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I made my first Evans order on September 28th. It arrived today! That’s 22 days (14 days longer than ordering from ASOS). I paid £7.50 which is about $12 Canadian for shipping. As I mentioned with my ASOS order shipping costs are a big peeve of mind. $12, I can definitely handle.

I have always loved Evans’ fashions but I chose to order at this time because of the release of the new Beth Ditto line and because I wanted a red winter coat. I’m not a crazy shopper. I put a lot of thought into what I’m buying and how it will fit with what I have. But mostly, I have to love something before I buy. Lack of sleep may lead to an impulse buy (read on).

From the Ditto collection I ordered the heart print hanki hem top, £39.50 (I didn’t fall in love with this tunic length top until I saw it worn by another blogger — can’t for the life of me find the blog or else I’d link to it) and the black extra high waist leggings, £20.00. I also ordered a hooded duffle coat, £49.50, in an awesome bright red and a black jersey jumpsuit, £35.00, (something I thought I would never do and will now blame on the before mentioned lack of sleep. As I’m sitting here I remembered another reason why I don’t like jumpsuits — you have to completely undress to pee). I found a coupon online for 15% off so I saved almost $22. So basically I got free shipping and a bonus.

It was super easy to shop at Evans. Their website is well laid out and since they only sell plus size there were no disappointments as they have a huge size range (14 to 32), great product images and the shopping cart is easy to use. I had no problems what-so-ever placing my order. I paid for my order using Paypal; again with no problem. After my order was placed, I received an email receipt for my order and another email the next day letting me know my order was “dispatched”.

As I said in the intro my parcel arrived today. I was surprised that it wasn’t in a box but a large opaque grey bag. Each item was individually packaged in plastic and the coat and jumpsuit came with hangers. Along with the package came duty, taxes, and a handling fee. Most likely because it was over $100. My parcel contents cost £122.40. Before they can charge the duty they have to convert my parcel contents total to Canadian. On the day of processing the exchange was 1.604900 which brought my total up to $196.44 Canadian (about $50 more than what I had worked out when I made my purchase three weeks ago — the joy of fluctuating dollars). An 18 % duty was applied = $35.35 + HST of $30.13 and a $5 handling fee. To pick up my package from the post office it cost $70.49. I was expecting to pay around $50. And I had to sign for the parcel.

I pretty much love everything. The jacket isn’t bulky, is super soft and has a silky lining. One of the things I liked about it was the fact that it had both the buttons and a zipper; although I’m a bit concerned about the zipper which is plastic and didn’t give me the impression it will hold up to daily use — time will tell. The heart print hanki top is so cute, even the man said he liked it. It’s super soft jersey on top. I thought the arms would be tight but they are super comfortable. I could use a little more room in the chest area where it connects with the patterned material which isn’t stretchy at all. I bought the extra high waist leggings to go with the hanki top. They don’t have a lot of give but I love the high waist and there the added option of folding them over. Now for the jumpsuit. I think it’s really cute but I would never wear it out in public. It will definitely be I’m home for the day outfit — it’s that whole having to undress from top to bottom thing when I have to use the washroom and is not really appropriate for this time of year; too cold.

Overall, it was a good shopping experience. Next time I order I will try to keep my order total under $100 to hopefully considerably reduce expected duty/tax charges. If you are looking for some where new to shop I recommend giving them a try. Sign up for their newsletter to get the latest sale and promotion information. If you have tried them already please share your experience in the comments.

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Topic Links
* Get your own plus size clothing from Evans
* Read my ASOS shopping experience
* Figuring out the exchange between United Kingdom Pounds and Canadian dollars

My ASOS Order

I made my first order from ASOS (UK) on the 20th and it arrived today! The 28th! Eight days from the UK! And I only paid $9 for shipping!

affordable plus size dresses Ok, enough with the exclamation marks. Shipping time and costs is one of my biggest peeves from retailers outside Canada. I was just so impressed.

ASOS had a huge markdown in their plus size CURVE setcion and I got some great deals. I had a hard time with their shopping cart when I was placing my order. The website had an additional 10% off coupon which went through beautifully at first. I ran into trouble when I tried to pay with Paypal. For some reason I got an error message and it said to go back and try again. When I went back to the shopping cart I got a big red message saying that I already used the coupon and couldn’t use it again. This error message wouldn’t let me pay. After some choice swear words and twitter complaints I saw the tiny print that said “remove coupon”. Once I did that I was able to place the order but missed out on the additional $5 discount. This is obviously a technical error of some kind on their site because even after emailing customer service, I was told the coupon was still good and I could use it until the 22nd. But I really couldn’t.

This leads to my next “technical” error that Canadian shoppers should be aware of IF they are going to shop using Paypal. Most of the money I have in my Paypal is U.S. dollars but I do get a small portion of Canadian Funds occasionally. I have always used U.S. funds for any kind of online payments and have never had a problem. Apparently when you shop anywhere where the currency is not U.S. or Canadian your Paypal account automatically draws funds from your country of origin first. So because I live in Canada, this order drew from my Canadian funds first. Which at the time of the order was $6. Because I didn’t have enough Canadian funds to cover the purchase it then took the remaining funds from my credit card. This is incredibly annoying as I had more than enough U.S. funds in my paypal account to cover the purchase. Had I wanted to use my credit card I would have just used my credit card. The suggestion from Paypal when I called them all pissed was to, in the future, transfer some of the U.S. funds into Canadian funds to cover the amount of the purchase beforehand. I still think it is completely ridiculous but that is the only way around it.

After my order was placed, ASOS maintained great contact via email. I received a receipt for my order and another email when the order was “dispatched” so I wasn’t left wondering what was happening.

I had a fairly small order so there were no customs charges. Phew! I opened up the ASOS plastic shipping bag to find a delivery and returns note and the seven items (I told you it was a great sale) I ordered individually packaged in tissue and plastic wrap. Most of the stuff I bought were light dresses (like the one shown above which was £5 or just over $8 CAN. I probably live in that one for the rest of the summer.) and a tank top. I love everything and they fit better than I expected.

Despite the initial pissy experience with the shopping cart I am happy with the experience which I am sure was increased by the short shipping time, low shipping costs, and great sale prices. If you are looking for some place new to try, check them out. If you have tried them already, then share your experience in the comments.

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Topic Links
* Get your own plus size clothing from ASOS
* Figuring out the exchange between United Kingdom Pounds and Canadian dollars