10 tips for anyone who buys clothes from online stores

For several years now, online shopping has been a crucial part of the fashion industry, as well as one of the main sales channels for brands. A year of pandemic and the obvious convenience of this way of shopping have contributed to this: from the comfort of your own home you can choose a product, receive it at a convenient time and, if something goes wrong, return it to the store.

We’ve put together a few tips on how to shop online safely and securely.

Find a trusted store

There’s a perception that it’s very easy to run into scammers or poor service online. There is some truth in this, but you can try to avoid trouble if you know some facts:

• the site must contain all details – the address of the seller, the place of manufacture of the goods, the full company name of the seller or manufacturer. This is mandatory for all official representatives that brands work with;
• the site is obliged to obtain consent to the collection and processing of personal data and not to disclose them to third parties. This is the same pop-up that often gets in our way;
• be critical of online stores that offer too cheap products, especially branded ones, no one will work at a loss;
• take advice: friends, colleagues or some bloggers you trust can share their experience. You can even create a note in your phone where you write down trusted resources and refer to it when necessary;
• some brands list all the resellers they work with directly on their official websites. This will be a direct confirmation of the authenticity of the product. In addition, you can always ask for a certificate of authenticity from the online store.

All advertising photos on the sites are retouched: the color is corrected, small errors can be smeared. Therefore, to avoid the gulf between expectations and reality, refer to reviews with photos.

However, not all reviews are user reviews, we live in a world of fakes: pay attention to the profile of the user, the scale of his review and the date of registration on the site.

Don’t rely on commonly accepted size grids

The most important thing to do is to know your exact parameters. Different designers and brands use different size labeling. Even buying from the same brand, you may not be able to guess.

It is never superfluous to have measurements, by which you can easily orient yourself: height, chest circumference, waist and hip circumference, length and width of the foot. The measurements obtained help to determine the size of the clothes yourself with the help of tables attached to each specific thing.

To choose the right accessories, it is also necessary to take measurements: for a belt – waist circumference, for gloves – palm circumference, for headwear – head circumference.

These simple manipulations will reduce the probability of return to a minimum. And if the store has convenient conditions of return, then worry about the size is not worth it: order two or three sizes at once to be sure to choose the right one.

Do not look at how the thing sits on the model

Advertising photography for a catalog is a separate skill: specially exposed light, winning angle, retouching, a lot of devices that make the photo more advantageous, but remain behind the scenes. In order not to be disappointed in the product you receive.

Evaluate the thing, not the picture. Often stores use nice fashion combinations to attract the customer and sell him the whole image, but you need a separate product. Think about what you will wear it with.

Do not omit information about the materials

It is better to immediately study the composition and be prepared for the fact that the thing can lose its original appearance. To minimize the risks, it is worth studying the description of the goods on the site in detail.

Getting a thing from an online store, you need to check not only the composition, but also the care instructions. Is machine washing or only dry washing allowed? Is it possible to resort to bleaching or not? In what form should be dried? At what temperature should it be ironed? If you can’t find the answers to these questions, it’s better to contact an online consultant before the purchase is ready to be shipped.

• Use cashback services and promo codes. Despite the “pops”, they still work and can nicely reduce the price of the product;
• pay attention to the very pop-ups on websites. Usually online stores offer new customers a good discount on their first purchase.

We hope that such simple tips will help to make your online shopping profitable and safe.