Last week, the guys on one of the shows started talking about Zulily. (ticker: ZU) They were all pretty excited about it and I guess it had a good week. At one point or another, it got compared to Amazon. (ticker: AMZN.)
I told Larry, "Um, no. Not even close. They are both online stores but that is pretty much where the similarities end."
I explained that on Amazon, I could order anything I want at any moment in time... jelly beans, underwear, make-up, shampoo, music, electronics, basically anything I could want. I order it, get free shipping and 2 days later it arrives to my doorstep. (thanks to Prime.) People use Amazon as a resource to try and find the best prices and a bigger selection.
Zulily is where you go to window shop when you're bored. Occasionally you'll see a good deal and make an impulse buy. It caters to moms with kids. You never know what you're going to find. You can't go there and be like "I need a new plastic plug for my patio table so that the umbrella doesn't wiggle around." (the last item I used Amazon for.) Zulily shipping is expensive - and frankly ridiculous, because it takes so long. For example, I placed an order for these 3 items on Feb. 10:
(I bought the candles as gifts. We'll see if I ever send them because I'm really irritated. Keep reading.)
Order was placed on February 10, 2014. It finally shipped on February 25. I just got the items yesterday, March 6, 2014:
Now I know it is not exactly fair to bash them on their shipping times, as they do clearly state their process:
However, I could not find anywhere on their website where they indicated that it would take a full month to ship, that they don't package things very nicely, and that if you order candles - well, keep reading.
AMZN boxes have a smile on them. They include more than enough packing materials and are not skimpy with those giant plastic air bubbles. ZU shipped a breakable candle like this:
Not very impressive. You realize this is made out of glass, right? But thanks for the Tom's toothpaste sample.
Imagine my surprise when I take the candle out of the box and see that a sloppy piece of packing tape is holding the lid to the base:
Y'all. This is regularly a $35 candle. That is supposed to be a gift and now looks super tacky. But wait - it gets better. I slice open the packing tape and find this beauty:
There is wax all around the top edge and the outside is all greasy. These candles are soy, so I imagine that it probably melted a little bit. WHICH IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN IT TAKES A MONTH TO SHIP SOMETHING.
To cap things off, the second candle came in a separate box. (???) It was in even worse shape (but at least didn't have any packing tape on the candle packaging):
This one was even slimier on the outside. The only upside is that the fragrance is nice, so at least when I wiped the residue off my hands they smelled good.
I'm not trying to be a hater. But SERIOUSLY?
(And yes - I see the irony in the fact that I ordered a candle that says "be blessed" and am griping about first world problems such as these. I never said I was perfect.)
So... take note. If you play the stock market, I say it is time to sell ZU and buy AMZN. I'm pretty much a professional online shopper (just ask my mailman) and I know a rat when I see one.
(And blogger.com, while I'm at it, you're on notice. Does it REALLY need to be this difficult to format a blog post?)
3 comments:
Aw, I hate you had trouble. I've had real good luck with Zulily. But I've not ordered anything that could possibly melt or be perishable. And I've been lucky in the things I bought have fit. But I know there is nothing more irritating!
We've only ordered Toms from Zulily but no...amazon is way better and efficient and has smiley boxes and quick shipping and if it were a man, it would look like Neal Caffrey and probably smell like him, too. Zulily is like...his second cousin.
Update: they refunded me for the candles and added a $10 credit to my account. Well handled.
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