When did sales stopped being sales ?

I feel really frustrated. For years i had to wear the same wardrobe and as i could only work during my summer holidays, i didn't have much money to spend. Now that i can breathe more financially, and i both can and need to buy new clothes, i can't find anything.

I know, i'm a girl, i'm prone to think i have nothing to wear although my closet is packed full. But the reality is i don't have that much to wear, i'm just too lazy to get rid of the old/too big stuff.

I'm a casual kind of girl but the job i want is more conservative. To hell with that, but only to a certain point. I want to be taken seriously, so i need more neutral clothes i can glam up with my bright makeup. So i need pants, shirts, blouses, pullovers/cardigans.

But whether it's online or in a crowded mall (and i absolutely hate crowds), i can't find anything i wanted. Either they don't have my size, they only have a (very) small selection of items on sales, they're sold out, or they label most of the stuff with 20% off discounts. No, i'm sorry, 20% is not a sale. I'm not going to buy something during the sales when i can have the same discount with promotions outside that time. The only real deal i spotted was for handbags, if i really had that much pocket money, i'd get a Lancel or Paquetage bag, even small discounts mean a lot when the price tag is made of three numbers.

So i'm actually buying items from the new collection !

I laughed when you said 20% isn't a sale. I feel the same way. I can't stand when they have 10% off coupons that you're supposed to get excited about. I tend to shop only racks with big discounts. I recently bought clothes for my kids, and used three of Old Navy's $10 off of $50 coupons with a bunch of clearance priced clothes ($4 shirts, $6 and $7 hoodies, etc.). I am not familiar enough with your country to suggest places you could go to get deals.

I don't even think about going shopping till it says Clearence or 50% off!! If we were closer I'd come over and help you shop, Aude!! Lol.

i am the same way i hate buying stuff full price. i wont even cosider it unless it is 30 percent off. most of the time i want at least 50 and if it is 70 percent off we have ourselves a deal lol.

That is the complete opposite of how it is in america currently, most of the stores have ittems constantly in clerance up to 70 percent off. And there are constant coupons. My only advice would maybe find an american store that ships to france cause there have been a lot of good sales going on here.

(for example my mom got a new coat for about 50 bucks down from 200)

Lol Karren, i bet you'd buy more stuff than me !

That's a good idea Orange, so far, no luck though.

I always laugh when stores show 10 % off. That barely covers the tax on merchandise (we pay 13 % tax on merchandise). I've learned January is a good month to find sales on winter clothes, boots etc. I wait until everything is at least 40% off.

I pretty much only shop clearance racks unless I'm really in need of something. I find some great deals at Kohls but its totally hit or miss when shopping those clearance racks.

I'm the same way, except my closet isn't packed. I can go shopping for hours and come home with nothing. It's either the wrong color, doesn't fit quite right, or too expensive. One thing I found that has helped me was to not be too specific when I shop, something that is really hard for me to do. So when I see something and I think it's kind of cool, I buy it. Unlike before I would say to myself, Hmm.... I'll think about it and if I really really want it I'll come back later. I'm also trying to open myself up to new styles as I want to move away from just jeans and t-shirts.

I bought a few things, my best deal being a big bottle of coconut shower cream at the Body Shop, yay ! Love that stuff.

More frustration : i spotted a big bag, in the specific color i wanted, satchel so i can carry my little house in there, it looks very feminine and chic to be worn pretty much on every occasion, it's made of "looks just like real leather but is synthetic" material, BUT i cannot select priority international mail in the checkout page, and the express mail costs are too expensive, i'd pay half the price the bag costs me, so that's really ridiculous. I looked elsewhere, but it's only available at that site. Oh, the frustration !!

I LOVE clearance. It makes me a happy panda

My favorite excuse for buying something is: It was on sale!

I know exactly what you mean. 20% off is most definitely NOT a sale. Although one of my best friends who lives in West London said that the media are saying not to do Christmas shopping too early this year because the shops have done so badly, they reckon by the second week of December shops will be practically giving away the stuff. If this is true, I will be one lucky lady as I am travelling to London with 2 other friends to celebrate New Year. We have purposely rented an apartment in London for five days right near Oxford Street (or as I like to call it, Disneyland) so we can shop til we drop! Come on England! Get those sales going!

LOL very true. I pretty much just shop in the clearance sections. Black Friday is coming up, maybe you can get some deals then.

Clearance!  Now clearance has become the "sale", sales are just regularly priced items that have a sign saying marked down on them.  I don't the retailers are losing money, they just aren't making as much as they used to.

I recently bought four shirts from the macy's clearance racks...there were about 10 0f them for only $3 a piece!  Also they way items are put out is convenient.  Notice how right after the beginning of january they have spring items in?  It's the perfect time to shop the clearance racks for winter items you can wear immediately.  The same with winter clothes...they put them out in the summer and clearance all the summer items so you still have a chance to buy something for the season at a cheaper price and not hang on to it for months until the temperature is right.

Originally Posted by Shelley /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I always laugh when stores show 10 % off. That barely covers the tax on merchandise (we pay 13 % tax on merchandise). I've learned January is a good month to find sales on winter clothes, boots etc. I wait until everything is at least 40% off.

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OMG 13% tax seems so high! Here in the US it's usually 6%-8.5%. Luckily here on the military base we don't pay any tax. It's pretty sweet, I purchased a coach bag last year and saved about 20 dollars in tax!

Lucky girls ! It's 19.5% here.

You know i was really pissed i missed the coat i absolutely wanted because the store ran quickly out of my size, but then i realised the next sales in my country are in january. I'll probably find another of my second choices with a good discount so i'll be patient and see what comes up.

Many of my friends are cross-border shopping for Black Friday.  We don't have black friday here.  13% is the Harmonized Sales Tax here in BC.  Canadian dollar is almost at par.  Stores are really hurting in the US.

Lucky you, good luck getting a 20% discount on anything outside of normal sale periods in Europe.