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Black Friday / Cyber Monday Sales - Good, Bad, and Ugly Buying Experiences

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:toocool:Good - Received my Locsoc's this past Monday. Not sure how I'm going to use them, but I'm happy they arrived.

:look:Bad - Have not received my Hairveda products yet. I know her website states that it takes longer to receive products during sells, but I'm excited and want my products.

:mad:Ugly - I haven't seen hide nor hair about my Hydroquench order. Normally I get an email confirmation, or at the very least I can see where I've ordered on her website, but I'm getting nothing. The only proof of my order is through Paypal. I sent the company an email on Monday and they claim to have a 48 hr response turn around, however I haven't received a response yet!
 
KinkyRN said:
I ordered from them last year. It took about a month for my stuff to arrive. I even easier mailed them and got the regular regular (busy time, slow shipping, thanks). So all I can say is being patient it's coming!
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Wow, a month. Goodness. Thanks for the info!!
 
veesweets said:
[QUOTE/]

Has anyone got any emails or their shipment from Hairveda yet? This is my first time ordering from them. I know it was Black Friday sale but how long does it usually take to get your order? I had ordered literally an hour after the black friday sale went on.
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I got my shipping notice yesterday. In the past its taken anywhere from a few days to two weeks. I fortunately have never had to wait 3-4 weeks like some ladies for my order to ship[/QUOTE]
Glad you got a shipping notice. Good to know that you never had to wait 3-4 weeks. Hopefully I will hear something soon.
 
I've received everything I've ordered on or since Black Friday except my Sarenzo order. I'm hooked on there deodorant so I'm sticking with them.
 
SweetlyCurly said:
The horrible: Finally hearing from Alikay naturals. I open an email from them expecting it to be a shipping notice and is just her sending a stupid email telling me that she won't be shipping my ish anytime soon because of "high shipping volumes". That annoyed me. Let me know about that mess the day I buy not a week and a half after.
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@SweetlyCurly

And to add insult to injury - She is having another Sale!:censored:

I hate when folks do that mess.:angry2: And haven't even got the 1st Sale taken care of.

*glad i didn't get anything from here*:look:
 
Good: BF/CM is over for me! Phew! Today, I received Bee Mine and the MYHC replacement. So, I have everything that I purchased.

Bad:
Even though I purchased Black products e.g. FL Detangling Brushes and books by AA authors. The purchases were made through vendors not owned by us.

Therefore, I failed on the #NotOneDimeToOthers front, during this BF/CM season.

Ugly: USPS, this organization has been testing my patience :angry2:

I'm happy that I don't have anymore packages that need to be delivered by them, at this point in time.
 
MileHighDiva said:
Good: I'm removing MYHC from the naughty list, regarding their shipping. The package showed up today. The tracking went from Pre-shipment to Delivered.

Charles Page T-shirt's showed up today unannounced.

Bad: MYHC is back on the list. They sent me four two oz samples of Honey Hair Creme instead of an eight oz. Also, one of them has a hair in it. I'll post a pic, so you can see.

Ugly: My two brushlove.com packages finally changed from Pre-shipment to Picked-up. They created the labels on the 1st and 2nd. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I gasped, leaned back, looked at my computer sideways, re-read what you wrote, clicked on the picture and put my food down. I almost want to curse and this isn't even my stuff.

Edit: Just read the rest... glad it worked out :)
 
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The Good:
Most of my Transactions went smoothly:look:
I was able to pick off the rest of the Mango & Tea Scalp Butters from PBN (before she temporarily discontinues it) A Winter HG

The Bad:
I still have not received quite a few of my BF Purchases:
Soultanicals is lost somewhere and "Delayed in Transit" (last time I checked it was in MS although it shipped 11/30)
Siamese Twists has not moved via USPS since 12/08
Curl Junkie (via AveYou is backordered, but they promised to refund my shipping after giving them the blues).
Have not heard from PBN or Amazon Rain (or whatever it is called now) Although she invoiced me late, so I'm not too worried *yet*

The Ugly:
The longer it gets the harder it is for me to keep up with it
And I still want to make a few more purchases so I'm still watching Sales
 
More GOOD

My Darcy's Botanicals order came today and I got a sample of her new Aloe & Castor Super Moisturizing Curl Cream as well as a cute handmade scented sachet that said thank you.:) I'm a sucker for those little extra personal touches; hand written notes, handcrafted keepsakes, whimsical confetti and candy, thoughtful samples. . ., I love 'em all.:D

I received shipping notice from Ynobe Shop.:meme:

I also got a shipping notice from Nutri Ninja (not hair care I know, but they tried to get me to pay an extra $12+ for speedy processing. I refused to pay more for faster shipping yet I placed my ordered yesterday and got a tracking number today.o_O Extra $$ my a-s-s!!)

Now I'm only waiting to hear from Jakeala.:woot:Oh and info on the Amazon Rain December sale.
 
THE REAL DEAL ON SHIPPING

So I am seeing a lot of comments/questions/flat out anger about shipping:

Why does it cost so much?
Why does it take so long?
Why do they print labels but product not shipped?

From a vendors perspective I would like to try and answer a few questions so you can see it from our side....

So first of all, shipping costs are determined primarily by two factors...weight and the amount of products that you ship. So for instance if you ship a box to a customer that weighs 3 lbs, if you ship 10 of those a month, your shipping costs will be much higher than the cost for another vendor who is shipping 100 per month. On top of that, if you are still pretty small and you are shipping the products yourself, you then have to buy the boxes and all of the shipping supplies. Yes, you can get some supplies from USPS/UPS/FedEx for free, but these supplies do not cover all of your needs.

For those that are a little larger, you can then start shipping from a Fulfillment Center. This helps in a few ways. 1. You don't have to take your time to pack and ship all the orders. 2. You may be able to benefit from using the fulfillment center's shipping account as opposed to your own. Since they have many other customers besides you, they ship a lot more orders than you ever will on your own, so you get better shipping rates. 3. They generally take care of the shipping supplies. Finally, if you are big enough, you can set up your own shipping operation....DRAMA....

However, nothing is free, so of course you have to pay them as well. You also have to deal with their schedule. BF/CM are the busiest shipping days of the year, and it becomes more complicated because your warehouse is shipping not only your orders but others as well so they are crazy busy. The best you can do is not over promise to your customers and weather the storm.

Another factor that will effect the cost is where the fulfillment center is located. So for instance, if your warehouse is located in LA, then shipping to NY or down south is going to be more expensive, even for one small item. If you are centrally located, say in Chicago, then it balances a little, bit, but it is still more expensive to ship way out East or West. And let's not even talk international. It should go without saying that if I am shipping something from Chicago to London, it is going to be expensive. Also, please don't be surprised if you have to pay VAT (Value Added Tax) and maybe even some customs clearance fees once it gets there.

Ideally, a vendor will be using a fulfillment center that has multiple warehouses strategically located across the US and abroad. Now, you can place inventory in each warehouse and it will be located close to your customers reducing the shipping cost. Problem is that is not as easy as it sounds, because you have to now stock a number of warehouses. The more products you sell, the harder it is to do this. For those of us vendors who are still relatively small, the logistics are not too hard, it just amounts to timing and finance to get all of your products to each warehouse. For vendors with large product portfolios...not so easy.

So as far as the weight is concerned....anything 1 pound or less ships at the lowest rate. However, it could weigh 1/4 pound or pound and the cost is the same. Then obviously it goes up from there....nobody (USPS/FedEx/UPS) is pricing this stuff in 1/10th of a pound increments....so sometimes a small sample size item might cost the same to ship as one 8oz item. (This is why we don't sell individual sample sizes anymore...only packs of three). And lets not even talk about shipping 16oz and larger items....costs will rise for heavier shipments...

Shipping Time - First and foremost please know that if you choose to ship via FedEx Home Delivery, or UPS Sure Post they are not delivering the package directly to your shipping address...FedEx and UPS are shipping these packages to your local Post Office and then the Postal Service is shipping to your address. Secondly, once again BF/CM is busy for anyone in the shipping business. You certainly should not be waiting 3-4 weeks to get an order, but it is going to take longer than any other time of the year so adjust your expectations.

Shipping Labels printed but product not shipped - Happens all the time....if you received a "Your package has shipped!!" notification and its Sunday.....well, lets just say its a pretty solid possibility that you package has not shipped...also most likely the vendor cannot control this if they are using a fulfillment center. Also know that the smaller vendors who are shipping themselves are likely working a regular day job also, so they get things packed on nights and weekends to drop off or be picked up the next day. The notices you receive are automatically generated once that label is printed....

And I haven't even gotten into Handling charges....even though you may not see it because nobody itemizes this...but if a vendor uses a fulfillment center you are charged handling for each item picked for an order....so it costs more to ship a 2+ item order than a 1 item order because of handling...this is independent of weight...some vendors include at least a portion of this in the shipping cost....

Ok, so this post was too long about 3 or 4 paragraphs ago and I could probably write a few more but I couldn't resist because we are living this every single day trying to service our customers. Hope this sheds a little light behind the scenes as to what is really going on....

Thanks....B
Inahsi Naturals
 
I would just like to say, this is the first Black Friday where I have not had ANY issues as far as products being shipped within two weeks of Black Friday.

I have received products from Soultanicals (the real MVP), Smooth Naturals, SheScentIt, Annabelle's Perfect Blends, Curl Mart (Gray Friday sale) and Cream and Coco.

I have received shipping notifications (with movement) from Kinky Kashmere, Alikay Naturals, and Sarenzo.

I will have all of my items by the end of this week. Might I add I have ordered from all these vendors before too :lol:. # nonewvendorsforme
 
Now that I have everything, here's my thoughts about this year's BF/SBS/CM shopping

GOOD:
- No website issues when ordering from any of the companies I purchased from (Bee Mine, Bobeam, Hattache, KJ Naturals, LRC, Toni Daley, My Honey Child, Amauri Naturals, Snappees, Brushlove)
- All products I sought to purchase were in stock

BAD:
- I had to drop some vendors because of no sales or lack of a decent sale for my pocketbook (these $50+ limits really irked my nerves especially if you're only giving 15% off *rolling my eyes so hard*)
- I bought more than I needed :look:

UGLY:
- USPS!!! They rerouted so many of my packages to distant lands before they reached me (example: I'm in the South and purchased from another company that ships from the South, USPS sent my package up north like practically Canada where it remained for a week before getting to me)...seriously I hate having to use them for holiday shipping. I understand they may be the cheaper option but they really get on my nerves sometimes
 
I didn't order much. I ordered the low porosity bundle kit from terra Veda organix. I ordered on that Friday. It shipped within 10 days and I received it in 12.

When I checked my bundle I had received the high porosity kit instead of the low porosity. I emailed her and she got back k to me immediately. She apologized for the mix up and said she would get the products right out to me. I contacted her on Wednesday night and I got the replacement products on Saturday morning.

I'm pleased with the products and the customer service. I will be ordering from her again.
 
The Ugly/Bad:
I am still missing a couple items from BF 2015.:angry2:

One order hasn't moved via USPS since 12/08 and my Curl Junkie from AveYou was actually OOS (but AveYou failed to tell me that until I made numerous attempts to track down my package).:angry2:

AveYou did offer to refund my Shipping for CJ whenever it finally ships. :look:

I should request a Refund and a Cancellation for this item.
 
. . . Ugly

I completely forgot that I'm missing a couple KBB products. I know one was a pre-order and I'm guessing the other was out of stock but I've since received a couple flash sale emails. I hate seeing new sales when I still haven't yet received my items from two, three sales back, especially when they're showing in stock on the current sale.:censored:

Update

Okay so the Super Silky says pre-order too, but it's still available for purchase.
 
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The Good

- I placed an order for 4 hair care products. Upon receiving my package, I noticed that only 3 of the 4 items had shipped. I sent an email to the vendor and before I was issued a response, I received an email detailing shipping/tracking info for a package. A few days later, I received a package and discovered that the vendor had re-shipped my entire order at their own expense. This vendor has absolutely earned my continued patronage. This vendor was Bee Mine.

- I placed an order for multiple hair care products. However, when I received my package, I saw that 2 of the conditioners were severely under-filled - each bottle had close to 1/3 of product missing. I contacted the vendor, who apologized profusely and insisted upon re-sending the entire order. After going back and forth for a bit, I got the vendor to agree to send one bottle of conditioner to make up for the shortfall. Some time later, I received my package and saw that it contained one bottle of conditioner...that was 32 ounces! I'd been tricked.:lol: The conditioner is still sitting on the edge of my desk, where it can be admired and intermittently caressed throughout the evening. This vendor was Texture Me Natural.

The Bad

- I placed an order for 3 hair care products during a pre-BF sale. After waiting more than 30 business days, I contacted the vendor several times with no response. So, I turned to Paypal for solace, who waited 10 days for a response from the vendor before deciding in my favor. This vendor was Sheer Luxe Beauty.

- I placed orders with 2 vendors for a few:look: hair care products. Although I received my orders in a timely fashion, all of the products were under-filled. I hate, hate, hate under-filled products! I didn't bother contacting the vendors; I just won't shop there again (I hate contacting vendors more). These vendors were Kinky Kashmere and Soultanicals.

The Ridiculously Nasty

- I placed an order for several bath and body items. Upon receiving my order, I noticed that there was dirt and several pieces of hair stuck to the bars of soap under the plastic wrapping. There was also a large black blob of whatthehellisthat embedded in the bottom of a jar of butter. I contacted the vendor and included pictures in my email, and their response was to issue me a $25 gift certificate towards a future purchase. Since I no longer wished to sample their inventory given the grubby state of the ones I had received, I turned to Paypal. They took one look at the pictures and gave me a refund. Subsequently, the vendor began jumping up and down demanding the return of their items. Paypal stated that they would not support such a claim since they considered the matter closed. I, on the other hand, boxed up that nastiness and shipped it all back to the vendor at my own expense. Who knows what they did with those items. This vendor was Sereniti Bath, Body & You.
 
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