Last Updated on March 23, 2022 by
The answer to whether Shein is legit is subjective. Almost everyone loves shopping, especially for clothes, and nothing makes a consumer happy than getting the right fit with the best quality. These days there are many online clothing stores that consumers shop from. Some of them also have brick-and-mortar stores and are famous in some countries or globally. These online clothing stores are Alibaba, Woolworths, Gap, Macy’s, Shein, etc. This article will talk about Shein stores, and discuss whether the clothing store is legit.
What Is The History Of Shein Clothing Store?
Shein is a Chinese clothing store founded by Chris Xu in 2008, and it primarily sold wedding dresses. He is a Chinese national and studied at Washington University in the United States, specializing in search engine optimization.
Later it branched out and started to sell womenswear. Shein was initially known as SheInside, and its mission is to bring customers on-trend styles at affordable price points. Before Shein became a retail shop, it was a dropshipping business. The company got its products from a wholesale clothing market in Guangzhou, China, and it wasn’t involved in clothing and manufacturing.
Shein ensured its products were available in Spain, France, Russia, Italy, and Germany in 2010 and started selling cosmetics, shoes, purses, jewelry, and women’s clothing. In 2012, the company collaborated with many fashion bloggers for giveaways and advertising items on Facebook and Instagram.
Chris changed the name to Shein from SheInside in 2014, and in the same year, it acquired its supply chain. By 2016, the company had over eight hundred designers working for it, and by 2018 it planned to directly procure seventy-five percent of the supply chain, including dyeing and fabrics. Shein became popular with young shoppers after Tiktok launched in 2019.
Is Shein Legit?
It is subjective whether Shein is legit because many consumers have had different experiences. Shein is legit in terms of cheating and scamming. Although some cases state the opposite, it doesn’t do either to its consumers.
The quality of Shein’s clothing isn’t great. The brand takes popular, trendy, higher-end- items and makes a low-quality replica of them for a much lower price. A blouse at Shein will cost twelve dollars whereas the same blouse with better quality will cost seventy dollars at J. Crew.
Consumers prefer Shein because they don’t mind clothes at a lower price even if the quality isn’t good. After all, they know there will be the latest trendy options in the next season. Consumers don’t like to repeat seasonal clothes.
Initially, Shein consumers had to wait almost a month before getting their clothes as the company used to ship from China, but now it has a distribution plant in the United States. Its main warehouse is in China and Hong Kong, and it has many fulfillment centers globally. Consumers get their clothes at least within a week as the company takes two to four days of processing time. The company offers free shipping over a certain amount of shopping, but it will offer free shipping with no minimums once in a while.
8 Things To Know Before Ordering From Shein
Shein has many good deals that are too good to be true, and a few customers are happy with the clothing store; others are not. Read on to know if Shein is legit or is it a scam hidden by some good reviews.
Controversial Numbers
As much as Shein has great offers for its clothing and accessories, its rating is low. It has twenty-seven percent of its over thirty-one thousand ratings of five stars. However, it has thirty-five-star ratings that support the Shein controversy. Many consumers have had an issue with Shein.
Shein Refund Trouble
Shein offers a free return policy, but many consumers complain about an issue with the benefit. Shein has told many consumers that it will refund their money, but the refund doesn’t reflect in their accounts.
The website claims that it will take seven days to process the refund after receiving the package. Consumers are supposed to receive the refund in their Shein wallet or the original payment account, depending on the consumer’s request. The site also claims that the refund will take another additional three-five days to process due to the current situation.
It claims that the original shipping fee and insurance are non-refundable, and consumers should contact Shein Customer Care within one hundred and eighty days after order placement. Consumers have waited over three weeks for their refund, whereas some have received damaged goods, but the management doesn’t take any action.
Poor Quality Clothing
Shein is known for selling poor-quality clothes at a lower price. Shein manufactures replica clothing of other brands and uses cheap fabric. Some consumers complain that what they see on the website is different from what Shein delivers.
The fitting isn’t right, or the clothes have malfunctioned. Of course, this is subjective because some people don’t mind paying a minimal price for poor quality clothing as long as it will last them four to five washes, and they will shop for more clothes in the following season.
Customer Service
The company’s customer service is so poor. A few consumers complain that Shein claims the items have been dispatched and are with the courier service, yet the courier service hasn’t received anything.
When the consumers call customer service, they don’t help, which frustrates the consumer. Others try to return some clothes, but the site is always down.
Return Process
The website has a support and contact section that help with any order issues. The website claims that consumers should make returns forty-five days after the purchase date when it comes to returning. It will not accept any returns after forty-five days. On the first order return, shipment is free, and consumers must use the shipping label that Shein provides, then send back and postmark the package.
Suppose a consumer wants to return more items. In that case, they should do so within the forty-five days of purchase and can use the shipping label that Shein provides, pay eight dollars shipping fee, which Shein will deduct from the refund, or consumers can use their shipping method at their own cost.
Unfortunately, Shein doesn’t support this, and consumers face many issues when returning items and claim for a refund.
Social Media
Shein has over ten social media handles, where consumers can give feedback or seek help. But it looks like no one handles social media pages well because consumers do not get any replies. The company also doesn’t reply to e-mails on time.
Issues With Receiving Orders
When consumers place an order in any online store, they expect a delivery. But some consumers have bought clothes from Shein and have got no delivery. When they do a follow-up, there is no response from customer care, no response to e-mails, and the consumers lose out on their money.
Delivery Delays
Every online store has a timeframe for delivering bought goods to the consumer. At times, Shein delays delivery, and the customer care does not inform or does not have a logical explanation. Many consumers have been upset about these and prefer not to buy from Shein.
Also, there is no response from Shein’s customer care; it charges for the delivery fee, yet the website claims that it is free delivery and returns.
These days online shopping is the trend, as consumers get their products at a click of a few buttons and expect delivery. But when the company fails over thirty thousand consumers, no one replies to e-mails, customer service is so poor, and there is no support, then the company isn’t legit.
