Hermes Purchase Regrets

[eckw]

I regret my early buying behaviour when I first fell for H and started buying a lot of small items to recreate the thrill after getting my first bag (Lindy). Not to rack up spending points or to please my SA (in fact I was randomly going into airport when travelling or non-home stores) but just to buy for the sake of getting H. So I accumulated quite a few fashion accessories which I never really wore and certainly never wear now (after falling hard for fine jewellery).

So if I were to do it differently, I would say when in the first throes of H (so to speak), I wish I had slowed down initial spending until I learned what categories/styles worked for me.

 

[Minimalist_Chic]

THIS!

Dear @Bookie2020, you should give yourself time to explore Hermès itself and see if it's a good fit for you and if you actually like what they offer. Are you buying as an investment, or as something you'd want to enjoy? If it's the former, then your co-spend is a necessary evil... but as someone recently pointed out here, the ROI on the bag itself is only about 2k.

If you actually like Hermès itself, let it charm you while only buying what you want and like. I always get a bit uncomfortable when I see talk of "the game" because it shouldn't feel like you're buying your way into a bag one unwanted SLG or trinket at a time. I've liked every single item that I bought... and returned the ones that I had second thoughts about, sometimes politely but ruthlessly so.

Also know that the biggest asset you have in getting a bag sooner rather than later is your actual interest in the house... and if that's the case, the only thing you should really shop for is an SA that you can form a trust relationship with, rather than someone who sees you as a walking credit card.



Saaaaaaaaaame. I still think about a pair of bags I was offered many decades ago, and which I turned down, and one I missed out on in the second-hand market recently. Oh well. As another poster said, c'est la vie

So yes, I’ve never explored Hermes. I know about it from a distance and only started admiring a few pieces. I am still not sure as the amount of money to spend is still a little absurd to me, I am not in a position to buy any handbag from them anytime soon. I am asking this question very early on if I potentially buy something which will still be 1-2 years least (again this is not definite).
I don’t look at ROI on handbags, they are not an investment, I like them to use and wear. I also think about my purchases very carefully which is why I asked this question wanted to know if people are buying things to just get a handbag in the end. If I did eventually get something it would only be 1 item, but guessing I many never be offered a handbag after a single purchase.

 

[ardenp]

I would recommend trying to go to a store and looking at the bags in person. It's the best way to break the mental hype that tends to build after watching YouTube videos and such. Hermes makes many different styles of bags, all of which have their own appeal and in fact are quite distinct from each other, and at different price points, and other than the hard to get B/K/C, they are perfectly happy to sell any bag they have in the store. I've been thinking of my shopping trips as "field research" to figure out which bags would actually work for me in real life in terms of weight, size, color, etc. I've eliminated a number of styles which helps free up mental space. Of course, what would be the most helpful would be if one could see the quota bags in this way, because I think many of us would end up saving much time and energy (not to mention money) but such is the life of a bag-aholic!

 

[maxroxxherhandbags]

So yes, I’ve never explored Hermes. I know about it from a distance and only started admiring a few pieces. I am still not sure as the amount of money to spend is still a little absurd to me, I am not in a position to buy any handbag from them anytime soon. I am asking this question very early on if I potentially buy something which will still be 1-2 years least (again this is not definite).
I don’t look at ROI on handbags, they are not an investment, I like them to use and wear. I also think about my purchases very carefully which is why I asked this question wanted to know if people are buying things to just get a handbag in the end. If I did eventually get something it would only be 1 item, but guessing I many never be offered a handbag after a single purchase.

It depends which handbag-If you wanted something like a Jypsiere (my 1st H bag),Evelyne or Picotin to name but 3 you may ba able to just walk in and ask for one.
@ardenp is utterly right, research and see what bag actually appeals to you.

 

[lulilu]

Like someone said, I have a regret turning down a bag (only one of many I've turned down). When WS first opened I was there when the store opened for the day. On the shelf was a toile'/barenia birkin. I declined and it was sold immediately to someone else. To this day, I long for a toile B. I have a toile alphabet kelly, which was long awaited. Now I am dying for one of the new toile kellys. I am not hopeful. But I wasn't hopeful that the toile alphabet would actually materialize.

Another regret I think people have is when they buy cheaper (so-called "entry level") H bags simply because they are anxious to have any H bag even if it's not the bag they really wanted. Many end up regretting spending the money that could have been saved for a bag they really wanted.

 

[Tykhe]

Like someone said, I have a regret turning down a bag (only one of many I've turned down). When WS first opened I was there when the store opened for the day. On the shelf was a toile'/barenia birkin. I declined and it was sold immediately to someone else. To this day, I long for a toile B. I have a toile alphabet kelly, which was long awaited. Now I am dying for one of the new toile kellys. I am not hopeful. But I wasn't hopeful that the toile alphabet would actually materialize.

Another regret I think people have is when they buy cheaper (so-called "entry level") H bags simply because they are anxious to have any H bag even if it's not the bag they really wanted. Many end up regretting spending the money that could have been saved for a bag they really wanted.

That Birkin sounds gorgeous!! Yeah, I can’t wait to one day find my ‘one that got away’ too.

 

[redhott]

I don't have any regrets, and have never felt pressured to spend in order to buy. I spend only because I'm in love with the item - and mostly have bought scarves/shawls, bracelets, belts, jewelry, porcelain and other bags - no shoes (bad fit for my foot) or RTW (nothing feels like it is quite "my style"). Good advice from another poster to give yourself time to 1. get to know Hermès to see if it is a good fit for you, and 2. find an SA with whom you can form a relationship based on candor and trust.

 

[baileylab]

regrets: so kelly 26, plume, shoulder birkin, toolbox 26, kelly flat, kelly 35, jypsiere 31, birkin 35. Got into "under the radar" hermes bag bug. In the end i really am a kelly (32 and still hoping for a 28 retourne) and Chanel girl.

 

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My Oran sandals. They are sooo cute, but they hurt my feet.

 

[eagle1002us]

I have regretted the H bangles. Even though I liked the way they looked, I started to think that they were scratching the silk lining of my tweed jackets. I don’t buy bangles with the H on then anymore. I only buy smooth bracelets.

I don't have many purchase regrets but I have a big passed-over regret. In Tokyo, I was offered a Barenia 35 Birkin that I passed on because it was too heavy. I haven't stopped thinking about it since.

Once you would have put stuff in that beautiful Birkin, it would only have gotten heavier. If you go to the gym or simply buy some free weights and strengthen your shoulder/arm muscles that way, it might be a possibility. I remember people who had sore shoulders from heavy B's. It takes all the fun out of the bag to have it be uncomfortable. Now, if that bag would accommodate a cross-body strap, that might distribute the weight in a way that is tolerable.

 

[Tykhe]

Once you would have put stuff in that beautiful Birkin, it would only have gotten heavier. If you go to the gym or simply buy some free weights and strengthen your shoulder/arm muscles that way, it might be a possibility. I remember people who had sore shoulders from heavy B's. It takes all the fun out of the bag to have it be uncomfortable. Now, if that bag would accommodate a cross-body strap, that might distribute the weight in a way that is tolerable.

Yeah true. The 30s are already pretty heavy but I think I can deal with it

 

[eagle1002us]

I regret my early buying behaviour when I first fell for H and started buying a lot of small items to recreate the thrill after getting my first bag (Lindy). Not to rack up spending points or to please my SA (in fact I was randomly going into airport when travelling or non-home stores) but just to buy for the sake of getting H. So I accumulated quite a few fashion accessories which I never really wore and certainly never wear now (after falling hard for fine jewellery).

So if I were to do it differently, I would say when in the first throes of H (so to speak), I wish I had slowed down initial spending until I learned what categories/styles worked for me.

Don't be too hard on yourself. We've all been there. People get less excitable as they get greater familiarity with a brand or situation. Can you imagine what being jaded about H would be like? It would be like being a zombie. Nobody wants that. (It would be like Night of the Living Dead movie only the zombies keep moving forward saying, "Hermes . . . Hermes ...Hermes" in a sonorous voice.

 

[xincinsin]

Don't get pressured into buying stuff you don't need, if you don't want to "play the game". And if you want to build a relationship, find the right SA.

I went into a different H boutique once to pick up something which my home H did not have. The SA who helped me kept trying to push me away from the silk towards the leather and, when I kept resisting her unsubtle "persuasion", finally blurted out something to the effect that it was not possible that I was uninterested in the bags, especially the quota bags. I had to bite my tongue to stop from castigating her and her myopic view of the world. My own SAs have never pressured me to buy anything.

Buy only what you love. And if, in addition to that, you also buy only what you need or will use, then you should not have many regrets.

 

[luckylove]

My H regrets:
I regret not purchasing neutral so-kelly when they were still in production. I thought they were chic casual shoulder bags.
I regret passing on the braise exotic jige, but the timing wasn't right for me.
I regret not purchasing the doublis picotin I was offered a couple of years ago. I think the color was colvert... so stunning! I have been on the hunt ever since!

As far as the items that I did purchase, my one regret is the orange exotic jige I purchased years ago when I first started my journey. I have never used it since the color doesn't easily work into my wardrobe.

 

[Perja]

Another thing I'd like to add about regrets... some items you will want when you buy them, but years down the line, you realise that they're not what you wanted, not as useful or whatever.

For example, I used to wear a lot of hairsticks and pins, bought the whole shebang, including a hair comb from H... and now I don't use them anymore at all. They're just sitting in a drawer, and honestly, don't even think they're worth reselling! Do I regret them now? Sure, because I don't like waste, but I was so happy to have them when I originally got them.