Recently I got approached by the folks at Little Black Bag to check out their new interactive shopping site, littleblackbag.com. According to the press release, Little Black Bag is loosely based on a Japanese tradition known as the "Lucky Bag Sale" wherein retailers sell mystery bags of products and customers buy these bags and trade the items inside with their friends. Little Black Bag aims to bring this shopping concept to the online world.
Here's how it works: First you take a short style quiz, then Little Black Bag suggests largely irrelevant products - just for you. (Does anyone else find these style profile quizzes to be a joke?)
From the items suggested, Little Black Bag then gives you the option to pick one item you actually want, and then they pick the other two items for you for a grand total of three items.
{The contents of my Little Black Bag}
Once you've purchased your bag, you can trade your items with friends and other members of the site. This is where the fun is supposed to begin, but in my experience, no one wanted to trade anything good. I made and received offers daily but none were to my liking. Basically, you get one "good" item - in my case, it was the Olivia + Joy "Minx" shoulder bag, and then two "duds" - in my case, I got some lace fingerless gloves and a cheap-looking cocktail ring by Robert Rose. I tried without success to trade my cocktail ring but there were no takers. Smart shoppers out there, I don't blame 'em. I did manage to trade my lace fingerless gloves for some Collection 18 knit fingerless gloves which I thought was a fair trade but didn't really give me anything I loved, wanted or needed.
In terms of purchasing you have two options:
• $49.95 monthly subscription
• $59.95 one time bag purchase
As a blogger, I was given a code that allowed me to get my first trial bag for free, and I'm very grateful for that because I would not have wanted to spend $59.95 on a small handbag, cocktail ring and gloves. Granted, the bag I got retails for $72, but I saw it for $53.99 at macys.com (here) at the time this post was written. You do the math.
If Little Black Bag can improve the trading process, then I think it could have potential, but as it stands, I don't see how you'd ever be able to "trade up." Your fellow shoppers are just too savvy and I don't see why anyone would trade, say, a BCBGeneration clutch for a headband. If you bought a yearly membership, that's $600 that could be better spent elsewhere.
On the other hand, if Little Black Bag ever offers a promotional code or discount like many other sites do (JewelMint comes to mind), then it could totally be worth your while. Otherwise you're better off stalking the sale racks at Macy's for better deals on stuff you really want.
Disclosure: Little Black Bag generously provided me with a promotional code that allowed me to make my purchase free of charge. The decision to write this post was my own and the opinions expressed within this post are just that - my opinions.
From the items suggested, Little Black Bag then gives you the option to pick one item you actually want, and then they pick the other two items for you for a grand total of three items.
Once you've purchased your bag, you can trade your items with friends and other members of the site. This is where the fun is supposed to begin, but in my experience, no one wanted to trade anything good. I made and received offers daily but none were to my liking. Basically, you get one "good" item - in my case, it was the Olivia + Joy "Minx" shoulder bag, and then two "duds" - in my case, I got some lace fingerless gloves and a cheap-looking cocktail ring by Robert Rose. I tried without success to trade my cocktail ring but there were no takers. Smart shoppers out there, I don't blame 'em. I did manage to trade my lace fingerless gloves for some Collection 18 knit fingerless gloves which I thought was a fair trade but didn't really give me anything I loved, wanted or needed.
In terms of purchasing you have two options:
• $49.95 monthly subscription
• $59.95 one time bag purchase
As a blogger, I was given a code that allowed me to get my first trial bag for free, and I'm very grateful for that because I would not have wanted to spend $59.95 on a small handbag, cocktail ring and gloves. Granted, the bag I got retails for $72, but I saw it for $53.99 at macys.com (here) at the time this post was written. You do the math.
If Little Black Bag can improve the trading process, then I think it could have potential, but as it stands, I don't see how you'd ever be able to "trade up." Your fellow shoppers are just too savvy and I don't see why anyone would trade, say, a BCBGeneration clutch for a headband. If you bought a yearly membership, that's $600 that could be better spent elsewhere.
On the other hand, if Little Black Bag ever offers a promotional code or discount like many other sites do (JewelMint comes to mind), then it could totally be worth your while. Otherwise you're better off stalking the sale racks at Macy's for better deals on stuff you really want.
Disclosure: Little Black Bag generously provided me with a promotional code that allowed me to make my purchase free of charge. The decision to write this post was my own and the opinions expressed within this post are just that - my opinions.
I'm glad they gave the option to do a one time thing--I would have been so annoyed to have to cancel a monthly subscription after that experience.
I like the concept but the items need to be way better. And I think they should have a guaranteed spread of items, like you get 1 handbag, 1 jewelry and 1 accessory. Some of the jewelry was way overpriced ($60 for earrings I could get at F21 for 4 bucks) and it threw off the whole so-called "valuation" of my bag. Ugh.
I am extremely pleased w/my items! You can skip any month you choose or cancel membership at your leiser. There is no commitment. Whilst I agree with the idea that you can get designer bags on sale at department stored I highly doubt that they will throw in (free extras) that can be traded. I have indeed seen trades that were extreme JKL bold ring traded for a bottle of Butter London nail polish.
For my money, I'm expecting 3 nice items, not 1 nice item and 2 "bonus" pieces of junk.