What makes you buy from a certain webshop?

[user2000]

My hometown is a wasteland when it comes to cool shops, therefore I often buy clothes from various webshops online. Yesterday I was talking to a colleague at work that “would never buy anything from a webshop he never heard of, no matter how good the price or cool the clothes were". That got me thinking, how important is it for people to have either previous experiences or some knowledge about a webshop to shop there?

Personally, I’ve bought a lot of stuff from webshops I've never heard about before. As long as I find something I really like, known or unknown brand, at a decent price and the store seems legit I'll buy it. What makes you people decide whether to buy or not at a webshop that’s new to you? Is it all about the shop having recognizable brands, or something else?

[Guest Berget__]

For me its definetly about how the clothes look and if its a good price. If I see a shop I havent used before i usually do a search here on SF as most of the good online shops have been mentioned on here sometime. Also I almost only buy from shops within EU otherwise I have to pay something like 40% in taxes to get it to Sweden. I also try to look up if they have contact info so I can call them up or email them if something seems dodgy. A good design that makes the shop look legit is also critical.

I aint gotta get money man money get me

[Yakboy Equals Nurturer]

Look and feel of the site has quite a bit to do with it, as does the amount of stock they have. If a site I've never heard of before looks like it was thrown together and only has a handful of items, I'm going to be a lot more suspicious of it than if it has a clean, professional design and a wide range of well photographed stock. (Even a badly overdesigned Flash heavy site will proxy confidence, since someone must have thrown quite a bit of money at it.) It helps if I've seen the site referenced by a 'trusted' source on a forum or in a blog of course.

[Becks23]

If it's a US site... shipping method is a big factor. If it's not USPS i stay away since UPS always seems to screw CND's

[Proletariat]

I personally will never buy from Karmaloop.com. They fucked with me when they used to sell my clothing, and they have burned a few of my friends in the industry as well. I don't care if they had the crown jewel I was looking for I just don't think people should support shitty people.

This isn't a streetwear example, just a life example. Take Blockbuster for instance. So Blockbuster overcharges us for late fees for fucking decades right? Then one day Netflix pops up and we are all like hell yeah fuck blockbuster, I'm starting a queue. Then Blockbuster realizes they are losing hold on the industry so they come out with this shitty ad campaign about how nice they are because they aren't charging late fees anymore....even though the fine print is about 10 pages long and instead they can charge you for the whole video..but then you can get your money back if you return it blah blah blah. Well, that wasn't enough so they started a Netflix style program and then said you also got 2 rentals a month in store. Now that is a really fucking good deal! But the problem is here is a company that raped you for years. Now if a human raped you I doubt if they came back and was all sweet to you that you would forgive them and then give them money. But we do that with corporations and even small businesses everyday! Fuck that shit. WHy are we so interested in pinching pennies that we don't reward the people who are providing a great service from the start? The only way that business will learn is for you to decide how and where you will spend your dough. If a store treats you like an asshole and you keep coming back what is the incentive to treat you well?

http://www.arevolt.com

[schatzi182]

I like to support independent, personal retailers as much as possible. If a shirt was available at Urban Outfitters, Karmaloop, or Krudmart - I'd buy it from Krudmart, as the company is run by a young guy trying to make his own way. I respect that - and I would pay a few more dollars or wait an extra day or two in order to support him. While important, it's not all about the cheapest price.

-Schatz

Edited by schatzi182 on Mar 29, 2006 at 11:13 AM

[schatzi182]

Not to mention, Karmaloop has that god-awful tagline: "Fighting the evil forces of McFashion." With what? A pair of Penguin pants and a LeTigre polo? Who are they kidding? It's funny that an online shop can carry some legitimately cool merchandise ("some", definitely not "all") but still come off as completely wack. They are in desperate need of a decent copywriter.

[damnIam]

FREE FUCKING SHIPPING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[RedFoxxworth]

The design, layout, navigation better be top notch.

But in reality, fuck that I google for the best price and buy from the winner.

I don't buy clothes online I gotta try shit on, buying clothes online is like marrying a chick from myspace before u ever see her in person.

IT GETS WACKER BY THE SECOND!

[esque]

Quote:

I personally will never buy from Karmaloop.com. They fucked with me when they used to sell my clothing, and they have burned a few of my friends in the industry as well. I don't care if they had the crown jewel I was looking for I just don't think people should support shitty people.

This isn't a streetwear example, just a life example. Take Blockbuster for instance. So Blockbuster overcharges us for late fees for fucking decades right? Then one day Netflix pops up and we are all like hell yeah fuck blockbuster, I'm starting a queue. Then Blockbuster realizes they are losing hold on the industry so they come out with this shitty ad campaign about how nice they are because they aren't charging late fees anymore....even though the fine print is about 10 pages long and instead they can charge you for the whole video..but then you can get your money back if you return it blah blah blah. Well, that wasn't enough so they started a Netflix style program and then said you also got 2 rentals a month in store. Now that is a really fucking good deal! But the problem is here is a company that raped you for years. Now if a human raped you I doubt if they came back and was all sweet to you that you would forgive them and then give them money. But we do that with corporations and even small businesses everyday! Fuck that shit. WHy are we so interested in pinching pennies that we don't reward the people who are providing a great service from the start? The only way that business will learn is for you to decide how and where you will spend your dough. If a store treats you like an asshole and you keep coming back what is the incentive to treat you well?

--- Original message by Proletariat on Mar 29, 2006 10:58 AM

Co-sign to the inifinte degree.

I no longer purchase from Karmaloop nor Urban Outfitters. Urbn tries to push these sweet web exclusives and they aren't even the product that was depicted, you send it back, they send you the same thing and they then tell you that they never had what was pictured, item dissappears, the other item they sent is never even on the site, you pay for shipping three times, and they still only want to give you store credit. Happened to me twice, buncha idiots.

[user2000]

Agree that the design of the site is crucial, also a big plus if the site has a real world shop.

I sometimes get the feeling lots of people stick to the same ol' brands and don't want to try new shit out. Maybe I'm way off but that's just a feeling I get. Looking through my own closet is a pretty schizophrenic experience, the only brands I own more than a few items from are Addict, Acne and Goodenough. Other than that it's just loads of various shirts from random brands. I guess it must mean I shop based on individual designs and not by brand. What about you people, are you looking for new fresh brands or sticking to the ones you know and love?