Top tips for shopping with eBay, Aliexpress, Romwe, Zaful etc.

Hi my Loves,

Today on my snapchat (@rebekahwithlove) I was showing you guys a recent purchase I had made from eBay and I had tonnes of questions flooding in about shopping on eBay. To be honest, any time I ever share any pieces I have purchased from eBay or Asian retailers like Zaful or Romwe - I always get loads of questions.

The main reason is people are scared to shop from a lot of these places because of the horror stories they have heard, and I've heard those types of stories too so I understand the concerns.

So with that, I want to help debunk these stories and give you all some tips that I always adhere to when shopping on these types of sites and fingers crossed I have never had an issue thus far.
These sites can be an amazing way to pick up some really gorgeous and unique pieces and in some cases clothes that are relabeled by companies and sold at a higher price, you just need to follow a few steps to make sure you are doing everything to give yourself the best experience. 

I cannot guarantee that you will not come across issues, but from my personal experience I never have any issues.

Shopping on eBay

1. ALWAYS DO A SELLER BACKGROUND CHECK

My biggest tip for shopping with eBay is to ALWAYS read the reviews of the seller you are intending on buying the item from. Every time an item is listed, if you scroll to the end of the listing you will see a section marked 'About the seller' and a seller rating in percentage. I would never shop with any seller who does not have 97.5% + rating - anything less and I feel you could be asking for trouble. I don't just stop at the percentage though, if you click through on the show more option it will show you a breakdown of how this percentage has come about in terms of positive, neutral & negative feedback and the broken down by 1,6 &12 month(s). Once you are signed into your eBay account you can access these reviews and see if the item you want to buy has been reviewed. I usually tend to click into the negative review section to see if people are just being extra picky or if there is a genuine problem with the seller and their items. 

2. CHECK WHERE THE ITEM IS COMING FROM

Sometimes you will find sellers selling items like an online shop in the UK through eBay, however 90% of the sellers that sell like shops are Asian - so Chinese or Hong Kong. This means shipping can take a long time an they will usually include a time frame so be vigilant of that because sometimes the time frame can be a month and half. A lot of the times the item will arrive sooner but they do have to cover themselves and you have to be prepared for the eventuality of that happening.

3. EVEN IF YOU THINK YOU KNOW YOUR SIZE - USE THE SIZING CHARTS

If you are buying clothes that are coming from Asia (or even from a seller who has brought Asian clothes over to resell) always use their size charts because their sizes are not the same as ours. Asian sizes are notoriously smaller than the sizes in Europe or America because their main market is a lot of petite women. Their size small would be more like our extra small or in some cases smaller so just make sure you are referencing the size chart. You will find the sizing chart in the item description section in most cases. Refunds can be very hard to do in these situations (and sometimes not possible at all) so be as sure as you can.

4. HAVE REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS

I think probably the main reason people are disappointed when shopping with eBay sellers is because the item in some cases isn't 100% identical to the item that is advertised. That's because 9 times out of 10 these companies make copies of popular clothes from popular retailers and they use their images so the pictures you see are from the actual popular retailer NOT actually by the seller in a lot of cases.
This means that sometimes if there is meant to be things like hardware or print it might not be 100% identical (but again always read the seller reviews). But be real with yourself too in terms of the money you are paying, you cannot be sitting there expecting this amazingly high quality item when you've paid €6 and gotten free shipping. If you picked up a top from Penneys for €6 you wouldn't be expecting much or for it to last very long so keep the same mind frame and that way you won't be disappointed but you also may be pleasantly surprised that the quality is better than what you expected. For example, if you buy a white dress off eBay for €5 - even though the picture may not show it clearly, there is a high chance it may not be lined (it cost €5 what can you expect) - so it could possibly be see through. If an item is marketed as a beach dress in the description it will be light and basic quality so don't be expecting fabulous material.If you see a knitted jumper and the price is €8 you can't expect it to be real and fantastic quality wool or knit. That's just a few examples but things like that - be vigilant and think about it in practical terms. If it looks too good to possibly ever be true - it probably is. (e.g. a long silk look ball gown for €25... probably will not be as nice as the €250 picture of the real one that they are using)

5. PAY WITH PAYPAL

If you walk away with one tip from this, be it that you only ever use PayPal when paying for items. PayPal gives you protection in the case that your item is lost in the mail or it comes damaged and you have an issue with the seller. Always protect & cover yourself and PayPal does just that for you. I personally would never shop anywhere online if I couldn't use PayPal.

An example of an item I picked and ordered from eBay

(The item I ordered from eBay)

(What I received - a prefect match)

Shopping on Aliexpress

Shopping on Aliexpress is almost the same as shopping on eBay - read the seller reviews, keep an eye on the delivery time frame and sizing chart. The only difference is that some Aliexpress sellers do not take PayPal and personally this means I wouldn't use them as I would be afraid it would leave me open to an issue if something happened.

Shopping on sites like Zaful, Shein, Romwe etc.

1. ALWAYS READ ITEM REVIEWS

A lot of the items on these sites have individual reviews and pictures that actual customers have written so always read these where possible. With any retailer, even ones on the high street sizes can run bigger or smaller so these reviews are very helpful in terms of both sizing and quality.

2. LOOK FOR DISCOUNT CODES

As cheap as these sites already are, they usually offer discount codes for signing up to their email etc. so keep an eye out for that to save even more money.

3. CHECK THE PROCESSING TIME

This is something I think a lot of people over look or don't even notice, but for most items on these sites - there is usually either something that will state the processing time which is the time ON TOP of the delivery or else some sites will state if it's a priority dispatch or not. The processing time can sometimes be 7-15 days and then the shipping time so always keep an eye out for this as you could be waiting for a package that hasn't even left the warehouse. Delivery time

4.  USE THE SIZING CHART

Same as with eBay - these sites operate on an Asian Size chart which is smaller than what we are used to so don;t be guessing your size. Take your measurements and see what size will accurately fit you. There is always a disclaimer of the fact that there might be a discrepancy of 1-2 inches but you actually run this risk with retailers on the high street too. Returns are usually possible with these sites but can be very expensive so I would not be relying on this - try to get it right the first time where possible.

5. USE THEIR APPS

Zaful, Romwe & Shein all have apps available on the Apple & Play stores and I actually find them 1 million times easier to use and order off so that is definitely something I would recommend using!

6.  HAVE REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS

Again exact same as the point in the eBay section - be realistic in terms of what your paying VS what you will receive. A lot of the retailers like Zaful and Romwe will show you flat lays of the clothing rather than them one anyone which can be both good and bad - flat lays are usually a pretty accurate depiction where as on a person it can be hard to tell details BUT you can see how it's meant to fit and the type of look it should be. Do you run the risk of your item not looking exactly identical? Yes - unfortunately this can happen - these sites make inspired items and sometimes aren't completely accurate, but read the material composition (because sometimes the material can look a certain way in a photo but it could actually be a totally different type of material - e.g. it looked like it would be satin but its actually a chiffon) and pay heed to the sizing and this will avoid you receiving items that you think should look different.

7. USE PAYPAL 

This is my general rule with everything - always use PayPal for any online transactions you do. PayPal will open a dispute if you do not receive your item or it gets lost etc. - so it's a great safety net to have.

8. RETURNS CAN BE TRICKY

And expensive. Returning an item to China at your own cost - I know it wouldn't be cheap and you would want to have it tracked to know it actually arrived! So as I mentioned above, be as sure as you can be so you aren't in a situation that you are returning due to a size issue.

Examples of items I have bought from Romwe & Zaful recently:

(what I received is on the left & the picture I ordered from is on the right - my camera washed out some of the colours but all items are identical)

      

List of Asian clothing retailer sites I personally trust and have used:

1. www.zaful.com

2. www.shein.com

3. www.romwe.com

I really, really hope that you found this helpful if you were in doubt about anything to do with these sites. If you have any further questions please contact me on any of my social media and hopefully I can help!

With Love from,