Bargain Shopper Blog

Written By Samantha Lee

If you’ve been in Sydney in the past few months and consider yourself a seasoned shopper, chances are you’ve been swept up in Zara mania.

The Spanish-based retail giant, which opened the doors of its flagship Australian store in Westfield Sydney on April 20, has been met with loads of excitement and about as much controversy.

Shoppers are still flocking to the Pitt St store and enduring checkout queues, seduced by the promise of on-trend and affordable clothing. Considering the brand’s international reputation for bringing catwalk-quality designs to the masses, Zara is already being hailed a game-changer in Australian retail.

But despite all this hype, I’m still left to question whether its overseas reputation has truly been realised here in Australia.

Word from the blogosphere is that Sydney’s store has become a dump-site for leftover European stock. Some unconvinced bloggers have described our Zara as a let-down, particularly those who have shopped at its sister outlets worldwide. Others can’t see what all the fuss is about, providing feedback that nothing in stock looks even remotely catwalk-worthy nor does it live up to expectations about clothing quality.

Visiting the store myself, I failed to find many of the clothing items that I recognised from the collection available online. Zara Sydney’s selection seems to lack the choice of styles and vibrant colours that have won the brand international acclaim. Asking one of the floor staff about its range, she reassured me that this collection was customised and chosen specifically for Australian shoppers, which may explain why much of the clothing and accessories stray from those available overseas.

Admittedly the prices are incredibly reasonable. Shoppers can pick up a pair of tailored pants for $50, t-shirts for $20 and winter knitwear from around $60. The garment quality, however, is still questionable. After attempting to try on several items with broken zippers or missing buttons, I left with two knit jumpers, one of which is already unravelling less than a week later.

What’s your opinion on all the Zara hype? Have you been there yet? Do you think it’s overrated?

It’s official: the Aussie dollar is hovering around parity with the once mighty US buck. What this means is our humble golden-kangaroo coin now goes further when purchasing products from US-based stores online and elsewhere overseas. Known for its already slightly cheaper prices than Australia on many fashion and beauty products, American retail is now even more attractive. Even with postage costs included, the bargains up for grabs are enough to turn online-shopaphobics into add-to-cart addicts.

While we don’t want to encourage a mass exodus of local retail dollars (because that’s not helpful to our economy) — if you are interested in a little shopping offshore we’d like to point you in the right direction. Here are ten US online stores we'd recommend where you’re bound to find a bargain.

HOT TIP: US shoppers are crazy for coupons — so be sure to check online if there’s a coupon that could save you money on your overseas purchase.

www.bluefly.com  
Designer fashion and accessories for between 20 and 75 per cent off retail prices. Over 350 designers, from Miss Sixty to Jimmy Choo.
Shipping: Varies

www.shopbop.com  
Trawl the “Designer Index” for labels you love, or head straight to the SALE section for up to 70 per cent off RRP on clothing, shoes, accessories and bags. Our last browse showed up a pair of Diane von Furstenberg camouflage shorts down from $US245 to $US73.50.*
Shipping: Orders over $US100 are free; orders under $US100 cost $US10.

www.overstock.com  
Selling everything from clothing to jewellery, books, bedding and baby things — Overstock.com liquidates excess goodies from reputable brands for reduced prices.
Shipping: Varies

www.beautyticket.com  
“Department store brands at drugstore prices” is its slogan. BeautyTicket.com stocks skincare, cosmetics and bath products from major beauty brands sold at up to 85 per cent off RRP. Brands and stock change weekly.
Shipping costs: $US26.95 flat rate

www.bookdepository.com  
This international bookseller is actually based in the UK, but since it has FREE SHIPPING to anywhere in the world, we couldn’t resist putting it on our list. Books are insanely cheap, and there’s even a 10 per cent off, pre-Christmas special running at the moment. Visit the website for details.
Shipping: Free!

www.brandsboutique.com  
Handbags and apparel by luxe labels Armani, Burberry, Chanel, Chloe, Dolce & Gabbana, Juicy Couture, Miu Miu and more at up to 70 per cent off retail price.
Shipping: Flat rate of $US50, plus $US5 for each additional item purchased

www.dellamoda.com  
Authentic luxury handbags, shoes, sunglasses and accessories at discounted prices. Authenticity guaranteed. Grab a pair of Chanel frames of Prada shoes and rest assured they’re real.
Shipping: From $US45

www.ebay.com  
Need we explain? You can find anything cheap on eBay — but now you can cast your net wider than Australia and still save money.
Shipping: Varies

www.shopsafe.com  
If you’re nervous about sending your credit card details off into the online international ether, visit this website to check the store you’re purchasing from is safe and secure. Shopsafe also lists a huge range of stores in various categories to help with finding the products you’re after.

www.shopzilla.com  
Just because you can smell the US bargains from here as strongly as a Krispy Kreme doughnut doesn’t mean you’ll automatically find better prices overseas. And just as in Australia, prices over there vary greatly. Do a quick search of the product/brand you intend to purchase on US-based price comparison website Shopzilla before you buy to find the best deal. This is also a great place to find out about other US discount web stores.

* At the time of writing, the Australia dollar was approximately equivalent to the US dollar.

Have you gone on a US spending spree since the Aussie dollar struck gold? What bargains did you find and where? What are your favourite US or overseas web stores for the best bargains?

I am considering buying a pair of heavily discounted jeans online, and while I’m not baulking at the price (they're a steal — discounted from $180 to $75) the $10 postage fee has got me thinking: what if they don’t fit? What if the style doesn’t suit my shape? Of course, I can send them back, but is it worth it?

Is it a better “bargain” to take the risk of them not fitting and wear the postage fee (plus the extra postage cost and inconvenience of returning them) or to drive to a mall or jeans-laden shopping district and spend half a day trying on denim to find the perfectly-fitting pair, knowing that no money has gone to waste?

Considering I don’t particularly enjoy trying on jeans (it’s such a rigmarole to strip off your pants time after time and squeeze into those super-stiff-with-newness strides!) the answer is more or less staring me in the face. Paying for postage is paying for convenience of having the jeans ushered straight to your home for you to try on in front of your own private tell-it-like-it-is bedroom mirror.

I also figure that I probably wouldn’t be able to find as good a bargain in-store, and I’d end up spending that $10 anyway on parking and a food court lunch.

But what if the first pair doesn’t fit, and then the second and third pairs of jeans don’t fit either? Then I’m up to around $50 in debt with nothing to show for it. Maybe I should find a store that stocks this brand and style, try them on, then buy online. But by then the sale could be over!

It's all a matter of weighing up your priorities against convenience and cost. I think in this case I will "add to cart"... 

Do you always make sure you try on clothes in-store before buying them online? Or are you willing to take the pay-for-postage risk? Have you ever bought and sent back clothing items more than once, and was it worth it?

Comment below or email bargainguru@universalmagazines.com.au

Though I consider myself a highly skilled bargain shopper, I must admit there are several things I’ve purchased on sale that have delivered zero value for money. Sure, a deal or steal is fantastic in theory — as long as there’s a place for it in your life.

Cost per wear
No matter how amazing a bargain you uncover, there’s no point buying something if you never end up using it. For example, if you buy a T-shirt on sale for $5 but never wear it, you have wasted $5. Not a huge amount but it all adds up!

Caught up in the excitement of a sale, I’m sure many of us are guilty of falling madly in love with a particular item and becoming blind to its inappropriateness. Whether it’s a size too small, does nothing for your figure or is just plain wrong, certain items should never leave the dress rack. I’m guilty of all these faults. I once bought a beautiful Witchery silk dress that was two sizes too big, having convinced myself that a belt would solve the problem. In the end, the only person to get any wear out of it was the mannequin I used to help sell the dress on eBay years later.

To avoid such blunders, ask yourself a few questions before heading to the cash register. Does the item fit perfectly? Is it flattering — both in colour and style? Does the item go with more than three things in your wardrobe? How often will you wear it? Can you wash it at home or will it be at the dry-cleaners every weekend? Only once you have answered these questions should you even consider forking out your hard-earned cash.

Be prepared
There’s no point entering a sale aimlessly — you’ll just end up buying things you don’t need that take up precious wardrobe space. To save money, figure out which fashion pieces you actually need for your lifestyle then check out the sales to find them. Go forth with a clear list and mark off the missing items as you go.

As a regular visitor to sales, I should have a complete wardrobe by now — sadly, this is not the case. I have hundreds of dresses but no trousers, jeans, neutral heels or sandals. I always head straight to the pretty dresses — meanwhile I have nothing to wear with them.

Classic blunders
There are certain rules to follow when shopping at sales to ensure you’re scoring a true bargain. Too often we convince ourselves that we can fix a faulty item once we have it home. Shopping for clothes is like relationships: you shouldn’t think you can change them into something they’re not!

Rule 1: Cheap shoes are never a good idea
Cheap shoes made from synthetic materials will not only hurt your feet; they’ll also fall apart after a few wears. A good pair of soles — and genuine leather — will last years and provide a much better cost-per-wear ratio.

Rule 2: Solid foundation
How many times have you found an item with a button missing or a tiny hole, but bought it regardless? Sure, minor adjustments can always be made but if the stitching is poor or damaged, the garment is no good. I once bought a designer top at a sale — the only one of its kind with all the buttons and stitching intact. I failed to take this as a sign that it would inevitably fall apart as well (which sure enough it did).

Rule 3: Try before you buy
No matter how long the queue, always wait for the change room. Sales often feature a no-returns policy, so if you truly love the item try it on. Big sales often have communal change rooms, so be sure to wear good underwear that will work with any outfit. And once you’re in the change room — BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF. If you’re never going to wear it, don’t buy it. It’s as simple as that.

What sales faux pas have you made? Comment on the Bargain Shopper blog or email bsgm@universalmagazines.com.au

I’m often the last person to climb aboard the proverbial bandwagon and my relationship with ebay is no exception. Though I’ve been a member since 2004 and had some buying success, I’ve never attempted to sell a thing. So a recent wardrobe clean out and the onslaught of Christmas shopping seemed an opportune moment to try out my online sales technique. Judging from a survey of friends, family and colleagues, I’m not the only one to have missed EBAY 101 at school; perhaps this account of my recent experiences will encourage or deter any of my fellow uninitiated ebayers!

When it comes to selling goods on ebay, the general consensus is that it’s a simple, straightforward procedure with zero effort and great rewards. In my case: not so. To begin with, I had to set up a seller account and link this to Pay Pal. Unfortunately, having originally registered for ebay while living in France; all instructions were given in French. Unable to decipher computer jargon at the best of times, let alone in a foreign language, I called upon the ebay live support team. Via instant messenger they helped reinstate me as an Australian ebay citizen and set up a seller account. All in all, these few steps took a couple of days.

Once an official AUSTRALIAN ebay seller, it came time to prepare my unwanted fashion items for sale. In all honesty, it was this stage of the game that had deterred me in the past. It involves the sorting of goods, washing and ironing clothes, taking good quality photos, writing descriptive text – from washing instructions to fabric types and item faults - then finally loading everything online. For around ten items I set aside a full day to get everything organised.

When loading the listings online, my lack of experience left me at the mercy of ebay tip sheets to determine what starting prices I should register for each item. They recommend starting your items at a low price to attract more bidders however I opted for the lowest price I would be happy to accept. This ranged from $4.99 to $49.99, with most products starting from around $9.99. I figured ten dollars for something I would otherwise have donated to an op shop would be fair exchange, while $50 for something I’d paid a lot of money for would be substantial. As it turns out, your starting price determines the amount you are charged for insertion fees – thus leading me to the next selling component: cost.

When you list an item on eBay, you're charged an insertion fee; if the item sells, you're also charged a final value fee. Then there are the extras you pay to enhance your listing. These include images, highlighted typeface, special positioning and more. Once you’ve sold the item and want to transfer your funds to your own bank account, you’re charged again. For example, to transfer $65 I’d received in payments to my linked account I was charged $1. None of these fees are unreasonably large but can add up over time. In my case, it made me reconsider some of the items I’d hoped to sell; some will instead be given away. After all, taking into account my time and insertion fees, the effort would not be justified if the items sold for a low figure or not at all.

The lesson that emerged from this experience is that in future I’ll only ebay items likely to fetch a hefty price like designer labels or great jewellery and accessories; other garments will go directly to the op shop. My ebay activities have also provided a welcome reminder to carefully consider the clothes I buy. Something that’s too big or way off my usual style is never going to look good on, regardless of its beautiful fabric, colour or bargain price tag.

Bargain Shoppers Guide to Melbourne editor, Beth Anderson, shared her hottest bargain shopping tips for Christmas on Channel 7’s Today Tonight program on Monday 23 November.

Christmas is nearly upon us, and while everyone is looking forward to getting together with family, slicing the ham and cracking open the champagne, Australian families are not looking forward to outlaying hundreds in hard-earned cash on Christmas presents. With interest rates on the rise and a recovering economy, families around the country are rethinking their Christmas spend this year.

But to those families who are concerned about blowing their budget on Christmas presents this year, Bargain Shoppers Guide to Melbourne editor Beth Anderson says — never fear

Gift-giving is such an important part of the Christmas tradition, and, thankfully, there are ways you can find the best quality Christmas presents at bargain prices, leaving you with plenty of money left over to enjoy yourself over Christmas and New Year. 

Hear what Beth had to say on Today Tonight about where, when, how and what presents to buy for loved ones this Christmas – on a budget.

Also, follow Bargain Shoppers on Twitter to find out about the best sales in the lead up to Christmas! Follow BargainGuide for Melbourne and BargainGuru for Sydney.

Less than a week to go, ladies and gents, before the fashion behemoth of Topshop opens its first ever Australia-based store in Sydney. Known for making high-end fashion designs affordable, the iconic UK range (which includes Kate Moss Topshop and Topman) will be located on the second floor of Incu’s 256 Oxford Street store in Paddington. Doors will open at 10am on Thursday, 29 October and while TopShop senior buyer Rachel Proud has said she doesn’t expect queues, Bargain Shoppers predicts the lines of high-street-hungry hordes will be longer than the list of men with OTT crushes on Kate Moss, which we assume would be pretty long.

Clothing designed by the multi-talented model will be available, along with creations by Bassike, Topman, Unique, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Helmut Lang and Alexander Wang.  Incu Presents TopShop, as the store is formally known, will stock fashion from Topshop’s 2010 repertoire on a smaller scale than what is available at the retailer’s superstore-style outlets in Britain.

The question on our lips is whether budget-savvy shoppers will be able to find any bargains inside. Having had the pleasure of shopping in the retail chain’s Oxford Circus Mecca in London we can attest to Topshop offering decent prices on up-market designs. Its rrps are said to be in the same vicinity as Sportsgirl’s, which is great news.

There is also a massive incentive offer that might coax you inside (if the lure of the fashion alone doesn’t!). Incu will be running a competition for customers in its first month after opening, giving them the chance to win a trip to London courtesy of Virgin Atlantic and VisitBritain. For up-to-date information on the competition, follow INCU_TOPSHOP on Twitter.

For those who simply can’t wait for Topshop’s reduced-price stock to appear in Australia, jump the queue and get it online from the UK right now! Topshop currently has over 250 designs on sale at its website until stocks last. The Aussie dollar is soaring enough to make these clothes really TOP value.


Are you excited about the opening of Topshop in Sydney? Let us know!

 

 

 

 

It’s that time of year again — time to dust off the cobwebs from your summer accessories and introduce them back into your wardrobe. I did this the other day, only I discovered that those silvery lines criss-crossing my gladiator sandals and handbag weren’t cobwebs — they were cracks, stains and frayed edges. OK, so for me it’s time to completely update my summer accessories collection — an annual mission I both love… and dread. I love browsing the shops for the best pieces, but I absolutely dread the dilemma of whether to buy PVC or leather.

Every year for the last decade I have gone mostly with the PVC option, reasoning that the current fashion will be out of date by next year and there’s no use spending squillions on a leather handbag and flats if they’re only going to be ‘in’ for one season. (Or if I’m only going to be into them for one season…). Every year I promise myself that “next year will be different”. Next year, I’ll lash out and buy the real deal. So should I maintain my promise? Is my money better spent on fast fashion fakes or on longer-lasting genuine articles?

There are so many pros and cons and I need help to decide!

Price
There’s no arguing that PVC products win the price war over leather. You can pick up a hot handbag (or two) for circa $50 if it’s plastic, while leather designs are well into the hundreds. You could even buy a few different bags every season for the next five years, keeping up with the latest fashions, for the price of one premium leather handbag over that time. A win for PVC.

The “investment” piece
This is how leather-loving friends of mine justify their $400 handbag buys. “Leather gets better with age”, they explain, clutching and petting their Mimcos like miniature puppies. It’s true that quality leather handbags will live long enough (given the proper care) to become fashion heirlooms one day, and this does have value beyond the monetary. Imagine showing off a wardrobe museum filled with tattered PVC to your granddaughters? Er, Gran, you had no style! A win to leather.

Wear vs care
Anyone who’s owned a PVC handbag will know that after six months (or less) the straps start to fray and cracks form on the bag’s skin as fast as crow's feet after your 30th birthday. Although, being waterproof, PVC can handle a spilled red wine better than most leather. Leather-wearers must spray their darling arm candy with leather protector and bodyguard them from such catastrophes, or else the bag will become patchwork.

But who really has the energy to look after their handbag? I’m guilty of throwing mine down on dirty restaurant floors and accidentally graffitiing them with pen ink. PVC always seems to spring back from these misadventures with no complaints, but could leather? Looking after leather requires a lot of effort, which maybe I’d be willing to put in if I’d spent a week’s pay on the purse. But constantly worrying about my handbag’s wellbeing doesn’t appeal to me. Even Stevens on this point.

That “look”
Leather does look better. Leather clutches look less ‘accessory’ and more ‘feature’ of an outfit. And the confidence you get from wearing a divinely sumptuous leather sac under your arm is — well, divine. I’ve known this all along. But during my pro-PVC phase I have convinced myself that if you buy an understated thermoplastic pouch that blends with any outfit — no one will notice the difference.

In addition to all of this, there’s the environment to think about (leather is better), and need for different bags to go with different outfits (PVC is more affordable), and the fact that I’ll probably get bored wearing one handbag for more than one year anyway (a plus for PVC), and the winner is…

HELP!

What do you think? Would you buy a PVC or leather handbag, and why? What about other accessories? Comment below or email bargainguru@universalmagazines.com.au