Suzanne O’Connor’s Bargains LA

Ebay Fashion Vault

Oh Boy… Ebay has gotten into the online Sample Sale biz!
Ebay has enlisted some of their most trusted sellers and designers to work closely with eBay to bring you Fashion Vault sales events. For a limited time, 48 to 72 hours, exclusive online events will have selected designers on sale by brand authorized Ebay sellers who sell these higher end garment at substantial savings to Ebay members..

The current sale when I cruised the site was Hugo Boss with savings of 60% on tops, jeans, suits, blazers, belts, dress shirts and more. All NWT using Hugo Boss catalog pictures, but from only one seller. These designs come directly from sellers who are authorized by the brand to sell their merchandise. And to make these deals even better, shipping is free.

The discounts seem to be limited to “up to 60% off” and like all online Sample Sales, quantities are limited. But that’s a enough savings along with the Free shipping to more than capture my interest. Do sign up for notifications of the Vault Sales.

If you’re a fashion or Ebay junkie, now you have something new to quench your interest… Ebays Fashion Vault. OY!

Beyond The Rack

Yep, This is the year of the online Sample Sale. There seem to be a new one every month. Some stand out… some don’t.

One stand out is BeyondtheRack.com. The set up is similar to Rue La La and Gilt, and they have sweet discounts. 40%-70%, on both men’s, women’s and kids designer clothing and accessories.

This week Bed Head PJ were featured, most priced at $49. The last online sample sale I saw them at they were $59. They also had J Brand at $99-$149 instead of $150-$225. Over 24 different styles of Marc Jacob sunglasses were $59-$89 instead of $135- $185.

Upcoming sales include La Coste, Miss Sixty, Superga, Thro, Adrianne, James Jeans, Linea Pelle and more.

This one ya need an invite to sign up for, otherwise you have to wait… can’t have that.
BeyondTheRack

ECrater

When rents are high, foot traffic is slow, where do retailers and small business start ups go? Ecrater.com

Ecrater.com a 100% free online marketplace and a free ecommerce website builder. Sellers receive customizable free online stores. In addition, all products get listed in their free online marketplace. So like Etsey.com, they have smaller creative start up businesses using it to get their online business going and some of these offer some outstanding deals.

Here you’ll find a wide variety of small online stores. From designer clothing to magazines, and art to antiques. Kind of like an online swap meet but better.

Some stores are tiny with great deals. One shop on ECrater I liked was My Designer Closet http://www.mydesignercloset.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=3514877

This online women’s resale boutique had a new Marc Meredith Sweater dress at just $70 instead of $160.

Another bigger store, Tillie’s Tidbits had a wide variety of women’s & men’s fashion accessories. http://tilliestidbits.ecrater.com/ Featured was a pair of Ed Hardy deck shoes for $47. And a NWT Kate Spade women’s hot pink straw purse for $125…Retail is $265.

The jewelry, vintage and collectibles sections had the most dealers listed with a full range of pricing from bargain $5 pins to pieces in the hundreds of dollars.

E Crater.com is good online site to cruise for hard to find items as well as for fun..

TheMiniSocial

Now that my daughter is old enough to shop in the junior sections I often take her to sample sales with me. But I didn’t have the luxury of shopping children’s higher end clothes sample sales when she was smaller. They just weren’t around.

Well all that’s changed with www.TheMiniSocial.com. Set up like other online sample sales this sale caters to moms who want the best for their kids… but for less.

The Mini Social is a private members only on-line boutique, featuring designer clothing and accessories for mom, baby and child. You now have access to the most hip and modern designer brands for mom, baby and child, all at 30%- 60% off.

I am sure that beats the hassle of shopping the downtown mart showrooms.

Right now they are offering up cute, boutique brands Childish, Eliza Gran, Knuckleheads and Hula Mula at some serious discounts.

A Tough Guy Knuckleheads tee was $15 instead of $30. An infant burglar stripped romper was $20 instead of $42.

An OM Gosh cute girls stripped jumper by Hula Mula was $52 now is $25. And a stripped tunic dress was $62 but is now $30

These aren’t Target prices, but if you love the designer clothing scene but can’t normally afford it, this site brings the pricing down to earth

GreenKidsAuction

As a parent and an avid shopper I always shop at resale and consignment stores. When my persnickety fashion obsessed daughter wouldn’t wear some of the clothes I bought her, I resold them back to a children’s resale store. Only got a small percentage of what they were worth, but a little is better than nothing.

Now a new website has put the obvious Green Spin on the re-use resale matter with www.GreenKidsAuction.com. Here you can buy and sell gently worn / gently used kids fare from clothing and accessories to toys and furnishings in an auction format.

The deals are here, but like Ebay you have to know when to stop bidding so you don’t over pay. 5% of Green Kids Auction’s profits will be donated to Healthy Child, Healthy World (www.healthychild.org)

As a brand new site, the listings aren’t full yet and right now it’s FREE to list your item until it sells! Normally there’s a success fee of just 4.95% when an item sells. S. Too busy? They can send you a list of agents in your area & they’ll do the work for you!

Heck make a little money, save a little. In the end it all adds up. So go clean out your kids closets.

SaleGrab

Okay if you are a die hard bargain shopper, have I got a site for you.  www.SaleGrab.com lists the deepest discounted prices on sale merchandise on dozens of different websites. Mostly fashion and accessories. Although I did spot several digital cameras and a few other electronics.

The savings on average 50%-95% off the original retail. 

The site organizes by steepest discounts first and some of these are so steep…. it’s stupid!

Some women’s Prada pants were $50 instead of $544. A men’s LS silk shirt by Nautica is $10 instead of $70. A stunner was a pair of Marc Jacobs Sunglasses. They say they list for $2500. No wonder no one bought them. Here they’re $120, a much more sane price.

The items at the deepest discounts had a very small size selection, often one of a kind. When you got into the 60% off range you got a bit of a better selection with more current merchandise. A Charles David Oxford pump retailed for $144 and it’s on sale at $44 in all sizes. But you have to remember these items are severely discounted for a reason.
Every item is sold off a different website, this is just a referral or affiliated website. The sites are pretty well known. Amazon, Macy’s and the like.

You can cruise the site by type of clothing and a few designer names. But the fun is starting at the deepest discounts and going from there.

Curl up with a cup of Hot Chocolate and spend a little time. You may come across the one item you’ve always wanted for a super cheap price.

ShopItToMe

“Wow” flew out of my mouth the second I figured out how cool this website is. If you’re into online sales but rarely find your size or designers you adore, then www.ShopItToMe.com could well be your ticket.

The concept is simple and the service is FREE. Simply select your favorite designer apparel brands (Armani, Prada, Bebe, Betsy Johnson, Theory, Tahari, Juicy Couture, Seven Jeans, BCBG, etc…) and your size. They’ll cruise the websites of leading online retailers and then email a daily or weekly summary of the items that go on sale in your size. Clothes you love, in your size, emailed to you on sale. How cool is that?

You can specify if you want to receive daily, weekly, or semi-weekly emails. But, you’ll only get an email if a new item appears on sale in your size. They work with online stores for Saks Fifth Ave, Macy’s Gap, Nordstrom’s, Pink, Brooks Brothers, Overstock, Zappos, E-Luxury, Ann Taylor on Bluefly. So you won’t be shopping untried , unknown online stores.

15DollarStore

Though I had reviewed this cool online site over a year ago, I return visit this last week yielded so much more.

Everything on the www.15dollarstore.com website is $15 or less. Most of the inventory is women’s hip junior lines with values mostly up to $100, but all at $15 or less. Since our last visit the inventory has more than doubled and they added a section for kids.

Now those of us, with persnickety mini fashionistas can take them shopping in the privacy of our own homes and get a great deal minus the public cajoling and whining that usually accompanies a normal retail outing.

A kids Roco wear denim skirt retails at $35-$40 here it’s $15. A girls Hype chiffon dress was also just $15 instead of the original $56. A My Michelle cotton/ denim boho skirt was another good deal at $15.

If your mini fashionistas is nearer an adult size there is plenty here to choose from. A Rampage sheer Victorian blouse is here at $15 instead of $46.
Other junior labels here include: Yank, Fifi, Romeo and Juliet Couture, Andrew & Co., Girl Krazy, Tramp, Topsy Turvy , Trixxi, Hot Kiss, Kali Girl, Paris Blues, Sweet Romeo and more.

Lots of fun for a mere $15 bucks!

Amazon Outlet

With the holidays just around the corner and all of us trying to keep our information secure during online purchases, I thought I’d check into the outlets at a tried and true, major online store.

Amazon.com is a fairly priced website. The Amazon Outlet is an extension of the regular site with additional discounts of 10%-50% on a variety of items usually found on their site. This outlet section includes deals from the independent sellers that Amazon partners up with.

There is a ton of product here, from computers (both new and refurbished) to sundries, bedding, toys, electronics, books, apparel and so much more. If you shop Amazon, you’ll want to start your bargain search here.

A quick cruise around the site yielded deals in every section. I found a Phillips DVD recorder for $200 instead of $399. A Panasonic 5.8 Ghz cordless phone was well priced at $54. An Audiovox portable personal video recorder w/ 2.5 LCD was $74.99 instead of $219.

The apparel section was quite large with dozens of name and designer labels. A bit of something for anyone (guys and girls) from plus size to infant. The bedding section had a good selection of higher end bedding. No poly junk here. The toy section was huge and you can browse by age appropriate toys. Books and music were overflowing with choices. This on line outlet is huge!

With all the goodies available, you may never leave your home to shop again. Simply put…lots of tempting deals

KidsSurplus

Gone are the days when I could buy clothing for my daughter without her being present. This sad realization became very apparent this last summer when everything I picked out was “too cute” for her “oh so cool” pre-teen tastes and went unworn.

I am told I’ve been lucky, many parents find their girls get picky much earlier, sometimes as young a 5! Okay, so how do you find quality kids wear for less without dragging your kid around from store to store? Shop the web of course.

Pallets, a Kids Superstore is found online at www.kidsurplus.com/clothing.html. Savings run 20%-70% on better kid’s apparel from catalogues and well know children’s apparel retailers. Some label names have been changed on this site to protect the overpriced retailer, but you can guess their names…”Old Gravy”, “The Lambs End”, “The Zap”. Others names you’ll recognize. Sizing runs infant to pre teen in girls and up to 20 in boys.

I spotted some cool deals for girls in just seconds… A bohemian circle skirt that is so “in” is here for $17 instead of $34. These are in stores now. A “Zap” kids rugby tee shirt that retails for $24.50 is $9.99 here. No Boundaries knit pants are $5.99 instead of $9.99. An Amy Byers fur collared jacket was 78% off at $12.99 instead of $59.99.

There a bit less to pick through for boys. But I did find a Timberland hooded boys sweatshirt was $14.99 instead of $44.

Unfortunately like all outlets, the selection doesn’t have full coordinating outfits, and can fluctuate as the get closeouts, overstock and overruns from manufacturers and retailers. But with deals like these, my daughter and I will be perusing the site every few weeks.

SheFinds

The boutiques and designers of New York are always at the top of fashion divas shopping list. But us hip West Coasters, Southerners and equally savvy Mid-Westerners can’t always hop on a plane to shop these designer digs. Enter www.SheFinds.com.

Owner Michelle Madhok, knows the trends and where to find them. Her expertise and knowledge give consumers everywhere the insight they need to get the latest styles and products that fit everyone and every budget. She reads all the fashion publications, scopes out the streets of New York and scouts the stores to find out what’s worth your while. Then she surfs the web for the best style finds and put them at your fingertips in her free weekly newsletter.

Like BargainsLA.com, SheFinds.com is packed with great ideas and sources. You’ll find out about new trends, products, designers and shopping boutiques before the masses and where the sources are for those items. But the area that She Finds has that Bargainsla.com does not offer (or I’d lose my mind) are leads to some of the best online sales in “Deal Alerts”. She Finds digs around, scopes ‘em out and saves you time and money by helping you find the best the web has to offer. As all savvy shoppers know, the best bargain shoppers are armed with up to date information. Here’s a great place to get that along with the goodies.

If you’re a shopping fashion diva or just a “wanna be”, She Finds.com is the place to visit to get in the know.