From the Star:

http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2010/9/2/lifeliving/6640953&sec=lifeliving

hursday September 2, 2010

The good and the bad

By S.S. Yoga

Shopping online is a boon for some while others complain of delays in delivery and poor quality products.
SHOPPING online has its risks, especially if it involves apparel and items that require fittings. The only way to find a site that delivers what it promises is through trial and error. Recommendations by friends who have used the online shopping site before help too.
There is a site which fashion e-shoppers look to for help. FT (/fashion-truth.blogspot.com) is where both buyers and sellers can post their experiences, good or bad. The last update, however, was early this year, so it could be in hibernation at the moment.
Sometimes, there are happy buyers, like the one who raved about a site that offered quality apparel that was really cheap and provided excellent service. Another talked about the super service of a site that wasn’t rigid about rules and accommodated her request.
Then, there are bad experiences, like sellers who turn up very late at the designated spot for a Cash On Delivery (COD) purchase. When reminded to be on time for future pick ups, the customer is given the cold shoulder. One buyer had to continously follow up on her order and the date of delivery was constantly postponed. The item that arrived was in the wrong colour.

Close-up: Images which show details like these on a cardigan from Dainty Dresser are important so the buyer has an idea of what an item looks like.

But, there’s a flip side, too.
As some sellers pointed out, some customers suddenly go missing – they place orders and then disappear when payment is due or, they keep delaying payment. Some make unreasonable demands for COD or even back out at the last minute after the appointment has been set; others demand immediate delivery, and are rude and arrogant with sellers.
Regular online buyers like 30-year-old shipping executive Amy Lee from Miri, Sarawak, says she prefers to shop online because shopping at retail stores in her town is quite limited.
“I find it cheaper and easier as I don’t really need to try on some free size items. And, there are so many choices. If the item costs more than RM50, I prefer to buy it at the shops so that I can try it on. If I was in Kuala Lumpur though, I might not shop online so much as there are more options,” explains Lee.
She is pragmatic and doesn’t expect great quality for the prices that she pays. Her purchases average between RM50 and RM100 (clothes, belts, necklaces, earrings and hair acccessories) every three to four months.
She has had wrong items delivered before but since they could be exchanged, Lee says she’s satisfied.
Some of the sites which she recommends are carnivalsales.com.my, nanafashionboutique.blogspot.com, singurlcloset.blogspot.com, prettyshoppe.com, beautifuldisaster.org/vluvshopping/ and jovyswardrobe.blogspot.com (the first two are Miri-based).
Student M.K. How, 21, from Petaling Jaya says she normally purchases clothes, bags and earrings. She says on an average site, an item costs about RM45 for tops, and she spends about RM40 to RM100 on online shopping a month.
“I prefer online shopping because it’s easier to survey different websites and there’s no sales person to harass me. Sometimes, I get a cheaper deal on the product of the same style found in branded stores,” she says.
Her only complaint is the poor quality of some of the merchandise (which makes her feel that she was overcharged). She also finds that some of the sizes quoted don’t match up.
Her favourite sites are forum.lowyat.net/StuffForTheLadies, just-bag-it.com, trendy confessions.com and amour-pour.blogspot.com/.
Research assistant Amanda Lee likes shopping online because of the convenience and the wide selection available.
While the 23-year-old from KL (who started shopping online a year ago) says she can easily spend five to six fun hours browsing online, she tries to restrict herself to a couple of hours. Her purchases in a month are between RM30 and RM50.
Her first puchase was a graphic T-shirt, costing RM20 which was “nice, fitting and of good quality”.
She says: “The seller was very helpful. She described the measurements, material and the T shirt lived up to my expectation.”
Her favourite buy so far is a RM30 floral vintage dress.
She advises e-shopping “virgins” to choose trustworthy sites (based on how long they’ve been established), check to see whether items are quickly reserved by other buyers (as this shows how popular they are) and if there are many return customers (which means they are satisfied with the service).

Net a Bargain

From: THE STAR

http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2010/9/2/lifeliving/6640950&sec=lifeliving

Thursday September 2, 2010

Net a bargain online

By S.S. YOGA
yoga@thestar.com.my

Shopping for clothes is just a click away.
IT’S nothing new, hawking your products online. While sites like eBay and Amazon have long made their presence felt here, there are also many local online shopping sites and “blogshops”.

Tube pencil lycra dress (RM55) that comes with brown vintage belt.

Malaysians are surprisingly savvy when going online for their purchases. A post on zippycart.com by E-Commerce consultant C.K. Wong noted that the most online shopping sites locally are for fashion and apparel. Lelong, Malaysia’s own online auction site is still very popular.
The biggest endorsement of the huge online market is that PayPal (the online payment service run by eBay) now accepts purchases in Ringgit and withdrawal of credits to local banks.
Here are some of the local E-shops available that buyers can look into.
Doublewoot (double-woot.com)
Startup: Set up in Penang in 2007 by two sisters, Helen Tan I-Ling, 27, and Heliene Tan Ying Ying, 22. Heliene found buying things online cheaper than going to the stores (shopping offline is the e-shop speak). Most blogshops tend to be Klang Valley based. As such, sourcing was a problem (as Penang was not exactly fashion central). The sisters had to get their items from Kuala Lumpur and sometimes, directly from China.
Helen says that setting up an online shopping site is not as easy as it looks and actually involves a lot of hard work. They have now moved from a blog to a proper domain to cater to their growing customer base.
The elder sibling is a graphic and product designer while Heliene is a student. They say the site has become 80% of their focus. They are also thankful to their mother who is their co-partner and takes care of quality control.
Promotion: “We took part in bazaars and posted adverts in prominent online shopping review sites, and approached various boutiques to create sale opportunities and get our name out there,” says Helen.
Issues: When they first set up shop, it wasn’t that popular as there were many uncertainties related to online transactions. The objective was to gain customer trust.
One of the major problems customers face is sizing and fitting as you can’t try on the clothes or accessories as you would in a conventional walk-in boutique. “But we try our best to accommodate by providing model stats and offline consultation to minimise dissatisfaction.”

Blue-black: Scallop cotton work dress (RM42) modelled by Heliene Tan Ying Ying and Helen Tan I-Ling who run Doublewoot.

Goodies: Mainly dresses, blouses, pants, for women and girls. Generally, clothes are free size, which suit small to medium sizes. There are lots of work wear and formal dresses as well as high-end pieces. Measurements for length, bust, waist and hips are provided. Customers are advised to compare the measurements with their existing clothes for best fit.
Prices: Average RM30 to RM65.
Operations and payment: The site is updated every Sunday night with new items. The customer sends in an order, and a quotation is sent out with details. The customer banks payment into their account, and the items are packed and sent out the next day.
Delivery within Malaysia takes three to seven days and one to three weeks for overseas orders, depending on mode of delivery. Postage costs are born by the buyer but currently, there’s a promotion whereby buyers are entitled for free postage if payment is banked in on the day of order.
Cash on Delivery (COD) is also available in Penang at no extra charge. Regular customers are allowed to visit their showroom for fitting and to pick up their purchases.
Payment is through online transfer or cash deposit to selected banks, PayPal and Western Union.
Returns: Only in special cases, with terms and conditions.
Dainty Dresser (daintydresser.com)
Startup: Run by 21-year-old student Lim Mei Hui who decided to tap her passion for fashion and online shopping. “I started off by finding out the location of my suppliers both locally and overseas from my aunt who owns a boutique. She gave me advice on how to run the business as well as setting reasonable prices for the items I’m selling.” She currently runs the site on a part-time basis.
Promotion: When she first started out in December 2008, Lim could only advertise in the chat boxes of other online “boutiques”. When review sites started, they became the primary source for advertising her site. Lim believes many customers know about her through word-of-mouth, especially in the Klang Valley where she is based.

Lim Mei Hui of Dainty Dresser.

Issues: Her main problem is too much time spent online to answer customer enquiries and taking orders through e-mail. Add to that, having to answer text messages constantly throughout the day as “I need to ensure good service and fast response.” So, juggling time between her accountancy studies and maintaining the business is tough.
Goodies: Women’s apparel, mainly in free size to suit UK size six to 10, with some going up to size 12. Styles depend on the trends, specialising in feminine and the “sweet” look. Accessories also available. Exact “lay flat” measurements for apparel given. Shoes insole measurements are also provided.
Prices: Dresses and bottoms from RM30 to RM70. Tops from RM20 to RM50. Accessories and shoes, priced from RM15 to RM70.
Operations and payment: Customers can e-mail or text their orders, and arrange either for COD or delivery via courier service (Poslaju or Pos Express, national and registered postage, overseas). COD is free at selected “hot spots” and customer bears cost of courier service. Payment by cash, bank transfers or Paypal for international buyers and credit card users.
Returns: Not allowed, except exchanges with terms and conditions.
Myloshop.com
Startup: Set up by Allison Chin (Al) and Ong Suan Chin (Suan), both 32, who have been friends since secondary school. Both studied and worked overseas (Chin in London and Ong in Manchester/London) but are now based in the Klang Valley.

Ava Dress (RM139), sweetheart neckline strapless lace number with boning.

Launched this year, the blogshop is run by them on a part-time basis as Chin is a freelance graphic designer while Ong is a chartered accountant.
When they were abroad, they really enjoyed online shopping. Back home, the local options, they say, aren’t so great.
Chin says that while they do buy clothes from the likes of Zara, MNG and Topshop, they can’t really afford it.
“Still, we yearn for that perfect dress, or top, or skirt. With our busy lives, we don’t want to be stuck in traffic jams, look for a parking lot and then, fight with a stranger for a piece of clothing – it’s just too much effort,” explains Chin.
Intially, they sourced from local suppliers but found that others were doing the same. Chin says it took a lot of work and research, but they eventually found a manufacturer in Thailand willing to produce clothes according to their specifications.

Naomi Dress (RM129), an origami structured sheath outfit

Currently, they have their own label called Mylo+Athena. The site is supplemented with other labels. The name is taken from Chin’s two dogs, and also makes reference to Venus de Milo and Athena, the Greek Goddess of Justice.
Promotion: They use social media applications like Faceboook and Twitter. They also sponsor a local artiste (singer Diana Liu) to wear their designs, and attend street markets and bazaars.
Issues: Most people still prefer to shop the conventional way. The girls also lack the capital to go bigger in terms of merchandise. Chin says they underestimated the amount of time needed to run their online shop, which take up long hours. To minimise problems, they provide an extensive description for their goods and maintain high quality control.
Goodies: From their own label, mainly women’s dresses (cocktail, evening and maxis), tops, skirts, pants. Accessories like belts, earrings and purses. Future plans include maternity wear and kidswear.
Standard sizes are small (UK size eight/US size four), medium (UK size 10/US size six) and large (UK size 12/US size eight). There are also some extra small and free size items. Bust, waist, hip and length measurements provided.
Prices: Dresses under RM139 (with the exception of one dress which is selling at RM189). Belts from RM25 to RM39, and bikinis from RM35 to RM39.
Operations and payment: Orders filled up online and submitted (shopping cart).
Returns: A rare site that has a 21 days full refund or exchange policy as long as the item is returned unused and new.
Haute District (HauteDistrict.blogspot.com)
Startup: Catherina Dass designed and sewed her own clothes from young. Dass says that she couldn’t find affordable dresses that were classic, sophisticated and elegant so she decided to make her own. “I didn’t want to see the same style or the same dress in 10 different boutiques! I was also particular about the quality of the fabric and stitching.”
She started the business last year but is still running an IT business in the Klang Valley. Besides her own Catherine D label (inspired by architecture, quirkiness and old Hollywood glam) for dresses, she offers necklaces, bracelets, earrings and brooches.

The Anna Dress (RM220), a fully-lined soft chiffon number from the Catherine D label. Seated is Catherina Dass.

Promotion: Dass started out by supplying to a few boutiques in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya. Based on the good response, she decided to expand online. Initially, promotion was by word-of-mouth and then, she distributed brochures at shopping centres and also worked with newspaper distributors to slot in her brochures. She also advertised through Google Adwords.
Issues: Turning hits/page views into revenue.
Goodies: Women’s dresses and separates for office, casual, parties and special occasions. Sold in sizes from UK size six to 14. Sizing chart on the site and detailed views of items. Only one piece of each design (customers can request for a different size) available, so no worries about someone else wearing the same outfit!
Prices: Dresses RM130 upwards. Blouses and skirts RM59 upwards, and accessories RM20 upwards.
Operations and payment: Customers place order and opt for courier (postal service charges borne by customer) or COD at specified pick-up points around Klang Valley. Other than COD, payment is through online banking or PayPal.

A blog about Blogshops

I am putting this post from a blog called Wedoryn365 here becuz it has some interesting notes about blogshops:

1. It defines blogshops in terms of their free hosting.

2. It makes an observation that the earlier blogshops sold stuff that were bought and resold, while more recent blogshops are making forays into selling things that are self-made.  This needs further investigation, to see if there is a trend toward blogshop owners becoming designers.  Implications for typologies.

From Wedoryn365 blog: http://wedoryn365.wordpress.com/2010/08/21/day-255/

Day 255

By: wedoryn

Aug 21 2010

Girl standing on a plastic chair? There’s good reason for it, I assure you.

That’s Agnes, one half of one of our local blogshops here called Agneselle (that’s a link, click it). What’s a blogshop, you might ask? Well you’re either a very misinformed local (swakoo), or you live in a place where blogshops don’t exist much.

A blogshop is basically a shop, that’s running online, via the free hosting services that are blogs. Orders are made via comments on relevant blog entries and payments are made via bank transfers of sorts and items are delivered via mail.

Why’s it such a hit? Probably the convenience, the price, and not-so-recently, ‘cuz of the design. In the ancient days, when the more established shops were still new, the clothes sold were mainly bought-and-resold, they weren’t self-designed and self-manufactured much. The bigger and main-er shops like Agneselle now sell their own stuff.

Sounds like a novel idea, doesn’t it? ‘Tis tough to jump on the band wagon now though. Competition among the noobs are hard and making it past the established ones is tough. You really have to hand it to the ladies who run these things.

So, what’s she doing outside, on a chair? Today they had two small.. well it was supposed to be small.. stalls at an organized flea market. The number of customers overflowed much so that selling for some parts of time had to be done on chairs and that immediate neighbouring stalls couldn’t even set up ‘cuz people were blocking their space.

Yes, sometimes blogshops enter the real physical world. It’s a good change or some fun lah – variety of sorts.

So, foreign people, do you have blogshops where you come from? I don’t mean online shopping via things like topshop.com or forever21.com where you can buy stuff via credit cards, I really mean Blog-Shops. I’m wondering if it’s such a local (Malaysia is included) phenomenon as our local press have made it out to be.

From: http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100822/LIFE/708219972/1196

Shop the world: finding fashion online

Robert Cordero

• Last Updated: August 21. 2010 6:18PM UAE / August 21. 2010 2:18PM GMT

  Illustration by Gemma Champ

Some luxury companies may see it as just another way to sell expensive handbags, but the internet has opened up a whole world of opportunities for boutique fashion makers and fashion consumers.

Cottage-industry-sized enterprises are able to sell their weird and wonderful creations on a scale far smaller – and subsequently more exclusive – than the mass-production of the fashion industry can support.

That’s good for designers, freeing them up creatively, and it’s even better for shoppers, who now have access to the sort of unique, one-off pieces that were formerly the preserve of the jet-setting classes – those who would pick up Czech amber, Touareg silver, Texan cowboy boots or Portobello Road vintage fashion on their world travels.

The online fashion business is a highly flexible operation compared with resource-intensive physical stores. “It’s less risky, which suits an experimental spirit,” says Nina May, owner of the independent designer boutique ninaandlola.com.

Helen Brown, founder of the “crowdfunding” site Catwalkgenius.com, adds: “Technology provides the access, communication and economies of scale to allow previously unimaginable collaboration and commercial opportunities. There’s a democratisation of sorts going on, and an explosion of choice.”

Carmen Haid, the owner of Atelier-Mayer.com, wears a 1970s Christian Dior dress from her collection of vintage clothes and accessories. Those seeking pieces such as Balenciaga dresses from the 1960s, click there. Stephen Lock for The National

Today, if you want to co-create your clothes, shop at a deliciously deep discount, fund the collection of your favourite designer or buy rare antique jewellery there’s an e-commerce outfit that can cater to your style whims.

“Power to the people” isn’t only a political ideal, but a principle that e-tailers are putting into practice to engage consumers in the creative process. At the forefront of this movement is Blank Label, a Shanghai-based company. On its site, men are no longer just shoppers; they design their own shirts within a set of configurations to suit their needs.

“We are offering an incredibly compelling design-it-yourself experience with a simple visualisation of the dress shirt you are co-creating,” says Danny Wong, one of the company’s founders. “We allow you to customise every single feature on your dress shirt to really make it uniquely your own, and more importantly, we make it affordable, with prices starting at US$45 [Dh165], with most shirts averaging $72.”

It’s an interactive platform that results in more satisfied shoppers because they get exactly what they want and need.

“I think there is a ton of growth to be had in this space because co-creation is the next level of consumer orientation,” says Wong. “And with Gen Y’s entitled attitude, co-creation companies will continue to thrive. There has already been massive growth in the industry.”

Shoppers can now also be investors, with a series of crowdfunding platforms that allow a return on their investment – with style points. London-based Catwalk Genius allows people to take part in a fund-raising pool ranging from £5,000 (Dh28,760) to £50,000 to produce a collection by a visionary designer – such as the lauded London-based Katie Eary, who counts Lady Gaga among her fans.

“We offer fashion followers the opportunity to get really involved with independent brands. They can buy directly from them and get insider perks in return for support,” says Brown.

On the flip side, these sites are providing resources to talented designers.

“We’re offering design brands the opportunity to reach their audience in a much more cost-effective way than they can get anywhere else,” says Brown.

It’s a mission that Cecilia Pagkalinawan, a luxury-industry veteran who worked on Burberry’s e-commerce site, is tackling as well at the soon-to-launch Styletrek.com.

“Many independent designers do not have the manpower or capital to create and manage their own e-commerce sites or market themselves globally,” explains Pagkalinawan, who is the company’s chief executive. “Up-and-coming designers deserve to have access to the same resources as established brands.

“Our business does not grow unless the designer is successful, so we are putting considerable resources behind the designers we feature on Styletrek.”

Despite its focus on incubating designers, the benefit isn’t lost on consumers: “Shoppers have access to top designers and fashions worldwide,” says Pagkalinawan.

You know it’s a trend when stylists get involved. Sarah Sulzberger Perpich, a New York-based fashion stylist who runs the wardrobe consultancy Stylish Sarah, uses the apparently endless resources of the internet to find pieces that are missing in her clients’ wardrobes.

“The best things I find online for my clients are jeans and shoes,” she says. “Many times you can find a style of a jean that isn’t the most popular, so it’s not in every store – like the high-waisted Bardot jeans by J Brand, which work so well on many women.”

According to Perpich, heels that are not ridiculously high or trendy, and which are both stylish and practical, are like gold dust in physical shops, but they can be found readily online.

In fact, there is a multitude of speciality online boutiques teeming with chic pieces not available in mainstream outlets, including the likes of Ninaandlola.com, which has an international roster of independent designers such as Stine Goya of Denmark and Clarissa Labin from Germany, both of whom make covetable pieces that are hard to come by outside their own countries.

For vintage pieces, sites such as Atelier-Mayer.com feature well- curated items, such as a rare Jean Patou dress from the 1920s or Balenciaga dresses from the 1960s, as well as costume jewellery and accessories.

The owner, Carmen Haid, has used the internet as a tool to establish a global clientele to whom she caters with travelling trunk shows (she stopped off in Dubai a couple of months ago), and a newly established London showroom.

Meanwhile, eBay remains an astounding and ever-changing resource for antique and vintage clothes and jewellery from around the world. Looking for the perfect black necklace to go with that dress? The auction site has hundreds on offer, from 19th-century jet to 1930s Czech glass and 1970s plastic. Seeking kimono silk to make into a cocktail dress? Buy handpainted material for $70 straight from a Kyoto seller.

Recycled and vintage clothes have an ethical appeal, of course, and those who are concerned with such things can find many resources for handmade and sustainable pieces: type “ethical fashion” into Google and more than six million hits appear.

Discount fashion is also widely available, with Net-a-porter.com’s discount offshoot, theOutnet.com and the UAE site www.modahouse.com both offering high-end designer pieces for a fraction of their retail prices.

But it is those with a love of the unique, the highly individual and the wildly quirky who can really benefit from online fashion. Department store buyers who have their accountants to answer to simply can’t take risks with their budgets, and with the added economic judders of the past couple of years, have had to play it even safer than usual.

The more adventurous stylistas, then, who love discovering new designers at markets or picking up one-off pieces from craft fairs, can satisfy their longings with sites such as Hidden Art (www.hiddenartshop.com), which sells the work of highly trained designer-makers; Pretaportobello.com, which brings Spitalfields’ and Portobello Road’s buzzing London market stalls to the web; and, of course, Etsy.com, where budding designers can sell their crafted pieces for as much or as little as they choose, and make it a hobby or a career. Certainly there’s some ropey old rubbish on there, but there are also hidden gems for those with the patience to search.

At the higher end of the market, Couturelab.com sells handcrafted luxuries such as exotic Nancy Gonzalez handbags and Anish Kapoor-designed jewellery; and the ever-popular French boutique Colette has special collaborations with designers both eminent and obscure.

Closer to home, Dia-Boutique.com brings together clothing from the best Arab talents, such as Karen Karam and Georges Chakra. It’s a “dynamic gateway where the most interesting, unique fashion designers from Beirut and Istanbul to New York and London come together”, says its founder, Rasha Khouri. “Our designers forge contemporary fashion, design and art trends that are equally influenced by voices from the East as by the West.

Where else can you get a scarf from New York, a dress from Lebanon and a jacket from Istanbul that are all by designers who show at the top fashion weeks and are featured in Vogue and worn by celebrities?”

It’s still a waiting game as to which of these pioneering young companies will flourish in the digital age of fashion commerce, but there is one clear winner: the shopper.

Spree Scam- $35,000 go missing

 Blogshopping is susceptible to scams.  Here is how it has occurred big time with a blogshop spree.

 From the Safe Blogger site: http://www.safeblogshopper.com/2010/04/03/announcements/35000-in-online-shopping-spree-orders-go.html 

$35,000 in online shopping spree orders go ‘missing’

April 3, 2010 by safeblogshopper  

Netizens file over 40 police reports and 2 online petitions against teen organiser.

By Liew Hanqing,
 

OLD-school shoppers don’t trust greasy-looking salesmen.

But with online shopping, you often don’t even get to meet the seller.

Naomi Kurashige, 17, had a good reputation for getting discounts from overseas suppliers for local buyers.
Most of her customers had never met her but they had no qualms about wiring her hundreds of dollars in orders.

Today, there are over 40 police reports against her because $35,000 in orders went “missing”.
Police said they are investigating.

People like Naomi are the middlemen in an online shopping method known as spree shopping.
Her job is to hook up with overseas suppliers and then send out alerts to potential buyers here enticing them with discounts.

Customers like shopping this way because they save on shipping.

That’s when things go well.

For a few months, Naomi made a profit. Then things went horribly wrong.

She claimed that after receiving money from customers here, she wired $35,000 to a UK supplier. But he went missing, and so did the money.

Ignored
She now has two petitions against her and has been flamed on several blogs on Livejournal.com and forums, including Cozycot.com and Hardwarezone.com.

Some online shoppers have accused Naomi of collecting money from them, but not delivering their purchases.
Naomi had organised numerous online sprees under her online nickname, Insert-itemname. In just a few months, she collected about $35,000 for the sprees.

Then her customers waited. But nothing was delivered.

One shopper, Miss Michelle Goh, 23, a project manager, said she paid Naomi about $600 in September for clothing orders from various online retailers such as American Apparel and Urban Outfitters.

She said: “Before I placed an order with Naomi, I did a search about her online. I checked feedback about her and it was okay at the time.

“I don’t know how things turned so nasty in just a couple of months.”

When nothing was delivered, she claimed she wrote to Naomi but her e-mails were ignored.

Miss Goh added: “I got worried. Then she started sending mass e-mails about refunds, but the refunds never came.”

Another participant, Miss Pearlyn Yeo, 23, joined another spree organised by Naomi last December and spent $60 on her order.

She said: “She organised a Topshop spree. I thought it would be a good deal, so I decided to take part.”
Unlike Miss Goh, Miss Yeo said she did not do any checks on Naomi.

She recalled: “I waited three weeks (for my purchase) but nothing came, so I e-mailed Naomi but didn’t get a reply.

“I searched for her name online and I found many complaints about her, so I immediately asked for a refund.”
Most of her e-mails, she claimed, went unanswered until several weeks later, when she got an SMS from Naomi saying her order was on the way.


Said Miss Yeo: “It never came even after I called and texted her repeatedly.”
Yet another online shopper, undergraduate Soh Cailing, 20, said she participated in three sprees organised by Naomi between July and September last year and spent $177.

When nothing came, she wrote to Naomi whom she claimed merely offered excuses.

Both Miss Yeo and Cailing lodged claims at the Small Claims Tribunal, but said Naomi never showed up in court for mediation.

Naomi does not dispute this.

Angry
So shoppers have turned to venting their anger online, warning others about Naomi.

One netizen collated a list of more than 10 police reports lodged against Naomi and also posted screen captures of e-mail correspondence with her.

The pressure finally got to Naomi.

In a mass e-mail sent to spree participants last October, Naomi wrote: “I have scheduled transfers for the next two weeks, with $500 being transferred every day… “I’m having a big family crisis with this going on, so I will settle these by the next two weeks.”

In the e-mail, Naomi said she would not entertain any phone calls nor reply to any more e-mails.

She added that once she had “settled” all outstanding orders and refunds, she plans to stop organising sprees for good.

The spree participants just want their money back.

Said Miss Soh: “We gave Naomi so many chances, but she’s disappointed everyone so far.”

Miss Goh added: “I asked her to return me $200, but she insisted she was really broke, so I didn’t want to push her and waited.

“True enough, I got back nothing – and now, she won’t even reply to my texts.”

Teenage organiser : I’m a victim too

THAT’S what Naomi Kurashige told The New Paper.

The teenager said she had placed orders worth about $35,000 on behalf of spree participants with a UK-based supplier, who also runs a handphone business.

She claimed he disappeared without a trace in October last year. v She said: “I found this supplier online and he was offering big discounts on several popular brands – between 30 and 70 per cent – so I decided to try ordering from him.”

She said that between June and October last year, she organised a number of sprees and placed a few mass orders from the vendor worth “a few hundred dollars” each time.

She said: “For four months, it worked really well and I managed to make a small profit too.”

Naomi said she would buy the items at a discount from the UK supplier and then resell it to the spree participants at a small profit.”I admit that I got greedy, so I started placing larger and even larger orders. But one day, the site disappeared and I could no longer contact him,” she added.

“I am underaged, so I don’t have a credit card, which meant I couldn’t pay the vendor through Paypal.
“I had to make payment with a money order so I just mailed the vendor the money.”

She added that she did not know she could have insured the order.

She said: “I wish I had known about it. I didn’t even know there was a chance of this happening. I just knew that it was fast money and that I liked doing this business.”

She said she had done some background checks on the UK vendor and they had been favourable.

She said: “He had a verified Paypal account, so I thought everything would be okay.”

She claimed that she has given refunds totalling about $24,000 to some spree participants.

“I’ve had to pay the refunds out of the money that I made earlier. Now, I am broke,” she claimed. “It’s my fault. I started with small orders but I got greedy and I have lost tens of thousands of dollars.”

She said her family knows about her predicament and has “already helped as much as they can”.

She added that she has been told by the police to pay back all those who have placed orders with her.

“The police said I have to pay everybody back, or be prepared to go to jail. Even if I do pay people back, there is no guarantee that they will drop the charges against me,” she said.

“I have to find a job that will allow me to save enough to pay everybody back.

“I am trying my best. I just didn’t expect things to get so big so quickly.”

Case: Exercise caution

THE Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) received 11 complaints related to online shopping, blog shops and sprees last year, compared to 20 in 2008.

Mr Seah Seng Choon, Case’s executive director, said consumers should exercise caution before carrying out any online transaction.

He noted: “Should there be a dispute, a consumer may be unable to take any action against the seller, especially when there are no contact details, or if the seller is from another country.”

He said there are several precautions online shoppers can heed:

Do research about suppliers before making any purchases.

Be wary of companies which do not reveal their address and contact details.

Shoppers should try, as far as possible, to deal with registered businesses or businesses that are certified to be trustworthy. Shoppers can check if a business is registered by using the online directory on the Accounting & Corporate Regulatory Authority website,www.acra.gov.sg

Always get contact details of the sellers or spree organisers and suppliers.

In cases where bulky items such as bags are purchased from blogs, ask for a meet-up to receive the items and pay the remaining amount on the spot rather than paying in full upon ordering the items.

If consumers suspect something is amiss, a police report should be lodged.

Consumers should transact with accredited sites, such as those that show the “TrustSg” Trustmark or the CaseTrust Trustmark as such businesses are assessed to have met a set of required standards.

Figures from the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore’s website show that, of Internet users aged 15 years and above who have used the Internet in 2008, 36 per cent shop online, an increase of over 27 per cent in 2004.

PayPal said the volume of online PayPal transactions made with overseas-based stores by consumers in Singapore has been growing by over 70 per cent annually.

Source: http://www.digitalone.com.sg/news/article/11058

Blogshops hosting

This is something worth investigating.

If the costs to host an online store is so cheap now, why do people still hang on to their blogshops?  Pay a little and you could have shopping cart facilities, as well as the professional ambience of a proper dotcom.

From: http://www.vdo-uniserv.co.cc/2010/08/netfirms-promo-code

Netfirms Promo Code

August 20th, 2010

 

I visited an online fashion fair last week where small businesses with an online presences only came together bazaar-like at the shopping mall to promote their goods. I was quite surprised that even though these are probably serious entrepreneurs, since they took time, money and effort to participate in fairs like these to promote their store, that a lot of them, though with net presence, do not run a proper online store. A lot of them are still running blog shops. While blog shops work, they don’t give a sense of seriousness to the business, in my opinion.

I managed to talk to a few business owners and they said they are not willing to fork out too much on their web hosting. Well, if they use promotional codes, they wouldn’t have to pay the full price. I have on hand a netfirms.com promotion code that would save a new Netfirms hosting subscriber up to 33% on business web hosting.

I personally feel that if an online store is hosted professionally, it would make a tremendous difference from the customer’s point of view. It would give visitors confidence to shop. Granted, a business hosting package is more expensive than running a blog shop but then one can really see the difference in terms of sales.

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As entrepreneurial entities, blogshops are personified by their owners.

Here is a good article about what it takes to be a blogshop entrepreneur.

From the Safe Blogger site: http://www.safeblogshopper.com/2010/06/01/featured-articles-for-blogshop-owners/characteristics-of-a-blog-shop-owner.html

Characteristics of a Blog Shop Owner

June 1, 2010 by safeblogshopper  

What’s your vision? Do you recognise commercial opportunities, knowing where you would want to take your blog shop business, and what your blog shop business would look like. Are you ambitious – do you really desire to see this happen? Without vision, how can you plan to get there, and then know when you’ve arrived?



Characteristics of Successful Blog Shop Entrepreneurs
-A successful entrepreneur is motivated by personal and family considerations.
-Desire for independence and a strong sense of initiative are usually characteristics of a successful entrepreneur.
-Entrepreneurs are dedicated to their businesses.
- Commited to their business.
- With pleasing personality.
- Passion for their business.
- Knows what his/her customers want.
- Must ahve leadership qualities.

Leadership characteristics include:
-A realistic but clear vision of a goal and means of achieving that goal.
-The ability to communicate this vision to others and to believe that the goal is worth achieving.
-Leaders are able to assume responsibility for risk.
 
You should:

-Do what you enjoy
What you get out of your business in the form of personal satisfaction, financial gain, stability and enjoyment will be the sum of what you put into your business. So if you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, in all likelihood it’s safe to assume that will be reflected in the success of your business–or subsequent lack of success. In fact, if you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, chances are you won’t succeed.

- Plan everything
Planning every aspect of your home business is not only a must, but also builds habits that every home business owner should develop, implement, and maintain. Business planning also serves a second function, which is having your goals and how you will achieve them, on paper.

- Project a positive business image
You have but a passing moment to make a positive and memorable impression on people with whom you intend to do business.

-Get to know your customers
One of the biggest features and often the most significant competitive edge the blog shop entrepreneur has over the larger competitors is the he can offer personalized attention.

- Project a positive business image
You have but a passing moment to make a positive and memorable impression on people with whom you intend to do business. You must rely on imagination, creativity and attention to the smallest detail when creating and maintaining a professional image for your blogshop.

Blog shop businesses today are quickly becoming the norm all over the world. With all of the economic problems, setting up an internet business can become the answer to many people’s money problems.
But what does it takes to run a successful blog shop business? Blog shop businesses may be easy to set up and harder to make a success out of.