The Ultimate Guide to Online Shopping (for clothes)

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1. Always check the measurements

This is a pretty important first step when it comes to shopping for clothes. Nowadays you can buy clothes from all corners of the world, which means that sizes will vary quite a lot depending on where you're buying your clothes from. Almost every country has their own system for sizing, so always make sure to check out every individual item's size guide and measurements. In my experience, going by measurements is the safest bet. Asian sizes tend to run a bit small if you compare to western sizes (I could easily be a Japanese L or XL depending on the brand, but according to European standards I'm a size small), but instead of sizing up willy nilly, measuring yourself and comparing your size to the options that are available will always be the most logical way of tackling this confusing obstacle. Don't just check the letter(s). Even among western stores there can be a difference.

Side note: this is also a bit of a pet peeve of mine - when youtubers do clothing hauls and accidentally choose the wrong size because they didn't check the measurements. Then they complain about how it's "too small" and how they "chose their size" but clearly didn't, because they made the assumption that all sizes are the same in every store. Ugh.

The Ultimate Guide to Online Shopping (for clothes)

2. Always check (and double check) that the website is real and safe to use

It's far too common that people randomly end up on fake sites and happily send over their bank card information to whoever is the owner of the site, under the impression that they're buying real items. This actually happened to a friend of mine not too long ago when she was looking for a gift for her dad. A few days later she noticed that strange money withdrawals were being made, and she ended up losing quite a bit of money on the whole ordeal. Not to mention that she of course never got the gift she wanted to give to her dad, and she had to cancel her card.

A quick google search ("is [website name] safe/real/a scam?") will often tell you if the site you're dealing with is trustworthy or not. There are many websites on the internet whose sole purpose is for users to review and expose sites that may or may not be real, so keep an eye out for those reviews and use your common sense when going through them. Another way of making sure the website is safe is to check if it's a https-site, and if there's a green padlock next to the URL (especially during the payment process). Using Paypal to pay is another great option, because it's very easy to get your money back through Paypal, and you're not actually giving the website owners your card information.

3. Always check the store's return policy

The problem with online shopping is that even if you know your own measurements and the measurements of the items you are buying, there's still no real guarantee that they'll actually look good on you. You can't try on the items before buying them, which means that they might look better in your head than they do in real life on your body. That's why I recommend always checking the store's return policy just in case, because some stores are quite strict and harsh with their rules. It's pretty normal for stores to want you to return the items within a certain timeframe (say, 14 days after receiving them), and the tags usually need to be attached too. What's great about some stores is that they'll cover the return fees for you, whereas others won't. And some stores won't accept any returns at all depending on the item, for hygienic reasons. Because it varies so much, it's always best to check, especially if you're the type of person who easily gets buyer's remorse or is picky about the fit and style of the items.

She could've sworn it looked different in the pictures.
She could've sworn it looked different in the pictures.


4. Check for possible item reviews

Some stores allow users to write their own reviews regarding the products they've bought, so if you're on the fence about a certain product, you can sometimes see if other people have had any issues with it and if it lived up to their expectations in terms of color/quality/size etc.

An excellent review.
An excellent review.

5. Save a pretty penny with coupons

Coupons are nowadays quite easy to collect online, most stores will regularly send out discount codes and member benefits if you've subscribed to their newsletter or become a member, and others will often showcase certain codes through banners that you might catch while browsing. There are also some websites out there that collect and list coupons for different stores, but these often look a bit shady and clicking around them might end up being pop-up hell. What I've found to be the easiest option is using the browser add-on honey. This is not a paid promotion haha (I wish), but I genuinely do think honey is absolutely genius. It automatically finds coupons for you once you've reached the check-out phase. It's really simple, totally free and will only be prompted when you're checking out your items (so no annoying pop-ups randomly appearing for no reason). It's perfect if you don't like to have a cluttered inbox full of newsletters and if you find it annoying to have to dig up the coupons yourself.

The Ultimate Guide to Online Shopping (for clothes)

Feel free to share your own tips and tricks below!

The Ultimate Guide to Online Shopping (for clothes)
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