Has anyone shopped at Italist?
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Horror. Never again. Bought a pair of shoes. Paid tax and shipping etc to get the item to the states. After I received the item, I got a separate bill from their shipping carrier of over $100 for shipping and customs. The company charged me for tax and then DHL attempted to collect the fee again. I made several calls to both DHL and Italist to no avail. DHL ended up sending me to collections and I had to waste more time fighting it. I couldn’t even return the shoes and ended up selling them at a loss. Stay far far away.
I have just purchased a Herno Down jacket from Italist. Actually, I had got 2, a second down jacket was a little bit tight and I sent it back.Firstly, my jacket was on sale on Italist and full price on Farfetch, secondly, I saw no differences in services of both sites, thirdly, italist ships by DHL and it suits me better than other delivery services.
I am waiting for refund for my second jacket.
I am waiting for refund for my second jacket.
Hi guys! Just saw you are discussing Italist and I felt the need to write in here. Just for you to be sure, I’m real and not someone fake who just registered, I am a fashion blogger on Instagram @Styleme_ava ( feel free to follow me if you like my style!) and for the last three years I shop if not all , at least most of my brand names from Italist. I don’t know why some of you feel they sell fakes but this is far from true. With my rich experience with them, I know they are very similar like Farfetch but they work with boutiques in Milan and not all over the world( like is on farfetch website). Everything I have received is a 100% authentic and I think some of you may had bad experience because some of the boutiques they work with do not put effort in packaging which happened to me too. It’s always much better when the boutique that ships the item spends time and effort to make the customer happy! I also have emailed their customer service about that and let them know when I receive something not packaged well enough! I one time even received my bag in a farfetch box which I think was negligent and rude from the boutique side! And of course I let Italist know right away!
The cons of shopping from Italist is that returns are not free but I believe it’s cheaper to return it, using their label, because they use their account with DHL. If for some reason you have received WRONG item, you shouldn’t pay return and they will return it for free, just contact their customer service by email ( they all are based in Italy although Italist itself is a USA based website)
If you ever have any questions, message me on my Instagram Styleme_ava and I will be more than happy to help you with everything I know and can!
The cons of shopping from Italist is that returns are not free but I believe it’s cheaper to return it, using their label, because they use their account with DHL. If for some reason you have received WRONG item, you shouldn’t pay return and they will return it for free, just contact their customer service by email ( they all are based in Italy although Italist itself is a USA based website)
If you ever have any questions, message me on my Instagram Styleme_ava and I will be more than happy to help you with everything I know and can!
I used to shop from Italist and have scored a few designer (Celine and Gucci) bags at good price points. All were authentic and most were in excellent or good condition (especially in the earlier days, 3 or more years ago).
I stopped shopping from them for the main reason that returns are problematic. Regardless of where you are, they will take a significant chunk of fees off (for Italian tax/charges) for returns and it’s simply not worth it. Hence even for one (final) Celine bag that I got which had a very faded hot stamp logo, I kept it instead of returning (but the defect bothers me to this day).
The other thing is I don’t really understand their business model as while its products are touted to come from Italy, many times I’ve noticed the goods said to be shipped from the US (maybe where Italist office is?)
Ultimately it’s like shopping for discounted branded goods - sight unseen - with a final sale policy (for me, as i find their return policy too problematic). Italist customer service is pretty non-existent by all accounts which compounds the problem.
Online shopping (esp did branded goods) is about trust and honestly I can’t really rely on product quality nor service support from Italist. That’s the reason I personally stopped shopping there.
I stopped shopping from them for the main reason that returns are problematic. Regardless of where you are, they will take a significant chunk of fees off (for Italian tax/charges) for returns and it’s simply not worth it. Hence even for one (final) Celine bag that I got which had a very faded hot stamp logo, I kept it instead of returning (but the defect bothers me to this day).
The other thing is I don’t really understand their business model as while its products are touted to come from Italy, many times I’ve noticed the goods said to be shipped from the US (maybe where Italist office is?)
Ultimately it’s like shopping for discounted branded goods - sight unseen - with a final sale policy (for me, as i find their return policy too problematic). Italist customer service is pretty non-existent by all accounts which compounds the problem.
Online shopping (esp did branded goods) is about trust and honestly I can’t really rely on product quality nor service support from Italist. That’s the reason I personally stopped shopping there.
I decided to give it a go after all. I'm satisfied with my purchase though the fabric content listed on the site was different than the jacket I received. The quality is as expected.
I would only buy if you're okay with not returning and not very picky. Like Luv2scoop said, the site has inconsistencies in their description and pictures ie, the picture lists a nylon bag but the description describes 100% leather. When I asked them about it they said they didn't know and told me to buy it from my nearest boutique. Guess I will. Not very good customer service from a small start-up.
I ordered 2 bags from them. First order was as described, no problems. Second order, I ordered what was described as a small givenchy antigona and they sent me a mini antigona. I had to fight with them over numerous emails to make sure they weren't charging me a return shipping fee and return customs fees due to their error. I also had to wait at home for 6 hours for DHL to pick the item up from me. Major inconvenience, will not use again.
Sorry to hear about your experience. It's certainly not unique with the advent of these types of sites since they have no control over product. They're really just a middleman. With so many promos these days at Saks, NM, etc. it seems silly to me relinquish my liberty of hassle-free returns just to save 30%. I decided I am going to buy locally even if I have to pay slightly more because in the long run it's going to be cheaper should I need to return, exchange, etc.
Agree. However I have ordered from Farfetch numerous times and never had a problem with them. I think they have better control over their partners' listings. I guess with Italist, when you are dealing solely with Italian boutiques it is a total crapshoot on quality control.
Thanks for your reply. I didn't like FF because they wanted a scan of my passport and some sensitive documents. Once I realized the hoops I had to go through to get my bag the thrill of impulse shopping wore off and I just canceled my order. Purchased from Barney's instead. Funny thing is, I didn't even consider returning my item.
Really? That's interesting--I've never been asked for any extra info from them.
Are you in the US? I'm in California. Yeah, they wanted a scan of my passport and credit cards. I was like, forget this. I used a Citi card. Never had a problem before.
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