been receiving loads of emails from readers although we're inactive at the moment.
here's one that we would like to share with u guys =)
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Dear Fashion Truth,
Before proceeding, I really wish to thank you in advance for helping me to post this message up. If, in the event that you find it irrelevant, do notify me in case you do not wish to have in on your blog. =)
I understand that it's really not easy being...you. Doing price comparisons are bound to ruffle a few feathers here and there, and sellers who cannot accept this will always try to justify, defend and offer explanations for their actions.
To sellers,
Price comparisons have exist since time immemorial. In world of competitive marketing, no one is exempted. Turn the pages of the newspapers, do you see how different brands compare their prices against competitors? That's is even more obvious, and for the whole nation to see.
So instead of emailing the webmistresses with harassing or demanding requests, I suggest that you revise your marketing strategy. Perhaps you can endeavor to stand out from other blogshops offering the same dress. For example, offer dresses that are not seen in other blogshops. You can do this buy not buying from the same supplier that supplies clothes to every Tom, Dick and Harry shop out there. If you've been in the business for some time, I'm sure you can roughly guess which blogshop orders from which supplier...I mean, for example, the denim ruffled skirt with zipper is seen everywhere.
Another method is: Learn from the Singaporean blogshops. Have you seen Bonitochico? Lyla Rose? Agneselle? I am frankly amazed at the clothes they offer to their customers. Though they claim that their clothes are handpicked from overseas (Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand), which roughly translates into the same suppliers most Malaysian blogshop owners rely on, how is it that their clothes are so much better in terms of design and quality? You wouldn't see many Sg Wang-ish kimonos in those shops, or clinchers that can be bought from the Taman Connaught pasar malam.
The best part is, some of them even manufacture their own clothes.
The bottomline is, instead of complaining, please do channel your ideas towards improving your blogshops. If your design is unique, your customer service is good, I see no reason why girls like myself should fuss about higher prices.
Cheers, and all the best to you!
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from FT :
will provide a more detailed update soon.
thanks!
thank u all so much for all your encouragement and support.
we've received numerous mails about asking us not to shut down, and we're so so happy to have such awesome readers. we dont really refer our readers as "loyal", because we think that u are all more than loyal. u all are understanding and supportive. we're really touched by all these.
anyway, we MIGHT reconsider ok. MIGHT only, dont keep your hopes too high. If we do not close down, there will be serious revamping of how the site works. meanwhile, we're in the middle of exams, so please be patient with us! we wont be updating/reconsidering/replying emails for the next couple of days or so.
thank u all so much once again. =)
Dear Readers,
As u all notice, we have not been updating for the past few days, almost a week, perhaps. I'm Tania. That's my name. Writing on behalf of my partner, Mandy. The two of us are the ones that started FT few months back. Initially it was just for the fun of it. We both are online shopping lovers, and like all shoppers out there, we want to get the best bargains out there. But not every shopping experience is pleasant and memorable, we have met a few notsopolite sellers as well too. Those sellers certainly discouraged us to continue online shopping. Anyway, here's just a brief introduction about us. We figured that most people want to at least know our names.
Here's the main reason why we are writing this.
We have unanimously agreed to close down this blog. It has been a bumpy ride, the past few months since FT started. There are a few reasons to this. We would like to share with you, readers, the things that we have been facing. It's really not an easy job to maintain this website. it has taken much more effort and time than expected.
1. We are both University students. And we have our duties as a student to be fulfilled as well. Maintaining this website has caused a fair bit of distraction on our studies. We have largely cut down on online shopping as well. Previously when the blog started, we online shop a lot. Without fail, we would go through the list of blogshops that updated, that is how we can spot the difference in price. But right now, we barely have time to do that. How are we supposed to discover the Price Alternatives? Adding to this point, few of our latest online shopping purchases have been disappointing. The clothes either dont fit well, or made out of quality lower than expected. We both agreed that we will stop online shopping for some time. It's sales in Malaysia right now, we have decided to purchase our stuff from retail outlets instead. At least satisfaction can be guaranteed.
2. Here's a couple of scenarios that put us (FT) in dilemma.
- sellers who claim that the stories sent in by readers are not true. but the readers said it's true. In this situation, either one party is lying. But which party? The reader might be the one making up stories in effort to bring down the blogshop's name, or it can be the blogshop owner, refusing to admit to the truth and clarified based on what has happened. And for us, FT, we dont know who to believe. In cases like this (well, it didn't happen a lot), we usually do not post the email up. BUT even if we dont post the email up, there's another problem. The reader will come condemning us, saying that we're bias and such. It's seriously not an easy job.
- some sellers are highly demanding. Their emails are all in capital letters. Blaming us for this that this that. Saying that it's unfair to put up sold out items as part of the Alternatives section. They even force us to take it down. What can we do? argue with them?
- we do not post up alternatives entries the moment we receive them from readers. We're not that free to check our mails every few hours. Because of this, readers said that we're being bias and even scolded us saying that what's the point of posting up alternatives if we take so long to post them up? the relevant item will be sold out by then. (in actual fact, we believe that items that were featured in Alternatives were sold out more quickly. we have received a couple of feedbacks regarding this)
- Sellers who have a good command in english will come and bombard us with "facts about life" stating we shouldn't do this and that.
- many people have said that this site those not speak the "TRUTH" and since we're named Fashion Truth, we should be speaking the truth. Well, what is written in this blog is no lies. As for the name for this blog, it was created for the fun of it. We have no idea it will be this popular either. If u noticed, we do not refer ourselves as fashion truth, but merely as FT.
- sellers who aren't happy about the alternatives will email us saying that we didn't find out the truth and so on, giving reasons such as the piece that was in the Alternatives section is actually sold at a much lower price (that is why we incorporated Reason 3 in the sidebar)
3. As mentioned above, we are merely students. There are sellers who have parents that are lawyers. Friends that are lawyers. I dont think it's appropriate to use the word "threaten", but the words they used is as if if we write (fake/real) things about them (reader's stories), they can sue us for whatever whatever. And then, there will be another party who would say that there's a lot of 'grey area' in terms of cyber law. And even compared us to Malaysia Kini, the online blog. So who do we believe? Both sides are right, to a certain extend. And we wont know who will win till the day there's a court case. Of course we DONT want that to happen.! And the stress that we have to face after receiving emails like this, it's unbearable. The sellers (mostly) are pressuring us with legal cases and all sorts, while the readers/buyers on the other hand are pressuring us saying that we are bias and so forth. Try being us, it's no easy job. The amount of sleepless nights we have to think of ways to settle these people. We dont want to create trouble. That's all.
the above pretty much explains to what has happened to certain posts that has been removed, or why certain emails are not posted up.
We're not blaming any party for all these. But we sure hope that u, the readers, will understand our position.
Most likely, we'll be maintaining the CBOX. We found out that many have made good use of the cbox. But if we continue the CBox, high chance we will be privatising this blog. We do not want too many people condemning us for having a cbox that allows people to say whatever they want. (that's another headache!). thus, to those who would want to be invited to read this blog (just the cbox), kindly email us your GMAIL address. still unsure about this plan.
Lastly, thank u all very much for your support throughout the past few months. We did receive many emails from readers giving us their support, and we're most delighted to receive such emails. Thanks to those readers who have been standing on our side when others criticize or spread rumours about us. Thank you sellers who have cooperated and shared your thoughts and opinions with us. Thank u all for understanding.
FASHION SPY!!!
this is what it's all about...
3K BAZAAR is just around the corner.
we bet most of you are already more than familiar with these two posters.
but we want u, FT readers, to do is...
be a spy for us!
more than 50 vendors will be participating in this event.
and this is the perfect opportunity for u all to get to know them, get 1-hand experience of their customer service, see whether they're friendly or not, observe how they treat customers, watch their manners and the way they carry themselves..
so after all these, all readers are welcome to EMAIL US their feedback on the eshop owners that u've visited. whether it's positive or negative comments. we'll gather all your emails together and post it up at one go (of course, after seeking clarification - if needed- from the respective eshop owners).
sometimes u may not know how a particular eshop owner is like until u really talk to them and interact with them. this is the time where u can do all that and also tell the world what u like and what u dont like about them.
also for sellers, do take this positively =) guess through this, all sellers will be on their "best behaviours"? who knows.
--- thus, send in your emails!!
thank u and hope everyone participates!!
Dear fellow Blogshop Owners,
we just came up with our Link Button
(many thanks to 1babeshop for her assistance),
we hope that you would all link us up!
here it is:
We received an email by a seller who wanted to bring this issue to the public, hoping this scam. do read on the following. this is especially important for sellers that are conducting pre-orders.
Some readers already know this, but some do not.
Well, we have compiled a list of reasons as to why prices on identical items may be differ.
1. Some sellers want to earn a higher profit margin, some sellers settle for lower profits.
2. Some sellers include COD charges & postage charges into their listed price.
3. Some sellers state a higher price just to allow some space for customers to negotiate the price. do remember that different buyers may get the same item from the same blogshop at different prices also.
4. Some sellers hire models to model their clothings, some sellers also do seek professional help to do up their blogpage layout. Some sellers include their petrol prices, time & other expenses into their selling price.
5. Some sellers have an 'offline boutique'. They operate both their online & offline boutique.
6. Occasionally, some sellers import their items from overseas, that is because they did not know that the same item can be bought locally at a much lower price.
7. Some sellers are located out-of-KL, which may explain why their prices may differ compared to the sellers based in KL.
8. Some sellers do get cheated by the supplier too. Different suppliers charge at different price. Also, some sellers may buy the same item in bigger bulk, which they may get it at a lower price.'
[this list will be updated from time to time. do email us at fashion.truth@gmail.com if we miss out any reasons!]
What is FT?
FT us like a neutral mediator where both buyers & sellers can hear each other's side to a story. Readers, whether buyer/seller are welcome to send in their emails regarding their online shopping experience.
What does FT do?
True to our name, FT endeavours to bring out the truth about e-shopping by being the middle ground for grouses. In doing so, we hope to push for better quality service as well as better customer appreciation. Our efforts include comparing pricing, discuss buyer-seller ethics, highlighting praise-worthy services, sharing positive & negative experiences.
How does FT work?
1. Customers are welcome to send in emails regarding their good & bad experiences in online shopping. Should the need arises, these emails will be moderated.
2. Regarding emails that contain negative feedback on a particular blogshop, this email would be forwarded to the blogshop owner (but it will remained as anonymous) and the owner will be given 4 days to send us a mail to clarify the matter. Should the owner fail to respond within the given amount of time, the mail will be published on the website.
3. Alternatives - this is a section where different prices of the same/identical/similar goods will be posted up. We will only publish items which have a price differences of RM6 and above (this applies for clothes/tops/bottoms), whereas price differences of RM4 and above for clinchers/accessories).Pre-order items & wholesaler prices will not be included in this section. do note that the prices which are stated are the listed price on the blogshops.
By publishing an email does not indicate that we support any allegations contained within. We also reserve the right to remove any post due to confidential reasons that shall not be revealed. As for blogshop owners who mind us posting up their pictures, do drop us a mail and let us know about it.
REASONS AS TO WHY PRICES OF THE SAME ITEM MAY DIFFER
Some readers already know this, but some do not.
Well, we have compiled a list of reasons as to why prices on identical items may be differ.
1. Some sellers want to earn a higher profit margin, some sellers settle for lower profits
2. Some sellers include COD charges & postage charges into their listed price.
3. Some sellers state a higher price just to allow some space for customers to negotiate the price. do remember that different buyers may get the same item from the same blogshop at different prices also.
4. Some sellers hire models to model their clothings, some sellers also do seek professional help to do up their blogpage layout. Some sellers include their petrol prices, time & other expenses into their selling price.
5. Some sellers have an 'offline boutique'. They operate both their online & offline boutique.
6. Occasionally, some sellers import their items from overseas, that is because they did not know that the same item can be bought locally at a much lower price.
7. Some sellers are located out-of-KL, which may explain why their prices may differ compared to the sellers based in KL.
8. Some sellers do get cheated by the supplier too. Different suppliers charge at different price. Also, some sellers may buy the same item in bigger bulk, which they may get it at a lower price.'
[this list will be updated from time to time. do email us at fashion.truth@gmail.com if we miss out any reasons!]
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