as they support more payment methods than many other online fashion retailers. They accept payment from the following options: JCB, American Express, Discover, PayPal, VISA, MasterCard, POLi, AstroPay, SafetyPay, QIWI, Yandex, and WebMoney.

However not all the options may be available to you from the location you’ll be shopping from. Also, Abercrombie and Fitch accept payment in different currencies including USD, AUD, NZD, EUR and more. Thus, some customers may not have to worry about currency conversion.

Shipping

Shipping is one of the most important factors in online shopping. The main shipping considerations are shipping destinations, shipping cost and shipping times.

Shipping Destinations

When you buy from online shops, you’ll need the package to be delivered to you. However, online fashion stores do not ship to every location on the planet. Thus, one of the first you should be checking is whether the shop will ship to where you’ll want to receive the package.  If the shop does not ship there, you’ll want to look at another online shop. In this regard, the ideal online shop should ship to as many locations as possible.

Abercrombie & Fitch ships to all US addresses, military addresses and 83 other international countries. The countries include: American Samoa, Aruba, Australia, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, China, Christmas Islands, Cocos Islands, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, French Polynesia, Greenland, Grenada, Guam, Guatemala,  Honduras, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Macau, Malaysia, Marshall Island, Martinique, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Northern Mariana Islands, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Sates of America, Uruguay, US Virgin Islands, Venezuela, and Vietnam.

If you’ve checked reviews of other online fashion retailers, you’ll find that many of them ship to more locations than Abercrombie & Fitch. There are retailers that ship to as many as 200+ countries. That said; with Abercrombie & Fitch covering only about 80+ locations, customers from many international locations will be unable to buy from the store.

Shipping Cost and Times

Shipping cost is an important consideration because where the cost is high, it can make the total expenditure on an item unacceptable even when the item itself had been acceptably priced. Thus, the ideal fashion retailer will have shipping costs that are as low as possible. In the same vein, you won’t want to wait forever to get your package; thus, the ideal online store will deliver orders as fast as possible.

For US orders, there are different delivery options which include Standard delivery, Two Days delivery, and Next Day delivery. The Standard delivery option cost $7.00 (but free for Gift Card only orders). It takes 4 – 9 business days for delivery for the 48 contiguous US states, but some areas may take up to 14 days. Delivery to Hawaii and Alaska may take 10 – 15 days, while delivery to military addresses may take up to 3 weeks. The other two delivery options will get you the package in the time suggested by their names.

The Two Days delivery will get you the package in two working days if you place your order before 2:00 PM EST (Monday – Friday); and it cost $15 (but $7 for Gift Card only orders). The Next Day delivery option will get you the package a day following the order placement, as long as the order is placed before 2:00 PM EST (Monday – Friday). It cost $22 (but $10 for Gift Card only orders).

Abercrombie and Fitch do not normally ship free of charge. However, at the time of writing this review they were running a promotion that included free shipping. The offer was for free shipping on orders over $150. While it is good to see free shipping at all, we’ll like to see it as a constant feature in the store. As part of a promo that is only for a specific period of time, it means that after the promo elapses, free shipping will no longer be available to customers. Also the free shipping offer Abercrombie & Fitch is not good enough because of its relatively high order-qualifying amount. If you’ve checked reviews of online fashion retailers, you’ll find that in many of the stores that offer free shipping, you qualify with orders of only $50 – $100. Thus, in Abercrombie & Fitch, you’ll have to spend more than you’ll do in these stores in order to get free shipping.

International Shipping also does not make for good reading. For example, when shipping to Canada the shipping cost increases with the order amount. Orders under $100 cost $15 for standard shipping (which takes 5 – 7 working days) and $20 for Express Air shipping (which takes 3 – 5 working days); orders of $101 – $300 cost $25 for standard shipping and $30 for Express Air shipping; and so on. Also, customers will be responsible for the payment of all customs duties, taxes and levies imposed on imported goods.

That said; there are many stores that offer flat shipping rates where you won’t have to pay more for shipping as your order amount increases. At the same time, you should want a store where you’ll not have to pay additional charges (COD charges, duties, taxes etc) upon receipt of your package.

The shipping service to some international location is anything but smooth/ convenient. For example, after your order is dispatched to the carrier, you’ll be contacted by the carrier to provide some information (that you’ll need to do on the carrier’s website). Failure to do this and your order will not ship, and you’ll have to process a refund. It is my opinion that efficient shipping service will save a customer the inconvenience of going to a third party site to provide information. All relevant information should be provided to the fashion retailer (at checkout), who in turn will sort out their carrier; and the only time the carrier should be reaching you is when they are delivering your package to your door.

That said; for the shipping times and cost of every other location that Abercrombie and Fitch ships to, you can visit the Shipping & Handling page on their website. However, you’ll notice that the standard shipping times is relatively longer than that of most online fashion retailers.

We looked up customers’ review of Abercrombie and Fitch in independent review platforms to know what real customers who have bought from the company are saying about it. To say the least, Abercrombie & Fitch was not highly rated in terms of delivery times. On the numerous platforms, customers complained of orders arriving later than expected.

Returns Policy

Making purchases online may be convenient, but there is a risk that the item may not be to your liking when it is finally delivered. You won’t want to be stick with an item that you are not satisfied with, thus, you’ll want a store that allows you to return any item in your order that you do not like. Thankfully, like every other online fashion retailer, Abercrombie and Fitch allow returns.

If you are not totally satisfied with your order, you can start the return process by contacting Abercrombie about the issue and your desire to return the item. Abercrombie support two methods for returning any item in your order. You can return in-store, by taking the item to any of Abercrombie & Fitch stores around you, together with the sales receipt; or you can return by mail. For the later, they include a returns label which can be used for easy returns. All you need do is package the items you opt to return appropriately, attach the returns label to the outside of the box, and drop it off at the mailing service.

Return Window

They allow a 30 days return window, which means that you have a full month from the day the item was delivered to you to return it to the company. But where the item was delivered in-store in the US, you have a returns window of 60 days to also return it in-store. The returns window is on par with what most fashion retailers offer; so there’ll be no problem of racing against time to get your returns to the company

Returns Condition

If the returns are to be accepted and a refund issues, it is not enough that your items get to the company on time (within the returns window), there are some conditions that the returned items must meet. They must be in their new original condition. Thus, they must be unworn, unwashed, not altered, and undamaged. Also, all tags and labels must still be attached. Also, they must be in their original packaging.

There are certain items that cannot be returned. For hygiene reasons swimwear and underwear will not be accepted if the hygiene seal is broken. Also, all sales items are final sale, and cannot be returned for refund or exchange.

Return/ Refund Processing

After the returned items get to Abercrombie & Fitch, they will review it, and only when it is accepted will they issue the refund. The whole process can take two weeks, and you’ll have your funds in your account.

If you’ve checked reviews of other online fashion stores, you’ll find that a two weeks refunds processing time is relatively fine. There are stores that can have you waiting for up to a month to get your refund.

Cost of Returns

Abercrombie & Fitch makes it clear that the cost of returns is the responsibility of the customers. For the US returns the cost of the returns label is $7, and that will be deducted from your refund. It also seems that the company charges a restocking fee; so you pay for not just the return shipping but also a restocking fee. This is sad because when you opt to return an item that you do not like you’ll have to spend more. There are some online fashion retailers that offer free returns.

As expected the stinging reviews that the Abercrombie & Fitch have received from customers are mostly because of the return policy, particularly the cost of returning items. In one of the most popular customer review platform (Trust Pilot), Abercrombie & Fitch has a bad rating of 1 out of 5. Reviews included comments like “they’ll rip you off on returns”, “worst returns process”, “rip off return fee from Abercrombie & Fitch”, “I got caught out on their returns policy”, “an amazingly unfair returns policy”. We can go on and on, and only one thing can be gleaned, which is that customers are not pleased with the returns policy. With the high returns shipping cost/ restocking fee that Abercrombie & Fitch charges,  customers cry (rightfully, I must add) why it should cost so much to return an item. As a result, some customers decide it’s not worth it to return an Abercrombie & Fitch item and end up being stuck with a clothing piece that they will not use.

That said; while Abercrombie & Fitch does okay with their returns window, and returns/ refund processing time, the cost of returns pitch the whole returns policy at an all-time low.

Customer Support Service

When using an online store, one could run into roadblocks with questions about the company (and their offerings) or issues with orders. Therefore, the ideal online fashion store should have channels for addressing the question or issues that customers may have. More importantly, the channels should be effective and provide the needed assistance that will ensure customer satisfaction.

In this regard, the performance of Abercrombie and Fitch is, at best, mixed. They provide regular channels for contacting them, which includes email and telephone. There are different email addresses that they provide for different support issues; also they provide different toll-free telephone lines which means you’ll not have to worry about charges when calling them.

However, it must be said that customer reviews that can be found in numerous independent review platforms do not rate the customer support service of Abercrombie & Fitch. With some of the problems in the store highlighted (relating to delivery and returns), it’s only normal that customer support will be flooded. Unfortunately, not many of the customers were left satisfied. Reviews include comments like “shockingly bad”, “online help  = total failure”, and so on.

There were too many cases of customer support service not providing status updates even on delivery that was past due, and not providing any help in instances of customers had issued with quality.

That said; Abercrombie & Fitch may not be the shop you’ll want to be when you have an issue with your order.

I liked

• A legit and safe casino that operate over 1000 stores worldwide
• A large inventory that will serve all your selection needs
• Quality of most pieces is very good

I didn’t like

• Ships to fewer countries (83) than most fashion retailers
• Does not offer free shipping
• Has relatively longer delivery time
• Costs of returning unwanted items are too high
• Customer support service is largely unhelpful in solving most customers’ issues

Summary

Abercrombie & Fitch is a legitimate and an established brand name in the fashion retailing business. The company is legit and safe; they provide men and women clothing, specializing in casual everyday wears. They have a large inventory, and you’ll also find high-quality apparel.

They started out as an outfitter providing expensive luxury items, but over the years the call to provide affordable clothing pieces have seen their status change to a provider of near-luxury items, with a consequential reduction in prices from outright expensive to just-pricey.

However, there are a few things that the company can work on. The supported countries are free, free shipping needs to be introduced, delivery is relatively slow,  cost of returns is seriously plaguing their returns process, and customer service needs to be overhauled.

Do you have any experience with Abercrombie & Fitch? If yes, kindly use the comment section below to give us your brief Abercrombie & Fitch review.

Ritani is a jewellery retailer that was started by a family of jewellers. Though they have outgrown the “family business” status, and now ship jewellery worldwide; they have retained their in-house workmanship and continue to handcraft their pieces from their base in Seattle.

Yes, Ritani is legit. It is not a scam store because you will receive the product you purchased without a problem. And also, they will never steal your money or credit cards details.

With a lot of jewellery retailers, it can be overwhelming to know where to head to for your jewellery pieces. Ritani advertises as the store to head to if you need a unique ring (your symbol of love) that matches your unique love.

This Ritani review will examine Ritani to provide the information that will help you determine if you should head there for your “symbol of love”.

Ritani review at a glance

• Online jewellery store founded in 1999
• Specializes in engagement rings and bridal jewellery
• Uses a unique “clicks and bricks” shopping model that expertly blends the advantages of online purchases and conventional brick and mortar purchase
• Famed for excellent craftsmanship especially for their ring settings
• Offers free shipping and returns to all addresses

What is Ritani?

Ritani is an online jewellery retailer that is headquartered in White Plains, New York. They were founded in 1999 by Harout Aghjayan (the brother of famous jewellery designer Vatche Aghjayan). Ritani specializes in engagement rings and bridal jewellery. However, they also hold non-engagement/ non-wedding jewellery pieces.

Ritani have slowly put themselves in the consciousness of stakeholders (that is, buyers and watchers) of the jewellery industry. They’ve accomplished this through years (almost two decades) of seamless service; some top quality craftsmanship of ring settings; and an innovative e-commerce business model.

The Ritani website is https://www.ritani.com/. It is compatible with mobile operating systems; so you can conveniently browse through listed items and place orders using your mobile phones and tablets.

Is Ritani legit?

Ritani is legitimate. It is not a scam. One of the first questions that people ask is whether an online platform is legit. Where the platform has to do with high-end purchases like diamonds, the questions is even more imperative. There is no doubt that Ritani is a legit jewellery retailer and not a scam store.

Their almost two decades of operation is one pointer. No scam store can continue ripping off people for that long a time. Also, Ritani has a physical existence with its headquarters based in Seattle (New York). Their operators are also visible and known; the company is currently run by Brian Watkins and has a board of directors that is also known. Suffice it to say that, scam stores have only a virtual existence, and their operators are also largely unknown.

In 2014, Ritani made the Forbes list of America’s Most Promising Companies. Over the years, the company has also been featured in The New York Times, CNN Money, Fox Business, and Business Insider. There is no way a scam store will get that kind of recognition.

Lastly, we will see that every piece of diamond listed in Ritani is GIA certified. This proves that Ritani is legit because GIA certifications are done by no less than four expert gemologist chosen at random. While these certifications are quality certificates, their mention here is to prove that the merchandise listed in Ritani does exist, meaning Ritani has the capacity to fulfil orders.

Features

Product description and Imagery

In online purchases, you don’t get to physically see and assess the items before the purchase. To give you some sight in this clear case of blind purchase, online stores provide an assortment of resources which can help you make an assessment of the items before the buying commitment. Online jewellery retailers are no exception; the helpful resources they provide to help you with your assessments include product description, product images, and 360⁰ video viewer.

Ritani provides all these resources but to a different degree of excellence. First, it should be said that Ritani has a diamond search button which is a very helpful tool when searching for diamonds with particular specifications.

Also, there are detailed descriptions of every diamond and piece of jewellery. For example, every diamond in Ritani’s inventory is listed with its 4 C specifications (cut, clarity, carat, and colour) as well as other details such as polish, symmetry, fluorescence, and measurements. If you’ll want to rely on only descriptions when buying your jewellery, the Ritani product descriptions are nigh-excellent. However, I don’t know of any diamond buyer who will be content with only product descriptions. When it comes to diamonds, visuals are important.

In this regard, Ritani does have a lot of high-quality product images. Many of the pictures really prove that “pictures are worth a thousand words”. However, it’s my observation that too many of the listed diamonds have pictures that are, at best, lacklustre.

Video Viewer came forward to improve on whatever images give. The videos show the diamond as it turns slowly through 360⁰. It is like holding the diamond in your hand and viewing it from whatever possible angle. Ritani also uses this 360⁰ video viewer.  However, only very few diamonds in Ritani’s inventory have video.

Also, there’s no way to know what particular diamonds have this video viewer until you choose the diamond for viewing.  Also, it’s not possible to look at only diamonds that have video because the search tool does not sift that. So you just have to blindly choose diamonds to find those with the video capability.

That said, if you want to see high-quality videos for every piece you’ll look at, or high-quality videos that give you every possible angle of the pieces, then Ritani might not be an ideal place.

Education Section

You don’t know what to look out for in a diamond; there’s no problem. Ritani has a robust education page that gives you what you need to make you feel equipped in diamond shopping. For example, the diamond shape page tells how the different diamond shapes and cut grade affect sparkle. Also, nice buying tips on the 4C’s page explains amongst others what diamond colour grade you should go for considering the jewellery you want to set it on (rose gold, white gold or platinum). You can also view how the different diamond carat graded diamonds will look on an average finger, and there is a skin tone tool that allows you to view the diamond on a finger with complexion matching yours.

Most persons are familiar with the 4C’s and rightly use these to assess a diamond’s quality. However,  but as gemologist will agree there are things beyond the 4C’s that are important when gemologists or experienced diamond buyers looks beyond the 4 Cs, at more subtle details such as the diamond’s structure and its angles, it’s level of fluorescence, the degree of inclusions, and the quality of its polish. You’ll find detailed discussions of all these in the “anatomy of a diamond” page. There is also a page on engagement rings, and another on settings, and another on precious metals which gives important information (such as the average lifespan and durability of bands). When you’ve digested the Ritani education pages, you’ll feel like a pro in getting the best diamond ring for your pocket.

Virtual Gemologist

After going through the education pages, if you still feel you can’t go through the diamond buying decisions on your own; no problem. After all, diamonds are a precious symbol of love, and it’s understandable that you want the “perfect” piece. Ritani offers the “Virtual Gemologist” service just for you, where you get a free consultation with an expert (gemologist).

You can select up to four diamonds which the expert will go over with you, and then you sign up for the consultation (at a time convenient for you).

One good news is that you don’t have to wait long to get the appointment; you can schedule Virtual Gemologist sessions for the very same or the next day. And if you must cancel an appointment; there’s no problem. All you need do is to call Ritani’s Virtual Gemologist customer service (at 1.888.202.0804).

The expert provides nothing less than expert service; you’ll be shown HD imagery and 20X magnification images of the diamonds, and be walked through the different exclusive reports.

Whether you are new to the diamond field, or a veteran on it; the experts/ gemologist can help you decide which diamond to buy, or recommend an entirely different diamond based on what matters most to you.

Clicks and Bricks

There are different advantages to buying items online and in brick and mortar stores. Online purchase affords convenience, while brick and mortar stores give the opportunity to physically see and assess the item before the purchase. Usually, online stores try to soften the disadvantage by providing, item certificates, detailed descriptions, as well as quality images and even video viewer tools. At best, these give a mere imitation of “physically seeing and assessing” your jewellery piece.

Ritani comes up with a unique model that marries the advantages of online purchase and purchases from brick and mortar stores, which is the “clicks and bricks” model. The model allows you to pick your diamond ring or design one online (Ritani website), then get it shipped to a local jeweller for previewing.

One interesting thing is that the in-store preview does not carry any obligation to buy. If you like what you see, you can complete the transaction and go home with your jewellery piece; but if you do not like what you see, you can simply walk away.

Some will argue that the Ritani “clicks and bricks” have little value since jewellers offer return policies that allow customers to return the jewellery if they are not totally satisfied with it. However, it can take quite a while for your items to get back to the retailer, for them to process it, and more time for the refund to get to your account. If you don’t have a lot of time on your hand; you might have to go to another store when still expecting to be refunded by the original store. And if you don’t have a high enough credit limit, buying from another store might not be possible until the refund from the first store clocks in. This scenario can be avoided with Ritani’s clicks and bricks model. If you don’t like what you see, you may simply move on to another store for your purchase and not be restricted by funds tied down (that is, awaiting refund).

Also, the in-store experience and being able to physically preview the diamond is something that, to many customers, is vital. It is understandable because diamond and bridal jewellery purchases are big purchases with considerable expense. Thus, previewing the items in-store gives a kind of peace of mind that is not inherent in online purchases.

Partner Jewelry Stores

For the click and bricks model to work, Ritani has formed a partnership with a lot of local jewellers all over the US and Canada. These local jewellers’ stores are where you go to for your ring preview in the “clicks and bricks” model. However, the stores are not just for review, they facilitate other Ritani’s services such as returns, the complimentary cleaning service, and more.

Because, there are many of these stores in the US and Canada, customers in those regions will not have to drive far to access the Ritani services. Customer reviews are glowing in this regard. It’s very common to find reviews such as “You are not going to find this kind of combination of value and service anywhere else”. However, because many Ritani services are tied to these partner stores, it means that many services are not available to international customers.

Product

You’ll want a store that holds a large inventory so that you’ll be more likely to find something that you like. In this regard, Ritani ticks the box. The product category, and a description of items, you’ll find in each category are as follows:

• Engagement Rings

The main product offering of Ritani is a diamond engagement ring; thus, you’re in for a treat. Ritani has a lot of custom engagement rings. Like most jeweller, you may create your own ring. In doing that, you may start with a diamond or with a setting.

You can also shop engagement rings by type that ranges from elegant simplicity to dazzling sophistication. There are the very popular solitaire engagement rings, which showcase the dazzling beauty of a single diamond; there are the more complex and ornate halo engagement rings, which have a border of small, delicate diamonds framing the centre diamond, and enhancing it with additional brilliance; there are the complex but highly customizable three-stone engagement rings, which have exquisite small diamonds, stunning sapphires or rubies flanking a centre diamond to dramatically increase sparkle and visual impact; there’s also the classic engagement rings with tasteful diamond-studded bands.

You can shop by type, and get vintage engagement rings. These sets are antique-inspired but subtly infused with modern style, to blend the best of the past with the best of the modern.  You can also get stunning sapphire rings, bridal sets, and promise rings.

Your engagement ring shopping may start with the metal. Ritani have five metal options you can choose from, which include 18kt rose gold, 18kt white gold, 14kt white gold, 18kt yellow gold, and platinum

• Diamond

Ritani has a vast collection of loose diamonds (over 75,000 at the time of writing). This is not the largest collection of loose diamond amongst online diamond retailers but is large enough. That way you don’t have an inventory that can become overwhelming when sifting through; rather it’s just big enough for all your selection needs. You’ll find diamonds in all 10 popular shapes – Round, Princess, Cushion,, Emerald, Radiant, Oval, Pear, Asscher, Marquise, and Heart.

You may also shop from the Ritani Reserve Diamonds. These are supposed to be ideal diamonds; that is, diamonds with the best cut grading for maximum spark and brilliance.

 

• Wedding Rings

You may shop from the Bestselling Women’s Rings, Bestselling Men’s Bands or Anniversary Rings. The Women’s Wedding Rings include Diamond, Eternity and Classic; while the Men’s Wedding Bands include Diamond, Classic and Modern.

You may also choose to buy a wedding band that matches your engagement ring no matter its style.  Thus, you may match your Halo, Classic, Solitaire, and Three-Stone engagement rings.

• Jewellery

In this category, you’ll find other jewellery pieces other than engagement rings and wedding bands. This includes different types of earrings (gold, pearl, diamond, and gemstone), Bracelets (gold, charm, pearl, tennis, Cuffs & Bangles), and necklaces (gold, pearl, diamond, and gemstone).

You’ll also find Diamond Stud Earrings, Diamond Halo Earrings and Diamond Halo Pendants. If you are for designer labels, you’ll also find collections from Lili Claspe x Ritani, EF Collection and Mimi So. Just like you may design your own engagement ring, there is also the option to design your own jewellery (Design a Diamond Pendant or Design Diamond Earrings)

• Gift

You can get various jewellery gift items for Anniversary Gifts, Bridal Gifts, Birthday Gifts and Milestone Gifts. Some items are Halo Studs, Halo Pendants and Diamond Studs, Diamond jewellery, Cufflinks, Amulets & Tags, Bracelets. Also, you can shop for designers gift (Lili Claspe x Ritani, EF Collection, and Mimi So). You can even design your gift. If you’ll be shopping with a budget, you can go to “Gifts By Price”; and you’ll find items: $250 & Under, $500 & Under, $750 & Under, and $1500 & Under.

Quality

It’s not enough to know that a store holds a large selection of items from which you can make a selection; it’ll also be important that the items are of good quality so that you’ll not waste time poring through loads of poor quality items.

In this regard, it will interest you to know that Ritani only lists GIA and AGS certified diamonds on their site. GIA (Gemological Institute of America) standardized diamond grading by introducing the 4C’s; while the AGS (American Gem Society) has also established itself as a top-level diamond grading organization. As a result, almost all experts recommend buying an AGS or GIA certified diamond.

When it comes to settings, Ritani’s selections are great. Ritani has some exquisite ring settings, including unique ones that you can’t find anywhere. Many industry watchers (including me) agree that Ritani’s top-notch ring settings are the main reasons for their emergence as a strong contender in the diamond and jewellery retailing business. One reason that can be identified for the excellent ring settings is that they manufacture their jewellery in-house, and have control over the whole process. From their base in Seattle, every single piece of jewellery is carefully crafted by highly skilled craftsmen using state of the art equipment in a controlled environment. Most of their settings (e.g the micro-pave ring setting) have intricate features and detailing that defies automation, and can only be hand carved by super-skilled craftsmen.  Thus, when you get a ring setting from Ritani, you’re sure to be getting one of the best possible pieces of design.

However, what do they say about premium items? They are usually pricey. Thus, you’ll also find that, in terms of cost, ring settings in Ritani do not stack up well with the competition. The settings in Ritani tend to be more expensive than comparable settings from other top jewellers. You’ll also find that Ritani does not have as many different settings as these jewellers, especially low-cost settings.

There is a group of diamonds called the “Ritani Reserve Diamonds”. The name tells that they belong to a special category. They are the premium diamonds in Ritani’s inventory. Ritani advertises that the Reserve Diamonds “is certified as the most exceptional 1% of all diamonds worldwide, cut precisely to yield the most sparkle”.

This is one area where Ritani really dropped the ball. Their premium stones do not hold up to the tag when held up to scrutiny, in terms of cut precision and optical performance. For example, some random diamonds pulled from their Reserve Diamond collections had dug-out facets that altered scintillation. Thus, the balance of the sparkliness is altered in the premium stones that are supposedly cut to yield the most sparkle. (Note that, digging out is a technique that craftsmen use, when cutting diamonds, to save carat). Some other stones from the collection showed light leakage which caused less brilliance.

That said, if you want super ideal diamonds with excellent cut precision that gives the very best optical performance, Ritani might want to point you to their Reserve Diamonds, but you should do well to look away.

Price

Price is the most important factor in purchases. Even in high-end products like diamonds and bridal jewellery, you shouldn’t want to pay beyond what a particular piece (by virtue of its specs) should reasonably command.

The best way to gauge price is to do a comparison with the competition. When this was done, it was found that Ritani’s prices are fair, but not always the lowest. It’s been mentioned that Ritani’s ring settings are clearly pricier than the settings you’ll find in most other jewellers. For the loose diamonds, you’ll find many that are competitively priced, but a good number are also priced on the high. For example, you’ll find a Ritani Reserve Diamond priced at about $9,500; but you can find a stone with the same cut and carat grading priced much lower in some other top online jewellers.

Interestingly, Ritani has a “diamond price match” policy, where they pledge to give you the best price for your diamond. That is, if an online competitor’s diamond is priced for less, Ritani will attempt to find a similar diamond for you at a lower price. This policy is to ensure that they provide you with the most competitive prices possible. However, it should be noted that before Ritani will give a matching diamond, their experts will check out the stone (from the other store), and must determine that it has the same spec with theirs in terms of the 4 Cs (cut, colour, clarity, and carat weight) as well as additional criteria such as fluorescence, polish and symmetry, table and depth percentage, etc.

Payment Method

The ideal shop should offer stress-free services which include making payments conveniently. To do this they have to support a good range of payment so that you can easily find one for convenient use no matter where you’ll be buying from.

Ritani does support a good range of payment method. They accept payment from many popular credit and debit cards, PayPal, and bank transfers. However, it should be noted that Bank Wires or “Bank Transfers” are best utilized for International Payments because, most often than not, foreign credit cards are declined. However, this is not a particular problem with Ritani. That said, you even get a 1.5% discount when you place your order using a Bank Wire.

Shipping

Shipping is an important element of online purchases; the two shipping considerations being the cost of shipping and delivery times. Reviews of online purchases have it that one of the biggest reasons customers abandon their shopping carts at checkout is because of shipping cost. Customers don’t want high shipping costs; and the closer shipping costs are to zero, the best for customers. In terms of shipping times; customers don’t want to wait forever to get their package.

Ritani ships merchandise worldwide, and in terms of the double consideration of shipping cost and delivery times they tick the relevant boxes. Ritani offers free shipping, not only for US and APO domestic shipping but also for international shipping.

One good thing with international shipping is that there are no additional costs (not even C.O.D. charges) to be paid upon delivery. The total you pay at checkout is the exact amount that you will be billed for your package. That total amount at checkout already includes all applicable duties and taxes imposed by the customs and revenue authorities in the destination country. Also, all shipping is fully insured at zero cost to you.

Ritani currently ships to the following countries: Norway, Italy, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Japan, Turks, Netherlands, Greece, Bermuda, Germany, China, Singapore, Slovakia, Qatar, Canada, Turkey, Czech-republic, Cayman Islands, Kuwait, Egypt, Latvia, Sweden, Israel, Poland, Luxembourg, South Africa, Gibraltar, Australia, Liechtenstein, Austria, New-Zealand, Ireland, Thailand, India, Hungary, Mexico, Malta, United Kingdom, Belize, South Korea, Slovenia, Barbados, Belgium, Monaco, Trinidad and Tobago, Spain, France, Finland, Macao, Denmark, and Lithuania. However, the company is aggressively expanding its international coverage by adding more countries. Thus, it’s very likely that more countries have been added to the list.

Shipment to Addresses in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and South America takes 2 – 9 days; while shipment to addresses in Europe and the United Arab Emirates, the rest of Asia, and Europe take 3 – 9 days.

Returns

Ritani’s unique “click and bricks” model is designed to remove the one big disadvantage of online purchases, which is buying merchandise blindly (that is, not physically seeing and inspecting items before the buy decision). However, that problems still exist for many Ritani purchases, especially orders that will be shipped to international addresses. There is also the possibility that the initial excitement may disappear, and you will have a change of mind about the diamond or piece of jewellery upon delivery of it. There is also the faint possibility of being delivered a wrong or damaged item. Whatever the case, you’ll need to be able to return the merchandise to the retailer, for a refund or an exchange with another item. Therefore, there is a need to review the return policy of Ritani.

Ritani, like almost every online jeweller, has a return policy that allows the return of merchandise for a refund and/ or exchange.

If you opt to return a Ritani purchase, the first thing to do is to call Ritani customer service (at 1.888.202.0801). However, the returns policy also makes for good reading. First, the returns window is 30 days, which gives you a whole month from the time of delivery to your home to return the item to Ritani. This is also on par with the jewellery industry average which is 30 days. Secondly, the returns shipping cost is borne by Ritani, and they also do not charge any restocking fees. Thus, when you return an item

Lastly, there is free return insurance. You don’t have to worry about the items getting lost or damaged on their way back to Ritani and you being liable. You are 100% covered from the time the item leaves your door until it arrives at Ritani’s door.

Another interesting perk is that Ritani can arrange for the items to be picked up at your door. When you initiate the returns process; after packaging the items as required and attaching the returns label, you do not have to move to the shipping service to drop off the package. It can be arranged for someone to come to your door to pick up the package. Think excellent customer experience! Also, returns are fully insured.

However, there are a few items which are final sales and cannot be returned. They include

• Custom eternity rings, or those that have been modified
• Engraved jewellery items (excluding wedding and engagement rings
• Any special orders or custom requests (excluding wedding and engagement rings)

Other Services

Lifetime Warranty

You should want a jeweller that stands by their products. Ritani does just that with their lifetime warranty. Like most jewellers, the warranty covers only manufacturing defects. The warranty is a ring life care program. That is, if at any time a manufacturing defect causes damage on a Ritani ring, you can return the ring to Ritani, and they will repair or replace the item at no cost to you. Note that this does not apply to designers collections carried by Ritani; and also that the lifetime warranty only applies to US and Canada customers.

However, it shouldn’t surprise you that in such “manufacturing-defect only” conditioned warranties, when the time is up, there is a tendency for the seller to try to absolve themselves by claiming that the damage is not due to manufacturing defects. Unfortunately, this ugly situation has played out in Ritani. In this particular case, even some Ritani’s partner jewellery stores confirmed it was a manufacturing defect (that the crack on was due to porosity and bubbles forming during the manufacturing process); and one of them even reached out to Ritani to let them know. But Ritani wouldn’t budge.

Lifetime cleaning

You want your diamond piece always sparkling. While you can do the necessary cleaning yourself; it is best done by the professionals. The complimentary lifetime cleaning offer of Ritani, means they’ll clean your diamond for you free of charge (at least twice a year). However, you don’t have to send the ring to them. The offer is only available in-store. All you need do is walk into any of the many partner jewellery stores of Ritani. Thus, the offer is also available to only customers from the US and Canada.

Customer Service

The ideal legit jewellery store will provide for effectively answering the questions that customers will have and solving any issues that customers may have with their transactions. Ritani provides different channels for providing necessary assistance to customers.

There’s an FAQ on their website where you can get articles for self-help. Admittedly, in a high-end purchase like diamonds, self-help might not do it for you, and you’ll want to directly reach a support rep of the company. You can do that via phone, chat, email, or post.

The live chat feature is available on their website; for the telephone service, the line is 1.888.974.8264; for the email service, the email address to send your submissions is care@ritani.com; and for the post, the mailing address to send your correspondence is 30 Dr Martin Luther King Blvd., White Plains, NY 10601.

Ritani also has an active blog and a strong social media presence; you can also use those media to reach them.

However, it should be noted that the Ritani customer support service is not available 24/ 7. For the chat and phone services, Ritani’s support agents are active from 8 am – 12 pm ET (Mondays – Fridays), from 10 am – 7 pm ET on Saturdays, and from 12 am – 9 pm on Sundays.

Summary

Ritani has established itself as a major player in the jewellery industry. And they deserve their place. The company is legit. That said, they pride themselves on craftsmanship and are able to give top quality ring settings. They have also revolutionized customer-oriented e-commerce with their innovative “clicks and bricks” model that allows you to see and preview your ring before committing financially to it. Amongst other services, they give you free expert opinion, free shipping and returns, and interesting warranties such as lifetime warranty, and free cleaning.

However, there are some areas where they fall short. The main ones include the lack of HD pictures and video for many of the diamonds listed; the question marks on the cut precision and optical performance of their supposedly premium diamonds; and the relatively high prices of ring settings and loose diamonds.

Do you have any question or experience with Ritani? If yes, kindly use the review section below to give us you brief Ritani review.

Club Monaco is an online fashion shop that advertises as a “brand that designs and creates modern yet timeless clothing and accessories for women and men“. They add that their collections feature “relevant, wearable pieces, fine fabrics and exceptional fits”.

Club Monaco is a legit fashion store. They will never steal your money or credit card details. And there have never been complaints about theft. All purchased goods are shipped to the owners without a problem.

Those descriptions are fitting of the go-to shop for fashion needs. The big question then is whether Club Monaco is actually the go-to shop or whether it is just an empty shop that only attaches glowing stickers to itself. In the first place, is Club Monaco genuine?

This Club Monaco review will examine the store in order to provide information that will help you answer those questions.

Club Monaco review at a glance

• Started in 1985 as a Canadian company, but owned and operated by US fashion giant Polo Ralph Lauren since 1999
• They operate over 150 stores all over the world
• They specializes in both men and women clothing and fashion accessories
• Their merchandise is reputed to be of high quality but expensively priced
• They offer free shipping for the US orders over $150 and for international orders over $200
• They allow returns within 30 days of the delivery date
• Customer Support is available through email and telephone

What is Club Monaco?

Club Monaco is an online fashion website that was started in 1985 by three Canadians when they opened they opened the first fashion shop by the name in Queen Street West in Toronto, Canada. Club Monaco gained popularity for their classic black and white styles for both men and women; the company expanded, and in 1989 they opened their first US shop.

Club Monaco operated as a Canadian Company until 1999, when it was acquired by the US fashion giant – Polo Ralph Lauren.

Apart from the change in ownership, Club Monaco has gone through various other changes over the years: they ditched their classic black and white styles and embraced modern styles; they launched a lifestyle brand in 2000; they eliminated their men’s wear line in about 2011 and reintroduce it in about 2015, and they added a footwear line in 2013.

However, through all the changes, Club Monaco comes out as a reputable retail brand that designs modern yet timeless clothing and accessories for men and women. True to that status, they operate stores in over 150 locations worldwide which include Canada, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Macao, Malaysia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom,  and the United States.

Is Club Monaco legit?

Club Monaco is legit. It is not a Legit and scam are probably some of the best keywords on the internet. With so many scam platforms online ripping people off, before proceeding to transact with an online platform, customers want to know whether it is legit or a scam.

In this regard, you need not worry because Club Monaco comes out as very legit. First, Club Monaco is a company duly registered as Club Monaco US, LLC; and it is an arm of Polo Ralph Lauren which is also a duly registered company. In this least, this means that Club Monaco is 100% legal.

Also, too many people, a scam store is one that does not deliver when orders are placed causing them to lose their payment. It should be said that the fake stores do not fulfil orders because they cannot. They operate only virtually; with no physical warehouse, stores, or distribution centre. Thus, fake stores have no capacity to fulfil orders. On the other hand, Club Monaco had a physical existence that features a corporate headquarter in New York and over 140 stores (holding hundreds of thousands of merchandise) in various parts of the world. Thus, Club Monaco has the capacity to fulfil orders and is therefore legit.

Using the test of time, we see that Club Monaco has been operating since 1985 which is over 33 years of operation. Suffice it to say that no scam store can operate for that long. Scam operation cannot continue perpetually; the information will be out in no time, and the stores will run for the covers and disappear.

Is Club Monaco safe?

Club Monaco is also a safe platform to make payment. When you shop in an online store, you share information like your credit card details; and if fraudsters intercept this data, they can clear your account. Thus, the legit store should also be safe. That is, it should make sure that the sensitive information you share with them is protected.

In this regard, Club Monaco takes certain physical, administrative and technical steps to safeguard the personal information and payment details you submit on their platform. For example, they use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology which is the industry standard for creating a private connection between a device and a web server communicating on the internet. Data transferred in the link is outside the reach of unauthorized third parties. Also, the data is encrypted before being relayed in the link, to further assure it’s protection.

With the use of this top-notch technical security feature, it is safe to say that Club Monaco is safe.

Features

Club Monaco Dresses:

Product Description and Images

Online purchase is characterized by blind purchases where you don’t get to see the items until it is delivered to you. However, it doesn’t have to be completely blind, in that the store should provide resources that will help you make an assessment of the item before committing to the purchase. These resources include product descriptions and product images. The ideal store should have descriptions that are detailed enough and images that are thorough and clear enough so that it would be as if you’re physically examining the item.

In this regard, Club Monaco ticks the box. The product description includes the type of fabric, seam work, measurements, and even the model’s sizes (for on-model items). Images are very clear and shot from various angles to give you a good view of the item.

While the product description and product images of Club Monaco will help you with a good assessment of the item, I’ll like to see them employ recent developments in the industry, which is a video viewer. Some online stores use video technology, where their listed items are shown in a short on-model video. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth a thousand pictures.

Website

The ideal app should have a website that allows shopping on the go, and that is only possible if the website is compatible with mobile devices.

In this regard, the website of Club Monaco is fully mobile optimized. If you enter the URL into your web browser, you’ll be redirected to the mobile page which resizes to fit the small screens of mobile phones and tablets. You’ll be able to view all listings, pay for your order, track the order and do anything else that can be done with desktop devices.

Also, the website is easy to navigate. On the landing page, you’ll find links to the men’s wear and women’s wear category; you can also follow links to the shipping information page, “about us” page, and the terms of use. The webpage is simple and uncluttered.

Product Range

The ideal online fashion store should be a one-stop shop for fashion needs, and it can be that by holding a wide product range. Why is this necessary? You want to buy all your items in one place so that you can take advantage of bulk purchase discounts. You also want to pay for one order shipment as you ship all your items from one store instead of paying multiple order shipments and ship different items from different stores.

In this regard, Club Monaco ticks the box. The shop offers both men and women clothing, and you’ll find items for all seasons and occasions.

In the women wear range, the product categories are:

• Clothing – You’ll find sweaters, coats and trench coats, jackets and vest, dresses, jumpsuit and rompers, pants, jeans, shirts, knots and Tees, skirts, shorts, and swimwear
• Accessories – You’ll find shoes, hats, scarves and gloves, jewellery, handbags and belts, sunglasses, tights, home and beauty products.

In the men’s wear range, the product category and items you’ll find in each category are:

• Clothing – this include sweater, outerwear, pants, jeans, sweatshirts and knit jackets, shirts, Tees and Polos, suits and blazers, shorts and more
• Accessories – this includes shoes, hats, gloves and scarves, socks, bags and small accessories, jewellery, grooming products, ties and belts, sunglasses

Apart from holding a wide product range, Club Monaco also holds a large number of each product type. With this, you can make a choice from a large inventory, and you’re more likely to find something that you like. Club Monaco is able to offer a large inventory because they draw items from a lot of designers. These include: On The Bright Side, A Perfect Pair, The Heritage Crest Collection, All That Jazz, Golden Hour, In Bloom, Around Town, Cooldown warm up, The feel of it, No ordinary life, At Ease, She’s the One, Soft Focus, A New Suit, Day Shift, Some Place Better Than Here

Also, it is not enough that an online fashion store holds a large inventory, it is also important that their items should be of good quality.

In this regard, Club  Monaco ticks the box. They create functional wearable pieces that feature fine fabrics and exceptional fits. Online reviews of customers who have actually bought from Club Monaco also support this. Looking up what actual customers are saying about Club Monaco on the various customers review platforms, we found statements like “I would like to shop here again even when they’re expensive because the clothes are beautiful”, “the clothes are definitely pricey but the quality is there”, “modern, chic and stylish pieces… but the fit and quality is amazing”, “they have the most luxurious fabrics and quality is amazing”.

The ultimate test of quality for most customers is clothing pieces that can stand the test of time. The reviews also include customers happy with timeless clothing materials that have stayed years and still look new.

That said; there is no doubt that the quality of items in the store is top notch.

Shipping

Shipping is an important consideration in online purchases. First, you’ll want to know if the store ships to your location; also you’ll want to know if the shipping costs are not unreasonably high, and you’ll also want to know how long it will take your order to be delivered to your location. Following these, the ideal online store will ship to a lot of worldwide destinations, will have shipping rates that are as low as possible, and will have delivery times that are as fast as possible.

In the first case, Club Monaco ships to all locations in the US and Canada as well as over 100 international countries. While this is impressive, you’ll find online fashion retailers that cover twice as many countries. What it means is that many persons from many international locations will be unable to shop in Club Monaco.

In terms of shipping cost; the lowest possible cost that can be offered is zero, which is free shipping. Thankfully, Club Monaco offers free shipping, but the terms differ in different countries.

For shipping to the US, free shipping is available for all orders over $150 dollars on the Standard and Economy delivery options only. However, for international destinations, free shipping is available for orders over $200. If you’ve seen reviews of other stores, you’ll find that the domestic US free shipping offer is not good enough. This is because you have a high order qualifying amount. There are many online fashion stores that ships free to the US address for orders of about $50 – $100; but Club Monaco requires that your order is into $150. This put pressure on customers to spend more than intended in order to qualify for free shipping.

Where free shipping is not applicable, Club Monaco charges reasonable rates which depends on the delivery options chosen.

For US shipping there are five different options you may choose from. There is an Economy delivery option which takes 7 – 10 business days and cost $5.00. There is also a Standard delivery option which takes 5 – 7 business days and cost $8.00. The free shipping is available for orders over $150 that you’ll want to ship with either of these two options.

US orders also have expedited shipping options which include: the 2 Business Days delivery, an Overnight delivery, as well as a special Saturday delivery. Their moniker is revealing of how long it will take you to receive your package with these options. The 2 Business days delivery will get you the package in 2 business days, and it cost $20. The overnight delivery will get you the package the next business day following order placement, and it cost $25. Lastly, the Saturday delivery allows you to receive your package on a pre-arranged Saturday, and it cost $35.

Shipping to most other international destinations is available only through standard delivery option. This takes 7 – 13 business days for Mexico and the UK; and 7 – 15 business days for most countries in Europe, South America and Asia. But Russia orders may take up to 22 business days. For Africa and the Middle East, the standard shipping takes 7 – 17 business days; while for Australia and New Zealand, it takes 8 – 17 business days. The shipping cost for any of the destinations will be revealed at checkout.

Club Monaco offers international shipping through Borderfree. Because Borderfree supports a lot of currencies, this means that Club Monaco is able to show product prices as well as order totals in a lot of local currency. Also, the order total at checkout will be the only amount paid for getting the package; there’ll be no hidden charges to be paid on receipt of the package.

Returns and Exchange Policy

There are many reasons you’ll want to return an item after an online purchase. It could be that you got the wrong size, you’re not satisfied with the quality, the item gets to you damaged, and more. Whatever the case, instead of being stuck with an item you’ll rather not have, you’ll want to be able to return the item for a refund or an exchange with another item.

Returns

Thankfully, Club Monaco like every other online fashion retailers allows you to return any item in your order that you’re not totally satisfied with, and they’ll issue you a full refund.

Their returns policy allows 30 days from the time of delivery for every return to be made. The allowed 30 days returns window is on par with what most fashion retailers in the industry offer. Returns getting to Club Monaco within 30 days are accepted and processed, but those getting to them after the allowed 30 days are not accepted, and will not be sent back.

This is one area where customers will have to think twice before buying from Club Monaco. Though the 30 days window is wide enough; if for some reasons your returns for not get back to them on time, you’ll lose the item and whatever you paid for it. In this regard, some stores have policies that allow for the refund to be issued to original payment method if the returns get to them on time, and for refunds to be issued as store credit if the returns get to them late. With such policies, there’s no fear that the item will get to them late and you’ll lose it altogether.

That said, I’ll like to see Club Monaco issue refunds (as store credit) where returns get to them late.

However, it is not only the return window that determines if returns will be accepted. There are some conditions that the items must also meet. Any item to be returned must be in its new condition, which means it must not have been washed, worn or altered. It must also be accompanied by its original invoice; it must have all tags attached and must be returned in its original packaging.

However, there are certain items that are final sale merchandise and are not eligible for return or credit. This includes bodysuits, home collections, and items marked as final sale.

For US customers, Club Monaco includes a USPS pre-paid returns label which makes for easy returns. All you need do is package the items appropriately, attach the returns label and drop it off at the post office. If you use the returns label, $5.00 will be deducted from your order refund.

When you use the returns label, you can start tracking the returns 3 days after mailing it. After receipt of the returned item, it takes about two weeks for it to be processed. After it’s processing and issuance of refund using your original payment method, you’ll also do some waiting for the refund to reflect in your bank account. This means that you should get your refund within three weeks. This is better than some online fashion stores but can be improved upon. I’ll like to see a reduction in the returns processing time so that the whole time of waiting for a refund will be significantly reduced.

In-store returns are also allowed for US orders, so you can go to the nearest Club Monaco store with the item you want to return together with its original invoice and return it to the store.

Exchange

After a returned item is received by the store and processed, you’ll have to wait for your refund to be issued. If you’ll want to use the same fund to get another item; it’s only when the fund has reflected in your account that you can proceed to place the order for the new item. However, where the store allows exchanges, you can simply order the new item immediately your returns is processed, cutting off the refund-waiting time. Thus, product exchanges expedite the process of getting another item in place of the returned item.

Unfortunately, Club Monaco does not offer product exchanges. You’ll have to wait to be refunded and then place a new order.

Price and Related Policies

Price

Price is the very first thing that you’ll look at in every intended purchase. The reason is that no matter the perceived quality of merchandise, you will not want to pay what you perceive as unreasonable for it. Therefore, it’s important to review the prices of items in a store.

In almost every review platform, Club Monaco is described as a high-end clothing line. The high-end that always precede “clothing line” tells the story, which is that their merchandise is expensively priced.

For example, you’ll be hard pressed to find: a dress that is under $150, or a women’s jumpsuit or pant that is under $100. The men’s wear is no different, as you’ll find that most shirts are priced at about $80, and most pants are over $100.

It’s my opinion that the prices of Club Monaco are on the high side. Customer reviews of Club Monaco also agree. In most review platforms, customers comment that Club Monaco merchandise are expensively priced. Reviews include comments such as: “their prices are on the high end”, “the only reason why I give it a 4 stars is because of the high price”, “the prices are a little steep”, “the clothes are definitely pricey”, “in my opinion they’re a bit expensive”, “I just ordered one because of the high prices”, and much more.

That said; if you want to shop on the cheap, Club Monaco is definitely the destination you should be heading.

Price Adjustment

Club Monaco is committed to giving you the best value possible; so even if you buy an item and find a few days later that it is marked down on their site, you don’t need to worry about not having waited a few days more before making your purchase.

If the item is marked down within seven days of your original purchase (the date on your invoice), all you need do is contact Club Monaco about it and they’ll credit you the price difference using your original payment method. However, is only applicable to items purchased at full retail price.

Promotions

A review of the promotions offered by a store is important because it gives customers the opportunity to get items for free or for less than their full prices.

Thankfully, Club Monaco offers different promos from time to time. The promos are usually time specific which means that they apply to only specific time periods.

At the time of writing this review, one of the promos that were being offered was tagged “friends and family event”; it allowed 25% off certain purchases including all new arrivals.

Club Monaco also offers a student discount of 20%. All you need do is show a valid student ID card at checkout. Also, this is the biggest student discount you’ll find in the industry. Some stores don’t even offer student discounts, while others offer less than 20%.

Another advantage of shopping in Club Monaco is that they have a referral program that rewards you when someone you introduce to the store makes a successful purchase. Even the friend you invite gets rewarded.

The friend gets a 20% discount on their first purchase in the store, and you also get a 20% discount on your next purchase. However, the offer cannot be used on sales/ clearance items, vintage items and items of some of the featured brands.

Payment Method

You want an online fashion store that supports a wide range of payment options so that you won’t have any problem with paying for your orders.

In this regard, Club Monaco partners with Borderfree and thus accepts the full range of payment options that Borderfree accepts. This includes PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, American Express, JCB, and China UnionPay. Borderfree says that more payment options will be added soon.

Customer Support Service

There may be something you’ll want to know about the store and you’ll need a store that readily helps customers with their every question. There may be issues with orders, and you’ll want a store that swiftly helps with resolving such issues. Therefore, a review of the customer support service of an online store is very important.

Club Monaco provides two channels for addressing customers’ issues/ complaints – an email service and a telephone service.

The telephone line for reaching the company is 1-888-733-6410; while the email address to submit your queries is: CustomerAssistanceUS@ClubMonaco.com. You may also use the online contact form on their website to send Club Monaco a mail.

However, I’ll like to see more customer support options, especially the live chat feature. Where a customer does not want to pick up the phone for support, live chat will still allow instantaneous feedback.

Summary

Club Monaco is a legit online fashion retailer. There’s no doubt about that. They’re owned by Polo Ralph Lauren, and with over 150 stores, they have the capacity to fulfil orders. With the use of industry-standard data protection measures, the shop is also safe.

Club Monaco ticks all the boxes of the ideal fashion online retailer. Club Monaco offers both men and women clothing, and you’ll find every clothing piece. They hold a large inventory and you’ll not be short of choice.

With credit cards and PayPal accepted as payment options; paying for orders is easy. Free shipping is offered worldwide; returns are allowed and made easy with a returns label (US orders), and they have a responsive customer support service.

I liked

• Hold a wide product range, and a large inventory of each product type
• Offers only functional and high-quality clothing pieces
• Free shipping is offered, and it is available for worldwide addresses

I didn’t like

• The amount that qualifies an order for free shipping is relatively high ($150 for US orders and $200 for international orders)
• Relatively high prices for merchandise in the store
• Relatively high order amount for qualifying for free shipping
• Does not offer product exchanges
• Limited payment options
• Limited support options

D you have any question or experience with Club Monaco? If yes, you may use the review section below to give us your brief Club Monaco review.