If you don't know what Schoola is, it's a site that sells preowned clothing. The thing I loved about Schoola was that it donated 40% (or so I thought) of the proceeds to schools across America. I also liked that you could get credits through referring friends and they would get credits as well. I was obsessed with Schoola at first, I placed tons of orders and spent tons of money. I love thrift shopping and thrift shopping from home was even better.
But then Schoola started making changes, at first I was onboard with the changes, it wasn't a big deal to me, companies change as they get bigger.
Well then they started raising the prices on items, some items you could literally get brand new for the price they were asking, and yes I know they donate a percentage to schools but people that typically thrift shop don't have that kind of money to spend on a preowned item, but I stayed on Schoola and just decided not to purchase overpriced items, I figured I could still enjoy Schoola.
Then I started getting flawed items, I know Schoola advertises some items as "blemished" but these were items not marked as "blemished" and they flaws were huge. Stains, holes, etc. Of course I notified Schoola and they refunded my money but it's still a let down, ordering something you want, only to get it, and it has to be thrown out.
I received one order that two high priced items came in completely faded and one had bleach stains so I contacted Schoola and sent them photos, they refunded my money in credits because half of my order was with paid credits and everything seemed okay until I got an email from Schoola about a promotion, so I went to check out the sale, I had $37 in credits so I figured I could get some good deals, wrong. I actually went through their page and added a few items in my cart but when I went to check out I noticed my credits weren't showing up, so I went to the referral/credits page and saw that all my credits "expired". Schoola never told me that credits expire, they never did before so I had no idea. I decided to email Schoola, asking when this started and if they could refund the credits since they never let me know about this change and the customer service woman was rude. She told me no and that I should have known and they will not refund the money because they are trying to raise money for schools. So I was pretty much done with Schoola at this point. I wrote a simple email asking about why my credits disappeared and the representative was not professional in her reply.
Then I started to do some research and found a lot of people have had horrible experiences with Schoola, mostly the schools donating to them, you can find complaints here ; https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/www.schoola.com
I also realized Schoola is lying about how much money that's getting donated, they claim on their page that 40% of your purchase will be donated to schoola
but if you add items and look in your cart it shows the amount being donated and it's clearly not 40% even before shipping.
So I went on Schoola to delete my account but the sites FAQs state that you can't delete your account, you can just quit using it and make it "inactive" so that's what I'll be doing.
Have you been having problems with Schoola? If so tell your story below?
Or do you love Schoola? If so, why, share your story below?
I've used Swagbucks off and on for a few years, but I quit awhile back because I didn't have the time to deal with. I decided to start up again to earn giftcards to purchase items for my house and gifts. I love that its free money, all you have to do is do some offers, play some games, or answer some surveys. I've gotten plenty of giftcards in the past and I recently just ordered a $25 ebay card, I'm just waiting for them to email me my code. I recommend Swagbucks to anyone that has free time on their hands and doesn't care to complete a few tasks to earn some free cash.
Let's talk about what kind of gift cards you can get. They have Paypal, Ebay, Amazon, Xbox, Walmart, Target, and more. The amounts differ from $3-$500. I normally go for the $25 ones, your first one every month is only 2,200 points instead of the usual 2,500.
Now let's move on to the offers there is discover, games, videos, surveys, polls, and more. I'm going to post a daily list of things I like to do to get my points up fast. I do more on days I have more time but I try to at least do these tasks daily.
1. Daily Poll ; the daily poll is only worth 1 sbs but it's literally one question.
2. Games ; I always play 20 (free) games to get 10 sbs, you don't have to get a high score. You get 2 sbs for every other game but can only get a maximum of 10 per day. I always play "Swag Jump" or "Swag Run". S
3. nGage ; on the home page you will see an offer that says nGage, you'll get 3 sbs for completing this offer. Personally I do this a few times per day, normally while I'm browsing online, I'll click this offer and randomly switch between screens to click on the " Next Page" button on the nGage screen. You can earn quite a few swagbucks with this offer.
4. Watch ; watching videos is also a great way to earn swagbucks, if you're going to be home you can always click on a playlist and then do things that need to be done while you wait for the playlist to end. I also have the watch tab up while I'm playing online, every so often I go check to see if the video has been "watched" long enough then I'll click on the next video to speed up the process.
5. Search ; I don't normally use this option but I try to search at least twice a day, I just search random things, sometimes you'll get swagbucks.
6. Daily Goal ; another thing I like to do is get the daily swagbucks goal, you get extra swagbucks from getting it plus at the end of the month you'll get more free swagbucks, I wasn't active a lot this month but I still earned 72 extra swagbucks.
I just got a package from Target, this is my first time ordering from Target so I didn't know what to expect. I can not explain the excitement I had to open this package, to get my gorgeous Threshold Lamp. I have stalked this lamp for months, hoping for a sale within my price range and it happened one night, I couldn't sleep and was browsing online for décor and I decided to price check a few items, the lamp was on sale for $24.99, the cheapest I'd seen it for was $29.99 so I decided to order it and I was so happy because it went off sale the next day.
The FedEx guy knocked on the door and left the package, all seemed well. I brought the package in and noticed it seemed rather large to be just a lamp but I figured it was just great packaging, boy was I wrong.
I opened the package and the packaging was horrible, no manufacturer box, barely any bubble wrap and some air bags that didn't even fill the entire box so the lamp could easily bump around. I pulled the lamp out and noticed it was hanging weird, but I figured I just needed to adjust it but again I was wrong. After taking the bubble wrap off of the lamp shade I noticed a huge crack around the post, it broke completely in half, I'll also mention that the lamp had scratches all over the black parts, I honestly could have lived with that but you'd think they would ship it in more protection. I was livid about the packaging, this could have been avoided, there was so many more ways this could have been packaged with protection so that I wouldn't get a broken lamp.
I dread customer service, I hate talking on the phone and emailing is too slow. I thought about emailing them but then decided calling would be better, its faster and I could just get it over with. So I took a few deep breathes to calm down, told myself to remember the person that answers the phone did not package/ship this order, it's not their fault. I called customer service and the call was connected pretty fast. The representative was very nice and asked what the problem was and even asked about the shipping/packaging. I explained everything to her and she was quick to come up with a solution. She ordered me a replacement and told there would be no extra charges and just to throw the other lamp out since it was completely broken. Now I'm waiting on the replacement. I was amazed at how well the representative took care of the problem, she left feedback to Target about the shipping and packaging and she apologized for the inconvenience and wished me a happy morning.
So this horror story was quickly resolved with a great customer care service. I'll add an update to this review once I receive my replacement, fingers crossed that this lamp is packaged well.
UPDATE :
My replacement lamp came in, this time they shipped through UPS instead of FedEx but I don't really think that mattered, I think it had to do with the packaging. This time it came in a smaller box with more air bags but no bubble wrap, but it was not broken so can I really complain? There was a few light scratches and a very tiny dent around the lamp shade but it's not too noticeable. For some reason it doesn't go as high as the picture shows, so it's not that good of a lamp in my opinion. For looks its nice. I placed it on some books to make it go a little bit above my pc.
My step dad also tried gluing the other lamp back together and after awhile he succeeded but it's still fragile so I use it just for looks but for comparison here it is on my desk with no books. I guess he glued it in the wrong the place because it's much higher than the new one.
I've decided to start a series of Mercari horror stories from my personal experiences. But let it be known after these experiences I still buy / sell on Mercari because it a source of income for me and I still find amazing deals. So I can not blame Mercari on my misfortune as I've continued to buy/sell on there and I know there are problems on all selling platforms. Along the way I've learned my lesson with each horrible experience.
So this happens to be the WORST purchase I've ever made on Mercari. I bought a laptop, before purchasing it I asked the seller if there was any issues, etc. Most of my questions focused on overheating because my previous laptop crashed due to over heating. The seller assured me that it didn't overheat and it was in great condition. So I placed my order and waited to receive my almost new laptop. Before I even got the laptop the seller started telling me to rate her, when it comes to electronics I like to check them out for a few hours before I leave a rating so I told her I would leave a rating as soon as I got the laptop and checked it out. When I received it everything seemed fine, it was packaged well but I had to charge it before I could check it out. The first red flag I noticed was the serial number was scratched off, making me wonder if it was a stolen laptop, this seller was selling a lot of laptops but I figured they owned a laptop store or something, but I pushed the issue to the side and started charging the laptop. After awhile I went to turn the laptop, it had been restored and everything was going great but within minutes it started overheating, I couldn't even use it for 30 minutes because it was so hot that I had to turn it off. I contacted the seller and was immediately attacked with messages. She called me a liar and scammer. She immediately started making new listings on Mercari saying me and another buyer was trying to scam her, although I told her I just wanted to return the laptop for a refund via Mercari since she lied about the condition. The other buyer was also complaining about the condition and serial number being removed as well for the pc she bought, so I knew it wasn't just me. Since the seller was cussing at me and calling me names I just contacted Mercari and didn't reply to the seller at all. I sent Mercari pictures of everything they asked for included screen shots of the sellers messages and listing but in the end they said no to my return request because they couldn't see the laptop overheating. I was livid obviously you can't see a laptop overheating and I felt that Mercari should have protected me more as the buyer. I decided to delete all my listings and I stopped buying on Mercari for a few months. But I decided to start selling on Mercari again to make money.
Lesson learned ; Don't make huge purchases on Mercari, I lost a lot of money, the laptop ended up crashing a few months later. I no longer spend a lot of money on Mercari and I don't purchase electronics, it's not worth the risk. If something happens that's not "visible" I will be out of the money.
Are you not making any sales on Poshmark or are you thinking about selling on Posh and you're not sure how to make sales? Well fear not because I have a couple tips/tricks to help you out.
A short review ; I've been selling on Poshmark for around 2 years and I've earned a total of $1,159, it doesn't seem like a lot but I also sell on other selling platforms and when I first started selling on Poshmark I only listed a few items and I let them sit, I didn't know how to help myself gain more sales but over the years I've picked up on some tricks and some sales. I'm very happy with Poshmark as it's simple to use and they have a friendly customer base. (I also sell on Mercari, see my review here)
Now Posh has a pretty simple set up so I'll be giving you tip for each progress of listing/selling your items.
Listing your items ;
The very first most important thing is taking good photos. Especially with the cover shot because that's the first thing the buyer sees. I have a little process for my photos and I've changed it up over time. I will add in some photos from my personal page for example and add tips.
So when I first started selling on Poshmark I started out with collage photos. Some were cute, other not so much. I do not recommend this, you want to post many photos of your item but you don't want them all together, these photos would have been fine separated and added to a listing. Also notice not all of the item is in the photo, that's okay but you do need to have at least one photo with the full item.
After awhile I started posting more photos but randomally, this only I posted a modeled photo and a close up of any flaws which is something to keep in mind, if your item has a flaw, add photos AND mention it in the description. You don't want an unhappy buyer returning an item because you failed to mention the condition.
Cover Shots - Make sure your cover shot is something catchy, here are a few examples of my cover shot
I've used photos from google search which is great because the buyer can see the item modeled or maybe they've seen the exact photo on tumblr or pinterest.
I've also used photos of items laying on a solid blanket and of the item hung up on the wall, these are nice because they are simple backgrounds that help bring the eye to the item you are selling.
I've also used model pics, of me wearing the item to show how it fits.
These are all pretty good cover shots to draw a buyer in. Notice some of my photos are edited, I mess with the lighting/contrast because I personally like the aesthetic, this is optional but always mention it in the description with something like *please note that the cover photo has been edited so the color is different, please see other photos for better lighting and note that color might appear different on different screens/etc.
I now take a photo of the item on mannequin (tops/dresses/skirts/scarves) or hanging on a wall. I also like to keep the area around my mannequin cute and basic. Here is an example ;
You see the full item and it's not too busy of a photo but it does catch the eye fast.
So basically have the full item in the picture, get a nice cover shot to draw buyers in and always mention any flaws.
Now on to the title and description, for the title you want to include as much info as possible. Here are a few examples ;
For these Lululemon pants the title is "Lululemon | Bust a Move Pant" for brands like Lululemon if you know the name of item, always include it in the title because some people are looking for specific items.
Another great example is this sweater, the title is "Peter Pan Collar Maroon Sweater" which describes this sweater pretty well, another word I could have added next to Maroon would be Burgundy if there was room.
Now on to the description, I personally like to have a copy and paste note saved in my phone that I post on every listing it used to be ;
🚫 No Trades 🚫
📦 Fast Shipping 📦
💵 Open to Offers 💵
💕 Willing to Bundle 💕
then it went to ;
➵ Price is Firm
➵ Pet free home
➵ Not a smoke free home
➵ Ask questions before purchasing
now it's at ;
➵ Pet free home
➵ Smoke free home
➵ Ask questions before purchasing
So notes from these three different descriptions would be ; if you are from a smoking home, put it in the description, I personally don't smoke but I lived in a home where there was smokers and got complaints of the smell, I never noticed the smell because I was constantly around smokers, then I got my own apartment which I don't allow smoking in and when a family member comes over that smokes, I automatically notice the smell. So even if you don't smoke, but there is a smoker in the house, mention it. Now that I'm in a new apartment I like to put "Smoke free home" to let buyers know they won't have to worry about the smell, it also helps get more buyers, especially people with asthma who can't be around smoke. Also mention if it's a pet free home or dog / cat friendly home because of pet hair. You can always say something like "Cat friendly house which may result in some cat hair but I wash all items before shipping" this helps buyers that are allergic know they can't buy from you or they can risk it but they know what to expect. You don't want someone buying something and having an allergic reaction. I sometimes add "open to offers" on my listings but people make offers most of the time anyways so it's not really needed. You could also add "fast shipping" if you ship within 1-2 days. Another thing is to add whether you do bundles or not, although Posh now has a bundle feature some buyers still like for people to list a bundle listing.
More great things to include in descriptions is size, fit, and flaws. Here is a great examples of a good description.
I've added the brand, size, measurements, and a brief description. A big tip when listing pants is adding the waist and inseam, because most people will ask about it and it helps buyers better with sizing, especially since all jeans fit different. I also like to include a photo showing how to get the waist/inseam measurements because some people don't know what the measurements are and I personally know how that feels, I always got so confused when people asked for the inseam but after a quick google search I found out.
More tips for the description that they ask ;
Always select the right answer for each item, it helps people when searching.
Always select the color(s) of the item, incase someone search for "blue sweater" yours just might pop up. For the original price, if you forgot it don't worry either put a similar price or just put a 0.
A really nice thing about Posh is they show you how much you will earn after the item has sold.
What to do after you've created your listings ;
Have you listed all your items and you're not getting any likes or making any sales? Well here are some tips to help afterwards.
1. Share your listings; This helps take your item back to the top of the brand page. I like to share my items whenever I'm bored, instead of stalking facebook or Instagram I like to share listings. This also helps all your sold listings to stay at the bottom of the page, so that new customers can go through your listings and not have to see random sold items because after a few sold items they will just assume everything else is sold.
2. Share other peoples listings ; Most people do share for share which means if you go share 3 of their items they will probably share 3 of yours. (not everyone does this) I personally make sure to share other peoples listings when they've shared mine. Also look for pages with more followers when they share your listing it will be to a bigger audience.
3. Share to social media ; Mainly Pinterest, when I'm looking up stuff on Pinterest I always see Posh listings so I tend to share mine a lot because you never know who is looking up outfit ideas and notice your item and boom new customer. Just create a board called Poshmark or Poshmark Finds, etc.
4. Share to parties ; I know you're probably thinking, I get it, share all listings everywhere but it really does help. If you see a party is happening, share as many listings as you can, as often as you can because it really does help, you'll notice after sharing listings to a party, other people will share your listings.
Do you have any tips or tricks of your own? Comment them down below!
Also let me know if this helped you any? And should I do another post on selling on other platforms like ebay or mercari?
If you're new to Poshmark, feel free to use my invite code BMSYH for a free $5 credit when sigining up for Poshmark via the app.
Old video I posted about Poshmark ;
Thanks so much for reading. I hope you've enjoyed this post and got some tips to help you make some sales.
Another Influenster Voxbox Review, I seriously go months without a voxbox then out of the blue I'll get a few, they normally come in twos and I love it! It's like getting a huge surprise in the mail. With these last two voxboxs, its really gotten me back into Influenster, I admit I slacked off for a few months, where I moved around quite a bit plus I gave up because I stopped getting snaps/surveys for boxes but now that I'm back and I've seen all the amazing updates, I'm hooked. I have the app and I browse on it whenever I'm bored, reading reviews, asking questions, and answering questions. Now on to this voxbox.
I got three full sized St Ives items.
1. Even & Bright Pink Lemon & Mandarin Exfoliating Body Wash which smells amazing, the day I got it I decided to have a pamper night, I took a bubble bath and used all three products. This body was is great, I give it 5/5 stars because it just smells so freaking good and it made my skin feel so soft.
2. Nourished & Smooth Oatmeal Scrub + Mask this smells good, not as good as the body was but still good. I was pretty excited to try this because my skin is soo dry and flaky and I'm really loving this! I put it on as a mask while I took a bath and it left my face feeling amazing! I now use it every other day as a mask because I feel its better that way. I also give this product a 5/5 stars.
3. Refresh & Revive Pear Nectar & Soy Body Lotion doesn't really sit well with me and its because I'm not a fan of the pear smell. Other than that, this product is good, it left me skin soft and refreshed. I did use it a few times and then gave it to my mom because she loves the scent and needed a good lotion. I give this a 4.5/5 stars and that's because I personally didn't like the smell but it works well and I would purchase it in another scent.
That pretty much sums it up for the St Ives items.
It's time for another haul, I don't always post hauls because I'm either too busy or I don't purchase enough items to make a post, or I forget. But I've made a few good purchases recently so I figured a haul is due!
- Hollister Poncho/Cardigan in a beautiful tribal print.
- Steve Madden black combat boots (which I have been dying to get ever since I got my brown ones, which I also got from Thredup!)
- Hollister Floral dress which will look amazing with some tights, a cardigan, and boots.
- Rare Brandy Melville jada dress in a gorgeous cream/beige floral print.
- Rare Brandy Melville purple bohemian printed jada dress.
- Brandy Melville finn cardigan, the shorter sleeve version.
- Brandy Melville pink and white sammie shirt.
The best part was I won this cardigan/poncho on Thredup's Facebook! Every Tuesday they have a #TuesdayFinds game where you comment with the link of an item that is below $25 and why you love it and they choose a winner!
So in the end my Thredup order came out to... $24! That's between 2 separate orders, meaning separate shipping as well! I am so excited to get all my lovely items! I got these with credits that I earned by referring people, that's how the price was so low! Now if you're interested in joining Thredup, here is a link to give you a free $20 credit! http://www.thredup.com/r/EKO8JR You can also look around on Retailmenot.com for coupon codes to save even more! Thredup has great prices!
Now on to my Schoola orders, I've placed a few because Schoola items sell fast and only stay in your cart for 10 minutes but they normally have Free Shipping, so it wasn't a problem for me, although I do wish they would ship the items together.
- We the Free by Free People Coat (This is sherpa lined and so warm!)
- 7 of All Mankind Jeans
- Rare Brandy Melville Sweater
- Madewell Jeans
All the items I got from Schoola was FREE! I got them from referral credits and by using the coupon codes they offer, they offer lots of coupon codes though out the week. If you want to Join Schoola, use this link for a free $20 credit, https://www.schoola.com/stitch?ref=cp-3X1oqmB64 then make a collection for another $10 credit! After that search for any promo codes to get a better discount! If you're reading this today ( Wednesday, January 13) try the code HERO for 50% off, that's $60 worth of free clothes!
I also got this adorable Cooperative from Urban Outfitters cardigan, I fell in love with the adorable fox print and had to have it! No special sales on this, but it was too adorable to pass up!
Another item I got was some Nike slides to wear around the house.
KISS Lashes False Eyelashes in Posh and Adhesive Glue with Aloe in Black
I recently got to try out some Kiss Lashes and Kiss Adhesive thanks to Influenster. If you want to check influenster out, see the bottom of this post for more info.
As you can see me and these lashes didn't get along. The right one was a little hard to get on but nothing compared to the left lashes. The Adhesive Glue comes out in clumps and is very hard to work with. I've included some photos to show how these lashes looked after I tried them on. The photo above shows me wearing the lashes.
As you can see in this photo, I barely squeezed the tube and out came a glob. This adhesive might work better if you put it on a flat surface, but since I only had one pair of lashes and the adhesive messed up the actual lashes I couldn't try it again.
Another thing I did not like about the adhesive is that its black, in theory this seems great but in reality the black smeared all over my eye when I was trying to get them on, messing up my makeup.
Would I recommend these lashes to someone else?
Yes, they are very affordable and for someone that applies lashes regularly, I'm sure it would be much easier.
Would I recommend the adhesive to someone else?
No, its too messy. I want to be able to just put the lashes on and go, not have to redo my make up or removed black adhesive from my eyes/face.
DISCLAIMER ; Influnster sent me this box of items for free in return for my own honest opinion.
I decided to create another post for ThredUp since I got my largest order today. I will add an update on this post when I receive the rest of my orders. I was super excited when I saw that tracking said my package was out for delivery and as soon as I saw the mailman I rushed outside to get it.
Here is a short video I put together of me un-boxing the items.
Now on to the review.
I loved everything I got. Everything was in great condition and I can't wait to wear everything. I can't even decide which item is my favorite because I was pretty excited for it all. I loved the packaging they use and I'll probably keep the box for storing craft items or something. Shipping did take awhile but wasn't too bad, I have noticed the packages stay at the post office for an entire day which is odd but I'm just glad I got such good deals.
I will definately purchase from ThredUp again, I actually have a few ThredUp pages bookmarked on my computer and a few items in my cart on there. I do recommend you check ThredUp out if you're on a budget and love fashion. They sell womens, juniors, and kids clothing and shoes. Everything I've gotten so far has been in excellent pre-owned condition and the prices are amazing. So far the only thing I don't like is that they don't offer promotions for returning customers besides the 20% off $75 which is out of my budget. Other than that, I love the site.
Join with my link and get a $10 credit to spend on your first order; http://www.thredup.com/r/A1X3OQ
