Online Shopping Shortcomings...Buyer Beware

Everyone loves getting a good deal. Whether it's receiving a low-interest rate on a car loan, to finding a can of tomato sauce on sale at the supermarket. Saving money on something you want feels great. 

Often times you can find great deals online at sites where individuals sell things, like eBay or Amazon (through third-party sellers). One such site I recently had an opportunity to do business with was Poshmark, a site where sellers list new or slightly used items of clothing, shoes, handbags, accessories, along with a few other things. While I had created an account about six years ago, probably to review the site for an article, they were not high up on my list to search when needing to find an item. 

I typically won't call out a merchant directly, unless the service I receive is drastically on one end of the customer service scale or the other. This is one of those times... 

This past summer while attending a conference I noticed another attendee’s shoes and wanted to find an identical pair. As I began my search, I found a pair for sale on Poshmark considerably cheaper than other sites. After a few back-and-forths with the seller, verifying they were in fact “never worn” and “still in the box”, I rolled the dice and made the purchase, saving myself 75% off the listed price on other sites. 

After receiving the package, the shoes were exactly as described, and I was ecstatic. I even found a few more items over the following months, and all arrived timely and as promised. 

Most recently, I found a pair of jeans, sold at The Buckle, on sale for Jon, the other half of our sale searching household. He’s pretty particular about what he wears, much more so than I, and does not like to deviate from his fashion safety zone. This pair of jeans happened to be the exact style and size he wears. They were advertised with the size (31x34) in the description along with various photos, including a photo of the tag from the inside waistband of the jeans. It also had details listed about the jeans, like the leg opening measurement, rise, waist, and inseam, you know, the standard measurements you see on those “what size is right” charts. 

We went ahead and ordered the jeans, and received them in the mail within a couple of days. Upon opening the package, it was blatantly obvious the jeans had been hemmed. Like by about four to five inches hemmed. These were not jeans for Jon, but denim clam-diggers. 

I immediately contacted the seller and explained the error in the description...they were not a 31x34, but more like a 31x30. She explained that not all jeans are exact, and some may be snugger, longer or short than others, even within the same style. This I can get on board with, but eating an extra helping of sweet potato casserole at Thanksgiving doesn’t make the length of your jeans shrink by four inches. She continued to insist that her description was accurate and matched the tag. Again, I agreed, the description did match the tag, however, the item received did not match the description nor the tag, seeing as they had been altered from their original state.

Needless to say, I reported the incident to Poshmark's customer service resolution department in the timeframe required to allow a return. I sent photos of the jeans received sitting on top of a pair of accurately sized jeans, clearly showing the difference. The response I received from the customer service dispute resolution department was equally frustrating... “Your request does not meet the return policy since the item’s size is listed in the description.” 

After replying to their rather non-useful auto-populated unoriginal gavel banging email, and sending even more photos, I never heard back from them. I tried to dispute the purchase online through the site once again, but again, no response. I can only assume since they had made a decision on the case, they simply felt they needed to review it no further, nor respond to me letting me know.

To salvage the purchase, I will likely turn Jon's clam-diggers into a pair of Boyfriend Jeans for me, so it’s not a total loss, just a loss of faith in Poshmark's customer service, and their neglect to protect their buyers from issues like this one.  

So, buyer beware. Not just on this particular site, but any sites that may sell an alterable item. Just because the tag and description state one size, verify there have been no alterations. From looking through this seller’s other listings, the sizes on items had a huge range. This lends merit to a comment I made to customer service...

"From the various sizes listed on the seller’s page, it appears the seller is “flipping items” versus selling from her own closet. The seller may be selling items with what she believes is accurate sizing, without knowing the items have been altered in any way. The item we received has been altered, making the description provided invalid”.  

My financial denim-clam-digging advice... While finding a good deal is great, it is only great if what you receive is what you were expecting. Additionally, knowing you are protected from problems like this will certainly drive more business towards a particular site, or in this case, encourage you to shop elsewhere. Will I make another purchase using Poshmark again? I won't say never, but certainly not anytime soon, and certainly not on clothing that could potentially be hemmed, altered, "taken in", etc.

So use caution when shopping from sites like these. While there may be great deals to be had, others may turn up a bit "short".

Michelle holds the financial designations of ChFC®, CRPC®, CEPF®, FPQP™, CFF, CCC, CFHC, is a Registered Investment Advisor Representative and President of Personal Money Planning. She is writes Fix Your Budget blog, and has over 28 years of experience in the financial industry.