Online Shopping – Tips,Tricks and Review

Disclaimer: This
post is based on the products I bought, which were quite inexpensive. Also I didn’t
buy any electrical or electronic item. 
I wasn’t paid to do this review. I am doing it because I liked the items.

With the
online shopping scene filled with fraud retailers and bad customer service, it is
up to the consumer to investigate and research about the sites they are
planning to shop from. While in India, I heavily relied on Flipkart,
Homeshop18, Jabong and Myntra to cater to my shopping needs, which included
books, clothes, papercrafts items and shoes.

Of late, I am
very impressed by the prices in EBay and Aliexpress. Sometimes it is hard to
believe that Aliexpress is actually selling items at such a ridiculously low
price. There are so many bad reviews floating around about the web that I was
very sceptical at first. But let me tell you – the site is not a fraud. And I
am typing this wearing a top bought from AliExpress.

Shoes, watch,
dresses, belts, skirts, purse – I have bought a total of 17 items from AliExpress.
Except one instance, when I didn’t like the material, all the products are
stylish and look great. They are my office clothes now. Picking a product ain’t
a cakewalk. You need to spend time, lot of time.

 This is my favorite dress from AliExpress 😀 
{Couldn’t figure out where to put my logo so I just placed it on my face :P}

After hours
and hours of scanning and scrolling through the list, reading about the seller,
adding and removing products, it usually takes me a month to finalize my cart. 

So this is
what I usually do.


Product
Selection
I always go
for Korean items. With my experience I felt their products are fashionable and
the size fits me really well. Usually while searching in AliExpress I would add
keywords like Korean Shoes, Korean dresses etc. Once you have picked a product,
check the feedback section, the star ratings and how many of those items have
been sold
. I always select a shop where the number of sold items is higher.
Same applies to EBay. Never forget to check the star ratings on the shop.
Spend some
time looking at the detailed picture of the product. No picture means no
shopping from that seller. I spend time looking at the picture and imagining
how it would look on my body type.

Size
This is some
seriously tricky business. Asian sizes one size smaller than what we regularly
wear
. For example if you wear Medium (US/UK), go for Large or sometimes
X-large. I am 5’3 and generally wear AUS 8/10 (US-6/8),that means I end up
ordering Large. Look carefully at the size chart provided along with the
product. If your size exactly matches the limits, then go for a bigger size.

Another
factor is length. Now Korean girls are usually petite. The t-shirt that ends up
at their hips might end up at your waist. So be very careful at the choice of
the clothing. This usually happens with tight fitting clothing. Same goes for
the dresses. Look where the hem falls on the model and you will have a pretty
good idea on how short it’s going to be.


Shipping/Delivery
EBay is
faster than AliExpress. Be very very patient. I live in Sydney, so most of the
products from AliExpress take about a month to be delivered. It is very easy to
keep a track of the product through the site. Also you can always write a
message to the seller asking them about the delivery. The ones I had to deal
with were very sweet and would answer back almost immediately. I received the
products within the timeframe of 15 days to 45 days of buying.
The products
from Ebay are usually delivered within 15 days.

Quality
I had bought
Camera equipments and mug from EBay. My husband is quite happy with them.
As I said
except one dress, I am very happy with the rest of the products. The dress I am talking about was
quite cheap and the material very poor, with no lining cloth. But with that
price, I didn’t expect much. 

Remember, sometimes the dresses come without an inner lining skirt. Wear a slip if you feel uncomfortable.
The rest of
the products are amazing. This is what I bought till now – 2 shoes, 1 watch, 1 sling
bag, 1 skirt, 2 papercraft items, 4 dresses, 3 belts and 3 tops.


I will be
posting my review on the products I bought, so that you guys can have a better idea on how they look in real.

15 thoughts on “Online Shopping – Tips,Tricks and Review

  1. Good post. Thanks for sharing trips and tricks of fashion. This post guide you.

  2. LOL on the logo thing. I guess if you like having more clothes, then quality is not an issue. You look awesome in every dress. With the number of purchases you have made and an electronic item, I think it is a good site. Will check if it is in US.

  3. I am super-worried about buying clothes online…
    I fear that the size wont fit me…

    Seeing you flaunt amazing clothes, I feel like trying too..

    Thanks for sharing!

  4. I have never tried these site! I have just shopped on flipkart, amazon and snapdeal so far. Time to explore other sites now 😉 Oh by the way, you are looking beutiful, especially in that blue dress :*

  5. I would rate jabong my fav till now but going through online sites n fumbling through products on their sites is an experience in itself. You are right I do check the sizes n order for one size larger for myself n do check where the hem falls on models in dresses. It gives quite an idea!!!

  6. These days forever21 is my favorite for shopping online…I have messed up the sizes at times but I can always return and exchange at their store here… Picking the right size is so important and then ofcourse the material…In my limited experience of online shopping I have found that forever21 never disappoints

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