They are hard to miss, advertisements on your social media feeds, many of them boasting a great deal. So, when you click on this link displaying clothing generally touted as a "great buy" should you expect the clothing to be great quality as well? One trick to online shopping from these unrecognizable brands that are quickly becoming familiar, may just be to keep expectations realistic.
The clothing from Romwe arrives, so you tear into the bag and start to sort through the items you have ordered.
Pulling out the maxi dress-- remembering the photo online, long, bright and most of all, you couldn't see through it on the model. At $20.99 for a maxi, it wasn't a major steal, but still a decent deal. Holding up the dress, I can see right through the entire top.
This looked more like a swimsuit cover up. Other than the sheer factor, the print and colors of the dress are bold and bright as advertised, but the straps look to be two pieces of material sewn together, and it is frayed at the ends.
Next, a floral romper from, Romwe as well. The material feels more like a windbreaker against your skin, than a soft article of clothing. Again, noticing the sheer quality of the fabric.
It does look like the picture online and cost a little more than $18.00.
I ordered The mustard color dress as an option for a work dress. It looked long enough on the model and seemed to be of decent quality, and for $10.99 you can't go wrong right?
As I pull it out of the package the material is thick but it feels almost exactly like a pair of spanx. When I was putting the stretch factor to the test, a button popped off.
However, the biggest problem is that the dress is shorter in the back, making it virtually inappropriate for any work environment.
Finally, I wanted to test the quality of a coat from Romwe. This item in particular looked thick in the photo, for $14.66. This black coat feels like a cardigan.
The material is very thin, there are holes along the seams and the stitching is sloppy.
Finally, a crochet white bikini, which cost $15.99. We talked about the sheer fabric of a couple other items, but as I hold up the bottoms-- it is hard to believe this is a size small. The front is as big as the back. The crochet quality of the material provides zero elasticity. The top is completely see through and even worse when it gets wet.
Online shopping appears to be hit or miss. If you are shopping for an upcoming trip or for clothing you don't expect to stay in your closet for a long period of time, it is worth clicking the ads.
Many of these items were technically as advertised, but maybe not as expected. If you are shopping for items you want to wear often, such as a coat, it could be worth shopping for it in a store, that way you can touch, feel, and try on the item before buying.
We reached out to Romwe for comment on the clothing we received in our order, they have not commented.
While our order from ROMWE arrived in a timely manner, we are still waiting on the order from Fashion Mia, despite it boasting a 7-10 business day arrival. It has now been more than 15 days.
Many of these sites do offer free shipping if you spend enough, but require you to pay your own return shipping.
It is worth mentioning we attempted to place orders with Dress Lily and Rose Wholesale, also popular ads on my feed-- neither site accepted the 4 credit cards we attempted to use.
But I did end up with a ton of spam emails courtesy of these sites, and no clothing.
While browsing these sites, I came across many items also available on Amazon. With the site offering prime you get free 2 day shipping and returns if you pay an annual fee. This may be a better option for bargain buys.