How to Get Great Deals on Workwear: 10 Online Shopping Tips

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1. remember that just because something looks great on you and is discounted, doesn’t mean it needs to come home with you — my rule is if you can’t think of at least 2 ways to wear the item using things either (a) already in your closet or (b) that you are actually about to purchase, it won’t be worth the hassle trying to find the perfect top / shoe / whatever.

2. Great tips. Most of these I already do, but I like the idea of shopping as research in advance of upcoming sales!

   I also HATE paying for shipping!

3. LOL..we are similar, I almost never pay full price for anything, and even the stuff that doesn’t go on sale 9e.g… Louis vuitton) I buy on my trips to Europe so that I get the VAT back, which is like getting a discount (worked much better pre-euro and in the early euro years). Also, your #1 is really really important. I keep a record of who fits me how and what size I am so I know what I can buy on-line or not.

   Also, I have a separate email for all of the advertisement emails so that they live in one place… that way you get all of the promotional codes without clogging up your regular email.

4. I would also say to “know” your favorite stores’ merchandise cycles. For instance, I knew I needed a new winter coat, and I also know that JCrew’s tall sized coats fit me well. Luckily, I also know that they often put coats on sale in August, based on previous years’ experience.

   Voila–I snagged a tall lady day coat in my size for $139. The same coat is now listed for $300. Exact same coat. By knowing when JCrew puts what on sale, I can save a fortune, and still get exactly what I want.

   This is distinct from email alerts that tell you there is a sale–you need to regularly browse your fave retailers’ sites to get a clue about when they put certain things on sale, and whether certain things ever end up on sale.

   1. This! And especially true for J.Crew, because they keep their popular basics from season to season, typically only changing the price.

   2. True story! I learned that White House Black Market cycles their sales every two weeks on Wednesday. If I go in and see something I love that’s not on sale, many time’s I’ll sit tight until the next sale Wednesday and then check back. More than once the item is half price on the next visit.

5. Take advantage of price matching programs. For example, nordstrom will match any price. I always look online for things cheaper and ten call nordstrom to get the price matched. That way, I get the best price, but still enjoy the excellent customer service and return policy of nordstrom.

6. Can anyone offer any tips on taking your receipts back to get credit for items now on sale? A former room mate of mine was always impeccably dressed for cheap by buying things full price or in a not-amazing sale price in her very popular size but then taking her receipts back once a week and getting refunded because she’d bought things that went on sale (or went on sale for more than she’d bought them for). I was too self-absorbed at the time to learn her system but I now wish I had! Sure it’s time intensive but I think I could find the time to swing by my favorite store once a week if I knew it would increase my shopping budget.

   1. Credit for markdowns varies widely from store to store. Most places have a time limit (for example, you can only get the new, lower price and a refund of the difference if you purchased within the past two weeks) and many places also limit the number of markdowns for any given item (so, if you buy a shirt for $50 and a week later it gets marked down to $40 and you go in for a $10 credit, you won’t be able to get another $10 if it gets marked down to $30 a week later). It sounds like your roommate was super organized about all of this – I’d pick HER brain if you are still in touch!

7. One tip from my unfortunate experience: read the sale notices carefully! I’ve wasted so much time shopping thinking that I was shopping a full sale, when in fact only select merchandise or sale merchandise was. Argh.

   Re taking the receipts back, I thought most retailers would only give you the difference if you had bought within a couple of weeks of the thing going on sale.

   Karen

8. Part of it is knowing the policy at the stores where you shop. Some will allow you to bring the item(s) and the receipt, some will require an actual return and repurchase for inventory purposes.

9. When I’m checking Retail Me Not, I also check Fatwallet. A lot of online retailers — not all, but a lot — provide rebates for link-throughs. If you register with fatwallet and link through them to wherever you’re going to shop, fatwallet will share their link-through rebate with you. When it’s been available where I’m been shopping, I’ve gotten between 4%-8% back. It’s not a ton, but it’s so little work it would be silly not to.

   1. Ebates works similarly, and also collects coupon codes.

10. One thing about multiples–I used to buy multiples of things I loved, but realized, pretty much only with the exception of pants, I only wore the one in the best, most flattering color. If you don’t need it, it’s a waste of money, no matter how cheap. I have trouble remembering this one.

    I also know which TJ Maxx has the high end items in my state (Mount Pleasant, SC outside Charleston), so when I’m in the area and have a chance, I stop in.

    I also read a great tip in some style book that if you know the measurements of clothes that fits you well, you can save a lot of time trying things on. Take a tape measure with you, and save time. Know the armpit to armpit, sleeve and inseam measurements, preferred jacket, skirt and dress lengths, and you will save a lot of time. This also works on eBay, where measurements are usually given, and will be given on request.

    1. “If you don’t need it, it’s a waste of money, no matter how cheap. I have trouble remembering this one.”

       Me too!!

    2. Unfortunately, many places leave out distance from waist to hips and bust to waist, which is critical for women who are long or short waisted. I’m long waisted and end up trying on lots of dresses where the waist and hips are about 2″ higher than they need to be. I also have to get some pencil skirts altered because the waist doesn’t go quite high enough.

       If you’re going for flexibility with sizing in pants/skirts, make sure the zipper is in the front or back. Front/back zippers will cost about $12-20 to get altered, but side zippers are much pricier and may not be worth the effort.

11. Never been a good sale shopper – too much of a game for me. So I really need and appreciate all your advice.

    Any advice/thoughts on buying online sale items at JCrew. Seems like they are all final sale. Many of their items aren’t offered at the stores in my area. If a large fits me in a sweater (that I try on at the store) should I assume all their large sweaters will fit. How do you shop these final sales? Or do you stay away all together.

    1. @Kacey – getting an error message about “posting too quickly” when trying to reply – anyone else?

       I am curvy – so while J.Crew’s XS sweaters fit me comfortably if they have no buttons, I need a S to avoid a bust-peek in a button style.

       Hate that J.Crew seems to go from a token sale effort ($10 off a $80 sweater) straight to final sale as soon as the discount is tempting! between that and some quality disappointments (lavender sweater – followed washing directions – small portion turned lighter pink! no bleach anywhere near! boo), I’ve been avoiding them recently.

    2. Kacey,
       In my experience at Jcrew, sweaters and shirts don’t always fit the same. I’m a medium in the perfect fit tshirts but an extra small in the tissue ts. In their shoes my peep toes are a 7.5 but my mary janes are an 8. I recommend picking out what you want to order online (when it’s full price) and then using the red phone in the store to order in multiple sizes, colors, etc. You get free shipping on full priced items when you order using the red phone. Then you can return the overpriced items and wait for them to go on sale on order them in your size.

    3. I am not a fan of JCrew online. If you look at their sizing chart, it has no relation to what the actual garment measurements are. If they say a size S is a 34 ” bust, the actual measurement of the size S shirt may be 32″ or 30″. If you are going to buy from them online, use the online chat function and make them give you the actual garment measurements. As someone else mentioned, they don’t give you all of the measurements you need. For me, the sleeve is often too tight. I don’t have “fat” arms but I have muscle. I think they make their sleeves for skinny adolescent arms.

12. FYI: Banana Republic’s price adjustment (if it goes on sale after you but it) policy is up to 7 days after your original purchase.

    1. Whoops! “buy it”

13. In addition to #7, always remember that hems can always be taken up or down for about $10 at a tailor (at least that’s what mine charges). More structural alterations cost more. So if the sale is good enough that, even with the tailoring cost, you still come out ahead, you can usually get away with getting something that is a little off-sized.

14. Kacey, JCrew’s sales go through phases — final sale will eventually end and then they’ll have regular sale items that can be returned, etc. I’d assume their sizing is consistent, though you might be more worried about the cut & fabric. I bought some final sale items recently, and by luck they’ve all worked out, but nothing over $40. (Except a dress shirt for my husband – men have it so easy.) Otherwise I wouldn’t do it unless I’d tried it on at the store or could return it.

    A great blog for keeping up with J Crew is http://jcrewaficionada.blogspot.com/ — they always have coupon codes for shipping.

    1. Thanks–this is fantastic!

15. Before I buy something on sale, I ask myself if I would be willing to spend full-price for the item. I’ve avoided a lot of “I-gotta-buy-it-it’s-so-cheap!!!” mania that way. It’s not a bargain if you’re really compromising your standards and you won’t be happy with it for the long term.

    1. I have this problem, especially when the clothes are a really great brand.

16. RE: #5

    Wow. There are still folks out there who believe in that no-white-after-labor-day stuff?

    Be a little dangerous, Corporette!

    : )

    1. Seriously.

17. I believe that having a great wardrobe requires an investment of time or money. I always find fantastic deals but that’s because I know my favorite stores’ sale schedule and will plan the rest of my schedule around it! It’s like a game for me!

18. I pretty much always try to buy the minimum required for free shipping, too. And I rarely, if ever, buy anything that isn’t already on sale. Maybe I’m just cheap.

19. I have often been able to put suits together from clearance sections by buying tall pants in my size. They fit me everywhere else, and then I pay the $10 to get them hemmed. Totally worth it when I’m getting a Banana Republic/J.Crew suit for half off or more!

20. Free Shipping at Saks.com Use code OCTSHIP9 at checkout.
    Friends & Family Sale! 25% off select items with code FRIENDS2 at checkout. Online only, in-store offer varies.

21. #1 is great advice. Dress pants are my weakness–I love Banana Republic and Limited dress pants, but it hurts to drop $120 on a pair of pants. Those pants come in different “fits,” though, so I go to the store, learn what fits and size I like, and then haunt the online clearance sections. I’ve scored some awesome pants for $35-40 apiece.

22. For anyone who is a student still (or still has a student id…I lost my law school one and use my undergrad one now) Jcrew doesn’t advertise it, but there is a 15 percent off student discount at checkout. Every little bit helps!

    1. Talk about ethics–I think it’s unethical to use a student ID card for a discount if you’re not a student. The whole idea is to help students, who generally aren’t making very much money. If you have a job and a salary, scamming a store for a discount that’s not meant for you is tacky.

23. I don’t know if BR is still offering the Luxe card, or if that was one of the things on which I happened to get in on the ground floor…anyway, it is fantastic – free alterations on some pieces (I have never used though since they fit me off the rack), free shipping online (on gap, old navy, etc. too), and frequent rewards ($10 or $20 off) and coupons.

    My corollary to #1 is to know what brands DON’T fit you, no matter what, and then avoid them, even if they have good deals. Ann Taylor is my example of this – their stuff never ever fits me, so I avoid looking at the sales so I can’t be tempted.

24. I am a little disgusted that you think it’s ok to hold onto dresses for nine months and THEN return them. I don’t care what the store’s return policy is, you know they will take the loss because they can’t resell the dresses at that point. Use a little common sense and ethics: just because you can doesn’t mean you should.

    1. Agree. 9 months is ridiculous.

       1. I thought so too! This is a blog for businesswoman, and a little ethics goes a long way…you know that the other dresses you returned nine months late were going straight to The Rack, at a huge markdown for Nordy’s. Be fair.

          1. um, wow. I realize you all think you are super smart and ethical, but I think the powers that be at Nordstrom are perfectly capable of exercising their business judgment in the best interest of Nordstrom. They obviously feel the store makes money in the long run as a result of the excellent customer service, so there is absolutely nothing “unethical” about enjoying the policy. It is also the reason Nordstrom can charge higher prices on its items.

             1. But I bet if that became everyone’ s normal mode of shopping, the policy wouldn’t last very long.

             2. here! here!
                and every women who likes to shop knows nordrstrom’s policies–it’s their m.o.

             3. thank you for preempting my much more contemptuous version of your post

25. Saks is having Friends and Family! I get so many e-mails from them, but these are the ones worth getting. If you enter FRIENDS2 at checkout you get 25% off. Thought I would pass it along! Thanks, Corporette.

26. Be forewarned… Gap/Banana Republic have been quietly changing their return policy to a restrictive 30 days – even for full priced/regular merchandise and not even for store credit or an even exchange! I don’t understand how a mega corporate retailer like Gap can justify their policy when it was previously know as being so understanding (much like Nordstroms) and its so out of step with other major stores… The blouse I bought online in two different sizes to try on at home, ended up costing me DOUBLE after I couldn’t return the larger size a mere 6 weeks later.

    1. i spent five years working at gap and banana through undergrad part time, and then full time until i started law school. the new 30 day policy frustrates me too, but i suspect that part of the reason gap changed the return policy was because the return abuse was RIDICULOUS.

       people weren’t just returning dresses for full price 9 months after purchase (which i also find unethical) that we’d then immediately have to mark on clearance, but YEARS later. we used to have a running weekly contest among the cashiers to see who got the oldest return. the earliest return i ever had to take back was from 1987 i kid you not. the woman had stapled the receipt to the tag when she bought the high waisted acid wash jeans, and left them in her closet for 20 years. we had to take it back. we faced years-old returns every day.

       and then there is also an entire underground industry centered on ripping off the gap. people would come in with foil-lined shopping bags, slip an entire stack of shirts into the bag, and just walk out. we couldn’t stop them since we weren’t allowed to do anything but provide hovering “customer service.” we knew many of these thieves on sight. a week later they would come back with a fake receipt and claim that they bought one in every size because they weren’t sure what sizes their daughters wore. sometimes the receipts looked right because they were made with stolen cash registers. we had to give them the exchange credit.

       entire pallets of clothing shipments would sometimes not show up en route from distribution centers. these clothes were of course then returned to the stores or ebay’d.

       people would take jeans into the fitting room to try on, along with a lot of other clothes, then use the sensor remover they bought on ebay, wear OUR jeans out, and leave THEIR old worn jeans along with all the other clothes they “tried on” in a heap in the dressing room. on busy days we wouldn’t be able to clean out the fitting room fast enough to catch them.

       nordstrom can afford their fantastic return policy (which makes me a totally loyal customer) because they sell a lot of high end clothing, accessories, jewelry, makeup, watches, shoes, and other high-margin products. gap and banana are a completely different business model, with the accompanying lower profit margins.
       i could go on…

    2. There has to be a happy medium. I can understand not returning things 6 months (or years) later, but the old 90-day or even 60 days would be reasonable. Also, they could at least offer store credit rather than cash back! I just tried to return a dress that cost me $140 and all they would give me was $50 in store credit despite the fact that I had the original receipt, tags on and the original hanger it came on. Obviously I had just missed the date b/c I live a long way from the only BR in the state. BR, GAP and Old Navy have lost this customer until they go back to valuing their customers!

27. Great tips all around!

    Two additional thoughts, both relating to sizing:

    1) When shopping in stores, as some folks noted above it can be very helpful to have a handy reference measurement. For example, one-half of my waist size is the same distance as from my middle fingertip to a freckle partway up my arm (never you mind how far up! :) ) So if I am going through a bunch of skirts, I can simply take one on a hanger, hold it against my arm and immediately see if the waist is too big or small. Saves a huge amount of dressing room time.

    2) When shopping online and you see a good buy but are not sure about sizing: go to eBay. Search on items by the same manufacturer (e.g., “Anne Klein skirt”). You’ll probably get a lot of hits – perhaps even for the same (or very similar) items. Many of those sellers will give you the exact measurements of the item. So, for example, if you see that Anne Klein’s size 8 skirts routinely run XX inches in the waist, you can probably assume that the size 8 you’re looking at will be similar. It’s not foolproof, but it’s better than nothing and frequently more reliable than the manufacturer’s generic size chart.

28. I agree with the former Gap employee. I worked at a Payless Shoes during college and the return abuse was insane. We had no official policy other than “make the customer happy” and regularly took back shoes that had clearly been worn. Or that were so old they were no longer in the system and came up with a value of $.01. If they didn’t have a receipt we only gave store credit, but if they did have one, even one that was years old, we had to give them the full amount they paid according to the receipt- even when we couldn’t resell the shoes at all (not even on clearance). I know Payless isn’t known for being high-end (or even medium?) but the “customer is always right” mentality is taken advantage of at all levels of the shopping spectrum. Kudos to Gap for trying to put an end to it in their stores.

29. i think stores also tolerate even the most blatant return “abuse” from people they estimate have been good profitable customers on net. i once successfully obtained a cash refund after actually having a dress tailored (i.e., by a random tailor unaffiliated with the store). this is a store where i have dropped more $ than i am proud of, though, and honestly, it was in their interest to keep me happy, vs. shaming me into shopping elsewhere.

    i guess even more broadly, a lesson that can be taken from this is that sometimes it’s better to build a relationship at one store than to arbitrarily flit around peer stores. let the salesppl schmooze you and if you meet one that you like, try to actually hang onto his business card and indulge his sex-and-city-toned banter. if they think you’re loyal and a (potential) big spender, they cater to an enhanced range of behaviors and requests.

30. I find it really frustrating that some stores have better return policies than price adjustment policies. For example, I bought some Land’s End clothes at Sears for a vacation and the price went down. I went back 13 days later and the salesperson told me I was “lucky” I was back within 14 days because otherwise she couldn’t give me the price adjustment. I pointed out that at 15 days I could still return it and rebuy it at the lower price and it seemed stupid that she wouldn’t just refund the difference at 15 days and she agreed.

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