Weddingbee Blog

Update: I just found an invitation link on my account so I don’t have to send out individual emails.  Just go to http://www.gilt.com/invite/beekim and you can set up your account right now.

Happy Shopping — You’ll see me on the site at noon checking Vera and Botkier!

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Many-a-bee has blogged about Gilt Group before me.  I’m sure you’ve already heard of it, but in case you haven’t, it’s an online sample sale site that sells top designer brands like Marc Jacobs, Zac Posen, Vera Wang, J Brand, Seven, Marchesa… at up to 70% off (and even more during their final sales)!  I’ve seen things I’ve purchased off Gilt Group sell for much more on sites like Bluefly and in stand alone boutiques, and that makes me happy.

Yesterday a friend of mine was trying to purchase something off Gilt, but her size sold out by the time she’d made a decision on what she wanted.  Because it’s such an awesome place to buy heavily discounted designer clothing, shoes, handbags, and jewelry for bridal showers, bachelorette parties, rehearsal dinners… I thought I’d share my Gilt Group strategy.

Their sales start at 12pm EST and only last a day.  Gilt Group sends out an email just past noon about the day’s sales, but if you click on over any time after 12, the most popular items will already be sold out.

(one of today’s featured sales was Missoni)

You can’t see the sale items before they’re posted to the website at noon, but you can see which designers will be featured ahead of time.  For example, here are the upcoming sales for the rest of this week:

So here are my Gilt Group tips:

1. If there’s a designer you’re interested in, click over to the site at 11:59 am and start clicking refresh!
2. When the sale appears, put anything you might want to buy in your shopping cart.  Within 2 minutes, I kid you not, the most popular styles and sizes will already be sold out.
3. If an item you want is in someone else’s shopping cart, don’t bother with the “email me if this item becomes available” link.  I’ve tried it and have never received an email.  Keep checking if you can put it in your shopping cart — it may take up to ten minutes because items can be held in someone’s cart for up to that long.  The item usually becomes available and you can purchase it!

All items are returnable for store credit, so you’re not stuck with something that doesn’t fit or look right.

I used to casually click over to Gilt Group when I got the daily email and if a designer interested me, but I was never able to purchase anything I wanted until I adopted the strategy above.  Hard core, I know, but when it comes to sales on designer clothes, it’s a bee eat bee world.

Gilt Group is an invitation only site, so you can use this link to set up your account: http://www.gilt.com/invite/beekim

There are tons of invitation only sample sale sites out there now, but Gilt Group is the only one I visit (it’s just too overwhelming to keep track of so many, too much temptation, and Gilt Group is just the best).

Do you have any Gilt Group or online sample sale strategies that you use?