What’s the one thing you miss whenever you shop online vs. in retail stores? For us, it’s the joy of trying out new clothes before buying. Today, we’ll look at Amazon Prime Wardrobe, a new service that puts the fitting room experience in online shopping.
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How does Amazon Prime Wardrobe Work?
Amazon’s Prime Wardrobe is the new “try it before you buy it” service for Amazon Prime members.
It gives shoppers the option to get clothing products on Amazon and try them out at home for seven days, without any upfront payment. Then they owe only for items that they want to keep after those seven days and don’t return.
Think of it as a trial period for clothes. The service itself is free, and even shipping and returns are free. So, it’s a great, no-strings-attached kind of thing. It’s applicable on select Amazon clothing and accessories for men, women, kids, and babies.
The process itself is easy, in the usual Amazon user-friendly way. For eligible items, you’ll see a “Prime Wardrobe” designation on the product page.
You also get an “Add to Prime Wardrobe Cart” button instead of the usual add-to-cart button. Click on this, and a separate Amazon Prime Wardrobe cart appears.
You need to add a minimum of three items in your Amazon Prime Wardrobe cart, up to a maximum of eight.
Upon checkout, it will specify that you don’t need to pay anything yet. Your order ships normally. It’s important to note that standard shipping applies – you can’t use two-day Prime shipping here, unfortunately. You also can’t have multiple Amazon Prime wardrobe boxes sent to you.
Once you got your box, you have seven days to try it out and see which ones you like. You can specify which of the items you intend to keep by accessing your Amazon account’s order page. After you’ve finalized your choice, just hit on “Checkout.” Anything not returned will automatically be charged.
Any items you wish to return must be shipped back using the original packaging within the seven days.
To their credit, Amazon makes returns easy, with a pre-attached seal that makes closing it up and sending it back hassle-free on your part. Amazon confirms the items they’ve received. If they match up with your returned orders, that’s it!
Luckily, Amazon doesn’t scrimp on reminders, so you have no excuse if you forgot to return those items, but if you DO forget, the items are still eligible for return under the Amazon Fashion 30-day policy. Yes, they’re nice like that.
The wonderful thing about this service is that it adds the fitting-room aspect that online stores lack. That way, you won’t be disappointed with a purchase that looked great online but isn’t fitting you well.
It also makes sizing-related returns an easier process—no refunds to wait on, no labels to print.
Types of Clothes Available
Products eligible for Amazon Prime Wardrobe include clothing, accessories, and jewelry in the men, women, babies, and kids’ categories. Note that not all products are available with this service. You need to look for the Prime Wardrobe designation to know if it’s eligible.
There are lots of items that you can use this with, but the best are those that are unforgiving with the fit. Things like bras, jeans, and any tight clothing require close to a perfect fit. If you’re unsure which size is for you, order two to three sizes of the same item with your Amazon Prime Wardrobe.
How does pricing work?
Amazon Prime Wardrobe is part of Prime membership at no extra cost. There’s also no added cost on the products themselves, nor are there shipping and return fees for items you don’t choose to keep. In other words, it’s free to use.
You can also extend Prime Wardrobe to other members of your family through the Amazon Household feature. For payment, Prime Wardrobe only works with credit card payments that have at least 90 days left before expiration.
Alternatives
Poshmark – A marketplace for used a new clothing, Poshmark also lets you build preferred styles into your search for clothes and accessories.
TheRealReal – Great marketplace for used high end clothing. The RealReal has a full verification process for all luxury items.
StitchFix – Great for curating clothing for you through a full style profile.
Pros
- It’s effortless – you don’t need to do anything extra. It works just like any typical Amazon transaction.
- It’s free – there’s no added fees or charges when you use this service, which makes it almost a no-brainer to use.
- You’ll get constant reminders – you’ll feel that Amazon truly wants you to try stuff out before buying. Their continuous reminder tells you that they’re not banking on you are forgetting so they can earn a lot more from you.
- You get to try on “critical fit” items. You get a chance to try out things that are unforgiving in terms of a great fit, such as bras and jeans.
Cons
- Only limited items come with it – not all items are eligible for the service yet, unfortunately.
- It’s doesn’t offer any real benefit over Amazon’s return policies – the outcome when you do it with their return policy vs. Amazon Prime Wardrobe is the same. For some people, the benefit is simply the psychological benefit of not paying it upfront.
- Some items occasionally get mixed in – which can get you charged if you’re not careful. Be sure to double-check your order with what you receive on arrival.
Overall, Amazon Prime Wardrobe is still an excellent service to use when you’re able to, even though the same thing can be achieved using their return policies. After all, it’s free, and you don’t have to do anything more to use it.
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