I Succumbed to the Boden Sale - YouLookFab Forum

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I Succumbed to the Boden Sale

Ginger

Veteran

And bought five dresses. Three for summer, two for winter. Finds below. Whee!

The Flossie embroidered dress is a style I've been longing for since I missed the opportunity for something similar on eShakti a couple of years ago. All cotton, flowing but fitted. I bought both available colors. We'll see if they work. The Flossie comes in long sizes, which is good. I vaguely remember someone saying that the full lining made it too hot for true hot weather, so I'm keeping that in mind.

Anastasia shirt dress in blue and white stripe. Either this will fit or it won't! And another one that came in Long, else I would not have tried. Boden's regular sizes are distinctly high waisted on me, and I'm already short waisted.

For winter, the Lavinia knit dress in dark green. This one does not come in long, and I won't be at all surprised if it's too short-waisted. But it was worth trying, since the silhouette is perfect for me. I have several dark green dresses, but none in this silhouette.

And the Flora jersey midi dress in dark green "cosmic" print. Also in Long, yay! I have no idea how it will actually look on me, but the garment measurements were reassuring. And it's hard to find prints in my colors.

A note about sale shopping. I'm a bargain shopper, and I'm on a budget. I don't buy so-so things just because they're on sale. But I also have to pick my high-dollar pieces carefully, and those are very rarely dresses. Dresses, for me, are not investment pieces. I will wear them for years, but I have lots of them and I like it that way. I don't want to put a large amount of my budget into a single dress, unless it's an extremely exclusive item that I know I will wear frequently for years. Regular-priced Boden dresses are too high-priced. But I sorted the sale by price, and browsed only up to my limit. I went through less than half of the list and identified about 5 possibilities, of which I chose these four models. And I'm committing to return them if I'm not super pleased with them! eShakti has a new choose-fabric-and-design feature that I want to try...

Flossie Embroidered Midi Dress

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Flossie Embroidered Midi Dress

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2

Anastasia Shirt Dress

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1

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Flora Jersey Midi Dress

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2

Shopping

24 replies

Latest reply was from ropeball

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

Wow, you did commit in a big way, and you chose some great-looking dresses! I'm lucky neither of the Flossie colorways are my thing, or I'd be in trouble, lol.

Looking forward to your pix and comments when they arrive.

bj1111

Veteran

Just went to Boden...the sale items are final sale. Non returnable

The cotton dot dresses at fab

Sal

Veteran

Hope they work! I especially love both green.

Kate

Veteran

Charming dresses, Ginger. I can see them all on you. I particularly love the two green ones, especially Lavinia. Hope they all work out. I'm really surprised how high-waisted Boden's dresses appear to be. I'm long waisted, and those waistlines would be right at my bra band!

Anonymous

Good work, Ginger. I applaud your shopping sense. I especially like the black and the striped.

BJ1111 -- If you are interested, not all of the sale prices are final sale.

Anonymous

Yay to a new crop of dresses!

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

The dresses look terrific. As with Angie's post about Zara, imho there is nothing wrong with shopping the sales per se as long as you do it in a mindful way, which you clearly have done. It is not always the case that one very expensive thing is better than 5 less expensive things.

Ginger

Veteran

Hmm. That's really disappointing - four of five items are final sale. When I pull up the item pages now I see the banners, but I sure never saw them this morning. Final sale status wasn't marked in the shopping bag, at checkout, on the email confirmation, or in the order history. Sigh. So much for bargain shopping!

Liesbeth

Veteran

What a bummer. I've never heard of webstores doing final sales. Fingers crossed these work for you, they look great as picturef.

RainB

The dresses look lovely, hope they work out for you! I just ordered 5 dresses on sale as well

Anonymous

Ginger -- If they were NOT marked as final sale WHEN you bought them, they cannot be final sale items for you. Remember that should you decide to return any of them!!!!! You are still doing great bargain hunting.

Bijou

Veteran

Well as the Queen of Dresses, these are definitely going to get worn and will be superb on you. I am really hoping that the Anastasia fits because it is so lovely and the colours will be amazing on you.

Christina F.

Veteran

I think you would have seen the banners when you purchased. That said, things I've had in my cart have become final sale while sitting there, and my cart NEVER indicated it, which is extremely dishonest, to my mind. Next time they send me a survey, I'm going to complain. I am also disappointed in Boden doing final sale at all because they are a web store only in the US. They never did this crap before this year.

If I do final sale online, it's only because I've tried a different size that didn't work and know what size I do need, but that's rare!

Ginger, I hope your lovely items weren't final sale and that they all work for you, anyway.

missvee

Veteran

I agree with Sterling...unless your paperwork says final sale, then it’s not. Sales and promotions pop in and out all the time, especially for online shopping. It’s a nuisance.

Roberta

Veteran

I have at least ten Boden dresses bought over the years and they are as fresh as when I bought them. Their quality just cannot be beat, and I have never seen anyone else in them, so there's that. Check the invoice too - I have returned at least one Boden item this year that might have been final sale and they gave me a full refund. It was my mistake, but what are they going to do when it arrives in their warehouse, send it back to me?

And all of your choices are so pretty!

Ginger

Veteran

Thank you, everyone, for your consolation and encouragement! Particularly Sterling. I've been stewing about this for a day and a half, but my brother encouraged me as well to follow up. So I chatted in and explained the situation. Ross said that he would add a note that I could still return items if necessary because I was not aware they were final sale. HUGE relief! But I also asked how I was supposed to know. And he also confirmed that final sale items should show up in the Order History and in the email confirmation. They definitely do not! So it looks like I squeaked in this order just before my items did go on sale.

Moral of the story: Be careful about final sale items mixed in with the full sale list. But also save your emails and don't be afraid to contact people. And chat is awesome.

Back to hoping that these dresses work anyway!

Anonymous

I hope they work for you as well. Best wishes.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

This makes soooo much sense, Ginger. You have extremely long TX Summers and wear dresses and skirts daily. Milk it sister, and enjoy!

Christina F.

Veteran

I ordered some final sale stuff too (sizing down from something I have in hand that’s too big, so a calculated risk). NOTHING in the email says anything about Final Sale, but the item page did. Nor did it say so in my cart or when I checked out. I’m glad you explained your situation to them. If they think it’s obvious, it’s not.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Really hoping these work for you, Ginger!

Ginger

Veteran

Christina, the guy on chat actually told me that it would be called out on the email confirmation. So maybe they think it is, but it's not! That's not good. I'm not worried now that I have had that discussion, one way or another, but it looks like it actually is a real risk.

Anonymous

I always had their final sale items say ‘final clearance’ even back in 2015 ...
at least in the ones where they were soliciting shopping, maybe there’ a glitch now. I think in my experience it was always clearance stuff that’s final sale, rather than just sale items.

I hope they work, those dresses are great!

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Gigi

Veteran

Oooh, how fun to add more dresses to your wardrobe! I'm glad you were able to get them on sale...that just makes everything even better!

I'm glad that you got things worked out with Boden regarding whether the items were final sale. Retailers are so tricky. Some websites say in the fine print that anything that is marked down is final sale, but it's not marked next to the item price itself.

ropeball

I think they introduced the Final sale concept a few seasons ago. What I notice is that, for some of the items mark down further, and with an email that said extra 10% off for the weekend or when-ever, those are final sale for that pattern at that price. After the 'final sale' promo is over, it's back to the normal sale price (which is without the 10%). I notice that for my purchases, which I don't mind, as their item fits me really well, and I hardly do any returns with Boden. I can agree that it can be very confusing at first. When you click on a item, and on a particular pattern and the size you want, under price or quantity, it would indicate in like a banner whether it is final sale or not. That's how I look for it now.