The Fashion Vault: Ebay's Version of the Online Sample Sale

I am a huge fan of the web site www.gilt.com; if you're not familiar with this great site, check out an earlier article I'd written on its concept and success. In a nutshell, Gilt is a web site that offers daily, deeply discounted prices on high-end fashion for women, men and children, as well as travel and hotel packages, and home goods. Gilt's prices are at least 50% off, usually more, of the stated retail price. (One of their most recent designers, jeweler John Hardy, sold out in less than 24 hours.) Some of their more recent offerings also included Me & Ro, Stella McCartney, Michael Kors, Michael Star, Slane & Slane, Raymond Weil watched, John Varvatos for Men, and Juicy Couture. There are less than 3 dozen offerings for each designer; each sale lasts 24 to 36 hours, depending upon how quickly the merchandise moves. (They do offer a wait list for most sold-out items, but can't guarantee that every item will be available, especially at the discounted price.) Payment is by credit card, shipping and handling for most items are in the $7.95 range, plus they recently began offering a lower shipping/handling fee for items under $50.

The sales for every day of each week are posted online, so you'll know what to expect. Each sale starts promptly at 12 noon. For those of us who registered on the site - which I have, and which is free - you'll receive an email each morning reminding you what designers and packages will be offered promptly at noon. I'm guessing that all over the country, we prospective buyers set our watches to 12 noon and click on their site.

It's a great concept, especially during a recession. Their selection is great, as are their prices - and Gilt.com is wildly successful.

Not to be undone by this newcomer to the deep discount retailing world, that old war horse Ebay has come up with its own variation of an online sample sale: its "Fashion Vault".

Ebay's 'Fashion Vault' has its own link on the site, showing up on on the home page as well as your own account page. Its premise is fairly close to that of gilt.com: high end, limited numbers of designer clothing, housewares, electronics, etc., offered for "up to 70%" of someone's idea of a retail price. Not only is the quality of items limited, the sale itself is limited to 48 hours in most cases. (For slower moving 'sales', the Vault obviously extends its time frame.) Free shipping, a big plus and something that Gilt doesn't have, is offered on purchases. Like Gilt's 'previews' to their Gold Standard members, Ebay's Fashion Vault sends out a reminder email regarding upcoming sales. It also gives its top-rated members (gold, silver, bronze, etc.) an additional COUPON, with extra savings of between 10% to 20% off of the '70%' already offered.

Gilt is known for offering not only items actually manufactured by their designers, but 'special' lines - translation: lower quality, lower price points - by these same designers as well. You may think that you're buying a Marc by Marc Jacobs dress that you can find on the racks at his flagship stores, or in Bloomingdales or Nordstroms, but what you may actually be purchasing is a dress that was specifically designed to come in under a targeted sales price, in a special line 'designed exclusively for Gilt'.

Ebay's Fashion Vault states that "We compare the selling price for the featured Fashion Vault items on Ebay to the manufacturer's retail selling price. We then calculated price difference to show savings percentage. All items subject to availability." Ebay does not disclose if those designer items offered are current season (Gilt swears that their offerings are always 'current', as opposed to last year's, or the year before, stock.)

The main differences between Gilt and Ebay's Fashion Vault is that with Ebay, they may be offering you stock from past seasons as well as lines designed specifically priced to sell on Ebay (i.e., inexpensively priced for the line.) Some of their past sales have included items that were certainly inexpensive - especially if you're getting them for up to 90% off and with free shipping - but also looked rather dowdy and slightly out of sync. And, I guess because it is Ebay, home of the always-present bargain mentality, they don't offer nearly the high quality or number of items you may find on Gilt's site. Recently, the Fashion Vault concluded a sale of MaxMara and Marina Rinaldi womens' clothing; I couldn't find anything by either design house that was appealing. On the same day that the MaxMara and Rinaldi sales ended on Ebay, Gilt was offering some pretty gorgeous things by Marc by Marc Jacobs and Slane and Slane jewelry. (Ebay's upcoming Fashion Vault sale will be items by Ike Behar New York. The only Behar with whom I've familiar is Joy. I don't even know if this line is for men's or women's clothing.)

You certainly can find some very nice buys at Ebay's Fashion Vault, especially if you're familiar and comfortable with a line that they're featuring during the sale. If you're looking for something a bit more upscale, fashionable and, yes, pricey, you may want to continue to click onto www.gilt.com every day at noon for their sale of the day as well. I'd strongly recommend that you use both Gilt and Ebay's Fashion Vault sales; there is an incredible amount of variety and actual, genuine savings to be had on both of them - it really comes down to what you're looking to buy, and how much you have to spend. Happy shopping!